Blackwell Reference Online

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On July 19 and 20, 1848 the first American women's rights convention was held in Seneca Falls, New York at the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel. The convention was the brainchild of Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815–1902) and Lucretia Mott (1793–1880), born in a revolutionary moment in London in 1840 while both women attended the World Anti-Slavery Convention . Stanton was in London accompanying her husband, Henry, who was a delegate at the convention. Mott and six other women were supposed to be delegates themselves. Upon arriving at the convention in London, the women were told they could not participate and must remain silent in the balcony of the convention hall. Both Stanton and Mott were outraged at this banish ment of women who had been active and vocal participants in the American anti-slavery movement . According to Mott and Stanton, it was that moment that initiated the talk of a women's rights convention of their own. Mott, born in 1793 into a devout Quaker family, was educated in Boston and New York before becoming a teacher and eventually a Quaker minister. Her experience as a Quaker not only allowed her to see firsthand the participation of women as equals in society, but also pushed her into reform efforts, particularly the abolitionist cause. She led the free produce movement to boycott slave products such as sugar and cotton and in 1834 helped found the Philadelphia Female ... log in or subscribe to read full text