The Fight For Women s Rights - 2271 Words

In pre civil war America women were thought of as subordinate to men and thus had less rights than free black men. African American and White women had similar political positions and rights besides the fact that white women could own slaves with their family. They even performed the same jobs when it came to house work. Black slaves were thought of to have 3/5s a vote in the senate while women had none. Abolitionist and anti slavery movements arose along with the thought that people should rally to abolish slavery and give free slaves rights. It was never before a movement to fight for women s rights and thus educated women began to realize they must fight for their own rights. The fight for women’s rights and suffrage is an ongoing†¦show more content†¦(MacLean, Maggie. Civil War Women. Civil War Women. N.p., 14 June 2006. Web. 02 Jan. 2015.) The first convention dedicated to women’s rights was in Seneca Falls, New York in 1848. It spanned both the 19th and 20th of July. This convention was run by two women, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott and organized by Mary M’Clintock. This event attracted approximately one-three hundred people, the majority being women. At this convention a modified draft of the Preamble to the Declaration of Independence was drawn and stated, â€Å"We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal.† The title of this modification is known to be â€Å"Declaration of Sentiments, Grievances, and Resolutions†, written by Elizabeth Stanton. Thirteen resolutions were made including â€Å"that a man should not withhold a woman s rights, take her property or refuse to allow her to vote,† and â€Å"sacred right of franchise.† The revision of the Declaration of Independence received signatures from female and male supporters. S ixty-eight of the signers were women and 32 were men, including Frederick Douglass. Although the Seneca Falls Convention was the first women’s rights convention in America, it was inspired by the World Anti Slavery Convention in 1840 in London. This convention invited women but did not allow them to speak their opinions. Lucretia Mott expressed the hypocrisy of this in her diary and thus sparked the beginning of the fight for