In 1848, the first women’s rights convention took place in the United States at Seneca Falls, New York. Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton were the principal organizers of the meeting. Mott and Stanton first had the idea of a convention to discuss women's rights when they attended the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London, England in 1840. Organizers of the World Anti-Slavery event refused to allow the two women to participate because of their sex.

The Seneca Falls convention took place on July 19 and 20, 1848 at the Wesleyan Methodist Church in Seneca Falls. Mott spoke about the foundation of unity communities and urged the progress of women rights. Stanton introduced the Declaration of Rights and Sentiments.

This document was a statement of the rights that the participants at the convention, which included approximately 260 women and 40 men, among them fugitive slave and abolitionist Frederick Douglass, felt women were entitled.

Stanton modeled the document after the Declaration of Independence. Every right for women sought by Stanton was unanimously approved except for granting women right to vote. One hundred women signed the final document. However, some of the signers demanded that their names be removed from the Declaration of Rights and Sentiments after receiving harsh criticism for their actions.

Finally the women’s right movement had a list of the rights that women’s rights advocates were seeking. The Seneca Falls Convention convinced many other women to stand up for their rights. Following the meeting, the women’s rights movement in Ohio and across the US truly blossomed.

Source: Seneca Falls Convention
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