The Seneca Falls Convention
1848 saw revolution sweep across Europe and the first convention for women’s rights – the Seneca Falls Convention – in the United States. Reformers Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton first planned a convention in 1840, after both women had been refused seats as delegates to the World Antislavery Convention in London. Various things intervened (including Stanton giving birth to three children) and the convention took place on July 19–20, 1848 in Seneca Falls, New York, with 300 people attending and the four main organizers other than Stanton being Quakers.
The participants debated and adopted a Declaration of Sentiments, closely modelled on the Declaration of Independence, calling for equal rights for women. The Convention also adopted 11 resolutions, one of which proved contentious. The ninth called on women “to secure to themselves their sacred right to the elective franchise”.
Many delegates felt that demanding the vote was too bold: Mott said, “Why, Lizzie, thee will make us ridiculous!” Stanton argued that the vote was essential to self-determination, and, backed from the floor by Frederick Douglass, the only African American present, her view won the day. Mott, Stanton and Douglass were among the 68 women and 32 men who signed the Declaration. Only one of these 100 people – Charlotte Woodward, aged 18 or 19 in 1848 – was still alive in 1920, when American women finally had their first chance to vote in a national election.
The National Park Service offers lots more information about Seneca Falls, including the Declaration of Sentiments and the report of the Convention.
Register to vote in 2018
Winning the right to vote took American women 72 years. Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Frederick Douglass – and thousands of other suffragists, including Susan B. Anthony and Lucy Stone – died before the goal was reached. Honor this hard-won victory by being sure to vote in the United States elections in 2018.
Overseas Americans who have not already registered to vote in 2018, should go right away to the nonpartisan websites of:
and register/request a ballot. Don't delay! State deadlines for registration may be closer than you think.