Lesson 5: Women's Rights Flashcards
Elizabeth Cady Stanton Definition
an abolitionist and leader of the women’s rights movement during the 1800s
Seneca Falls Convention Definition
an 1848 meeting at which activists called for equal rights for women, often seen as the birthplace of the women’s rights movement
Susan B. Anthony Definition
an activist in the women’s rights movement who campaigned for women’s suffrage
Women’s Rights Movement Definition
organized campaign to win property, education, and other rights for women
How did the abolitionist movement lead to awareness of women’s rights?
Many women, such as Angelina and Sarah Grimké, had joined the abolitionist movement. As these women worked to end slavery, they became aware that they lacked full social and political rights themselves. Both black and white abolitionists, men and women, joined the struggle for women’s rights.
What was the influence of Sojourner Truth on the women’s rights movement?
One of the most effective women’s rights leaders was born into slavery in New York. Her original name was Isabella. After gaining freedom, she came to believe that God wanted her to fight slavery. Vowing to sojourn, or travel, across the land speaking the truth, she took the name Sojourner Truth. Truth was a spellbinding speaker. Her exact words were rarely written down. However, her message spread by word of mouth. According to one witness, Truth ridiculed the idea that women were inferior to men by nature:
I have as much muscle as any man, and can do as much work as any man. I have plowed and reaped and husked and chopped and mowed, and can any man do more than that?
—Sojourner Truth, speech at Akron Women’s Rights Convention, 1851
What were the influences of Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton on the women’s rights movement? How did a meeting for the World Antislavery Convention in London change their view on women’s rights?
Other abolitionists also turned to the cause of women’s rights. The two most influential were Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Lucretia Mott was a Quaker and the mother of five children. A quiet speaker, she won the respect of many listeners with her persuasive logic. Mott also used her organizing skills to set up petition drives across the North. Elizabeth Cady Stanton was the daughter of a New York judge. As a child, she was an excellent student and an athlete. However, her father gave her little encouragement. Stanton later remarked that her “father would have felt a proper pride had I been a man.” In 1840, Stanton and Mott joined a group of Americans at a World Antislavery Convention in London. However, convention officials refused to let women take an active part in the proceedings. Female delegates were even forced to sit behind a curtain, hidden from view. After returning home, Mott and Stanton took up the cause of women’s rights with new energy.
What motivated the meeting at Seneca Falls in New York (1848)?
Even in London, Mott and Stanton had begun thinking about holding a convention to draw attention to the problems women faced. “The men … had [shown] a great need for some education on that question,” Stanton later recalled. The meeting finally took place in 1848 in Seneca Falls, New York.
What happened at the Seneca Falls Convention? What is the “Declaration of Sentiments”?
About 200 women and 40 men attended the Seneca Falls Convention. Stanton’s greatest contribution to the convention was the Declaration of Sentiments, which she had modeled on the Declaration of Independence. The delegates approved the declaration. It proclaimed, “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal.” The women and men at Seneca Falls voted for resolutions that demanded equality for women at work, at school, and at church. Only one resolution met with any opposition at the convention. It demanded that women be allowed to vote. Even the bold reformers at Seneca Falls hesitated to take this step. In the end, the resolution narrowly passed.
How did the Seneca Falls Convention influence the Women’s Rights movement? Who was Susan B. Anthony?
The Seneca Falls Convention marked the start of an organized campaign for equal rights, or the women’s rights movement. This movement was one of the most important reform movements of the Reform Era. New leaders took up the struggle. Susan B. Anthony built a close working partnership with Elizabeth Cady Stanton. While Stanton usually had to stay at home with her seven children, Anthony was free to travel across the country. Anthony’s contribution to the movement was her lifelong work convincing people that women deserved equal rights. Anthony was a tireless speaker. Even when audiences heckled her and threw eggs, she always finished her speech. Around the country, Anthony campaigned for women’s suffrage. She petitioned Congress repeatedly, and was even arrested in 1872 for trying to vote. Anthony did not live to see the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920 granting women the right to vote, but the amendment is also called the Susan B. Anthony Amendment in her honor.
Remember: In the years after 1848, women worked for change in many areas. They won additional legal rights in some states. For example, New York passed laws allowing married women to keep their own property and wages. Still, many men and women opposed the women’s rights movement. The struggle for equal rights would last many years.
In the years after 1848, women worked for change in many areas. They won additional legal rights in some states. For example, New York passed laws allowing married women to keep their own property and wages. Still, many men and women opposed the women’s rights movement. The struggle for equal rights would last many years.
What did the women at Seneca Falls believe about education?
The women at Seneca Falls believed that education was a key to equality. Elizabeth Cady Stanton said:
“The girl must be allowed to romp and play, climb, skate, and swim. Her clothing must be more like those of the boy—strong, loose-fitting garments, thick boots… She must be taught to look forward to life of self-dependence and, like the boy, prepare herself for some [profitable] trade profession.”
—Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Letter, 1851
Such an idea was startling in the early 1800s. Women from poor families had little hope of learning even to read. Middle-class girls who went to school learned dancing and drawing rather than science or mathematics. After all, people argued, women were expected to care for their families. Why did they need an education?
What did the women at Seneca Falls believe about education?
The women at Seneca Falls believed that education was a key to equality. Elizabeth Cady Stanton said:
“The girl must be allowed to romp and play, climb, skate, and swim. Her clothing must be more like those of the boy—strong, loose-fitting garments, thick boots… She must be taught to look forward to life of self-dependence and, like the boy, prepare herself for some [profitable] trade profession.”
—Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Letter, 1851
Such an idea was startling in the early 1800s. Women from poor families had little hope of learning even to read. Middle-class girls who went to school learned dancing and drawing rather than science or mathematics. After all, people argued, women were expected to care for their families. Why did they need an education?
What were some of the first educational institutions developed to teach women?
Possibly the greatest impact of the women’s movement in the mid-1800s was the creation of greater opportunities for women in education. Emma Willard opened a high school for girls in Troy, New York. Here, young women studied “men’s” subjects, such as mathematics and physics. Mary Lyon opened Mount Holyoke Female Seminary in Massachusetts in 1837. She did not call the school a college because many people thought it was wrong for women to attend college. In fact, however, Mount Holyoke was one of the first women’s colleges in the United States.
What were examples of new employment opportunities for women?
At about this time, a few men’s colleges began to admit women. As their education improved, women found jobs teaching, especially in grade schools. A few women entered fields such as medicine. Elizabeth Blackwell attended medical school at Geneva College in New York. To the surprise of school officials, she graduated first in her class. Women had provided medical care since colonial times, but Blackwell was the first woman in the United States to earn a medical degree. She later helped found the nation’s first medical school for women. Women made their mark in other fields as well. Maria Mitchell was a noted astronomer. Sarah Josepha Hale edited Godey’s Lady’s Book, an influential magazine for women. Antoinette Blackwell became the first American woman ordained a minister. She also campaigned for abolitionism, temperance, and women’s right to vote.
