Guest Author - Terrie Lynn Bittner

Note: Most of the material for this article came from the first volume of History of Women's Suffrage, first edition, a six-volume work written by some of the founders of the women's movement.

On July 13, 1848, Elizabeth Cady Stanton joined Lucretia Mott, Mott's sister Martha Wright, and Mary Ann McClintock for tea. Conversation took the normal course, but soon moved to the frustrations the women felt over their places in the country. Throughout history, women had fought side by side with the men to build a new nation and to ensure freedom, only to learn that the freedom they fought for was really only for a select few - white men. This was a favorite topic of discussion, and for many years they had talked about someday putting together a convention. This time, instead of just complaining and dreaming, they decided to do something about it. Within days, they had scheduled a convention to fight for the rights of women. They had chosen the place, and advertised in a small way.

The following announcement appeared in the Seneca County Courier, a small semi-weekly journal:

"Woman's Rights Convention - A Convention to discuss the social, civil, and religious condition and rights of woman, will be held in the Wesleyan Chapel, at Seneca Falls, N.Y., on Wednesday and Thursday, the 19th and 20th of July, current; commencing at 10 o'clock A.M. During the first day the meeting will be exclusively for women, who are earnestly invited to attend. The public generally are invited to be present on the second day, when Lucretia Mott, of Philadelphia, and other ladies and gentlemen, will address the convention."

They were newcomers to convention staging, and had, perhaps fortunately, no real idea of how difficult the task would be. They gave themselves only three days to put together a program intended to change history. The advertisement had been written and sent out the very same day they decided to have the convention. The following Sunday, they met together in Mrs. McClintock's parlor to plan the meeting. In History of Woman Suffrage, written in the 1800s by the movement's founders, they wrote, "On the first attempt to frame a resolution; to crowd a complete thought, clearly and concisely, into three lines; they felt as helpless and hopeless as if they had been suddenly asked to construct a steam engine. And the humiliating fact may as well now be recorded that before taking the initiative step, those ladies resigned themselves to a faithful perusal of various masculine productions."

They first thought to base their declarations on those used at the anti-slavery conventions, which some them had attended, but found the wording to be too mild. They were not feeling mild. ..."all alike seemed too tame for the inauguration of a rebellion such as the world had never before seen." Finally they decided to base their document on The Declaration of Independence itself, a document that had already changed history once. Elizabeth Cady Stanton wrote the document on an antique mahogany center table. The men had listed eighteen complaints against England. Elizabeth had eighteen complaints of her own. The women had done extensive research to find these complaints, and a few sympathetic men had assisted in the search. One younger assistant commented, "Your grievances must be grievous indeed, when you are obliged to go to books to find them out."

The complaints included the lack of voting privileges, divorce laws which gave women no protection, even over their own children, barriers to education and little protection from husbands.

The convention got off to a rocky start. When the organizers arrived, they found a large crowd of both men and women waiting before a locked door. No one had a key. A male professor from Yale volunteered to be pushed through an open window, and everyone quickly filled the halls. The women, who had felt very brave in their parlors, were suddenly faced with an attack of stage fright. They had never done this sort of thing before - women didn't, of course - and they made a fast decision to make use of the more experienced men who had shown up uninvited. James Mott, looking respectable and dignified in his Quaker dress, agreed to take over as chair. Mary McClintock served as secretary. Lucretia Mott was an experienced speaker, so she presented the purpose of the convention and described the challenges women faced throughout the world. The organizers then spoke on a variety of issues.

The declaration was generally passed as written, but there were some stumbling blocks. The only measure not passed unanimously was the call for the vote. Even the sort of people who would attend a woman's rights convention could not conceive of a world in which women could vote. Not even Mott was willing to ask for that, but Stanton held firm, and Frederick Douglass joined her in insisting that women could not secure any right without the ability to choose leaders and make laws. A furious debate began, with some arguing that they would lose the other demands if they held firm for the vote.

"...We are assembled to protest," Stanton proclaimed at the conference before an audience of 300, "against a form of government existing without the consent of the governed-to declare our right to be as free as man is free, to be represented in the government which we are taxed to support, to have such disgraceful laws as give man the power to chastise and imprison his wife, to take the wages which she earns, the property which she inherits, and in case of separation, the children of her love; laws which make her the mere dependent on his bounty."

Finally, Frederick Douglass stood up to speak. "Suffrage is the power to choose rulers and make laws, and the right by which all others are secured." The measure passed by the tiniest majority.