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The Way to Seneca Falls: the Women's Movement in the First Half

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The Way to Seneca Falls: the Women's Movement in the First Half MASARYK UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE The Way to Seneca Falls: The Women’s Movement in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century Bachelor Thesis Brno 2017 Supervisor : Author: Michael George, M.A Bc. Eva Dvo řáková Prohlášení: Prohlašuji, že jsem bakalá řskou práci zpracovala samostatn ě a použila jen prameny uvedené v seznamu literatury V Brn ě dne 28. B řezna 2017 Bc. Eva Dvo řáková Declaration: I declare that I worked on this thesis my own and that I used only sources mentioned in bibliography. Brno, March 28, 2017 Bc. Eva Dvo řáková …………………… Acknowledgements: I would like to thank my supervisor Michael George, M.A. for his valuable support and professional advice. Annotation: The subject of this bachelor thesis is the socioeconomic, political and educational position of women in the society, especially analysis of the first half of the nineteenth century in the United States and the Seneca Falls Convention. This work is divided into three parts. The first part deals with the women’s educational opportunities, the status and activities of women in the American society and includes also the situation at the World Antislavery Convention in London. Then the thesis describes the days of the Seneca Falls Convention and represents the responses and the further progress of the women’s rights after the convention. This work shows the struggle for equal rights and the women’s movement that led to the first women’s rights convention. Key words: education, women’s rights, abolition of slavery, suffrage, Seneca Falls Convention, Elizabeth Cady Stanton , Anotace: Předm ětem této bakalá řské práce je postavení žen ve spole čnosti v oblasti sociáln ě ekonomické, politické a v oblasti vzd ělání, zejména analýza první poloviny devatenáctého století ve Spojených státech a shromážd ění v Seneca Falls. Tato práce je rozd ělena do t ří částí. První část pojednává o možnostech žen v oblasti vzd ělání, postavení a aktivitách žen v americké spole čnosti a zahrnuje také popis situace na sv ětové protiotroká řské konferenci v Londýn ě. Dále práce popisuje dny na konferenci v Seneca Falls a p ředstavuje odezvy a další vývoj práv žen následně po konferenci. Tato práce ukazuje boj za rovnoprávnost a hnutí žen, které vedly k první úmluv ě o právech žen. Klí čová slova: vzd ělání, práva žen, zrušení otroctví, volební právo, shromážd ění v Seneca Falls, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Content Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 7 1. Situation prior the Seneca Falls Convention............................................................. 9 1.1. Status of women from the historic perspective .................................................. 9 1.2. Historical background ...................................................................................... 10 1.2.1. Women in the education sphere – education opportunities ...................... 10 1.2.2. Woman and the society ............................................................................. 14 1.2.3. A woman in the South .............................................................................. 17 1.2.4. Abolition ................................................................................................... 20 1.2.5. Activities and associations of women ....................................................... 20 1.2.6. Women Magazines ................................................................................... 22 1.3. World Antislavery Convention in London ....................................................... 24 2. Seneca Falls Convention ......................................................................................... 26 2.1. Seneca Falls region from Geographical point of view ..................................... 26 2.2. Days preceding the Seneca Falls convention ................................................... 27 2.3. Writing the declaration ..................................................................................... 29 2.4. Days of Seneca fall convention ........................................................................ 31 2.4.1. The beginning of the meeting ................................................................... 31 2.4.2. The first day of the convention ................................................................. 31 2.4.3. The second day of the convention ............................................................ 32 2.5. The most important personalities of the Seneca Falls Convention .................. 34 2.5.1. Elizabeth Cady Stanton ............................................................................. 34 2.5.2. Lucretia Mott ............................................................................................ 36 3. After Seneca Falls ................................................................................................... 38 3.1. Responses to the convention ............................................................................ 38 3.2. Reaction of the press ........................................................................................ 38 3.3. Other meetings ................................................................................................. 40 3.4. The First National Convention ......................................................................... 41 3.5. Suffrage movement and associations ............................................................... 42 3.6. Associations opposed the woman suffrage ...................................................... 43 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 45 List of bibliography ........................................................................................................ 47 Appendices ...................................................................................................................... 51 Introduction We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. (The Declaration of Independence, 1776) The fight for equal rights between men and women started in English speaking countries. (Women’s Suffrage, 2017) The significant struggle can be seen in the fight for women right to vote. The first wave of feminism took place in the nineteenth century and the aim of this movement was struggle for basic human rights for women and their inclusion in the legislation. Among the first rights that women struggled for, was the right to vote. The first country where women were allowed to vote was New Zealand, in 1893. Women suffrage was enacted on the basis of series of petition urging parliament to adopt a new electoral law, which introduced the right to vote for women. The other two countries famous for women suffrage are Great Britain and the United States. Great Britain followed New Zealand after twenty five years, and the privilege to vote was allowed only to women over 30 years old. It took ten years until the age limit was lowered to 21 years. Among the last women who gained the right to vote were women in Saudi Arabia who cast their first vote on December, 2015. (Saudi Arabia’s women vote in election for the first time, 2015) The United States play a significant part in the women suffrage history. The first eminent step to the women suffrage was made in Seneca Falls in 1848. It was a notable event of women fighting for equality between men and women and my thesis is dedicated to the circumstances of this act. However, the aim of my work is not only to monitor the situation of women in the nineteenth century and to pay a deeper insight to the circumstances of Seneca Falls but also to discover the effect of the women’s rights movement. Also mutual relation between the women’s movement and abolitionism is an interesting point which worth deserves a closer look. 7 In the first part of the thesis I deal with history describing women rights in the United States. I pay attention to the position of women in the society as well as notice their rights and obligations which were heavily biased. An important aspect was the right to education, which was almost a unique phenomenon with women, possible only in wealthy families. The second part is dedicated to the Seneca Falls Convention and I pay attention also to the main characters which were active in happening. The third part describes responses to the convention and a brief view to the next steps following the affairs of 1848 in Seneca Falls. 8 1. Situation prior the Seneca Falls Convention 1.1. Status of women from the historic perspective Already in prehistoric times there was a definition of the different social roles of men and women, formed from early childhood. The basis of differentiation was a division of labour, where the activities were divided into male - as the production of tools or hunting, and female - including mainly childcare and housework. The cult of fertility was highly worshiped and the main task of women was spawning and upbringing of children. In antiquity all the affairs were headed by men and they enjoyed respectability and social recognition. Women were more celebrated for their female beauty, and the ability of ruling political affairs was dedicated only to men. The chanting of female beauty continued in Middle Ages, which might be distinguished in the activities of the
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