On July 20, 1848 women and men were gathered in the Wesleyan Chapel in Seneca Falls, New York discussing in earnest the social, civil, and religious condition and rights of woman. This two-day Seneca Falls Convention launched the woman's suffrage movement in the United States. At the convention, co-organizer Elizabeth Cady Stanton read the Declaration of Sentiments, a statement of grievances that she, co-organizer Lucretia Mott, and other participants had published in the Seneca County Courier several days earlier. Modeled after the Declaration of Independence, the proclamation called upon women to petition for their rights.

Postcard of Lucretia Mott [co-organizer of the Seneca Falls Convention], 1897. Votes for Women, 1848-1921

When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one portion of the family of man to assume among the people of the earth a position different from that which they have hitherto occupied, but one to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes that impel them to such a course....

Suffrage leaders [Lucretia] Mott, [Susan B.] Anthony, and [Elizabeth Cady] Stanton, ca. 1920-ca. 1950. Washington as It Was, 1923-1959

After Stanton's empowering reading, the participants passed 12 resolutions designed to gain rights denied to women. Eleven of the resolutions passed unanimously. Only one, the resolution demanding the right for women to vote, met with opposition. Resolved, That it is the duty of the women of this country to secure to themselves their sacred right to the elective franchise. The narrow passage of this demand began the struggle for the woman's suffrage movement, culminating in the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1920, giving women the right to vote.

The Declaration of Sentiments, resolutions, and excerpts from Stanton's address are online in The first convention ever called to discuss the civil and political rights of women, Seneca Falls, New York, July 19, 20, 1848, in Votes for Women, 1848-1921. This collection documents the suffrage campaign with 167 books, pamphlets and other artifacts gathered from the Library of Congress National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) collection.

To find more artifacts, search on Stanton, Mott, Susan Anthony, Carrie Chapman Catt and the names of other suffragists in Votes for Women, 1848-1921.

Read the timeline One Hundred Years Toward Suffrage to learn the history of the movement. You can Learn More About the historical time period and the other rights women fought to gain in the Learning Page. Teachers may enjoy reviewing the Classroom Activities designed to use with this collection.