CHAPTER 14 • SECTION 3 Teach The Fight for Women’s Rights Talk About It • Why do you think most Americans in the 1800s believed that women should stay out of public life? (Society at that time believed women were incapable of governing their own lives— women had few rights. They were treated as children. Husbands had legal control over their wives’ property and wages.) • Why didn’t suffrage win unanimous approval at the Seneca Falls Convention? What argument convinced delegates to approve the resolution by a slim margin? (Some delegates thought women would be laughed at for advocating suffrage. The resolution was approved after it was pointed out that the right to vote would give women political power to win other rights.) (top left) In 2004, a visitor to the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center squeezes into a replica of the box in which Henry Brown escaped slavery. (top right) This 19th-century print from Brown’s autobiography shows his arrival in Philadelphia. What dangers did people such as Brown face in trying to escape from slavery? Answer: Runaway slaves risked being caught and severely punished. Some, like Brown, could have been injured or killed during their journeys. • Causes and Effects What incident disrupted the World Anti-Slavery Convention? What important effect did this event have on the women’s rights movement? (Women were not allowed to take part in the convention. Barred from speaking, women were forced to sit behind a curtain. This incident spurred Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton to plan the Seneca Falls Convention for women’s rights.) The Fight for Women’s Rights KEY QUESTION What rights were women fighting for in the mid-1800s? Some white abolitionist women had begun to realize that their own rights were extremely limited. In 1840, an incident at a major antislavery convention in London helped launch the U.S. movement for women’s rights. were two leading women abolitionists. Mott and Stanton were part of an American delegation that attended the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London in 1840. Although the women in the delegation had much to say, they were not allowed to participate in the convention or speak in public. Instead, they had to sit silent behind a heavy curtain. To show his support, the famed abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison joined them. He said, “After battling so many long years for the liberties of African slaves, I can take no part in a convention that strikes down the most sacred rights of all women.” But most Americans agreed that women should stay out of public life. Women in the 1800s possessed few legal or political rights. Few could vote, sit on juries, or hold public office. Many laws treated women—especially married women—as children. Single women had some freedoms, such as being able to manage their own property. But in most states, a husband controlled any property his wife inherited and any wages she might earn. Lucretia and James Mott 468 • Chapter 14 SUMMARIZE List the methods abolitionists used to fight against slavery. Answer: Abolitionists passed antislavery laws and wrote and lectured against slavery. Some helped enslaved persons to escape. Women Reformers Face Barriers Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton More About . . . Lucretia Coffin Mott and her husband, James Mott, were ardently opposed to slavery. They boycotted all goods produced by slave labor, including sugar and molasses. They gave their children special candy made with free labor, although they all agreed it did not taste very good. Lucretia Mott spoke in Quaker meetings about her refusal to use slave products. James Mott, however, was in the cotton business and feared that his family would sink into poverty if he gave it up. In 1830, he finally decided he could no longer deal in cotton. He switched his business to wool and became quite successful. Great Escapes Some escapes by enslaved persons became famous. In 1848, Ellen Craft disguised herself as a white man while her husband, William, pretended to be her slave. Together they traveled more than 1,000 miles, by train and steamboat, from slavery in Georgia to freedom in the North. In 1849, Henry Brown had a white carpenter pack him in a box and ship him to Philadelphia. The box was two and one half feet deep, two feet wide, and three feet long. It bore the label “This side up with care.” Nevertheless, Brown spent several miserable hours traveling head down. At the end of about 27 hours, “Box” Brown climbed out a free man in Philadelphia. 468 Chapter 14 DIFFERENTIATING INSTRUCTION Struggling Readers Gifted & Talented Identify Basic Rights for Women Write a Play on the Seneca Falls Convention Create a list on the board of different areas of everyday life and talk about which rights are guaranteed for all women today that had been denied in the mid-1800s. The list might include the following: employment (control of wages), housing (ownership of property), and politics (voting, sitting on juries, holding office). Have groups of students write a short play that dramatizes the planning of the Seneca Falls Convention. The play should express the women’s reasons why the convention was needed, as well as ways in which their ideas should be presented at the convention. Invite students to present their plays to the class. The Seneca Falls Convention After the World Anti-Slavery Convention, Stanton and Mott decided it was time to demand not only freedom for enslaved people, but equality for women. They made up their minds to plan a convention for women’s rights after they returned to the United States. On July 19 and 20, 1848, Stanton and Mott headed the Seneca Falls Convention for women’s rights in Seneca Falls, New York. It was the world’s first convention on the rights of women. It attracted about 300 women and men, including the wellknown abolitionist Frederick Douglass. Before the meeting opened, a small group of planners discussed how they would present their ideas. The planners wrote a document modeled on the Declaration of Independence. They called it the Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions. Just as the Declaration of Independence said that “All men are created equal,” the Declaration of Sentiments stated that “All men and women are created equal.” It went on to list several statements of opinion, or resolutions. Then it concluded with Elizabeth Cady Stanton a demand for rights. CHAPTER 14 • SECTION 3 More About . . . The Seneca Falls Convention Although Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton had talked about a women’s rights meeting when they first met at the World Anti-Slavery Convention in 1840, the actual planning for the meeting began in Waterloo, New York, on July 13, 1848, only days before it was held. Stanton, who lived in Seneca Falls, visited with the Motts, Jane Hunt, Mary Ann McClintock, and Mott’s sister, Martha Wright. Stanton voiced her frustration over the injustices toward women that she experienced and witnessed. History Makers Stanton (pictured with one of her children) had long known that the world could be unfair to women. Her father was a lawyer who had many women clients. Some faced poverty because laws gave a married woman’s money to her husband, who could lose it to drink or gambling. Women who divorced often lost the right to see their children. As an adult, Stanton fought to change laws that affected women, and strongly believed that the ability to vote would help women to ensure their rights. Stanton was a persuasive lecturer and writer. During a career that lasted half a century, she recruited many to her cause. PRIMARY SOURCE “ 1815–1902 Now, in view of this entire disenfranchisement [denying the right to vote] of one-half the people of this country, their social and religious degradation—in view of the unjust laws above mentioned, and because women do feel themselves aggrieved, oppressed, and fraudulently deprived of their most sacred rights, we insist that they have immediate admission to all the rights and privileges which belong to them as citizens of the United States. ” Over the course of two days, the women agreed to hold a meeting to present their grievances, selected a location and dates, and created an announcement for the local newspaper. They also drafted the resolutions to be presented at the convention. The tea table around which they drafted their ideas now resides in the Smithsonian Institution. Unit 5 Resource Book • Primary and Secondary Sources, p. 166 —Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions, 1848 RESEARCH & Every resolution won unanimous approval suffrage, or the right to from the group except suffrage vote. Some argued that the public would laugh at women if they asked for the vote. But Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Frederick Douglass fought for the resolution. They argued that the right to vote would give women political power that would help them win other rights. The resolution for suffrage won by a slim margin. CRITICAL THINKING 1. Draw Conclusions Why did Stanton want women to have more legal rights? 2. Form and Support Opinions Do you agree with Stanton about the importance of voting? Explain. ONLINE BIOGRAPHY For more on Elizabeth Cady Stanton, go to the Research & Writing Center @ ClassZone.com A New Spirit of Change 469 INTERDISCIPLINARY ACTIVITIES CONNECT to Art CONNECT to Language Arts Create a Picture of the Convention Deliver a Declaration of Rights Have students draw their own visual representation of a scene from the Seneca Falls Convention. They can make up a scene or base one on a visual found in a historical source. Drawings should be accompanied by a caption that describes the event that is taking place and the participants featured. Display the drawings around the room, using them to discuss the events and issues related to this historic meeting. Encourage students to memorize the excerpt featured on this page from the Declaration issued at the Seneca Falls Convention and to practice delivering it. To dramatize word meaning, ask students to concentrate on the following: • tone • pacing • inflection • volume Go online to explore WRITING CENTER more of the heated debate at ClassZone.com History Makers Elizabeth Cady Stanton Find links to biographies of Elizabeth Cady Stanton at the Research and Writing Center @ ClassZone.com. When Henry B. Stanton, Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s husband, learned of his wife’s intention to advocate women’s suffrage at the Seneca Falls Convention, he threatened to boycott the meeting and leave town. He subsequently followed through on both of those vows. CRITICAL THINKING ANSWERS 1. Draw Conclusions Possible Answer: because she observed the abuses women suffered as a result of being denied certain basic legal rights 2. Form and Support Opinions Most students should agree that voting is one way in which all citizens can have a voice in influencing government. Invite students to deliver the declaration for the class. Teacher’s Edition • 469
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