14.3 part 3

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