Seneca Falls Convention

175 years ago, the Seneca Falls Convention kicked off the fight for women's suffrage – an iconic moment deeply shaped by Quaker beliefs on gender and equality

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, July 18, 2023

The Seneca Falls Convention resulted in the Declaration of Sentiments, a document modeled on the U.S.

Key Points: 
  • The Seneca Falls Convention resulted in the Declaration of Sentiments, a document modeled on the U.S.
  • Four of the convention’s five leaders belonged to this Protestant Christian group, also known as the Religious Society of Friends, whose ideas and community deeply shaped the meeting.
  • This belief led Quakers to recognize women as spiritual leaders, distinguishing them from many other religious groups at the time.

Women’s souls and service

    • As Quaker historian and theologian Ben Pink Dandelion notes, “This intimacy with Christ, this relationship of direct revelation,” has defined Quakerism ever since.
    • The belief in the “inward light” led Fox and others to encourage women’s spiritual leadership.
    • Quakers also established meetings to oversee church business, such as approving marriages, recording births and deaths, and enforcing the faith’s discipline.

Spreading the faith

    • Fox believed women might be reluctant to speak up in the company of men, even though they were men’s spiritual equals.
    • In their business meetings, Quaker women oversaw relief for the poor, appointed committees to visit women who had strayed from church teachings, and testified on spiritual and social concerns.
    • Quakerism attracted a significant number of female converts, some of whom took an active role in spreading the faith.

Acting on faith

    • Indeed, Quakers’ commitment to equality and community led many men and women to become social activists – but not without controversy.
    • Some saw activism as a natural manifestation of Quaker beliefs, but others feared that it threatened the group’s spiritual unity.
    • Congregational Friends believed their faith required them to take steps toward abolishing slavery, and many also felt compelled to seek rights for women.

‘Simply human rights’

    • She and Mott had met during the World’s Anti-Slavery Convention in 1848, held in London, where British organizers refused to recognize the American female delegates because of their gender.
    • Although the women agreed on the necessity of a women’s rights convention, they disagreed on the form and content.
    • Ultimately, the Seneca Falls Convention produced the Declaration of Sentiments, which celebrated women’s worthiness, criticized their subjugation and articulated the rights they deserved.
    • Real change, she believed, would require going to the root of the problem: “mindless tradition and savage greed.” As Mott would later note, “Among Quakers there had never been any talk of woman’s rights – it was simply human rights.”

“We the People” includes all Americans – but July 4 is a reminder that democracy remains a work in progress

Retrieved on: 
Friday, June 30, 2023

The United States’ founders firmly rejected King George III and the entire idea of monarchy 247 years ago, on July 4, 1776.

Key Points: 
  • The United States’ founders firmly rejected King George III and the entire idea of monarchy 247 years ago, on July 4, 1776.
  • Political power does not come from some absolute authority of a king over people, the founders argued.
  • America’s founders did not trust everyone’s ability to equally participate in the new democracy, as laws at the time showed.

First steps

    • “Few men, who have no property, have any judgment of their own,” as former President John Adams wrote in 1776.
    • As activists – including some women and Black Americans – proclaimed their equality, public education spread, and social thinking shifted.
    • Congress passed the 15th Amendment in 1870, giving Black men and others the right to vote, regardless of race.

An unfinished history

    • State lawmakers also used bureaucratic measures, such as a poll tax, renewed attempts at a property requirement and literacy tests, to prevent African Americans from voting.
    • In the 1960s, Congress passed additional legal measures to protect the voting rights of Black Americans.
    • This included the 24th Amendment, which outlawed the use of poll taxes, and the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which prohibited any racial discrimination in voting.

Women’s turn


    In 1920, women gained the right to vote with the addition of the 19th Amendment, following another decadeslong struggle. Women’s rights activists made the first organized call for female suffrage at the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848. In the following years, suffragists pushed for constitutional amendments, state laws and a change in public thinking to include women in “We the People.”

Native American rights

    • While that supposedly gave Native Americans the same rights as other Americans, Native Americans faced the same tactics, like violence, that white racists used to prevent Black Americans from voting.
    • Like other people excluded from “We the People,” Native Americans have continued to push for voting rights and other ways to ensure they are included in American self-government.

Making democracy more democratic

    • The ongoing Vietnam War shifted public opinion, and there was popular support for the idea that someone old enough to die fighting for their country should also be able to vote.
    • Social equality remains far off for many people, including undocumented immigrants, for example, and LGBTQ+ individuals.

Current limitations to ‘We the People’

    • While some states have passed new laws that make it harder to vote in recent years, other states have made it easier.
    • North Carolina passed new ID requirements in April 2023 that make it difficult for those without current state identification to vote.
    • Twenty-five states, meanwhile, including Hawaii and Delaware, have passed laws over the last few years that make it easier to vote.

The big picture

    • People can be respected at work, paid what they are worth and treated with dignity.
    • Community members can be treated fairly by police, school officials and other authorities, given an equal opportunity for justice and education to improve their lives.

Seneca Women and Gemini's Nifty Gateway Partner to Celebrate Women In NFTs and Web3 Through The Seneca Women Equality Collection Drop

Retrieved on: 
Monday, April 18, 2022

NEW YORK, April 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Seneca Women, a global leadership and media platform, is partnering with Gemini-owned Nifty Gateway, a premier marketplace for NFTs, to launch a special collection of NFTs titled The Seneca Women Equality Collection. The collection celebrates female artists and showcases their artistic vision of a world where equality prevails. Seneca Women will invest a portion of the sale proceeds in other women-led Web3 projects.

Key Points: 
  • NEW YORK, April 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Seneca Women , a global leadership and media platform, is partnering with Gemini-owned Nifty Gateway , a premier marketplace for NFTs, to launch a special collection of NFTs titled The Seneca Women Equality Collection.
  • Aligning to Seneca Women's mission of advancing women in the economy and supporting women creators, a select group of women digital artists were invited by Seneca Women and Nifty Gateway to contribute limited edition artworks that represent each artist's unique vision of equality.
  • Together, these artworks will comprise The Seneca Women Equality Collection.
  • "We are thrilled to partner with Nifty Gateway, Gemini and these exceptional women artists on The Seneca Women Equality Collection, which we hope will bring more women into Web3 and help us all envision a world where equality prevails."

Women's Equality Day Challenge: Do You Know These 5 Notable AAPI Women?

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, August 25, 2021

Women in the Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) community did not achieve equality on August 26.

Key Points: 
  • Women in the Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) community did not achieve equality on August 26.
  • It would be 23 years before Chinese-American women would gain the right to vote, and another nine years later for Japanese-American women.
  • Before the U.S. government granted women the right to vote, the state of California had already done so in 1911.
  • eGirl Power, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, invites you to celebrate Women's Equality Day by supporting its AAPI initiative to dispel stereotypes and the misrepresentation of AAPI females, and unite efforts to #StopAsianIHate.Please visit the eGirl Power AAPI Initiative to learn more about how you can help.

19th Amendment: Women Vote Stamp Commemorates Historic Suffrage Movement

Retrieved on: 
Friday, August 21, 2020

Postal Service, 19th Amendment: Women Vote, commemorates the centennial of the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, guaranteeing women the right to vote.

Key Points: 
  • Postal Service, 19th Amendment: Women Vote, commemorates the centennial of the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, guaranteeing women the right to vote.
  • The stamp honors the suffrage movement and the people who carried it through to fruition.
  • In 1848, the U.S. women's suffrage movement coalesced in Seneca Falls, NY, where 300 women and men gathered for a two-day women's rights convention.
  • Designed by art director Ethel Kessler using art by Nancy Stahl, the stamp includes the words "Women Vote" and "19th Amendment" in shades of purple beneath the image.

HMH Books & Media and The New York Times Collaborate on Nonfiction Project Highlighting the Diverse Women Who Fought for Voting Rights

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, March 24, 2020

will center on the often-overlooked women from marginalized backgrounds who worked to secure voting rights for women.

Key Points: 
  • will center on the often-overlooked women from marginalized backgrounds who worked to secure voting rights for women.
  • "It took nearly three-quarters of a century from Seneca Falls to ratification for women to win the vote," said Veronica Chambers.
  • Versify senior executive editor Margaret Raymo acquired North American rights from Kim Witherspoon of InkWell Management Literary Agency, who represented The New York Times.
  • The New York Times Company (NYSE:NYT) is a global media organization dedicated to enhancing society by creating, collecting, and distributing high-quality news and information.