LAD #9: Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments

The Seneca Falls Convention was a group of men and women, mostly women, who gather in order to draft a document calling for women’s suffrage. The leaders were Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, but other men attended such as Frederick Douglass. This meant reform for laws about marital and property ownership would have to be revised, therefore making the women equal politically when it came to suffrage. With the Declaration of Independence as its model, the people drafted the “Declaration of Sentiments.” The writers started the document by declaring that women were equal to men, much like how the US declared themselves independent. Then the women listed the grievances about the wrongdoings of men in the past, much like how the US stated the wrongdoings of the king. They also listed why the women of this country should be granted suffrage. This convention started the spread of the idea of women’s suffrage. This was the first of many other conventions that spread across the country. The Declaration caused turmoil among the citizens therefore some people didn’t support it because of the separation it caused.