About the Suffrage Movement

In 1848, a group of women — including Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton — met for tea and discussed their discontent with the limitations placed on women under America’s new democracy. That tea is seen as the beginning of the women’s rights movement.

On July 19 – 20, 1848, the convention — that was planned at the tea — was held in Seneca Falls, New York to “discuss the social, civil, and religious condition and rights of women.” (Seneca County Courier) At the convention, both women and men shared ideas on how to improve the status of women in the United States. Among those who attended where Amy Post, Mary Ann McClintock, and Frederick Douglass. The Declaration of Sentiments was drafted and presented by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, based on the Declaration of Independence written by Thomas A. Jefferson. The Declaration of Sentiments states: “We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men and women are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Along with the Declaration of Sentiments, 12 resolutions were discussed and adopted by the convention. (68 women and 32 men debated and signed the documents.)

Out of the women’s rights movement came the desire for women to have the right to vote. Thus the suffrage movement was born. View images of suffrage postcards and parades.

The women and men who campaigned to give women the right to vote often participated in other reform movements such as abolition (the elimination of slavery), temperance (diminishing or stopping the use of alcoholic liquors as a beverage), and dress reform. Thus it is difficult to talk about the suffrage movement without acknowledging the other reform movements of that time.

While many fought to give women the right to vote, others — called anti-suffragists — believed that only men should be able to vote. View images of anti-suffrage postcards.

Susan B. Anthony joined the suffrage movement in the early 1850s and became one of the movement’s strongest advocates. Although she and others worked tirelessly to gain support for women’s suffrage, it was not until 1920 that women were given the right to vote in all U.S. elections.

Susan B. Anthony lived most of her life in Rochester, New York. Rochester is part of the region in New York State that gave birth to many of the reform movements. Thus there are women and men in the Rochester region who were important to the suffrage movement. This Internet site celebrates their lives and contributions.