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Women's Rights: Seneca Falls
Women initiated their push for full participation in society
over 150 years ago at the first Women's Rights Convention.


The Declaration of Sentiments is engraved on the 100 foot long waterwall in Seneca Falls' Declaration Park.
Seneca Falls, New York, has never been a big place, but the ideas first voiced in a national forum here led to big changes in the everyday lives of women. Opposition to slavery brought two of the movement's leaders together. In 1840 newlyweds Elizabeth Cady Stanton and her husband attended the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London where Elizabeth met Philadelphian Lucretia Mott, a Quaker teacher and convention delegate. The two agreed on many issues and became fast friends.

Eight years later, at a tea party in Waterloo, two miles from Seneca Falls, Stanton and Mott met activists Mary Ann McClintock and Martha Wright. The four decided to hold the first Women's Rights Convention in Seneca Falls five days later, on July 19. Despite short notice, 300 people made their way to Seneca Falls' Wesleyan Church to propose equality for
The cry for women's rights still echoes in Seneca Falls at Women's Rights National Historical Park.
women. The national and international press ridiculed the meeting and inadvertently helped spread the word.

Susan B. Anthony joined the movement when she came to Seneca Falls in 1851 for an anti-slavery meeting and met Stanton. Stanton had eight children and could not travel, but Anthony was single, and she could and did devote herself to working for women's rights. In 1923 the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution was proposed in Seneca Falls at the annual convention of the National Woman's Party.



The cry for women's rights still echoes in Seneca Falls at Women's Rights National Historical Park. At its entrance stand bronze statues of the major participants. Outside the main exhibit area is a water wall with the 1848 convention's Declaration of Sentiments engraved in it. The remains of the Wesleyan Chapel have been preserved, and you can visit Stanton's house and McClintock's house (in Waterloo). There's also the National Women's Hall of Fame and the Seneca Falls Historical Society in a Victorian mansion. Some say the town was the model for Bedford Falls in the movie It's a Wonderful Life. Take a look around and see what you think.

Seneca Falls is east of Rochester off I-90 in the Fingerlakes District. The National Historical Park is open daily 9:00-5:00 except Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's; there is an admission charge. Call (315) 568-2991 for more information, or find the website at www.nps.gov/wori. For Seneca County visitor information call (800) 732-1848.


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Photo: National Park Service
Image: Photo: National Park Service