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The Movement of Womens Rights in the United States

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The movement for women's rights in the United States can be traced back to the late 18th and early 19th centuries. First-wave feminism refers to the feminist movement of the 19th through early 20th centuries, which focused mainly on women's suffrage, or right to vote.
During the early part of the 19th century, agitation for equal suffrage was carried on by only a few individuals. The first of these was Frances Wright, a Scottish woman who came to the country in 1826 and advocated women's suffrage in an extensive series of lectures. In 1836 Ernestine Rose, a Polish woman, came to the country and carried on a similar campaign so effectively that she obtained a personal hearing before the New York Legislature, though her petition bore only five signatures. In 1840, Lucretia Mott and Margaret Fuller became active in Boston, the latter being the author of the book The Great Lawsuit; Man vs. Woman. Gerrit Smith, who was the Liberty Party's candidate for President in 1848, successfully championed a plank in his party's position calling for women's equal rights.
Conventions and Resolutions
The first women's rights convention was held in Seneca Falls, New York, in July of 1848. The Seneca Falls Convention was hosted by Lucretia Mott, Mary Ann M'Clintock and Elizabeth Cady Stanton (Figure 1); some three hundred attended including Frederick Douglass, who stood up to speak in favor of women's suffrage. After two days of discussion and debate, 68 women and 32 men signed a Declaration of Sentiments, which outlined grievances and set the agenda for the women's rights movement. A set of 12 resolutions was adopted, calling for equal treatment of women and men under the law and voting rights for women.
Another advocate of women's rights was Lucy Stone (Figure 2). She met with Paulina Kellogg Wright Davis, Abby Kelley Foster, William Lloyd Garrison, Wendell Phillips and six other

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