Five Things to Know About the Declaration of Sentiments
Women’s historians all over the United States had reason to pay attention during Hillary Clinton’s speech in Brooklyn last night. Personal politics aside, the night was a history-making one—as the presumptive Democratic nominee, Clinton has now become the first woman from a major party to win enough delegates to secure her party’s nomination. But there was another reason for the excitement: During her speech, Clinton made mention of the Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments. “A small but determined group of women, and men, came together with the idea that women deserved equal rights,” she said. “It was the first time in human history that that kind of declaration occurred."
Why would a potential President name-drop a 168-year-old document? Here’s what you should know about the Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions that was passed at the Seneca Falls Convention on women’s rights:
It has its roots in a dispute over seating
Strangely enough, the struggle for women’s rights and, eventually, women’s suffrage in America began with a blowup over seating. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott met when they were whisked off to a roped-off, women’s-only seating section at the 1840 World Anti-Slavery Convention. The convention had been thrown into chaos at the news that American women intended to vote, serve on committees and even speak at the convention, and in response they were shunted off to a section that was out of the view of men. Irate at their treatment, Stanton and Mott began to plot a convention of their own—this time, to address the state of women.
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/five-things-know-about-declaration-sentiments-180959352/?no-ist
