Rochester Women's Rights Convention of 1848

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Plaque for the Rochester Women's Rights Convention of 1848
The location of the convention in 2011

The Rochester Women's Rights Convention of 1848 (German women's rights assembly of 1848 in Rochester ) took place on August 2, 1848 in Rochester in western New York State . Many of the organizers had attended the Seneca Falls Convention , the first women's rights gathering that had taken place two weeks earlier in Seneca Falls, New York , a small town not far away. Because it was kind of a continuation, it is also called the “Adjourned Convention in Rochester”.

The Rochester Congregation elected a woman, Abigail Bush, to lead the meeting. It was the first time in the United States that a public congregation composed of men and women did so. This controversial move was even considered wrong by some of the leading participants. The assembly approved the Declaration of Sentiments adopted at the Seneca Falls Convention, including the controversial demand for women's suffrage. It also discussed the rights of working women and steps were taken that led to the establishment of a local association to support these rights.

history

background

Early feminists had to grapple with the prevailing view that a woman was obliged to talk her husband or another male relative in public affairs for themselves and their cause. There was bitter opposition to the idea that women were allowed to express their opinions in front of promiscuous audiences. This name was given to the meetings in which both women and men were present. 1837 "was Congregational Church " of Massachusetts , who had much influence in that country, a pastoral letter to all municipalities out of, arguing that this would tarnish the "female personality with far-reaching and lasting stain" strongly condemned this practice.

Despite this opposition, a small but growing group of women insisted on the right to public speech, especially when it came to opposition to slavery. Some male abolitionists favored it, while others refused to accept it. Arguments over the role of women caused a disruption in the abolitionism movement and a split in the 1848 congregation.

The Assembly

Abigail Bush

Two weeks after the Seneca Falls Convention , some of the attendees organized a follow-up meeting in Rochester, a town not far to the west and the residence of some reform activists. Like the previous meeting, the Rochester meeting was open to anyone interested. Lucretia Mott , who spoke so impressively in Seneca Falls, stayed in the area to take part in this follow-up event.

The organizers had already met the day before to set up an event management; in disagreement, they proposed Abigail Bush as President. On August 2, 1848, the meeting began at the First Unitarian Church of Rochester, which was completely overcrowded. Amy Post opened the meeting and read out the names of the proposed meeting committee. A woman's presidency was rejected by several women, who considered this to be too great a risk. The Seneca Falls Convention stuck to the tradition of male president and leader. But despite the objections of the most prominent participants, the Rochester Convention elected Abigail Bush as president. It was a historic event: for the first time in United States history, a woman presided over a congregation composed of men and women.

She led the meeting in a competent manner and quickly dispelled doubts about the wisdom of this congregation appointment. And this also meant the end of the perception that women needed a man to chair their meetings. Four years later, Mott was the president of the Third National Women's Rights Convention in Syracuse.

The convention was quick to approve the Declaration of Sentiments that had been passed in the Seneca Falls Convention , including the requirement for women to vote. There was also a discussion on the rights of working women. It was about equal pay for equal work. A woman named Roberts was appointed to set up a committee to investigate the conditions of women workers in Rochester. After the meeting, she founded the Woman's Protection Union in Rochester.

Newspaper echo

Newspapers in other cities and towns were quite hostile to the women's rights movement, and the coverage of the local newspapers varied. The Rochester Democrat said "this has been a remarkable gathering ... There has been a great effort to come up with some new, impractical, absurd and ridiculous proposals, and the greater the absurdity the better". He did, however, approve of the steps the congregation had taken to ease the hardship of the workers.

The Rochester Daily Advertiser made some standard comments about men wearing petticoats and women wearing pants. But he noted with approval that the assembly's discussions had shown a tendency towards effective forensic efforts that would rarely have been surpassed.

extra information

Many of the organizers of the meeting were part of a group of Quaker dissidents who had begun to join the First Unitarian Church of Rochester, where the meeting was taking place. This group included the family of Daniel and Lucy Anthony, whose daughter Susan B. Anthony later became the most famous leader of the American women's rights movement.

“Adjourned Convention in Rochester” and the aftermath

The History of Woman Suffrage , the first volume written in 1881 by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Matilda Joslyn Gage, said that attendees at the Seneca Falls Convention knew they had more to discuss . So they adjourned to meet in Rochester two weeks later. That is why it is also called the “Adjourned Convention in Rochester”

The next women's rights convention after Rochester was in Salem, Ohio in April 1850, known as the Ohio Women's Convention at Salem in 1850.

The first in the series of National Women's Rights Conventions met in Worcester, Massachusetts in October 1850.

literature

  • Proceedings of the Woman's Rights Convention, Held at the Unitarian Church, Rochester, NY, August 2, 1848, To Consider the Rights of Woman, Politically, Religiously and Industrially , revised by Amy Post. Part of Proceedings of the Woman's Rights Conventions, Held at Seneca Falls & Rochester, NY, July & August, 1848 , printed by Robert. J. Johnson, New York, 1870.
  • Elizabeth Cady Stanton; Susan B. Anthony and Matilda Joslyn Gage, History of Woman Suffrage . Volume 1 of 6. Rochester, NY, 1881. Susan B. Anthony (Charles Mann Press).
  • Judith Wellman, The Road to Seneca Falls: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the First Women's Rights Convention , University of Illinois Press. 2004. ISBN 0-252-02904-6
  • Sally Gregory McMillen, Seneca Falls and the origins of the women's rights movement. Oxford University Press, 2008. ISBN 0-19-518265-0

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ "Pastoral Letter of the General Association of Massachusetts", 1837. Quoted in Sally Gregory McMillen, Seneca Falls and the origins of the women's rights movement. Oxford University Press, 2008. p. 63. See also pp. 60-67.