The road to Seneca Falls: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the First Woman's Rights Convention

Judith Wellman

University of Illinois Press, 2004 - Biography & Autobiography - 297 pages

Feminists from 1848 to the present have rightly viewed the Seneca Falls convention as the birth of the women's rights movement in the United States and beyond. In The Road To Seneca Falls, Judith Wellman offers the first well documented, full-length account of this historic meeting in its contemporary context. The convention succeeded by uniting powerful elements of the antislavery movement, radical Quakers, and the campaign for legal reform under a common cause. Wellman shows that these three strands converged not only in Seneca Falls, but also in the life of women's rights pioneer Elizabeth Cady Stanton. It is this convergence, she argues, that foments one of the greatest rebellions of modern times. Rather than working heavy-handedly downward from their official "Declaration of Sentiments," Wellman works upward from richly detailed documentary evidence to construct a complex tapestry of causes that lay behind the convention, bringing the struggle to life. Her approach results in a satisfying combination of social, community, and reform history with individual and collective biographical elements. The Road to Seneca Falls challenges all of us to reflect on what it means to be an American trying to implement the belief that "all men and women are created equal," both then and now. A fascinating story in its own right, it is also a seminal piece of scholarship for anyone interested in history, politics, or gender.

What people are saying

Review: The Road to Seneca Falls: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the First Woman's Rights Convention (Women in American History)

User Review  - Veronica - Goodreads

I haven't read this whole book, but am citing it in an entry for the forthcoming Encyclopedia of Motherhood essay I am writing. The few bits of this book I have read have been really good. It focuses ...

Review: The Road to Seneca Falls: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the First Woman's Rights Convention (Women in American History)

User Review  - Hapzydeco - Goodreads

Students interested in researching the roots of the Women's Rights Movement will find this examination of Stanton and the 1848 Woman's Rights Convention at Seneca Falls, New York an excellent place to ...

Contents

• Growing Up 181535: 17
• Antislavery: 36
• Seneca Falls and Waterloo: 65
• Quaker Traditions in a Changing World: 91
• Abolitionist Ferment: 121
• Women and Legal Reform in New York State: 135
• Adversity and Transcendence June 1847June 1848: 157
• Declaring Womans Rights July 1848: 183
• The Road from Seneca Falls 18481982: 209

Bibliographic information

• Title: The road to Seneca Falls: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the First Woman's Rights Convention; Women in American history
• Author: Judith Wellman
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: University of Illinois Press, 2004
• ISBN: 0252071735, 9780252071737
• Length: 297 pages
• Subjects: Biography & Autobiography / Women; History / United States / 19th Century; Social Science / Women's Studies