On July 19, 1848, one of the earliest women’s rights conventions, the Seneca Falls Convention, began in Seneca Falls, New York. The Seneca Falls Convention was organized by local New York women upon a visit by Boston-based Lucretia Mott, a well-known and influential speaker and women’s rights activist. The local women who organized the convention were primarily members of a radical Quaker group, to which Mott also belonged. Several other prominent activists of the time, including Elizabeth Cady Stanton, helped to plan the convention. In total, around 300 men and women attended the convention.

The Seneca Convention began on July 19, 1848 and spanned two days. Six sessions were held over the course of the convention, including a lecture on law and multiple discussions about the role of women in society. Stanton and the other women presented a document, called the Declaration of Sentiments, which was based on the form and tone of the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration set forth a list of resolutions, which were to be debated and modified before being put forward for signatures. The most controversial resolution regarded women’s right to vote, and several debates regarding the subject sprang up over the two day convention. In the end, the resolution for suffrage remained in the Declaration. Of the 300 attendees, 100 signed the resolutions.

The Seneca Falls Convention was a beginning of the struggle by women for complete equality with men, and became known as the moment when the push for women’s suffrage first gained national prominence.