US History
Fort Burrows
15.3 -- A Call for Women’s Rights
Seneca Falls Convention - an 1848 meeting at which leaders of the women’s rights movement called for equal rights for women
Women’s Rights Movement - an organized campaign to win property, education, and other rights for women
delegate – person who acts for or represents others
inferior – less important or worthy
persuasive logic – convincing argument in favor of one side of an issue
resolution – opinion about an issue made by a formal organization
ridicule – to mock or make fun of
suffrage – the right to vote
Hudson River School – group of American artists who painted landscapes of New York’s Hudson River Valley in the mid–1800s
transcendentalist – member of the small, influential group of New England writers
and thinkers who believed that the most important truths in life transcended, or went beyond human reason
individualism – concept that stresses the importance of each individual
civil disobedience – idea that people have a right to disobey laws they consider to be unjust if their consciences demand it
critic – person who opposes the views of others
fugitive – person running away from arrest or punishment
idealize – to think of or imagine something as perfect
material wealth – possessions or money
As you have read, Sarah and Angelina Grimké became very powerful speakers against slavery and eventually FOR Women’s Rights. However, their bold activities shocked many people, including some male abolitionists. Many ministers refused to let the Grimkés speak in their churches. One minister did allow them to speak – but left as soon as he introduced them. He announced that he would rather rob a chicken coop than hear a woman speak in public. A friend of the Grimkés made fun of such attitudes in a poem:
“ They’ve taken a notion to speak for themselves, …
And are wielding the tongue and the pen;
They’ve mounted the rostrum; the quarrelsome elves! …
And – oh horrid – are talking to men!”
Mary Chapman, “The Times That Try Men ‘s Souls”
More determined than ever, the Grimkés continued their crusade. “Can you not see,” Angelina asked one abolitionist, “that woman could do and would do a hundred times more than a slave, if she were not fettered?” Now, however, the Grimkés had a second topic to lecture about: women’s rights.
Seeking Equal Rights
By the mid-1800s, women still had few political or legal rights; they could not vote or hold office
When a woman married, her husband became the owner of all her property
All her earned wages belonged to her husband
A husband had the legal right to hit his woman…as long as he did not seriouslyinjure her
Women, like the Grimkes sisters, joined the abolitionist movement
As they worked for slave’s rights, they realized that women lacked FULL social / political rights
Black and white, man and woman, joined together to fight for women’s rights
Sojourner Truth
Black woman that told the truth about women working as hard as a man
Born a slave in New York, she became the most effective women’s rights leader
Her original name was Isabella; she believed that GOD wanted her to
sojourn, or travel, across the land speaking the truth
After she gained freedom from slavery, she changed her name to Sojourner Truth
Her words were seldom written but her message spread by word of mouth
Truth ridiculed the idea that women were inferior to men…
“I have as much muscle as any man, and can do as much work as any man. I have plowed and reaped and husked and chopped and mowed, and can any man do more work than that?” Sojourner Truth, speech at Akron’s Women’s Rights Convention, 1851
An American ProfileElizabeth Cady Stanton
1815 - 1902
Elizabeth Cady’s first memory was of an adult visitor sympathizing with her parents on the birth of her younger sister. Another girl!!! Witty, energetic Elizabeth was viewed as a rebellious daughter who loved riding horses, detested sewing, and enjoyed spending time in her father’s office. There, the clerks teased her by reading aloud laws that denied basic rights to women.
In 1839, Cady met abolitionist Henry Stanton. At their wedding ceremony, the couple removed the ‘obey’ from their vows. Elizabeth Cady Stanton chose to obey only her sense of right and wrong.
In July 1848 more than 300 men and women assembled in Seneca Falls, New York, for the nation's first women's rights convention. Elizabeth Cady Stanton documented the historic 1848 meeting by compiling this scrapbook of contemporary newspaper clippings.
Stanton, thirty-two years old at the time of the Seneca Falls Convention, grew gray in the cause. / Cady and her daughter, Harriot, 1856
In 1851 she met temperance worker Susan B. Anthony, and shortly the two would be joined in the long struggle to secure the vote for women. Stanton and Anthony were actually very close as friends. They had many outings and would spend time together a lot, just like any other best friends would do!
Mott and Stanton
Influential women’s rights abolitionists; Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Mott, a Quaker, was a quiet speaker
She influenced listeners with her persuasive logic
Very organized, she set up petition drives across the North
Stanton, daughter of a New York judge
She was an excellent student and athlete
She never received much attention from her father; she once said,
“father would have felt a proper pride had I been a man”
In 1840, the two women tried to join the World Antislavery Convention in London
The officials refused to let women take an active role at the meeting; female delegates were forced to sit behind a curtain, hidden from view
Seneca Falls Convention – July 19-20, 1848
While in London, Mott and Stanton, began thinking about a convention in the United States to draw attention to the problems women faced
"The men…had shown a great need for some education on that question”; the question of women’s rights
To be discussed at Seneca Falls Convention
Women Are Created Equal
Delegates approved a Declaration of Sentiments; modeled after our own Declaration of Independence
We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal
Declaration of Sentiments demanded equality for women at work, at school,
and at church
One resolution met opposition; the demand that women be allowed to vote
There was delegate hesitation, but in the end, the resolution narrowly passed
A Long Struggle
The convention started the campaign for women’s rights movement
In comes Susan B Anthony; she traveled across the country and was a ‘tireless’ speaker
Hecklers and egg chunkers never stopped her from finishing her speech
Women did gain legal rights in some states
New York passed laws allowing married women to keep ‘their’property and the earned
wages (pre-married)
The struggle for equal rights would continue for many more years
¿¿ What was the significance of the Seneca Falls Convention ?
______
New Opportunities in Education
At the convention, women agreed education was a key,
“The girl must be allowed to romp and play, climb, skate, and swim. Her clothing must be more like those of the boy – strong, loose-fitting garments, thick boots… She must be taught to look forward to a life of self-dependence and, like the boy, prepare herself for some profitable trade profession.” Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Letter, 1851
Women from poor families had little hope in learning to read
Middle class women were taught to dance and draw; not science or math
Women were expected to care for their families; why did they need an education?
New Careers
Some men’s colleges began to admit women
Women became more educated; they began teaching, especially in elementary, grade schools
Elizabeth Blackwell attended a medical school; Geneva College in New York
Blackwell was the 1stUS woman to earn a medical degree
She helped found the 1st medical school for women
Maria Mitchell was an astronomer
Sarah Josepha Hale was editor for Godey’s Lady Book; a magazine for women
Antoinette Blackwell, 1st American woman to be ordained a minister
She campaigned for abolitionism, temperance, and women’s right to vote
15.4 -- American Art and Literature
“How hard you’re working today, tomorrow will give you back.
If tomorrow you don’t see much success, it’s because today you’re not working hard enough”
David Tran, April 2016
American Painters
♣ Before 1800, most American painters studied in Europe
♣ Benjamin West, of Philadelphia, was appointed as the historical painter for King George III
♣ Two of West’s students, Charles Wilson Peale and Gilbert Stuart, painted famous portraits of George Washington
♣ In the mid-1800s, American artists developed their own style; they were known as
the Hudson River School
♣ Asher B Durand and Thomas Cole painted New York’s Hudson River Region
♣ African American, Robert S Duncanson learned the Hudson River School style
♣ George Caleb Bingham from Missouri, painted frontier life along the rivers that fed into Ole’ Man River ( Mississippi River )
♣ George Catlin and Alfred Jacob Miller painted daily life of Indians on the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains
♣ Hudson River School – creator of natural landscape of the United States
The “Inner Light”
♦ In New England, a group of writers and thinkers called themselves transcendentalists; the most important truths went beyond human reason
♦ They believed individuals should live up to their divine possibilities; support social reform
Emerson
♦ Ralph Waldo Emerson was the most popular essayist and lecturer of his day
♠ He spoke on self-reliance and human character
♣ He believed civilization provided wealth, but nature exhibited higher values that came from GOD
♥ individualism; each person had an inner light to guide their lives and improve society
♦ He wrote, “Trust thyself, every heart vibrates to that iron string”
Thoreau
♦ Henry David Thoreau ( thuh ROW ) believed the growth of industry and cities were
ruining the nation
♠ He urged people to live simply and close to nature
♥ Individuals must decide right from wrong
*** Still very important today for CMSE 8th Graders to hear
♦ “If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he
hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music he hears.”
♠ Thoreau’s different drummer told him slavery was wrong
♣ He favored civil disobedience
♥ Sent to jail for not paying taxes; taxes to be used for the Mexican War
♦ His writings influenced Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr;
Civildisobedience with nonviolence
1. Why did some women call for equal rights in the 1800’s ______
2. What goals were set at the Seneca Falls convention?
______
3. How did women win new educational opportunities?
______
4 How did American painters develop their own style of painting? ______
5. Why was the “Inner light” important to Emerson and Thoreau?
______
1 of Printer Notes 15D = 15.3 + 15.4 MAR 2017