Central Question: Were the voices of all women involved in the Women's Rights Movement represented in the 1848 Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments?

Abstract

Print, A downright gabbler, or a goose that deserves to be hissed, 1829

Textbooks cite a number of changes affecting women in antebellum America and attempt to link them to the striking participation of women in reform movements. These accounts, however, commonly focus on the emergence of a Women's Rights movement after an 1848 Convention in Seneca Falls, NY, that produced a stirring Declaration of Sentiments. That focus may serve the pedagogical purpose of helping connect past to present, but it comes at the expense of understanding the greater diversity of women's lives, reform activities, and perspectives on the world.

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