Texas Women's Rights Movement

Although the Women’s Rights Movement is widely known to have started in New York, there is no doubt that the women of Texas fought great battles in order to gain civil liberties. Even though women were seen as partners in land labor and expected to contribute during the settlement of Texas, women were seen as unfit and too frail to partake in politics. Orestes Brownson, a religious author and activist of those times stated “We do not believe women . . . are fit to have their own head. Without masculine direction or control, she is out of her element and a social anomaly -- sometimes a hideous monster.” The awakening of the lack of Women’s Rights was not only due to the obvious absence of their presence in any historically important political effort, but also by the courageous women of Texas who formed suffrage organizations. With little to no support from their fellow Americans, these women formed organizations that would invoke patriotism and the idea of equality. The results however lengthy and time consuming were dramatic. Over a span of years the women of

The right to vote was a major, if not the most important issue on the agenda but so was the right to property and Labor Laws. A “Government by the people for the people.” was a term that these women did not take lightly. In the state of Texas these organizations fought for the right for women to hold political office with the same stipulations as men, the right to serve on a jury. The purpose of this paper is to report on the organizations that helped set the course for Texas Women and the right to vote.

The first Women 's Rights Convention was held on July nineteenth in 1848 and lasted two days. The convention occurred as planned, and over the two days, the Declaration of Sentiments and twelve resolutions received agreement and endorsement, one by one, with few amendments. At the convention, debate over the woman 's vote was the main