What Came First Feminist Analysis

What Came First, the Feminist or the Abolitionist? Among the deep and dark history of the human race, two of the most unjust and despicable truths are the inhumane treatments of both African-Americans and women. As the more privileged section of the population continued to discriminate against minorities for both their sex and the color of their skin, it should come as no surprise that these groups decided they had had enough marshaled enough support to fight for their rights. It should not even shock one that these two movements happened simultaneously and involved the support of many of the same people. The Anti-Slavery Movement and the Women’s Rights Movement are so thoroughly intertwined that the conventions often took place in the same

In fact, Lucretia Mott met Elizabeth Cady Stanton while attending the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London where she tragically “could not take part because of her sex,” (American History - Lucretia Mott”). Stanton was just as aggravated by the belittling and patronizing she experienced, questioning “Who dares to say that in thus using her splendid talents in speaking,” for a cause she supports that she is “out of her sphere?” (“Cady Answers Newspaper Reports”). This reflects her belief that women contain the same capability to contribute to the abolitionist movement as the men, and that by not allowing them the chance to exhibit these attributes they only hurt themselves. In the wake of injustice that came from the exclusion of women at such events, Mott and Stanton began to discuss not only the rights of African-Americans, but also their own rights as women and as United States citizens. This newfound companionship eventually lead to the organization of the Seneca Falls Convention and the creation of the women’s rights

It was a widely accepted thought among women that “every word of denunciation of the wrongs of the Southern slave [was] equally applicable to the wrongs of [their] own sex.” (“Collins’ Memoir”). This shows how the treatment of women had developed into a thing so brutal and restrictive that it resembled the lives of slaves. Clearly, action had to be taken as rapidly as possible so as to put an end to this cruel and abusive attitude towards women who proved vital as the voice of reason for society in the nineteenth century. Elizabeth Cady Stanton defined the changes women all over the United States wished to ensue in the Declaration of Sentiments by stating that “women do feel themselves aggrieved, oppressed, and fraudulently deprived of their most sacred rights,” (“American History - Declaration of Rights and Sentiments (1848)”). This phrase, along with the rest of the strongly persuasive document discussing the subjection of women, demanded the attention of the government. The women of the United States of America would no longer sit content with having their voices smothered by the patriarchy and began to petition for the rights they were entitled to as citizens and, more importantly, as human