Seneca Falls and the Origins of the Women's Rights Movement

In the quiet town of Seneca Falls, New York, over the course of two days in July, 1848, a small group of women and men, led by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, held a convention that would launch the women's rights movement and change the course of history. In Seneca Falls and the Origins of the Women's Rights Movement, Sally McMillen reveals, for the first time, the full significance of that revolutionary convention and the enormous changes itproduced. The book covers 50 years of women's activism, from 1840 to 1890, focusing on four extraordinary figures—Mott, Stanton, Lucy Stone, and Susan B. Anthony. McMillen tells the stories of their lives, how they came to take up the cause of women's rights, the astonishing advances they made during theirlifetimes, and the far-reaching effects of the work they did. At the convention they asserted full equality with men, argued for greater legal rights, greater professional and education opportunities, and the right to vote—ideas considered wildly radical at the time. Indeed, looking back at the convention two years later, Anthony called it "the grandest and greatest reform of all time."

"McMillen tells the story of the woman's rights movement quite well, and her book adds to our understanding of the woman's rights movement."--Sherry H. Penney, The Journal of American History"McMillen...presents a fine history of the 1848 Seneca Falls convention...a well-written and cogent synthesis accessible to the general reader while remaining firmly grounded in primary sources."--Publishers Weekly"McMillen clearly articulates 50 years of critical women's political activism.... If for no other reason, that discussion of the relationship between race and gender struggles makes this work particularly timely in the 2008 election season."--Bust"Sally McMillen weaves together compelling biographies of colorful leaders with an engaging analysis of the broader reform movements that transformed the texture and trajectory of American society. It is an extraordinary story of ideals and energies that continue to shape American life. In short, McMillen offers a learned and lucid overview of a movement that still moves us."--David Emory Shi, President of Furman University; author of Facing Facts: Realism in American Thought and Culture, 1850-1900"Tracing the developments that led up to and away from the Woman's Rights Convention of 1848, the volume makes a major contribution to women's history and to American history."--Nancy A. Hewitt, Rutgers University"This book provides a compulsively readable history of nineteenth-century American feminism--its origins, struggles, achievements, and legacies. I know of no more insightful account of the birth and evolution of the movement to overcome gender inequality."--Steven Mintz, John and Rebecca Moores Professor of History, University of Houston"Sally McMillen offers the most complete discussion yet of the origins and the impact of this event that started the American women's movement and would change the world."--Marjorie Julian Spruill, Professor of History, The University of South Carolina; author of ew Women of the New South"McMillen deftly demonstrates how ordinary women transformed their lives and America's future by rejecting the pedestal to join the rough and tumble of nineteenth century reform politics. Her achievement is to make this transformation accessible yet complex, commonplace yet extraordinary."--Catherine Clinton, Queen's University-Belfast"In this gracefully written study, McMillen offers a deft synthesis of what might be called the first century of the struggle for women's rights."--Philip Jenkins and Grant A. Wacker, Christian Century "In this gracefully written study, McMillen offers a deft synthesis of what might be called the first century of the struggle for women's rights."--Christian Century

Sally McMillen is the Mary Reynolds Babcock Professor of History and Department Chair at Davidson College. She is the author of Motherhood in the Old South and Southern Women: Black and White in the Old South. She lives in Davidson, North Carolina.