Women's Rights National Historic Park in Seneca Falls, New York

Today we stopped at the birthplace of the women's rights movement. With these words, "We hold these truths to be self evident: that all men and women are created equal," Elizabeth Cady Stanton began the First Women's Rights Convention on July 19, 1848, with the Declaration of Sentiments. The document expressed the desire to have equal rights in the areas of the right to vote, speak in public, hold office, attend college, earn a living, sue in court, divorce her husband, gain custody of her children, and own property. The women's rights movement and abolitionist movement were closely tied. In this part of western New York Quakers worked to end slavery and for Quaker women such as Lucretia Mott, Jane Hunt, and  Mary Ann McClintock the next logical step was fighting for women's rights. This convention lit a fire that is still burning today. I  admirethe brave women who drafted the Declaration of Sentiments and the women and men who signed the Declaration. Their courage started the road to equal rights for all and the eventual passage of the Ninteenth Amendment. As an additional note, President Obama visited the museum  on August 22, 2013, to present a copy of the  Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act to the Museum. This legisislation fulfilled one of the sentiments in the Declaration which called for,  "securing for women an equal participation to men in the various trades, professions, and commerce." Happy to see this display and recognition of the ongoing work related to the First Women's Rights Convention.  This was an unplanned but wonderful stop! Read the Declaration of Sentiments and hear the eloquence and power of the words. Declaration of Sentiments