Women's Rights Movements During The Antebellum Era

During Progressive Era, there were many reforms that occurred, such as Child Labor Reform or Pure Food and Drug Act. Women Suffrage Movement was the last remarkable reform. This movement was fighting about the right of women to vote, which was basically about women’s right movement. Many great leaders – Elizabeth Cad Stanton and Susan B. Anthony - formed the National American Women Suffrage Association (NAWSA). Although those influential leaders faced hardship during this movement, they never gave up and kept trying their best. This movement was occurred in New York that has a huge impact on the whole United States.

First woman to serve in Congress, Jeannette Rankin, stated “How shall we explain to them the meaning of democracy if the same Congress that voted to make the world safe for democracy refuses to give this small measure of democracy to the women of our country.” The 19th amendment was a major step for women’s rights in America. Many years of hardships led up to the breakthrough that serves as a reminder to all those who fought for their rights. There were many key people and organizations that fought for the woman’s suffrage movement. They took part in protest, strikes, and conventions for the right to vote.

The Market Revolution generated a drastic change in the United States economy and altered gender barriers while at the same time accomplishing this in a provocative manner. This economic boom occurred around the first half of the 19th Century. The economic boom was achieved by inventions such as a transcontinental railroad system which resulted in a better transportation system which improved trade and the cotton gin which sped up the rate of removing seeds from cotton fiber. However like what the great Hugo said, “The brutalities of progress are called revolutions. When they are over we realize this: that the human race has been roughly handled, but that it has advanced”.

The era of Andrew Jackson which was nicknames the era of the “common man” certainly lived up to its name. As the seventh President of the United States, Jackson had a major effect on the life of the common man, in such a way that the life of the common man would never be the same again. Jackson’s aim, after the manner in which he was defeated in the Presidential Election of 1824, despite receiving more popular votes than John Quincy Adams who took on the office, was to reduce the power and the authority of the elite. When he came into power after the 1828 election Jackson began to carry out his proposals. Jackson expanded the voting right to all men, in accordance with the Declaration of Independence of 1776 which declared that “all men are created equal” instead of just the elite.

The market revolution, which started in 1815, transformed worker lives, and improved the nation vastly; although it also dropped the economy as well. The traditional market, which was based upon power generated by animals and water, was slow in activities such as transportation. The growing nation underwent peace, which then catalyzed the reform of the organization of the economy. As such, transportation was heavily improved upon, along with manufacturing, banking, and commercial law. However, there were also two panics during the time that occurred that led to many Americans who were anxious and uncertain about working in the country.

The market revolution had a tremendous impact on many regions in the U.S., most notably the South and Northeast. The market revolution is a term used by historians to describe the expansion of the marketplace that occurred between 1815 and 1830, prompted mainly by major transportation improvements and various unique inventions to connect distant communities together for the first time. The South developed and thrived mainly from the cotton gin and the expansion of slavery. The Northeast flourished and bloomed from the factory system, interchangeable parts, transportation improvements, and women in the work force. The market revolution impact on the South and Northeast brought about widespread economic growth yet affected the regions differently, the South shifted from subsistence farming to commercial farming and the Northeast grew in mechanization and industrialization.

The early women’s rights organization was developed based upon the standards and experiences of different endeavors to promote social justice and to enhance the human condition. These efforts are known as change. Among these were the Abolition and Temperance movements. The personal and historical connections that united, and on occasion divided the movement for women’s rights existed before 1843, have advanced over the subsequent century and a half. The 1877 Woman’s Suffrage amendment had been initially brought into U.S. Congress.

​The first woman’s rights convention that was held in the United States was known as the Seneca Falls Convention, which had occurred in New York. This convention occurred during the year 1848 and lasted for 2 days. The convention had many facets that dealt with equality for both men and women. The Seneca Falls Convention formally introduced ideas that included: equality regardless of gender, equal voting rights for both men and women, and the equal opportunity for participation in trade and commerce. The convention served as a stepping stone on the way to equal rights for all women.

The First National Women’s Rights convention, like the Seneca Falls Convention, was more than a day long. Around one thousand delegates attended, and it was remarkable since they came from eleven different states. (Cullen-DuPont). They presented their demands, most of them involved the right to vote, receiving a higher education, the ability to chose from a larger variety of professions, the right to own property, and many more. With all these ideals being spread all over the place, even in the medias, it brought many more supporters to the movement and started changing the oppressive ideals in everyone’s

The movements during and shortly after the Reconstruction Era focused on African Americans civil rights and integrating them into society successfully6. President Lincoln started the integration of African Americans by issuing the Emancipation Proclamation during the Civil War. The Emancipation Proclamation focused specifically on African Americans, and ignored the women’s civil rights movement, which was growing rapidly during the Civil War. Many people during the Reconstruction Era, such as Fredrick Douglass, viewed the issue of getting rights for newly freed slaves more important than getting females new rights. As a matter of fact, most court cases that were brought in front of courts during and shortly after the Reconstruction Era dealt

In the years following its acknowledgement as a nation free from England, what would come to be known as the United States of America released a collective breath. That word, freedom, brought to light the dream that for many of its people had been just that. With the drafting of the Constitution 1787, many of the nation’s freedoms as well as the guidelines that accompanied them were explicitly introduced. While this document was a profound and necessary step forward for the country, the government, and many states, did not extend these rights to all persons. Minorities, especially blacks and women, were most often left out.

On July 19, 1848 nearly 200 women gathered in Seneca falls, New York in the Wesleyan Chapel to attend the first women’s rights convention. The two day convention was organized by two active abolitionists, Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady. The women had met in 1840 at the world anti-slavery convention where they discussed the idea of a women’s rights

In past years, women have always been considered to be less than man when it comes to working and having the same abilities. For women, different opportunities were uncommon and they usually were not allowed to work on a man’s job. This was considered to be the long-term effects of gender inequalities, which also included discriminations and differences in job payments, opportunities to study, or even to publish written works or artworks made by women. In past times, women had to hide their names whenever they wanted to have their artwork shown. Generally, women were not allowed to be recognized or known for something that used to be in a man’s world. When it came to gender and sexism, women of the working classes were often “pressed to worldly

During this time period, there was a large controversy over the purpose of prison – was it for punishment or atonement? After the war of 1812, there was a small campaign to put children who had committed crimes in juvenile detention centers rather than jails. However, that was not the biggest reform movement directed at the prison system at the time. Dorothea Dix and several others, including Francis Lieber and Samuel Gridley Howe, began to take action and revise the American Prison System. Their goal was simple: to transform prisons into ones that reformed rather than incarcerated their inmates (Faragher 440).

Before the 19th century, women were treated poorly throughout most of the world. In most countries women could not vote, hold property, divorce, or hold a job outside the family, and the law treated them as property of their husband. Upon the death of their husband, they often became destitute or had to marry a relative. The early 19th century saw the beginnings of the modern women's movement in England and the United States. The first Women's Rights Convention was held at Seneca Falls on July 19–20, 1848.