Women's History Commons^™

Demanding Citizenship: The U.S. Women's Movement, 1848-1930, Lena Sweeten

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

The U. S. women's movement began in 1848 with the Seneca Falls Convention for women's rights. As set forth by the convention's "Declaration of Sentiments," the movement was concerned with a broad array of social, religious, cultural and political reforms to bring about gender equality. Following the Civil War, the women's movement took on the semblance of a single-issue movement, as the effort to achieve woman suffrage consumed feminists' resources and energies. The acquisition of suffrage was intended to be the vehicle for women to gain the spectrum of rights initially defined in 1848. Extravagant predictions about the power of …