Both abolitionist and temperance advocates struggled with the role of women
within the movements. While leaders welcomed women’s support, they questioned
Wendell Phillips’s motion to include the American women delegates as participants was
convention.
convention produced. Modeled on the Declaration of Independence, it declared that
men and women were created equal and called for fair treatment before the law, the
right to speak on public platforms, and greater opportunities in education and the
the gathering, felt that politics was so corrupt that women should not get involved.
detract from the group’s other demands. In the end, however, the resolution was
approved.
Meanwhile New Jersey’s new constitution of 1844 explicitly excluded women
the residents of Burlington County was read and tabled without discussion. In 1847,
Assemblyman Richard McDowell of Middlesex County presented a petition from the
by married women to their own use and control.” But just as in 1844, the proposal died
Elizabeth Cady Stanton with
Harriot Stanton Blatch, 1856
Library of Congress
9