The World Anti-Slavery Convention met for the first time at Exeter Hall in London, on 12–23 June 1840. [2] It was organised by the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, largely on the initiative of the English Quaker Joseph Sturge. [2] [3] The exclusion of women from the convention gave a great impetus to the women's suffrage movement in the United States. [4]
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The Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade (officially Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade) was principally a Quaker society founded in 1787 by 12 men, nine of whom were Quakers and three Anglicans, one of whom was Thomas Clarkson. Due to their efforts, the international slave trade was abolished throughout the British Empire with the passing of the Slave Trade Act 1807. The Society for the Mitigation and Gradual Abolition of Slavery Throughout the British Dominions, in existence from 1823 to 1838, helped to bring about the Slavery Abolition Act 1833, advocated by William Wilberforce, which abolished slavery in the British Empire from August 1834, when some 800,000 people in the British empire became free. [5]
Similarly, in the 1830s many women and men in America acted on their religious convictions and moral outrage to become a part of the abolitionist movement. Many women in particular responded to Wm. Lloyd Garrison's invitation to become involved in the American Anti-Slavery Society. They were heavily involved, attending meetings and writing petitions. Arthur Tappan and other conservative members of the society objected to women engaging in politics publicly. [6]
Given the perceived need for a society to campaign for anti-slavery worldwide, the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society (BFASS) was accordingly founded in 1839. [2] One of its first significant deeds was to organise the World Anti-Slavery Convention in 1840: "Our expectations, we confess, were high, and the reality did not disappoint them." [7] [ page needed ] The preparations for this event had begun in 1839, when the Society circulated an advertisement inviting delegates to participate in the convention. [2] Over 200 of the official delegates were British. The next largest group was the Americans, with around 50 delegates. Only small numbers of delegates from other nations attended. [2]
Benjamin Robert Haydon painted The Anti-Slavery Society Convention, 1840, a year after the event [6] that today is in the National Portrait Gallery. This very large and detailed work shows Alexander as Treasurer of the new Society. [8] [ failed verification ] The painting portrays the 1840 meeting and was completed the next year. [1] The new society's mission was "The universal extinction of slavery and the slave trade and the protection of the rights and interests of the enfranchised population in the British possessions and of all persons captured as slaves." [8] [9]
The circular message, distributed in 1839, provoked a controversial response from some American opponents of slavery. The Garrisonian faction supported the participation of women in the anti-slavery movement. They were opposed by the supporters of Arthur and Lewis Tappan. When the latter group sent a message to the BFASS opposing the inclusion of women, a second circular was issued in February 1840 which explicitly stated that the meeting was limited to "gentlemen". [2]
Despite the statement that women would not be admitted, many American and British female abolitionists, including Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Lady Byron, appeared at the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London. The American Anti-Slavery Society, the Garrisonian faction, made a point to include a woman, Lucretia Mott, and an African American, Charles Lenox Remond, in their delegation. [10] Both the Massachusetts and Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Societies sent women members as their delegates, including Abigail Kimber, Elizabeth Neall, Mary Grew, and Sarah Pugh. [10] Cady Stanton was not herself a delegate; she was in England on her honeymoon, accompanying her husband Henry Brewster Stanton, who was a delegate. (Notably, he was aligned with the American faction that opposed women's equality.) [10] Wendell Phillips proposed that female delegates should be admitted, and much of the first day of the convention was devoted to discussing whether they should be allowed to participate. [2] Published reports from the convention noted "The upper end and one side of the room were appropriated to ladies, of whom a considerable number were present, including several female abolitionists from the United States." The women were allowed to watch and listen from the spectators gallery but could not take part. [6]
In sympathy with the excluded women, the Americans William Garrison, Charles Lenox Remond, Nathaniel P. Rogers, and William Adams refused to take their seat as delegates as well, and joined the women in the spectators' gallery.
Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who eight years later organized the Seneca Falls Convention, met at this convention.
The convention's organising committee had asked the Reverend Benjamin Godwin to prepare a paper on the ethics of slavery. [11] The convention unanimously accepted his paper, which condemned not just slavery but also the world's religious leaders and every community who had failed to condemn the practice. The convention resolved to write to every religious leader to share this view. The convention called on all religious communities to eject any supporters of slavery from their midst. [12]
George William Alexander reported on his visits in 1839, with James Whitehorn, to Sweden and the Netherlands to discuss the conditions of slaves in the Dutch colonies and in Suriname. In Suriname, he reported, there were over 100,000 slaves with an annual attrition rate of twenty per cent. The convention prepared open letters of protest to the respective sovereigns. [7]
Joseph Pease spoke and accused the British government of being complicit in the continuing existence of slavery in India. [13]
After leaving the convention on the first day, being denied full access to the proceedings, Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton "walked home arm in arm, commenting on the incidents of the day, [and] we resolved to hold a convention as soon as we returned home, and form a society to advocate the rights of women." Eight years later they hosted the Seneca Falls Convention in Seneca Falls, New York. [9]
One hundred years later, the Women's Centennial Congress was held in America to celebrate the progress that women had made since they were prevented from speaking at this conference.
The official list of delegates has 493 names. [14]
Delegate | Country | In painting? | Comments |
---|---|---|---|
Prof William Adam | UK | very top right | Professor |
Edward Adey | UK | very far right | Baptist Minister |
George William Alexander | UK | left | Financier |
Richard Allen | Ireland | right | Philanthropist |
Stafford Allen | UK | left mid | Philanthropist |
William Allen | UK | front mid left | Scientist |
Sir Edward Baines | UK | left | Member of Parliament |
Edward Baldwin | UK | right front | Former Attorney-General of New South Wales |
Saxe Bannister | UK | right | Pamphleteer |
Edward (Jonas) Barrett | US | far right | Former Slave |
Richard Barrett | Jamaica | very far right | |
Isaac Bass | UK | far right | |
Henry Beckford | Jamaica | front centre | Former Slave |
Abraham Beaumont | UK | left | |
Mrs John Beaumont | UK | front far right | |
William Beaumont | UK | left | |
George Bennett | UK | right front | |
Rev. Dr. Thomas Binney | UK | far right | Minister |
James Gillespie Birney | US | left | Attorney |
John Birt | US | back far right | |
Jonathan Backhouse | UK | left | Banker |
W. T. Blair | UK | mid | |
William Boulbee | UK | far right | |
Samuel Bowly | UK | far left back | Advocate |
George Bradburn | US | left | Minister |
William Brock | UK | right of centre | Minister |
John Burnet | UK | mid | Minister |
Anne Isabella, Lady Byron | UK | bonneted far right | |
Tapper Cadbury | UK | right back row | Businessman |
Mary Clarkson | UK | bonnet left | Speaker's daughter in law |
Thomas Clarkson | UK | main speaker | Abolitionist Speaker |
Nathaniel Colver | US | right | Minister |
Josiah Conder | UK | ? | Author |
Daniel O'Connell | Ireland | far left | Member of Parliament |
Francis Augustus Cox | UK | left | Minister |
Isaac Crewdson | UK | back row | Minister |
John Cropper | UK | right front | Philanthropist |
William Dawes | US | far left | education |
James Dean | US? | ? | Professor |
Sir John Eardley-Wilmot, 1st Baronet | UK | mid left | Member of Parliament |
Joseph Eaton | UK | ? | |
John Ellis | UK | far right | Member of Parliament |
William Forster | UK | front | Minister |
Josiah Forster | UK | front mid right | Philanthropist |
Wm. Lloyd Garrison | US | no | Journalist, publisher. Voluntarily sat with the women. |
Samuel Gurney | UK | under speaker | Banker |
George Head Head | UK | Front right | Banker |
François-André Isambert | France | mid | Lawyer |
Rev. John Keep | US | ? | Minister; trustee of Oberlin College |
William Knibb | Jamaica | front mid right | Minister |
Samuel Jackman Prescod | Barbados | front middle | Journalist |
William Morgan | UK | middle front | Lawyer |
William Harris Murch | UK | yes | Minister |
John Scoble | Canada | front right | Lawyer |
Joseph Ketley | Guyana | front right | Minister |
George Stacey | UK | front | Minister |
George Thompson | UK & US | front mid right | Member of Parliament |
J. Harfield Tredgold | South Africa | under speaker | Chemist |
Stephen Lushington | UK | left | Member of Parliament |
Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, 1st Baronet | UK | left | Member of Parliament |
Benjamin Godwin | UK | mid | Minister |
Constantine Richard Moorsom | Vice AdmiralUK | left | Royal Navy Officer |
William Taylor | UK | mid | |
John Morrison | UK | mid | |
Dr George Prince | UK | ? | |
Joseph Soul | UK | ??? | Reformer |
Joseph Sturge | UK | left front | Minister |
James Whitehorne | Jamaica | ? | |
Joseph Marriage | UK | left front | |
William Leatham | UK | left | Banker |
Samuel Lucas | UK | left | Journalist |
Samuel Fox | UK | left back | |
Louis Celeste Lecesne | UK | left back | |
Robert Greville | UK | far left | Botanist |
Joseph Pease | UK | left | Minister |
William Tatum | UK | right | |
Richard D. Webb | Ireland | right | Publisher |
Rev. Thomas Scales | UK | right front | Minister |
William James | UK | right | Minister |
William Wilson | UK | right | |
Rev. Thomas Swan | UK | right | Baptist Minister |
Rev. Edward Steane | UK | right | Minister |
Jonathon Miller | ColonelUS | right front | United States Army Officer |
Charles Stuart | CaptainJamaica | right | Royal Navy Officer |
Sir John Jeremie | Colonies | right of centre | Judge |
Charles Stovel | UK | far right front | Minister |
Richard Peek | UK | far right front | Sheriff of London |
John Sturge | UK | far right | Organiser's brother |
Robert Forster | UK | very far right | Philanthropist |
Elon Galusha | US | right | Lawyer |
Cyrus Pitt Grosvenor | US | far right | Minister |
Henry Sterry | UK | far right | |
Peter Clare | UK | far right | |
Rev. J.H. Johnson | UK | far right | |
Dr. Thomas Price | UK | far right | |
Joseph Reynolds | UK | far right | |
Samuel Wheeler | UK | far right | |
Wiliam Fairbank | UK | far right | |
Rev. John Woodmark | UK | far right | |
William Smeal | UK | far right | Minister |
James Carlile | Ireland | far right | Minister |
John Howard Hinton | UK | far right | Minister |
John Angell James | Ireland | far right | Minister |
Joseph Cooper | UK | far right | |
Dr. Richard Robert Madden | Ireland/ Jamaica | far right | Doctor |
Alderman Thomas Bulley | UK | far right | |
Isaac Hodgson | UK | far right | |
Edward Smith | UK | far right | |
Sir John Bowring | UK | far right | Member of Parliament |
Anne Knight | UK | bonneted far right | |
C. Edwards Lester | US | far right | Writer |
Thomas Pinches | ? | far right | |
David Turnbull | UK | far right | Author |
John Steer | UK | very far right | |
Henry Tuckett | UK | very far right | |
James Mott [15] | US | very far right | Merchant |
Richard Rathbone | UK | very far right | Businessman |
Wendell Phillips | US | very far right | Attorney |
M. L'Instant | Haiti | front far right | |
Henry Stanton | US | front far right | Attorney |
Mrs Elizabeth Tredgold | South African | back row right | |
T.M. McDonnell | UK | very far right | Minister |
Mary Anne Rawson | UK | far right | |
Elizabeth Pease | UK | very far right | Suffragist |
Jacob Post | UK | very far right | Minister |
Amelia Opie | UK | front far right | Novelist |
Rev. Thomas Morgan | UK | mid right | Minister |
Elizabeth Cady Stanton [16] | US | No | married to Henry Stanton |
Elizabeth Jesser Reid | ?? | No | UK philanthropist |
Norton Strange Townshend | US | No | Doctor |
[17] | Rev. A. HarveyUK | No | Minister |
Mary Grew [15] | US | No | US delegate (refused a main seat) |
Lucretia Mott [15] | US | No | (refused a main seat) |
Eliza Wigham | UK | No | Scottish leader (refused a main seat) |
[15] | Abby SouthwickUS | No | (refused a main seat) |
Henry Grew [15] | US | No | Teacher |
Elizabeth Ann Ashurst Bardonneau [18] | UK | No | |
William H. Ashurst [19] | UK | No | Solicitor |
Sir George Strickland, 7th Baronet [20] | UK | No | Member of Parliament |
Thomas Hodgkin [21] | UK | No | Doctor |
William Busfield [21] | UK | No | Member of Parliament |
Ellis Cunliffe Lister [21] | UK | No | Member of Parliament |
Gerrit Smith [21] | UK | No | Philanthropist |
James Canning Fuller [21] | US | No | |
Samuel Joseph May [21] | US | No | Minister |
John Greenleaf Whittier [21] | US | No | Poet |
Cornelius Manning [21] | UK | No | Philanthropist |
Charles Pelham Villiers [21] | UK | No | Member of Parliament |
Matilda Ashurst Biggs [22] | UK | No | |
Lucy Townsend [23] | UK | No | |
Elizabeth Neall [15] | US | No | |
[15] | Ann Greene PhillipsUS | No | Wife of Wendell Phillips. |
Charles Lenox Remond [24] | US | No | Free man |
Nathaniel Peabody Rogers [24] | US | No | Publisher |
Benjamin Barron Wiffen [25] | UK | No | Businessman |
[15] | Emily WinslowUS | No | |
[15] | Isaac WinslowUS | No | Politician |
The Declaration of Sentiments, also known as the Declaration of Rights and Sentiments, is a document signed in 1848 by 68 women and 32 men—100 out of some 300 attendees at the first women's rights convention to be organized by women. Held in Seneca Falls, New York, the convention is now known as the Seneca Falls Convention. The principal author of the Declaration was Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who modeled it upon the United States Declaration of Independence. She was a key organizer of the convention along with Lucretia Coffin Mott, and Martha Coffin Wright.
The Seneca Falls Convention was the first women's rights convention. It advertised itself as "a convention to discuss the social, civil, and religious condition and rights of woman". Held in the Wesleyan Chapel of the town of Seneca Falls, New York, it spanned two days over July 19–20, 1848. Attracting widespread attention, it was soon followed by other women's rights conventions, including the Rochester Women's Rights Convention in Rochester, New York, two weeks later. In 1850 the first in a series of annual National Women's Rights Conventions met in Worcester, Massachusetts.
The American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS) was an abolitionist society in the United States. AASS formed in 1833 in response to the nullification crisis and the failures of existing anti-slavery organizations, such as the American Colonization Society. AASS formally dissolved in 1870.
Henry Brewster Stanton was an American abolitionist, social reformer, attorney, journalist and politician. His writing was published in the New York Tribune, the New York Sun, and William Lloyd Garrison's Anti-Slavery Standard and The Liberator. He was elected to the New York State Senate in 1850 and 1851. His wife, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, was a leading figure of the early women's rights movement.
Martha Coffin Wright was an American feminist, abolitionist, and signatory of the Declaration of Sentiments who was a close friend and supporter of Harriet Tubman.
James Mott was a Quaker leader, teacher, merchant, and anti-slavery activist. He was married to suffragist leader Lucretia Mott. Like her, he wanted enslaved people to be freed. He helped found anti-slavery organizations, participated in the "free-produce movement", and operated an Underground Railroad depot with their family. The Motts concealed Henry "Box" Brown after he had been shipped from Richmond, Virginia in a crate. Mott also supported women's rights, chairing the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848. He spent four years supporting the establishment of Swarthmore College.
The first Anti-Slavery Convention of American Women was held in New York City on May 9–12, 1837, to discuss the American abolition movement. This gathering represented the first time that women from such a broad geographic area met with the common purpose of promoting the anti-slavery cause among women, and it also was likely the first major convention where women discussed women's rights. Some prominent women went on to be vocal members of the Women's Suffrage Movement, including Lucretia Mott, the Grimké sisters, and Lydia Maria Child. After the first convention in 1837, there were also conventions in 1838 and 1839
George Bradburn was an American politician and Unitarian minister in Massachusetts known for his support for abolitionism and women's rights. He attended the 1840 conference on Anti-Slavery in London where he made a stand against the exclusion of female delegates. In 1843 he was with Frederick Douglass on a lecture tour in Indiana when they were attacked. Lydia Maria Child wrote with regard to his work on anti-slavery that he had " a high place among the tried and true."
Mary Grew was an American abolitionist and suffragist whose career spanned nearly the entire 19th century. She was a leader of the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society and the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society. She was one of eight women delegates, all from the United States, who were denied their seats at the London World Anti-Slavery Convention, in 1840. An editor and journalist, she wrote for abolitionist newspapers and chronicled the work of Philadelphia's abolitionists over more than three decades. She was a gifted public orator at a time when it was still noteworthy for women to speak in public. Her obituary summarized her impact: "Her biography would be a history of all reforms in Pennsylvania for fifty years."
Elizabeth Nichol was an English abolitionist, anti-segregationist, woman suffragist, chartist and anti-vivisectionist. She was active in the Peace Society, the Temperance movement and founded the Darlington Ladies Anti-Slavery Society. In 1853 she married Dr. John Pringle Nichol (1804–1859), Regius Professor of Astronomy at the University of Glasgow. She was one of about six women who were in the painting of the World Anti-Slavery Convention of 1840.
Lucretia Mott was an American Quaker, abolitionist, women's rights activist, and social reformer. She had formed the idea of reforming the position of women in society when she was amongst the women excluded from the World Anti-Slavery Convention held in London in 1840. In 1848, she was invited by Jane Hunt to a meeting that led to the first public gathering about women's rights, the Seneca Falls Convention, during which the Declaration of Sentiments was written.
The Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society (1833–1840) was an abolitionist, interracial organization in Boston, Massachusetts, in the mid-19th century. "During its brief history ... it orchestrated three national women's conventions, organized a multistate petition campaign, sued southerners who brought slaves into Boston, and sponsored elaborate, profitable fundraisers."
The American Equal Rights Association (AERA) was formed in 1866 in the United States. According to its constitution, its purpose was "to secure Equal Rights to all American citizens, especially the right of suffrage, irrespective of race, color or sex." Some of the more prominent reform activists of that time were members, including women and men, blacks and whites.
Jane Clothier Hunt or Jane Clothier Master was an American Quaker who hosted the Seneca Falls meeting of Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
The Rochester Women's Rights Convention of 1848 met on August 2, 1848 in Rochester, New York. Many of its organizers had participated in the Seneca Falls Convention, the first women's rights convention, two weeks earlier in Seneca Falls, a smaller town not far away. The Rochester convention elected Abigail Bush as its presiding officer, making it the first U.S. public meeting composed of both sexes to be presided by a woman. This controversial step was opposed even by some of the meeting's leading participants. The convention approved the Declaration of Sentiments that had first been introduced at the Seneca Falls Convention, including the controversial call for women's right to vote. It also discussed the rights of working women and took steps that led to the formation of a local organization to support those rights.
The Ohio Women's Convention at Salem in 1850 met on April 19–20, 1850 in Salem, Ohio, a center for reform activity. It was the third in a series of women's rights conventions that began with the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848. It was the first of these conventions to be organized on a statewide basis. About five hundred people attended. All of the convention's officers were women. Men were not allowed to vote, sit on the platform or speak during the convention. The convention sent a memorial to the convention that was preparing a new Ohio state constitution, asking it to provide for women's right to vote.
Mary Ann M'Clintock or Mary Ann McClintock (1800–1884) is best known for her role in the formation of the women's suffrage movement, as well as abolitionism.
Sarah Pugh was an American abolitionist, activist, suffragist, and teacher. She was involved with promoting the free produce movement, including a boycott on sugar produced by slave labor. She was a leader of the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society from its earliest days in 1835 until it closed in 1870. Along with Lucretia Mott, Pugh was one of the delegates to the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London who were denied their seats because they were women.
Thankful Southwick was an affluent Quaker abolitionist and women's rights activist in Boston, Massachusetts. Thankful was lifelong abolitionist who joined the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society in 1835 with her three daughters. She was present at both the 1835 Boston Mob and the Abolition Riot of 1836. During the 1840 schism in the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society, Thankful sided with the Westons, Chapmans, Childs, Sergeants, and other radical Garrisonians to reestablish the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society. She also later joined the New England Non Resistance Society.
Elizabeth Johns Neall Gay was an American abolitionist and suffragist. She was one of the American Quaker women delegates refused admission to the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London in 1840.
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