Abolition+and+Womens+Movement

Katheren Pomera February 15, 2009 11th Grade- 7th Period U.S. History Homework- Essay **__ABOLITION AND WOMEN’S MOVEMENT __**  Shouldn’t every human being have an access to “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness”? And weren’t all men created equally? That seems like the case today, but how was it hundreds of years ago? Were all men equal and had the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? Definitely not! If people think today’s world is harsh, imagine living hundreds of years ago. Thanks to our ancestors who fought really hard to make our world a better place for everyone. Today, gender discrimination and slavery barely exist. Long time ago these inhumane actions were very active, especially in the United States. Presently, United States of America is known as a free country filled with millions of opportunities to offer. However, back then the United States was not a haven for many people. Discrimination of women and the slavery of African Americans were the two of the main issues that Americans had to face. Women and enslaved African Americans were basically living under the same horrific conditions. While the white men were living freely, the others were living parsimoniously.  Even though women were white, their life conditions were not much different from the slaves. Men believed that women were born to serve their families and husbands; this belief was practiced throughout America’s households. Women were not allowed to get an education and they were not allowed to work outside their houses. These deprived women were not satisfied with their lives; women felt something had to be done. It was iniquitous to all women to be living in a country, which they also fought for independence, and not get the rights that they deserved. They wanted the same attention men get. Women seek the rights that men held; they wanted education, jobs, and the right to vote. As a result, the Women’s Rights Movement occurred.  Throughout this movement, many groups of women stood up and fought for what they believed in. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott were two of the bravest women who took part of the movement. These two were encouraged to call a women’s rights convention after they were discriminated at the World’s Anti-Slavery Convention in London. They were told that they were not allowed to take part of the debate because they were women. This event was enough to fire up both women. They decided to call a convention in Seneca Falls, New York; this convention is known as the Seneca Falls Convention. In this convention, Stanton wrote the Declaration of Sentiments, which stated “…that all men and women are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.” [i] For the press the resolutions that women sought were ridiculous. The Declaration of Sentiments was the main topic of newspapers and the people’s names who signed the Declaration were exposed also exposed. This created uproar in the Convention that some took their name back but some stayed; although it was a chaos situation, the issue was spread even widely and more people became aware of this problem.  Even though no blood was shed and no violence was needed, a lot of time was consumed. As the number of meetings increased, the number of support that these women received also increased. Although it took many years for these women to obtain what they fought for, it was all worth in the end. Variety of opportunities was available to many women, and they received freedom to make decisions for their personal life, such as marriage and pregnancy [ii]. As the world was drastically changing, many other movements occurred in the United States. Women were not the only ones who went through a big change; slaves as well had to go through a transformation, and with the help of many powerful abolitionists it also succeeded.  Just like the women back then, African American slaves were unfortunate in life as well. However, these slaves had worse lives than those women; at least women were considered as human beings. In the eyes of slaveholders, slaves were considered as properties. In the beginning of the colonial period, slavery was practiced throughout the whole American territory, but in the 1840s the North banned slavery. Slavery continued in the South, and it became the main source of the South’s economy. Slaves were cheap and slaveholders kept them for as long as they wanted, they were to do as they were told, and lastly it was free labor. The lives of slaves were not tolerable in the most part; they were not provided with proper shelters, the amount of food and the quality of clothing given were not sufficient. As if slaves’ conditions were not harsh enough, some slaveholders would even punish their slaves in cruel manners, such as whipping, beating, starving, and threatening their families. Even though some slaveholders may have treated their slaves less inhumane, the fact that these slaves were treated as properties did not make life any better.  Despite the fact that the world was treating these slaves harshly, slaves found happiness through their religion, songs and story-telling. However, not every slave was able to endure this kind of life. Different ways of escaping slavery surfaced in the United States between 1776 and 1860. Some slaves revolted using violence to end their suffering and some chose a non-violent way. Though, not everyone succeeded in their attempt of escaping slavery, most slaves met with unfortunate events and many others reached their freedom. Following this escape attempts was the abolition movement, a movement which focused on the abolishment of slavery. The supporters of this movement were called abolitionists. Many abolitionists were former slaves and some of them were even African American women. There were many abolitionists who supported the abolition movement but only few names are recognized today.  Harriet Tubman [iii], a runaway slave from Maryland, was a well recognized abolitionist who helped many other slaves who wished to find freedom in the North. She led these hopeful slaves to freedom to what many people know it as Underground Railroad. It was secret system that served as a haven for many slaves. Isabella Baumfree [iv], widely known as Sojourn Truth was also an abolitionist who used her freedom to spread the immorality of slavery throughout the movement. She also addressed many speeches about women’s suffrage. Other than women, there was a man named Frederick Douglass who also played a big role in the abolition movement. Douglass is just of the many important abolitionists and has contributed positively in this issue. He was an excellent speaker who spoke to many people about slavery; he expressed his hatred towards slavery through publishing an anti-slavery newspaper, writing an autobiography and through lecturing. Another strategy that was used to increase awareness was the book //Uncle Tom’s Cabin// published by Harriet Beecher Stowe. This book was a series of short stories about slavery and it was broadly read throughout the nation. There were more hundreds of abolitionists who participated in the movement and thanks to their works many people became more aware of slavery and the evilness of it. The result of these abolitionists hard work was freedom and the banning of slavery regardless of where people live. Just as what people say, “There’s always sunshine after the rain.” This saying is applied for both movements. Despite the fact that the women’s movement ended in 1998 after a 150-year of prosperity; there are still many other things that can be fixed. In this transitional world, change will always happen.   <span style="font-family: "Sylfaen","serif"; font-size: 72pt; line-height: 115%;"> <span style="font-family: "Sylfaen","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">

[i] [] first paragraph [ii] [] [iii] []

[iv] []