vention in 1840, at which, after a heated debate, the delegates de-
nied seats to women representatives, Coffin Mott among them. ²
The discussion begun there continued over several years, while both
Cady Stanton and Coffin Mott were engaged with family matters.

The Stanton family's move to Seneca Falls, New York, provided a
direct stimulus for more dramatic actions and in 1848 produced a
crucial event, which marks a convenient starting date. Faced with
the drudgery and isolation common to many women, Cady Stanton
later recalled:

The general discontent I felt with woman's portion as wife, mother, house-
keeper, physician, and spiritual guide . . . and the wearied, anxious look of
the majority of women, impressed me with the strong feeling that some
active measure should be taken to remedy the wrongs of society in general
and of women in particular. My experience at the World's Anti-slavery Con-
vention, all I had read of the legal status of women, and the oppression I saw
everywhere, together swept across my soul, intensified now by many per-
sonal experiences. It seemed as if all the elements had conspired to impel
me to some onward step. I could not see what to do or where to begin--my
only thought was a public meeting for protest and discussion. ³

Despite the facts that the local newspaper issued only one notice of
the meeting and that Seneca Falls was a small, rather remote town,
the convention attracted some three hundred people. ⁴

From this modest beginning, the movement to gain equal rights,
greater protection, and improved opportunities for women grew and
expanded, extending directly even to contemporary efforts for the
passage of the Equal Rights Amendment. As Eleanor Flexner ob-
serves, "Beginning in 1848 it was possible for women who rebelled
against the circumstances of their lives, to know that they were not
alone--although often the news reached them only through a
vitriolic sermon or an abusive newspaper editorial. But a movement
had been launched which they could either join, or ignore, that
would leave its imprint on the lives of their daughters and of women
throughout the world." ⁵

Although both participants in the struggle and later scholars have
chronicled the details of the agitation for woman's rights and suf-
frage, much remains unexplored. ⁶ One question that is still largely
unanswered is how the small gathering in Seneca Falls blossomed
and evolved into a group that could mount a large-scale, sustained,
and finally effective campaign for woman's rights. The answer to
that question is clearly complex; no one answer can suffice. But one
crucial aspect of that answer must focus on the process by which the
gathering at Seneca Falls molded itself into a social movement with

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