Bill Text: CA AR49 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Relative to the 175th Anniversary of the Seneca Falls Women’s Rights Convention.
Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 56-16)
Status: (Passed) 2023-07-13 - Read. Adopted. (Page 2646.). [AR49 Detail]
Download: California-2023-AR49-Introduced.html
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION
House Resolution
No. 49
| Introduced by Assembly Member Dixon (Coauthors: Assembly Members Davies, Luz Rivas, Blanca Rubio, and Waldron) |
June 28, 2023 |
Relative to the 175th Anniversary of the Seneca Falls Women’s Rights Convention.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
HR 49, as introduced, Dixon.
Digest Key
Bill Text
WHEREAS, July 19–20, 2023, marks the 175th Anniversary of the first Seneca Falls Women’s Rights Convention; and
WHEREAS, Originally known as the Women’s Rights Convention, the Seneca Falls Convention fought for the social, civil, and religious rights of women; and
WHEREAS, Heralded as the first women’s rights convention in the United States, it was held at the Wesleyan Chapel in Seneca Falls, New York, on July 19 and 20, 1848; and
WHEREAS, The five women who organized the Seneca Falls Convention, who were also active in the abolitionist movement that called for an end to slavery and racial discrimination, included Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, Mary M’Clintock, Martha Coffin Wright, and Jane Hunt; and
WHEREAS, At the convention, activist and leader Elizabeth Cady Stanton drafted the Declaration of Sentiments, which called for women’s equality in politics, family, education, jobs, religion, and morals. Modeled after the Declaration of Independence and named after the founding document of the American Anti-Slavery Society, the document began with, “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal . . .”; and
WHEREAS, At the convention, a list of 11 resolutions were presented, which demanded women to be regarded as men’s equals. The resolutions called on Americans to regard any laws that placed women in an inferior position to men as having “no force or authority”; and
WHEREAS, The ninth resolution was the most controversial, as it called women “to secure themselves their sacred right to the elective franchise,” or the right to vote. Although its passage led many women’s rights proponents to withdraw their support, the ninth resolution went on to become the cornerstone of the women’s suffrage movement; and
WHEREAS, Over 70 years after the convention in Seneca Falls, the nation ratified the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote in 1920. This victory led to the work of prominent feminist leaders in the 1950s and 1960s, ushering in a new age and new hope for women’s rights; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, That the Assembly hereby recognizes July 19–20, 2023, as the 175th Anniversary of the first Seneca Falls Women’s Rights Convention and encourages all Californians to join in this observance; and be it further
Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly prepare and transmit a copy of the resolution to the Governor.
