1. 1848 was a worldwide “year of revolutions” In the United States, 1848 also marked a potentially revolutionary turning point in both the womens’ rights and antislavery movements, with the Seneca Falls Convention calling for women’s voting rights and the antislavery Free Soil Party garnering 10% of the national popular vote. In a well-organized, thesis-driven essay, students will select EITHER the women’s rights OR antislavery movement and 1) summarize the development of the movement from 1787 to 1848; 2) explain how changing political, economic, social, and/or cultural factors affected the movement’s successes and/or failures up to 1848; and 3) evaluate whether the programs these movements laid out in 1848 had the potential to effect revolutionary change in American life.
