Rethinking the Origins of Woman's Rights: Gender and Nineteenth-Century Political Culture

Reviews Lori D. Ginzberg's 'Untidy Origins: A Story of Woman's Rights in Antebellum New York' (2005), which describes the social, economic, political, and intellectual forces that influenced six middle-aged farm wives' decision to send a petition to New York's constitutional convention seeking equal civil and political rights. The 1846 petition predated the Seneca Falls Convention by two years and deepens understanding of the origins of the American women's rights movement.