While people throughout California made their way to the Sacramento Valley during the early days of the Gold Rush, across the continent on July 19, 1848, a group of 300 people met in Seneca Falls, New York to hold a convention. This convention was to discuss the “social, civil, and religious condition and rights of women.” This was the first formal women’s rights convention to be held in the United States. Elizabeth Cady Stanton helped author the Declaration of Sentiments, which was modeled upon the Declaration of Independence. Frederick Douglass attended the convention and published his support for the convention in his newspaper, the North Star. His printing office would later publish the first copies of the Declaration of Sentiments. The fight for women’s suffrage and equality was a long and arduous campaign that is still fought for today. It is important to remember when that fight began. To read a full transcription of the Declaration of Sentiments, check out: np...