To me the simplest answer seems to be the correct one. Large numbers of women, and men who sympathized, decided, on the heels of previous emancipatory movements (directed towards commoners or slaves and others) decided that women should be extended the rights and privileges formerly restricted to men. Once you've declared all men are created equal and have inalienable rights, etc. it's not a big leap to all people are created equal and have the same inalienable rights etc. They pushed for these changes in whatever ways they could, including, as others have noted, the patronage of wealthy supporters. Unlike some other commenters I see no reason to believe it was some sort of ploy to splinter the family or create a pliant voting bloc. Unless there is ample reason to believe otherwise, the simplest answer would be that wealthy supporters gave money to the cause because they believed in it.
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To me the simplest answer seems to be the correct one. Large numbers of women, and men who sympathized, decided, on the heels of previous emancipatory movements (directed towards commoners or slaves and others) decided that women should be extended the rights and privileges formerly restricted to men. Once you've declared all men are created equal and have inalienable rights, etc. it's not a big leap to all people are created equal and have the same inalienable rights etc. They pushed for these changes in whatever ways they could, including, as others have noted, the patronage of wealthy supporters. Unlike some other commenters I see no reason to believe it was some sort of ploy to splinter the family or create a pliant voting bloc. Unless there is ample reason to believe otherwise, the simplest answer would be that wealthy supporters gave money to the cause because they believed in it.
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