Document Text |
Summary |
| Declaration of Rights and Sentiments | |
| When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one portion of the family of man to assume among the people of the earth a position different from that which they have hitherto occupied, but one to which the laws of nature and of nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes that impel them to such a course. | When a group of people feel it is necessary to change their social position, they should lay out their reasoning for doing so. |
| We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men and women are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights governments are instituted, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. Whenever any form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of those who suffer from it to refuse allegiance to it, and to insist upon the institution of a new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly, all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves, by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their duty to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of the women under this government, and such is now the necessity which constrains them to demand the equal station to which they are entitled. | We believe the following truths are obvious to everyone: All men and women are created equal. God has given men and women certain rights, including the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. To guarantee these rights people form governments. When the government gets in the way of these rights, people can reject that government and form a new one. This should not be done lightly. But when a government has gone too far, the people must act. This is where U.S. women find themselves today. |
| The history of mankind is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations on the part of man toward woman, having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over her. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world. | Throughout history, men have oppressed and mistreated women. Here are the facts that prove this. |
| He has never permitted her to exercise her inalienable right to the elective franchise.
He has compelled her to submit to laws, in the formation of which she had no voice. He has withheld from her rights which are given to the most ignorant and degraded men – both natives and foreigners. Having deprived her of this first right of a citizen, the elective franchise, thereby leaving her without representation in the halls of legislation, he has oppressed her on all sides. He has made her, if married, in the eye of the law, civilly dead. He has taken from her all right in property, even to the wages she earns. |
Men have never allowed women to vote.
Men force women to obey laws that she did not help write. Men rob women of rights that even ignorant and poor men are guaranteed. Even immigrant men have more rights. Men deprived women of the right to vote, so women cannot shape the government that rules over them. Men have oppressed women on all sides. Men have made married women non-existent under the law. Married women cannot own property. Even if she works, her husband can take her wages. |
| He has made her, morally, an irresponsible being, as she can commit many crimes, with impunity, provided they be done in the presence of her husband. In the covenant of marriage, she is compelled to promise obedience to her husband, he becoming, to all intents and purposes, her master – the law giving him power to deprive her of her liberty, and to administer chastisement. | Men have made married women morally irresponsible, because she can commit any crime as long as she is with her husband.
In marriage, women are forced to obey their husbands. Husbands become the masters of their wives. They can restrict their wives movements and punish them. |
| He has so framed the laws of divorce, as to what shall be the proper causes of divorce; in case of separation, to whom the guardianship of the children shall be given, as to be wholly regardless of the happiness of women – the law, in all cases, going upon the false supposition of the supremacy of man, and giving all power into his hands. | Men have written divorce laws so that husbands men get total control of children, and women get nothing. |
| After depriving her of all rights as a married woman, if single and the owner of property, he has taxed her to support a government which recognizes her only when her property can be made profitable to it.
He has monopolized nearly all the profitable employments, and from those she is permitted to follow, she receives but a scanty remuneration. He closes against her all the avenues to wealth and distinction, which he considers most honorable to himself. As a teacher of theology, medicine, or law, she is not known. He has denied her the facilities for obtaining a thorough education – all colleges being closed against her. |
As for single women, men make them pay taxes to support a government that she has no voice in.
Men limit the jobs single women can hold. And they pay women workers very little. Men prevent women from holding any job that would give women wealth and prestige. Women cannot be ministers, doctors, or lawyers. Men do not let women go to college. |
| He allows her in Church as well as State, but a subordinate position, claiming Apostolic authority for her exclusion from the ministry, and with some exceptions, from any public participation in the affairs of the Church.
He has created a false public sentiment, by giving to the world a different code of morals for men and women, by which moral delinquencies which exclude women from society, are not only tolerated but deemed of little account in man. He has usurped the prerogative of Jehovah himself, claiming it as his right to assign for her a sphere of action, when that belongs to her conscience and her God. |
Men let women attend church, but they have to submit to men there too.
Men have set different codes of conduct for men and women. Some actions that would ruin a woman’s reputation are no big deal if committed by men. Men have taken on the role of God, saying they have the right to determine what women can do. |
| He has endeavored, in every way that he could to destroy her confidence in her own powers, to lessen her self-respect, and to make her willing to lead a dependent and abject life.
Now, in view of this entire disfranchisement of one-half the people of this country, their social and religious degradation, – in view of the unjust laws above mentioned, and because women do feel themselves aggrieved, oppressed, and fraudulently deprived of their most sacred rights, we insist that they have immediate admission to all the rights and privileges which belong to them as citizens of these United States. |
Men demean women in order to keen them dependent on men.
Now that we have proven that half the population of this country is subject to political, social, and religious oppression, we demand that women be granted the full rights of U.S. citizens. |
| In entering upon the great work before us, we anticipate no small amount of misconception, misrepresentation, and ridicule; but we shall use every instrumentality within our power to effect our object. We shall employ agents, circulate tracts, petition the State and national Legislatures, and endeavor to enlist the pulpit and the press in our behalf. We hope this Convention will be followed by a series of Conventions, embracing every part of the country. | We know that not everyone will understand what we are asking for. Many with make fun of it. But we will do everything the law allows to achieve our goal. We will hire representatives, write papers, petition the state and federal government. We will try to convince the church and the media to support us. We hope that this is the first of many conventions for women’s rights around the country. |
| Firmly relying upon the final triumph of the Right and the True, we do this day affix our signatures to this declaration. | Because we believe that what is right and true will eventually win, we sign our names to this declaration. |
Declaration of Rights and Sentiments
“Declaration of Rights and Sentiments,” 1848. New-York Historical Society Library.
Document Text |
Summary |
| “This is all wrong…. Society would have to be radically remodeled in order to accommodate itself to so great a change.”
–Mechanics’ Advocate, Albany, New York |
This is all wrong. All of society would need to be rebuilt to make this change. |
| “The women folks have just held a Convention up in New York State, and passed a sort of “bill of rights”…. They should have resolved at the same time, that it was obligatory … upon the “lords” … to wash dishes, scour up, be put to the tub, handle the broom, darn stockings, patch breeches, scold the servants, dress in the latest fashion, wear trinkets, look beautiful, and be as fascinating as those blessed morsels of humanity whom God gave to preserve that rough animal man, in something like a reasonable civilization.”
–Lowell (Massachusetts) Courier |
The women have just held a convention in New York State and passed a bill of rights. They should have decided that men were required to do all household chores, manage servants, dress beautifully, and be as interesting as women. God created women to tame men in reasonable civilization. |
| “A woman is nobody. A wife is everything. A pretty girl is equal to ten thousand men, and a mother is, next to God, all powerful. The ladies of Philadelphia, therefore, under the influence of the most serious ‘sober second thoughts’ are resolved to maintain their rights as Wives, Belles, Virgins, and Mothers, and not as Women.”
–Philadelphia Public Ledger and Daily Transcript |
A woman is nobody. A wife is everything. A pretty girl is equal to 10,000 men, and a mother is the most powerful thing after God. The ladies of Philadelphia are therefore resolved to maintain their rights as wives, daughters, and mothers, not as women. |
Press Reactions to the Declaration of Rights and Sentiments
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Matilda Joslyn Gage, “Reactions to the Declaration of Rights and Sentiments,” History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. 1, 1848–1861, rev. ed. (Rochester, NY: 1889).
Background
Under U.S. law, married women had no identity separate from their husbands in the 1800s. Married women could not own property, run their own businesses, or take cases to court without the support of their husbands. Social custom also prohibited women from directly participating in political life.
In the 1830s and 1840s, women activists in the antislavery and other political movements started to push for women to have equal legal standing in the U.S. Their first success was convincing some state governments to grant married women the right to own property separate from their husbands. State legislators did not pass this measure because they supported women’s equality. They were trying to protect family wealth during bankruptcy proceedings. But it was a solid start, and there was much more to do. What was needed was a strong organized effort to accomplish their goals.
In 1848, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucrezia Mott decided to hold a convention in New York State to discuss the movement for women’s rights. They advertised their plans in a local newspaper on July 11. The convention was held on July 19–20, 1848, in Seneca Falls, New York. Women and men who were interested in improving the status of women in the U.S. attended.
The Seneca Falls Convention of 1848 was a local affair. About 300 people attended. But it inspired other women around the country to hold their own local conventions. These gatherings brought attentions to the cause, and the movement grew larger. In 1850, the first National Women’s Rights Convention was held, signaling that the movement was now a coordinated effort of women from around the country.
About the Document
The Declaration of Rights and Sentiments is a list of complaints about the status of women in the U.S. It was written by the organizers of the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848. The writers purposefully mimicked the style of the Declaration of Independence because they wanted people to immediately understand that the fight for women’s rights was just as important as the fight for national independence.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton read the Declaration of Rights and Sentiments to the attendees on the first day of the convention. On the second day, the attendees debated the contents of the Declaration and then voted on whether to approve them. The most controversial point was the call to grant women the right to vote. Even Lucretia Mott believed taking such a radical position would cause more harm than good. But Frederick Douglass and Elizabeth Cady Stanton both spoke passionately in support of the section, and it was approved.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Matilda Joslyn Gage published the first volume of the History of Women Suffrage in 1881. They included several newspaper articles about the Seneca Falls Convention. These three quotations are taken from the “sarcasm and ridicule” section. They demonstrate how the people who did not think women deserved equal rights responded to the Declaration of Rights and Sentiments.
Vocabulary
- suffrage: The right to vote.
Discussion Questions
- What problems does this Declaration of Rights and Sentiments highlight? What do the writers want to accomplish?
- Why did the writers model this declaration on the Declaration of Independence?
- How did detractors respond to the Declaration of Sentiments? What arguments did they use against the Declaration?
Suggested Activities
- Ask students to rewrite the Declaration of Rights and Sentiments in their own words. Then ask them to consider the status of women’s equality today and write an updated Declaration of Rights and Sentiments that reflects what changes they would like to see.
- Ask students to pick one of the responses to the Declaration of Rights and Sentiments and analyze how the writer is making the case against women’s rights. Then have them write a response in support of the Declaration, proving the original writer wrong.
- For a larger lesson about the origins of the women’s rights movement in the U.S., combine this resource with Life Story: Ernestine Rose, Life Story: Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, “All Bound Up Together,” No Place for Black Women, Life Story: Mary Ann Shadd Cary, and Suffrage and the Fifteenth Amendment.
- To learn more about the fight for married women’s property rights, see Married Women’s Property Act.
Themes
POWER AND POLITICS
New-York Historical Society Curriculum Library Connections
To learn more about the rise of women’s activism in the early 19th century, see Saving Washington: The New Republic and Early Reformers.
