SENECA FALLS 1848:
Resolved,
therefore, that, being invested by
the Creator with the same capabilities and same consciousness of responsibility
for their exercise, it is demonstrably the right and duty of woman, equally with
man, to promote every righteous cause by every righteous means; and especially
in regard to the great subjects of morals and religion, it is self-evidently
her right to participate with her brother in teaching them, both in private and
in public, by writing and by speaking, by any instrumentalities proper to be
used, and in any assemblies proper to be held; and this being a self-evident
truth growing out of the divinely implanted principles of human nature, any
custom or authority adverse to it, whether modern or wearing the hoary sanction
of antiquity, is to be regarded as a self-evident falsehood, and at war with
mankind.
From left to right the figures
represent: Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902),
president of the National Woman Suffrage Association from 1865 to 1893; author of
the woman's bill of rights, which she read at the
The Declaration of
Sentiments and Resolutions was drafted by Elizabeth Cady Stanton
for the women's rights convention at
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.
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 has shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer,
while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to
which they were 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.
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.
v
He has never permitted her to exercise her
inalienable right to the elective franchise.
v
He has compelled her to submit to law in the
formation of which she had no voice.
v
He has withheld from her rights which are given
to the most ignorant and degraded men, both natives and foreigners.
v
Having deprived her of this first right as a
citizen, the elective franchise, thereby leaving her without representation in
the halls of legislation, he has oppressed her on all sides.
v
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.
v
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.
v
He has so framed the laws of divorce, as to what
shall be the proper causes and, in case of separation, to whom the guardianship
of the children shall be given, as to be wholly regardless of the happiness of
the women-the law, in all cases, going upon a false supposition of the
supremacy of man and giving all power into his hands.
v
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.
v
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.
v
He has denied her the facilities for obtaining a
thorough education, all colleges being closed against her.
v
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.
v
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.
v
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 to her God.
v
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 the United States.
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.
Resolutions
Whereas, the great precept of nature is
conceded to be that "man shall pursue his own true and substantial happiness."
Blackstone in his Commentaries remarks that this law of nature, being coeval
with mankind and dictated by God himself, is, of course, superior in obligation
to any other. It is binding over all the globe, in all countries and at all
times; no human laws are of any validity if contrary to this, and such of them
as are valid derive all their force, and all their validity, and all their
authority, mediately and immediately, from this original; therefore,
Resolved, That such laws as conflict, in
any way, with the true and substantial happiness of woman, are contrary to the
great precept of nature and of no validity, for this is superior in obligation
to any other.
Resolved, that all laws which prevent
woman from occupying such a station in society as her conscience shall dictate,
or which place her in a position inferior to that of man, are contrary to the
great precept of nature and therefore of no force or authority.
Resolved, that woman is man's equal, was
intended to be so by the Creator, and the highest good of the race demands that
she should be recognized as such.
Resolved, that the women of this country
ought to be enlightened in regard to the laws under which they live, that they
may no longer publish their degradation by declaring themselves satisfied with
their present position, nor their ignorance, by asserting that they have all
the rights they want.
Resolved, that inasmuch as man, while
claiming for himself intellectual superiority, does accord to woman moral
superiority, it is preeminently his duty to encourage her to speak and teach,
as she has an opportunity, in all religious assemblies.
Resolved, that the same amount of virtue,
delicacy, and refinement of behavior that is required of woman in the social
state also be required of man, and the same transgressions should be visited
with equal severity on both man and woman.
Resolved, that the objection of indelicacy
and impropriety, which is so often brought against woman when she addresses a
public audience, comes with a very ill grace from those who encourage, by their
attendance, her appearance on the stage, in the concert, or in feats of the
circus.
Resolved, that woman has too long rested
satisfied in the circumscribed limits which corrupt customs and a perverted
application of the Scriptures have marked out for her, and that it is time she
should move in the enlarged sphere which her great Creator has assigned her.
Resolved, that it is the duty of the women
of this country to secure to themselves their sacred right to the elective
franchise.
Resolved, that the equality of human rights
results necessarily from the fact of the identity of the race in capabilities
and responsibilities.
Resolved, that the speedy success of our
cause depends upon the zealous and untiring efforts of both men and women for
the overthrow of the monopoly of the pulpit, and for the securing to woman an
equal participation with men in the various trades, professions, and commerce.
Resolved, therefore, that, being invested
by the Creator with the same capabilities and same consciousness of
responsibility for their exercise, it is demonstrably the right and duty of
woman, equally with man, to promote every righteous cause by every righteous
means; and especially in regard to the great subjects of morals and religion,
it is self-evidently her right to participate with her brother in teaching
them, both in private and in public, by writing and by speaking, by any
instrumentalities proper to be used, and in any assemblies proper to be held;
and this being a self-evident truth growing out of the divinely implanted principles
of human nature, any custom or authority adverse to it, whether modern or
wearing the hoary sanction of antiquity, is to be regarded as a self-evident
falsehood, and at war with mankind.
