As a teacher of theology, medicine, or law, she is not known. He closes against her all the avenues to wealth and distinction, which he considers most honorable to himself. He has monopolized nearly all the profitable employments, and from those she is permitted to follow, she receives but a scanty remuneration. ![]() 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.Īfter 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. 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. 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. He has taken from her all right in property, even to the wages she earns. He has made her, if married, in the eye of the law, civilly dead. 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 withheld from her rights which are given to the most ignorant and degraded men - both natives and foreigners. He has compelled her to submit to laws, in the formation of which she had no voice. He has never permitted her to exercise her inalienable right to the elective franchise. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. WOODWORTH, THOMAS AND MARY ANN M'CLINTOCK, FREDERICK DOUGLASS, AMY POST, CATHARINE STEBBINS, AND ELIZABETH C. The next morning, the Declaration was read once again, "freely discussed by LUCRETIA MOTT, ANSEL BASCOM, S. The Declaration was then circulated to obtain signatures. According to the minutes of the convention, "The propriety of obtaining the signatures of men to the Declaration was discussed in an animated manner: a vote in favor was given but concluding that the final decision would be the legitimate business of the next day, it was referred." In the afternoon, the Declaration, in its amended form, was read again and the amendment was voted on and passed. ![]() ![]() After the initial reading during the morning session of the first day, each paragraph was re-read and discussed, with some changes made. The Declaration of Sentiments was written by Stanton and read by her at the Woman's Rights Convention held on July 19 and 20, 1848, in Seneca Falls, New York.
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