Declaration of Sentiments

“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.”

A nearly identical section in the Declaration of Independence sets forth the founding principle of the American experiment: that the people control the government and not the other way around. The difference in wording between the two declarations lies in the second sentence of this paragraph. In the Declaration of Independence, if bad government prevails, “it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government.” The Declaration of Sentiments has it as: “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.” This makes clear the convention’s belief that, within a governed society, a group of citizens—in this case, women—who face oppression under the local government can, and should, insist that their own equal rights be respected as well.

“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.”

This sentence, identical to that in the Declaration of Independence, calls the reader to recognize that the issues faced by 19th-century American women laboring under the tyranny of a male-dominant society were essentially the same as those that the American Revolutionaries faced under the oppressive rule of Britain. Women thus deserved the same freedom and respect as men.

“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 women of the Seneca Falls Convention assert their right to throw off the bonds of oppression and servitude at the hands of men.

“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.” 

This paragraph introduces the middle portion of the Declaration, a “list of horribles” that sets forth the offenses committed against the aggrieved. Where the earlier document detailed a laundry list of wrongs by the king of England against his American colonists, Stanton’s Declaration sets out a comparable list of offenses committed by men against women.

“He has never permitted her to exercise her inalienable right to the elective franchise.” 

This is the first of 16 sentiments, a list of offenses against women that forms the central portion of the Declaration. Effectively a demand for women’s right to vote, its inclusion at first caused controversy; even Lucretia Mott objected to it, fearing it would make the convention appear “ridiculous.” Antislavery activist Frederick Douglass spoke eloquently on its behalf, however, and it won inclusion in the Declaration. This sentiment—followed by three more that strengthen the argument for women’s voting rights—turned out to be the first salvo of the women’s suffrage movement in America. That movement achieved victory with the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution, ratified in 1920 to guarantee women’s right to vote. The process took 72 years; only one conventioneer lived to see the work completed.

“He has taken from her all right in property, even to the wages she earns.” 

Early in the 19th century, women in America and Europe were still considered chattel, or the property of their husbands. As such, they had no legal rights and couldn’t conduct business or sign contracts. By mid-century, this became not only a moral issue but also a practical one, especially when a husband was away and problems arose with his business or estate that the wife was powerless to resolve. This is the first sentiment from the Declaration to have an effect: Though by 1848 a few localities had passed property-rights legislation favoring women, 14 states had done so by 1860, and the trend continued throughout the century.

“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 the women—the law, in all cases, going upon a false supposition of the supremacy of a man, and giving all power into his hands.” 

Since 1848, divorce laws in the United States have changed a great deal, and today a woman can file for divorce, receive spousal support, and obtain child-rearing rights, things generally unavailable to early-19th-century women, who were largely at the mercy of their husbands in court.

“He has monopolized nearly all the profitable employments, and from those she is permitted to follow, she receives but a scanty remuneration.” 

This expresses a desire by women to be treated equally in the workplace, to pursue professions and attain high positions of responsibility, as men are free to do, and to obtain comparable rates of pay. This is one of the sentiments listed in the Declaration that yet remains unresolved.

“He has denied her the facilities for obtaining a thorough education—all colleges being closed against her.” 

This sentiment has, over the decades, been one of the more successfully implemented, with women today comprising the majority of college students. In 1848, though, almost no women had found their way into the halls of academe, and the issue caused bitterness, with many women’s intellects lying fallow, their powers unrealized.

“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.” 

In many areas a double standard exists between men and women whereby men can do as they please but women must refrain. This was especially true in 19th-century America: Men caroused and gamboled, enjoying the pleasures of action, adventure, and even vice, while women were to remain at home, docile and demure. It’s not that the convention believed women should become equally foolish; its complaint was that men had the freedom to do as they pleased while women were denied the same right.

“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.” 

According to this sentiment, men weren’t merely offending women’s sensibilities, they were offending God’s will. Most convention attendees were Protestant Christians, many of them Quaker—a sect that placed great store in fairness, especially toward women. The Protestant view saw each person’s relationship to God as personal and private. That men could dictate behavior to women, much of which ought to depend on their personal conscience, violated the conventioneer’s deep sense of religious propriety.

“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.”

This final sentiment sums up the emotional toll on 19th-century American women who were treated essentially as children, with no rights, many obligations, and a life not far removed from slavery. Most women at the time found it easier to accommodate their men and see themselves as inferior. The members of the Seneca Falls Convention, however, took a stand for equality in rights, action, and self-respect.

“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.” 

This paragraphs sets forth the Seneca Falls Convention’s demand that, for the reasons stated earlier in the Declaration, women receive rights equal to those of men.