Declaration of Sentiments

by Elizabeth Cady Stanton

In 1848, a historic assembly of women gathered in Seneca Falls, New York, the home

of Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Stanton organized the Seneca Falls Convention with

Lucretia Mott, who, like her, had been excluded from the World Anti-Slavery

Convention in London eight years earlier. Modeling her declaration closely on the

Declaration of Independence, Stanton extended it to list the grievances of women. The

Declaration also called for the right for women to vote, a radical demand that helped

launch the women's suffrage movement, leading, ultimately, to the recognition of

voting rights for women in the nineteenth Amendment, in 1920.

(Introduction from Voices of a People's History of the United States by Zinn and

Arnove)

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 hath 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.

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 as 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.

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.

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 man, and giving all power into his hands.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Firmly relying upon the final triumph of the Right and the True, we do this day affix

our signatures to this declaration.

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This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people

who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the

existing government, they can exercise their

constitutional right of amending it, or their revolutionary

right to dismember or overthrow it.

—Abraham Lincoln, First inaugural Address

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The Declaration of Independence (1776) – Full

Text

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to

dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to

assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station 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 which impel

them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they

are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these

are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights,

Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the

consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes

destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it,

and to institute 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 shewn, 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 right, 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 these Colonies; and such is now the necessity

which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history

of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and

usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny

over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the

public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing

importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be

obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of

people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the

Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and

distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of

fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly

firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be

elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have

returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the

mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions

within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose

obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to

encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new

Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws

for establishing Judiciary powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices,

and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers

to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent

of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil

power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our

constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts

of pretended Legislation:

For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which

they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province,

establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as

to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same

absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering

fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with

power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and

waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed

the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat

the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of

Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally

unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear

Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and

Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring

on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known

rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and

conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most

humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated

injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define

a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have

warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an

unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the

circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their

native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our

common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably

interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the

voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the

necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest

of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General

Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the

rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good

People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United

Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they

are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political

connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be

totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power

to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do

all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the

support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine

Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our

sacred Honor.

The 56 signatures on the Declaration appear in the positions indicated:

Georgia: Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

North Carolina: William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn

South Carolina: Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr.,

Arthur Middleton

Massachusetts: John Hancock

Maryland: Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of

Carrollton

Virginia: George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin

Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton

Pennsylvania: Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton,

George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross

Delaware: Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean

New York: William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris

New Jersey: Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John

Hart, Abraham Clark

New Hampshire: Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple

Massachusetts: Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island: Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery

Connecticut: Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver

Wolcott

New Hampshire: Matthew Thornton

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