Declaration of Sentiments
Explanation:
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Declaration of Sentiments, document, outlining the rights that American women should be entitled to as citizens, that emerged from the Seneca Falls Convention in New York in July 1848. Three days before the convention, feminists Lucretia Mott, Martha C. Wright, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Mary Ann McClintock met to assemble the agenda for the meeting along with the speeches that would be made. The Declaration of Sentiments, written primarily by Stanton, was based on the Declaration of Independence to parallel the struggles of the Founding Fathers with those of the women’s movement. As one of the first statements of the political and social repression of American women, the Declaration of Sentiments met with significant hostility upon its publication and, with the Seneca Falls Convention, marked the start of the women’s rights movement in the United States.
The original copy of the constitution of the United States; housed in the National Archives, Washington, D.C.
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The Declaration of Sentiments begins by asserting the equality of all men and women and reiterates that both genders are endowed with unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It argues that women are oppressed by the government and the patriarchal society of which they are a part. The text then lists 16 facts illustrating the extent of this oppression, including the lack of women’s suffrage, participation, and representation in the government; women’s lack of property rights in marriage; inequality in divorce law; and inequality in education and employment opportunities. The document insists that women be viewed as full citizens of the United States and be granted all the same rights and privileges that were granted to men.
The Declaration of Sentiments was read by Stanton at the Seneca Falls Convention on July 20 and was followed by the passage of 12 resolutions relating to women’s rights. Interestingly, the only resolution that did not pass unanimously was that which called for women’s suffrage, as some were concerned that the issue was too controversial and would hurt their efforts for equality in other arenas. Sixty-eight women and 32 men, including abolitionist Frederick Douglass, signed the Declaration of Sentiments, although many eventually withdrew their names because of the intense ridicule and criticism they received after the document was made public.
Carrie L. Cokely
LEARN MORE in these related Britannica articles:
Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: With Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects
feminism: The suffrage movement
Stanton drew up the “Declaration of Sentiments” that guided the Seneca Falls Convention. Using the Declaration of Independence as her guide to proclaim that “all men and women [had been] created equal,” she drafted 11 resolutions, including the most radical demand—the right to the vote. With Frederick Douglass, a…
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
…the meeting Stanton introduced her Declaration of Sentiments, modeled on the Declaration of Independence, that detailed the inferior status of women and that, in calling for extensive reforms, effectively launched the American women’s rights movement. She also introduced a resolution calling for women’s suffrage that was adopted after considerable debate.…
Lucretia Mott
Lucretia Mott
…The convention issued a “Declaration of Sentiments” modeled on the Declaration of Independence; it stated that “all men and women are created equal.” From that time Mott devoted most of her attention to the women’s rights movement. She wrote articles (“Discourse on Woman” appeared in 1850), lectured widely, was…
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