Declaration of Rights and Sentiments
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The Declaration of Sentiments, also known as the Declaration of Rights and Sentiments, is a document signed in 1848 by 68 women and 32 men—100 out of some 300 attendees at the first
women's rights Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...
convention to be organized by women. Held in
Seneca Falls, New York Seneca Falls is a town in Seneca County, New York, United States. The population was 8,942 at the 2020 census. The Town of Seneca Falls contains the former village also called Seneca Falls. The town is east of Geneva, New York, in the north ...
, the convention is now known as the
Seneca Falls Convention The Seneca Falls Convention was the first women's rights convention. It advertised itself as "a convention to discuss the social, civil, and religious condition and rights of woman".Wellman, 2004, p. 189 Held in the Wesleyan Methodist Church ...
. The principal author of the Declaration was
Elizabeth Cady Stanton Elizabeth Cady Stanton (November 12, 1815 – October 26, 1902) was an American writer and activist who was a leader of the women's rights movement in the U.S. during the mid- to late-19th century. She was the main force behind the 1848 Seneca ...
, who modeled it upon the
United States Declaration of Independence The United States Declaration of Independence, formally The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen States of America, is the pronouncement and founding document adopted by the Second Continental Congress meeting at Pennsylvania State House ...
. She was a key organizer of the convention along with
Lucretia Coffin Mott Lucretia Mott (''née'' Coffin (surname), Coffin; January 3, 1793 – November 11, 1880) was an Quakers in North America, American Quaker, Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist, women's rights activist, and social reformer. She had for ...
, and
Martha Coffin Wright Martha Coffin Wright (December 25, 1806 – 1875) was an American feminist, abolitionist, and signatory of the Declaration of Sentiments who was a close friend and supporter of Harriet Tubman. Early life Martha Coffin was born in Boston, Mass ...
. According to the ''
North Star Polaris is a star in the northern circumpolar constellation of Ursa Minor. It is designated α Ursae Minoris ( Latinized to ''Alpha Ursae Minoris'') and is commonly called the North Star or Pole Star. With an apparent magnitude that ...
,'' published by
Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, February 1817 or 1818 – February 20, 1895) was an American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, he became ...
, whose attendance at the convention and support of the Declaration helped pass the resolutions put forward, the document was the "grand movement for attaining the civil, social, political, and religious rights of women."


Background


Early Activism and the Reform Movements

In the early 1800s, women were largely relegated to domestic roles as mothers and homemakers, and were discouraged from participating in public life.  While they exercised a degree of economic independence in the colonial era, they were increasingly barred from meaningfully participating in the workforce and relegated to domestic and service roles near the turn of the 19th century. Coverture laws also meant that women remained legally subordinated under their husbands. The decades leading up to the Seneca Falls Convention and the signing of the Declaration saw a small but steadily-growing movement pushing for women’s rights.  Egalitarian ideas within the U.S. had already seen limited circulation in the years following the
American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...
, in the works of writers including James Otis and
Charles Brockden Brown Charles Brockden Brown (January 17, 1771 – February 22, 1810) was an American novelist, historian, and editor of the Early National period. He is generally regarded by scholars as the most important American novelist before James Fenimore C ...
.  These sentiments began to emerge more widely with the advent of the
Second Great Awakening The Second Great Awakening was a Protestant religious revival during the early 19th century in the United States. The Second Great Awakening, which spread religion through revivals and emotional preaching, sparked a number of reform movements. R ...
, a period of
Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
revival and debate in the first half of the 19th century that led to widespread optimism and the development of various American reform movements. The first advocates for women’s rights, including
Frances Wright Frances Wright (September 6, 1795 – December 13, 1852), widely known as Fanny Wright, was a Scottish-born lecturer, writer, freethinker, feminist, utopian socialist, abolitionist, social reformer, and Epicurean philosopher, who became a ...
and
Ernestine Rose Ernestine Louise Rose (January 13, 1810 – August 4, 1892) was a suffragist, abolitionist, and freethinker who has been called the “first Jewish feminist.” Her career spanned from the 1830s to the 1870s, making her a contemporary to the more ...
, were focused on improving economic conditions and marriage laws for women.  However, the growth of political reform movements, most notably the
abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...
movement, provided female activists with a platform from which they could effectively push for greater political rights and suffrage.  The involvement of women such as Angelina Grimke and her sister Sarah Moore in the anti-slavery campaigns attracted substantial controversy and divided abolitionists, but also laid the groundwork for active female participation in public affairs.   A major catalyst for the women’s rights movement would come at the 1840
World Anti-Slavery Convention The World Anti-Slavery Convention met for the first time at Exeter Hall in London, on 12–23 June 1840. It was organised by the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, largely on the initiative of the English Quaker Joseph Sturge. The exclu ...
in
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.  With a majority vote from the male attendees, American female delegates were barred from fully partaking in the proceedings.  This experience, a vivid illustration of women’s status as second-class citizens, was what motivated prominent activists
Lucretia Mott Lucretia Mott (''née'' Coffin; January 3, 1793 – November 11, 1880) was an American Quaker, abolitionist, women's rights activist, and social reformer. She had formed the idea of reforming the position of women in society when she was amongs ...
and
Elizabeth Cady Stanton Elizabeth Cady Stanton (November 12, 1815 – October 26, 1902) was an American writer and activist who was a leader of the women's rights movement in the U.S. during the mid- to late-19th century. She was the main force behind the 1848 Seneca ...
to begin advocating for women’s rights.   By the time of the Seneca Falls Convention, the early women’s rights movement had already achieved several major political and legal successes.  Marital legislative reforms and the repeal of coverture in several state jurisdictions such as
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...
was achieved through the introduction of Married Woman's Property Acts. Women’s rights and
suffrage Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in representative democracy, public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally i ...
also gained exposure when it was included in the 1848 platform of Liberty Party U.S. presidential candidate
Gerrit Smith Gerrit Smith (March 6, 1797 – December 28, 1874), also spelled Gerritt Smith, was a leading American social reformer, abolitionist, businessman, public intellectual, and philanthropist. Married to Ann Carroll Fitzhugh, Smith was a candidat ...
, the first cousin of Elizabeth Stanton.


The Seneca Falls Convention

The Seneca Falls Convention in 1848 was the first women’s rights conference in the United States.  Held at the Wesleyan Methodist Church in Seneca Falls, New York, it was predominantly organised by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, with the assistance of Lucretia Mott and local female
Quakers Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abil ...
.  Despite the relative inexperience of the organisers, the event attracted approximately 300 attendees, including around 40 men.  Among the dignitaries was the legendary slavery abolitionist
Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, February 1817 or 1818 – February 20, 1895) was an American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, he became ...
, who argued eloquently for the inclusion of suffrage in the convention’s agenda.
''“Nature has given woman the same powers, and subjected her to the same earth, breathes the same air, subsists on the same food, physical, moral, mental and spiritual. She has, therefore, an equal right with man, in all efforts to obtain and maintain a perfect existence.”''
Over two days, the attendees heard addresses from speakers including Stanton and Mott, voted on a number of resolutions and deliberated on the text of the Declaration.  At the conclusion of the convention, the completed Declaration was signed by over 100 attendees, including 68 women and 32 men.


Rhetoric


Overview

Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s Declaration of Rights and Sentiments utilises similar rhetoric to the
United States Declaration of Independence The United States Declaration of Independence, formally The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen States of America, is the pronouncement and founding document adopted by the Second Continental Congress meeting at Pennsylvania State House ...
by
Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...
, a gesture which was neither an accident nor a submissive action. Such a purposeful mimicking of language and form meant that Stanton tied together the complaints of women in America with the Declaration of Independence, in order to ensure that in the eyes of the America people, such requests were not seen as overly radical. Using Jefferson’s document as a model, Stanton also links together the independence of America from Britain with the ‘patriarchy’ in order to emphasise how both were unjust forms of governance and deserved freedom from.Joan Hoff, ''Law, Gender and Injustice: A Legal History of U.S. Women'' (New York: New York University Press, 1991), 76. Therefore, through such a familiar phrasing of arguments and issues that the women of the new American republic were facing, Stanton’s use of Jefferson rhetoric can be seen as an attempt to deflect the hostility that women faced when calling for new socio-political freedoms, as well as to make the claims of women as “self-evident” as the rights given to men following from the gaining of independence from Britain.


Specific Examples

The foremost example of such mimicking of rhetoric is provided in the preamble of both texts. Stanton successfully manipulates Jefferson’s words, changing “all men are created equal” to “all men and women are created equal” where Stanton and the signatories of her declaration establish that women both hold and are deserving of “inalienable rights”. Stanton’s link between the Patriarchal government and the British rule over the American colonies is also at the forefront of the declaration, changing the words in Jefferson’s document from “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” to “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”. Such a slight change to rhetoric, ensured the continuous linkage between the struggles entwined within both declarations. Further changes to the demands of the original Declaration of independence also occurred, as Stanton places forward her arguments for greater socio-political freedoms for women. Stantons’ manifesto, mimicking the form of the Declaration of Independence, protests the poor condition of women’s education, women’s position in the church and the exclusion of women from employment in a similar manner to which Jefferson’s Original Declaration protests the British governance of the colonies.


Effects of Rhetoric

The direct effects of Stanton’s use of Jefferson’s rhetoric on people of the time, is unquantifiable. However, whilst Stanton had an intended effect in mind, the reality is that the use of the similar rhetoric was not as effect as was hoped, as only around 100 of the 300 men and women who attended the convention eventually ended up signing the document. Furthermore, whilst Stanton intended for changes to be made immediately after the
Seneca Falls Convention The Seneca Falls Convention was the first women's rights convention. It advertised itself as "a convention to discuss the social, civil, and religious condition and rights of woman".Wellman, 2004, p. 189 Held in the Wesleyan Methodist Church ...
, it was the ending of the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
and the
Reconstruction Period The Reconstruction era was a period in History of the United States, American history following the American Civil War (1861–1865) and lasting until approximately the Compromise of 1877. During Reconstruction, attempts were made to rebui ...
before women's rights movements become increasingly mainstream and actual change was effected.


Opening paragraphs


Sentiments

*He has not ever 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 her from 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 a 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.


Closing remarks


Signatories

Signers of the Declaration at Seneca Falls in order: #
Lucretia Mott Lucretia Mott (''née'' Coffin; January 3, 1793 – November 11, 1880) was an American Quaker, abolitionist, women's rights activist, and social reformer. She had formed the idea of reforming the position of women in society when she was amongs ...
# Harriet Cady Eaton - sister of
Elizabeth Cady Stanton Elizabeth Cady Stanton (November 12, 1815 – October 26, 1902) was an American writer and activist who was a leader of the women's rights movement in the U.S. during the mid- to late-19th century. She was the main force behind the 1848 Seneca ...
# Margaret Pryor (1785-1874) - Quaker reformer #
Elizabeth Cady Stanton Elizabeth Cady Stanton (November 12, 1815 – October 26, 1902) was an American writer and activist who was a leader of the women's rights movement in the U.S. during the mid- to late-19th century. She was the main force behind the 1848 Seneca ...
#
Eunice Newton Foote Eunice Newton Foote (July 17, 1819 – September 30, 1888) was an American scientist, inventor, and women's rights campaigner. She was the first scientist to conclude that certain gases warmed when exposed to sunlight, and that rising carbo ...
#
Mary Ann M'Clintock Mary Ann M'Clintock or ''Mary Ann McClintock'' (1800-1884) is best known for her role in the formation of the women's suffrage movement, as well as abolitionism. Life M'Clintock was born on February 20, 1800 in Burlington, New Jersey. She was mar ...
(1800-1884) - Quaker reformer, half-sister of Margaret Pryor # Margaret Schooley # Martha C. Wright (1806–75) - Quaker reformer, sister of Lucretia Mott # Jane C. Hunt #
Amy Post Amy Kirby Post (December 20, 1802 – January 29, 1889) was an activist who was central to several important social causes of the 19th century, including the abolition of slavery and women's rights. Post's upbringing in Quakerism shaped her belie ...
#Catherine F. Stebbins # Mary Ann Frink # Lydia Hunt Mount - well-off Quaker widow # Delia Matthews # Catharine V. Paine - 18 years old at the time, she is likely one of two signers of the Declaration of Sentiments to have cast a ballot. Catherine Paine Blaine registered to vote in Seattle in 1885 after
Washington Territory The Territory of Washington was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1853, until November 11, 1889, when the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Washington. It was created from the ...
extended voting rights to women in 1883, making her the first female signer of the Declaration of Sentiments to legally register as a voter. # Elizabeth W. M'Clintock - daughter of Mary Ann M'Clintock. She invited Frederick Douglass to attend. # Malvina Beebe Seymour # Phebe Mosher # Catherine Shaw # Deborah Scott # Sarah Hallowell # Mary M'Clintock - daughter of Mary Ann M'Clintock # Mary Gilbert # Sophrone Taylor # Cynthia Davis # Hannah Plant # Lucy Jones # Sarah Whitney # Mary H. Hallowell # Elizabeth Conklin # Sally Pitcher # Mary Conklin # Susan Quinn # Mary S. Mirror # Phebe King # Julia Ann Drake # Charlotte Woodward (c.1830-1921) - the only signer who lived to see the 19th amendment though illness apparently prevented her from ever voting. # Martha Underhill - her nephew also signed # Dorothy Matthews # Eunice Barker # Sarah R. Woods # Lydia Gild # Sarah Hoffman # Elizabeth Leslie # Martha Ridley # Rachel D. Bonnel (1827-1909) # Betsey Tewksbury # Rhoda Palmer (1816-1919) - the only woman signer who ever legally voted, in 1918 when New York passed female suffrage. # Margaret Jenkins # Cynthia Fuller # Mary Martin # P.A. Culvert # Susan R. Doty # Rebecca Race (1808-1895) # Sarah A. Mosher # Mary E. Vail - daughter of Lydia Mount # Lucy Spalding # Lavinia Latham (1781-1859) # Sarah Smith # Eliza Martin # Maria E. Wilbur # Elizabeth D. Smith # Caroline Barker # Ann Porter # Experience Gibbs # Antoinette E. Segur # Hannah J. Latham - daughter of Lavinia Latham # Sarah Sisson #:The following men signed, under the heading "…the gentlemen present in favor of this new movement": # Richard P. Hunt (1796-1856) - husband of Jane C. Hunt, brother of Lydia Mount and Hannah Plant, all also signers # Samuel D. Tillman # Justin Williams #
Elisha Foote Elisha Foote (August 1, 1809 – October 22, 1883) was an American judge, inventor, and mathematician. He served as the eleventh United States Commissioner of Patents from 1868 to 1869 and was responsible for launching an investigation into pre ...
- spouse of
Eunice Newton Foote Eunice Newton Foote (July 17, 1819 – September 30, 1888) was an American scientist, inventor, and women's rights campaigner. She was the first scientist to conclude that certain gases warmed when exposed to sunlight, and that rising carbo ...
#
Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, February 1817 or 1818 – February 20, 1895) was an American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, he became ...
# Henry W. Seymour - spouse of Malvina Beebe Seymour, a signer # Henry Seymour # David Spalding - spouse of Lucy Spalding # William G. Barker # Elias J. Doty # John Jones # William S. Dell (1801-1865) - uncle of Rachel Dell Bonnel, a signer #
James Mott James Mott (20 June 1788 – 26 January 1868) was a Quaker leader, teacher, merchant, and anti-slavery activist. He was married to suffragist leader Lucretia Mott. Life and work James was born in Cow Neck in North Hempstead on Long Island, t ...
(1788-1868) - husband of Lucretia Mott # William Burroughs # Robert Smalldridge # Jacob Matthews # Charles L. Hoskins #
Thomas M'Clintock Thomas M'Clintock (March 28, 1792 – March 19, 1876) was an American pharmacist and a leading Quaker organizer for many reforms, including abolishing slavery, achieving women's rights, and modernizing Quakerism. Life He was born on Marc ...
- husband of Mary Ann M'Clintock # Saron Phillips # Jacob Chamberlain (1802-1878) - Methodist Episcopal and later a member of the US House of Representatives. # Jonathan Metcalf # Nathan J. Milliken # S.E. Woodworth # Edward F. Underhill (1830-1898) - his aunt was Martha Barker Underhill, a signer # George W. Pryor - son of Margaret Pryor who also signed # Joel Bunker # Isaac Van Tassel # Thomas Dell (1828-1850) - son of William S. Dell and cousin of Rachel Dell Bonnel, both signers. # E.W. Capron # Stephen Shear # Henry Hatley # Azaliah Schooley (Circa 1805-October 24, 1855) Spouse of Margaret Schooley. Born in Lincoln County, Upper Canada, and naturalized as an American citizen in 1837. A resident of Waterloo, New York, and member of the Junius Monthly Meeting. Also had ties to Spiritualist and Abolition Movements.


See also

*
Legal rights of women Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...
*
Coverture Coverture (sometimes spelled couverture) was a legal doctrine in the English common law in which a married woman's legal existence was considered to be merged with that of her husband, so that she had no independent legal existence of her own. U ...
*
Women's Rights National Historical Park Women's Rights National Historical Park was established in 1980, and covers a total of of land in Seneca Falls and nearby Waterloo, New York, United States. The park consists of four major historical properties including the Wesleyan Methodi ...
- includes the site of the convention, and other, related sites *
National Women's Hall of Fame The National Women's Hall of Fame (NWHF) is an American institution incorporated in 1969 by a group of men and women in Seneca Falls, New York, although it did not induct its first enshrinees until 1973. As of 2021, it had 303 inductees. Induc ...
- established near the site of the convention *
Feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...
*
List of suffragists and suffragettes This list of suffragists and suffragettes includes noted individuals active in the worldwide women's suffrage movement who have campaigned or strongly advocated for women's suffrage, the organisations which they formed or joined, and the public ...
*
Timeline of women's suffrage Women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant ...


References

Notes Bibliography *"The Rights of Women", ''The North Star" (July 28, 1848) *"Bolting Among the Ladies", ''Oneida Whig'' (August 1, 1848) *Tanner, John. "Women out of their Latitude" ''Mechanics' Mutual Protection'' (1848) {{Authority control American political philosophy literature History of women in New York (state) History of women's rights in the United States Feminism and history United States documents Feminism in New York (state) Elizabeth Cady Stanton 1848 in women's history 1848 documents