Declaration of Sentiments by Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Summary
TLDRElizabeth Cady Stanton's 'Declaration of Sentiments' is a powerful manifesto advocating for women's rights. It parallels the American Declaration of Independence, asserting that women are entitled to equality and the pursuit of happiness. The script details the historical subjugation of women, including denial of voting rights, property ownership, and fair representation. Stanton calls for immediate change, demanding women's full admission to all rights and privileges as citizens, and outlines a strategy for social reform through petitions, education, and legislative action.
Takeaways
- 📜 The 'Declaration of Sentiments' is a significant document in the history of women's rights, written by Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
- 🌟 It asserts the self-evident truth that 'all men and women are created equal' and endowed with inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
- ⚖️ The document calls for a new government that protects these rights, emphasizing the right to refuse allegiance to a destructive government.
- 🔍 It highlights the systematic oppression of women, detailing how they have been denied their rights to vote, own property, and participate in the formation of laws.
- 🏛️ The script points out that married women are considered 'civilly dead' in the eyes of the law, having no legal rights or property ownership.
- 💼 The economic opportunities for women are limited, with men monopolizing profitable employments and paying women a meager wage for the work they do allow.
- 🚫 Educational opportunities are restricted, with colleges closed to women and no access to professions such as theology, medicine, or law.
- 🏫 The script criticizes the church for denying women a significant role, excluding them from the ministry and limiting their participation in church affairs.
- 🌐 It addresses the creation of a double standard in morality, where men's moral failings are tolerated more than women's.
- 💪 Stanton and her supporters are determined to fight for women's rights, using every means at their disposal, including petitions, conventions, and engaging the press and pulpit.
- 🌟 The 'Declaration of Sentiments' ends with a call for a series of conventions across the country to continue the fight for women's rights and equality.
Q & A
What is the main theme of the 'Declaration of Sentiments' by Elizabeth Cady Stanton?
-The main theme of the 'Declaration of Sentiments' is the demand for women's rights and equality, including the right to vote and the end of legal and social discrimination against women.
What does the phrase 'a position different from that which they have hitherto occupied' refer to in the context of the script?
-This phrase refers to women's need to assume a new position in society, one that is equal to men's, as opposed to the subordinate position they have traditionally been confined to.
According to the script, what are the 'inalienable rights' that all people, including women, are said to possess?
-The 'inalienable rights' mentioned in the script are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
What does the script suggest is the role of governments in relation to securing these rights?
-The script suggests that governments are instituted to secure these rights and derive their just powers from the consent of the governed.
What is the significance of the statement 'he has never permitted her to exercise her inalienable right to the elective franchise'?
-This statement highlights the denial of women's right to vote, emphasizing that women were not allowed to participate in the political process that affected their lives.
How does the script describe the legal status of married women during that time?
-The script describes married women as 'civilly dead' in the eyes of the law, meaning they had no legal identity separate from their husbands and were denied property rights and other legal protections.
What are some of the 'repeated injuries and usurpations' that the script lists as being committed by men against women?
-Some of the 'repeated injuries and usurpations' include denying women the right to vote, compelling them to obey laws they had no part in creating, and depriving them of property rights and legal representation.
What is the script's stance on the role of women in education and employment?
-The script argues that women are systematically denied access to higher education and are excluded from most profitable employments, receiving only a small remuneration for the work they are allowed to do.
How does the script characterize the societal and moral expectations placed on women?
-The script characterizes these expectations as a 'false public sentiment' that assigns a different moral code to men and women, tolerating moral delinquencies in men that would exclude women from society.
What actions does the script propose to achieve the goals of women's rights and equality?
-The script proposes employing agents, circulating tracts, petitioning state and national legislatures, and enlisting the support of the pulpit and the press to advocate for women's rights and equality.
Outlines
📜 Declaration of Sentiments: Inequality and Rights
This paragraph is a powerful declaration by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, advocating for women's rights and equality. It begins with a reference to the 'course of human events' and the necessity for women to assume a position of equality with men, which is a clear allusion to the American Declaration of Independence. Stanton argues that all individuals, regardless of gender, are created equal and possess inalienable rights such as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. She asserts that governments are established to protect these rights and that it is the right of the governed to change or reject a government that becomes destructive to these ends. Stanton then outlines the historical and ongoing injustices faced by women, including the denial of the right to vote, the lack of representation in law-making, and the legal subjugation of women within marriage. She also points out the economic and educational disadvantages women face, and the societal double standards that perpetuate their oppression. The paragraph concludes with a call for women to demand their rightful place in society and to seek new protections for their future security.
🔍 Addressing Injustices: Women's Rights Movement
The second paragraph continues the discourse on the plight of women, emphasizing the social and religious degradation they experience due to unjust laws and societal norms. Stanton points out the double standards in morality, the usurpation of women's rights to self-determination, and the undermining of their confidence and self-respect. She highlights the efforts to suppress women's potential and to keep them in a state of dependency and subjugation. Stanton calls for immediate action to grant women their full rights and privileges as citizens. The paragraph concludes with a commitment to use all available means to achieve this goal, including the circulation of information, petitions, and engagement with influential institutions such as the church and the press. Stanton envisions a series of conventions to spread the message and promote change across the United States.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Declaration of Sentiments
💡Inalienable rights
💡Elective franchise
💡Patriarchy
💡Disenfranchisement
💡Representation
💡Subjugation
💡Moral responsibility
💡Educational opportunities
💡Public sentiment
💡Sphere of action
Highlights
Declaration of Sentiments by Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Necessity for women to assume a position different from what they have hitherto occupied
All men and women are created equal and endowed with inalienable rights
Governments are instituted to secure rights and derive their powers from the consent of the governed
Right to refuse allegiance to a destructive government and insist on a new government
Women's patient sufferance and the necessity to demand equal station
History of repeated injuries and usurpations by men towards women
Denial of the right to vote and representation in legislation
Married women are civilly dead in the eyes of the law
Withholding of rights and property from women, even to the wages they earn
Laws of divorce framed to disregard women's happiness
Monopolization of profitable employments and unequal pay for women
Denial of educational opportunities and access to higher learning
Subordinate position of women in church and state
False public sentiment created by different moral codes for men and women
Claiming authority to assign a sphere of action for women, which should belong to their conscience and God
Efforts to destroy women's confidence and make them lead a dependent life
Demand for immediate admission to all rights and privileges as citizens of the United States
Anticipating misconception, misrepresentation, and ridicule but determined to affect their object
Plan to employ agents, circulate tracts, and petition for change
Hope for a series of conventions to spread the message across the country
Transcripts
declaration of sentiments by Elizabeth
Cady Stanton this is a library according
all library Ock's recordings are in the
public domain for more information or to
volunteer please visit librivox.org 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 an alienable 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 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 made her if married in the
eye of the law civilly dead he has taken
from her all right and 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 and 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 a
false supposition to 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 the
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 has 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
to her God he has endeavoured 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 belonged to them as
citizens of the 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
affect our object we shall employ agents
circulate tracts petition the state and
national legislatures and endeavour 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
end of declaration of sentiments by
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
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