Blog #12: Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments

The Declaration of Sentiments states that all men and women are created equal and are given by their Creator certain inalienable rights. Among these rights are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Governments secure these rights by permission from the people, but whenever a government becomes destructive, the people have the right to refuse the government and request a new one. Women have experienced this, and they have the right to demand equality because they are entitled to it. Throughout history men have had a role higher than woman. This role includes control over property rights, representation, jobs, and even divorce details. Women were even denied education, barely recognized, and were not allowed to have truly meaningful roles. However, the Declaration of Sentiments insists that because women were so often treated unequally, they have all the rights and privileges that belong to them as citizens of the United States. Relying upon the “final triumph of the Right and the True, 68 women and 32 men signed this document. 

1) Democratic principles: Equality, life, liberty, pursuit of happiness, freedom of speech (voice in government)

2) 5 grievances: 

-men have taken all property rights and wages from women 

-men have deprived women of representation in government 

-men get to choose the causes of divorce as well as who gets the children after the divorce 

-men deny women the resources they need for obtaining for obtaining a thorough education (women not allowed in colleges) 

-men do not allow women to become wealthy or well-known because they save those positions for themselves

3) As a result of women feeling oppressed and deprived of their rights, the declaration insists that women have immediate access to all the rights and privileges that a citizen of the United States should have.

4) 5 notable names:

-Frederick Douglass

-Harriet Cady Eaton

-Elizabeth Cady Stanton

-Lucretia Mott

-James Mott

One woman who did not sign the Declaration of Sentiments was Sojourner Truth. This is surprising because she was a women's right activist.

Statues of attendees at the Women's Rights National Historical Park in Seneca Falls, NY

The Declaration of Sentiments granted women inalienable rights that every American citizen should have. This can be compared to the 19th Amendment, because it gave women the right to vote, which was something that women never before had, but as U.S. citizens had the right to obtain.