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 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 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 [Voting Rights].
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 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 women—the law, in all cases, going upon the 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.
[At
an evening session] Lucretia Mott offered and spoke to the following
resolution:
Resolved,
That the speedy success of our cause depends upon the zealous and
untiring efforts of both men and women, for the overthrow of the
monopoly of the pulpit, and for the securing to woman an equal
participation with men in the various trades, professions and
commerce.
The
Resolution was adopted.
Report
of the Woman's Rights Convention, Held at Seneca Falls, N.Y., July
19th and 20th, 1848 (Rochester, 1848).
