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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 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 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,
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 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 de 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 a sphere of action, when that belongs to conscience
and to 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 willing to
lead a dependent and abject life. Now, in view of this entire disfranchisement
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 long 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 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.
(Lucretia Mott, Thomas and Mary Ann McClintock, Amy Post, Catharine A.
F. Stebbins, and others, discussed these resolutions, which were later
adopted.)
WHEREAS, The great precept of nature is conceded to be, that "man shall
pursue his own true and substantial happiness." Blackstone in his Commentaries
remarks, that this law of Nature being coeval with mankind, and dictated
by God himself, is of course superior in obligation to any other. It is
binding over all the globe, in all countries and at all times; no human
laws are of any validity if contrary to this, and such of them as are
valid, derive all their force, and all their validity, and all their authority,
mediately and immediately, from this original; therefore,
Resolved, That such laws as conflict, in any way, with the true and substantial
happiness of woman, are contrary to the great precept of nature and of
no validity, for this is "superior in obligation to any other."
Resolved, That all laws which prevent woman from occupying such a station
in society as her conscience shall dictate, or which place her in a position
inferior to that of man, are contrary to the great precept of nature,
and therefore of no force or authority.
Resolved, That woman is man's equal--was intended to be so by the Creator,
and the highest good of the race demands that she should be recognized
as such.
Resolved, That the women of this country ought to be enlightened in regard
to the laws under which they live, that they may no longer publish their
degradation by declaring themselves satisfied with their present position,
nor their ignorance, by asserting that they have all the rights they want.
Resolved, That inasmuch as man, while claiming for himself intellectual
superiority, does accord to woman moral superiority, it is pre-eminently
his duty to encourage her to speak and teach, as she has an opportunity,
in all religious assemblies.
Resolved, That the same amount of virtue, delicacy, and refinement of
behavior that is required of woman in the social state, should also be
required of man, and the same transgressions should be visited with equal
severity on both man and woman.
Resolved, That the objection of indelicacy and impropriety, which is so
often brought against woman when she addresses a public audience, comes
with a very ill-grace from those who encourage, by their attendance, her
appearance on the stage, in the concert, or in feats of the circus.
Resolved, That woman has too long rested satisfied in the circumscribed
limits which corrupt customs and a perverted application of the scriptures
have marked out for her, and that it is time she should move in the enlarged
sphere which her great Creator has assigned her.
Resolved, That it is the duty of the women of this country to secure to
themselves their sacred right to the elective franchise.
Resolved, That the equality of human rights results necessarily from the
fact of the identity of the race in capabilities and responsibilities.
Resolved, therefore, That, being invested by the Creator with the same
capabilities, and the same consciousness of responsibility for their exercise,
it is demonstrably the right and duty of woman, equally with man, to promote
every righteous cause by every righteous means, and especially in regard
to the great subjects of morals and religion, it is self-evidently her
right to participate with her brother in teaching them, I both in private
and in public, by writing and by speaking, by any instrumentalities proper
to be used, and m any assemblies proper to be held; and this being a self-evident
truth growing out of the divinely implanted principles of human nature,
any custom or authority adverse to it, whether modern or wearing the hoary
sanction of antiquity, is to be regarded as a self-evident falsehood,
and at war with mankind
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.
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