Document Interpretation # 5

Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Declaration of Sentiments

Why would the authors of the Declaration parallel the Declaration of

Independence?

What is their major demand?

Why would people reject and actively fight against the ideas of this
document?

The Second Great Awakening in the United States would lead to a lot of reform
movements one of them being Womens Suffrage. One of the leaders of this movement, was
Elizabeth Cady Stanton. According to the Ch.12 lecture, Stanton had fallen into a deep
depression when she had attended a religious revival and was convinced she was a hopeless
sinner. These religious revivals has been big during the 19th century with the rise of
Evangelicalism. At the same time, Phrenology was making its way to America and intellectuals
were taking notice. Phrenology proposed that the brain was divided into different organs and
that their size were a sign of certain characteristics and abilities. What Phrenology did was
liberate Americans who had to live with the idea of original sin, Americans like Elizabeth Cady
Stanton.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton was one of many women who wanted to participate in the
Abolitionist movement that occurred during the Second Great Awakening. Women were,
becoming public speakers and demanding an equal role in the leadership of antislavery
societies (Brands 284). While male abolitionist were eager to help end slavery, they were not
as open to having women join them in their cause. These women believed that the, same
principles that justified the liberation of the slaves also applied to emancipating women from
restrictions on their rights as citizens (Brands 284). During the Worlds Anti-Slavery Convention,
sponsors refused to seat the women from the American delegation, these women included
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott. The Seneca Falls Conference was a response to
being excluded from the cause of emancipation and would mark the beginning of the womens
rights movement.
In the Declaration of Sentiments, Stanton outlines a declaration of freedom and a list of
grievances that parallels that of the Declaration of Independence written by Thomas Jefferson. It
begins the same way the Declaration of Independence does but adds women to the
writing. In this Declaration, women are asking for freedom from the tyranny that they
have suffered from at the hands of all men and a government that was made for and by
men. This is written the same way the Declaration of Independence was written when
fighting against the tyranny that the colonies had experienced at the hands of the Crown.
The comparison is made between King George and the men in the United States who
have guaranteed themselves inalienable rights with the Declaration and the Constitution.
In the Declaration of Sentiments, Stanton lists facts to prove the tyranny against women the
same way the Declaration of Independence lists the tyranny against the colonies by the King of
Great Britain. Stanton does this to show how men are guilty of the same oppression that
they felt at the hands of Great Britain. They went as far as to create a war just to free

themselves of it. It serves as a warning to men that not only are they just as guilty of
tyranny as the King was, but women are ready to fight for their rights the same way they
were.
The Declaration of Sentiments was not just a list of grievances, it was a call to action for
both men and women. In this Declaration, women demanded that they have the same rights
and privileges that are given to male citizens of the United States. It states that women
have the same inalienable rights given to them by their creator. These rights being life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Women wanted to have a say in the things that men
did and this meant having freedoms like the right to vote and to be freed of unjust laws
that made them the property of their husbands.
While some men supported Stantons Declaration, many more men fought against the
idea of women being equal to men. Those men who would fight against this document were
the ones who wanted women to be subservient to men and believed women had set role
and should obey their husbands. Men argued against this declaration claiming that,
giving the women rights that would allow them to exist outside of the home would cause
family life to suffer. Women were the primary caregivers for the children of the family and
men believed giving them liberties outside of their roles would lead to a decline and
neglect of the family structure. Others believed that women had to follow a different
moral code than man and giving them the same rights as men would lead to immorality
among women. The womens rights movement that the Declaration of Sentiments began is still
alive and active today as women still fight for the same rights to be equal to men and some men
still try to justify a way to oppress women.