Document Interpretation 5: Moral Reform

Movements
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?

This document talks about two womens taking a stand for women rights. Elizabeth Cady
Stanton and Lucretia Mott was activist who wanted equal rights to be among
women and men. 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. Women wanted to be treated the same way men would
be treated. They wanted to be able to do anything they wanted. Freedom was
something women wanted to fight for. The 15 th amendment stated that anyone is
entitled to vote no matter the race, color, or previous condition. This was one thing
that women wanted to go by. The 1st amendment also stated the freedom of speech.
Women wanted to be heard and they want to be able to fight for what they deserve.
Despite these amendments women were still not allowed to do those things
because people had an upper hand on them and it didnt allow women to do
anything other then what they were told to do. 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. Women wanted to go by what they were entitled to go by, which
was to have equal rights and for women to have freedom of speech and have the
right to votes. He has compelled her to submit to laws, in the formation of which
she had no voice. Once women were married it was like if they were nobody and
didnt have a voice. The husbands were the one who spoke up and told women what
to do. He has made her, if married, in the eye of the law, civilly dead. They didnt
have a say in anything they would do. They were told what to do which was to go by
the husbands rules. Most men didnt really care about equal rights. All they cared
about was what they told their womans to do and how other men did the same
thing as them. 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. When women
would get married their husbands were their masters. Men had the ability to have

the power over their wives. I dont agree with this because everyone should be
treated equal and no one should be told what to do. Women have the right to do as
much as men and sometimes even more if they could. Women shouldnt be told
what to do because everyone has a mind and voice to speak up.