The Declaration of Sentiments was written by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and signed by

sixty-eight women and thirty-two men at the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848. The
document outlines the many ways that women were oppressed at the time, from being
unable to obtain an education to being unable to vote or own property when married.
The document parallels the Declaration of Independence in many ways in order to
illustrate that the concept of liberty and freedom which was so foundational to America,
did not apply to women. To make this point, Stanton changed the phrase We hold
these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal to instead read, all men
and women are created equal, and the phrase patient sufferance of the colonies to
patient sufferance of women under this government. By doing this, Stanton urges the
reader of the document to consider, from a womans standpoint, a declaration that
demanded freedom of the people of America. Women had simply been left out of these
liberties. Instead of sharing in the freedom, women were basically owned by their
husbands, the way a child is owned by his parents today. A womans husband was in
charge of her finances as well as her actions. She could not own property, had no right
to vote, and was to be submissive to her husband in all things. If a woman chose to not
marry, she had a difficult life ahead. It would be hard for her to provide for her own
needs because her access to education and a job was next to nonexistent.
Around the time that the Declaration of sentiments was written, women played a large
part in the fight to abolish slavery. Their role in this was generally deemed acceptable
because, as John Green states, they could be seen as the moral conscience of the
nation. They had experience in being compassionate and nurturing because they were
homemakers and mothers. However, when a female, official delegate was denied the
right to speak at the anti-slavery convention in London, it seemed to have struck a
nerve, prompting the first ever womens rights convention. The primary changes that the
women were looking to see was the right to own property and the right to vote. The
womans rights movement was met with strong objection and harsh criticism. The
structure of marriage had remained consistent with what was expected in England, and
fighting for a reform was unheard of. Though this was partially due to what was seen as
Biblically correct, some of the opposition came from critics who twisted the words of the
womens rights request to have sexual choice over their own bodies and took it to be a
fight for the right to abort their children. The most controversial addition to the
declaration, was the right to vote, which even Lucretia Mott, who organized the Seneca
Falls Convention, saw as going too far. When it came time for the members of the
convention to vote, a debate occurred over womens suffrage, however, the resolution
did eventually get passed. Though no immediate reform came as a result of the
convention, and the publicity that followed it was primarily negative, it spread an
awareness of the fight for gender equality in America, and, finally, seventy years later,
resulted in the right for women to vote.

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