Declaration of Sentiments

“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.” 

The opening sentence of the Declaration, and many that follow, employs the words of the original US Declaration of Independence. The purpose was to connect women’s assertion of freedom to the earlier document, which clearly and eloquently insisted on liberty but mentioned only 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. 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.”

A nearly identical section in the Declaration of Independence sets forth the founding principle of the American experiment: that the people control the government and not the other way around. The difference in wording between the two declarations lies in the second sentence of this paragraph. In the Declaration of Independence, if bad government prevails, “it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government.” The Declaration of Sentiments has it as: “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.” This makes clear the convention’s belief that, within a governed society, a group of citizens—in this case, women—who face oppression under the local government can, and should, insist that their own equal rights be respected as well.