HIST 130 University of South Florida Declaration of Sentiments 1848 Essay I’ve attached the essay instructions and the reading (Declaration of Sentiments,1

HIST 130 University of South Florida Declaration of Sentiments 1848 Essay I’ve attached the essay instructions and the reading (Declaration of Sentiments,1848). This document involves the struggle for women’s suffrage in the U.S. 350-500 words in length.Please let me know if you have any questions. For this essay you will analyze Declaration of Sentiments 1848 (this document involves the struggle for
women’s suffrage in the U.S.)
Your analysis will consist of answering all the questions found in the document under the “Things to
consider” heading. In order to successfully complete this assignment, beside addressing all the above
questions, you must:
1. Write a paper of 350-500 words in length, not including any header, title, or citations (see below for
citation rules).
2. Your paper MUST be formatted as follows:
a. Font: 12 point Times New Roman
b. Spacing: Double spaced
c. Indent: ½” at beginning of paragraphs
d. Margins: 1” all around
e. Footnotes: not necessary unless you cite a source other than the reading.
3. Do NOT repeat the questions in your paper.
4. Do NOT answer with a numbered list. Use a narrative instead.
5. Do NOT bring yourself into the paper by using the first person (I, me, we, us, mine, my, our, etc.).
6. Do NOT bring the reader into the paper by using the second person (you, y’all, etc.).
7. Do NOT have a title page.
8. A citation is a reference, so that means you do not have to use footnotes, endnotes, page indicators,
or anything like that. But you still need to put quotation marks around material you quote directly from
the source.
Remember to: be specific, not general, with your statements; use evidence from the sources to support
your argument; and don’t claim the sources say something they don’t. Also, don’t make broad claims
that you cannot prove with your evidence.
Writing Strategy Tips Don’t just start writing! The word limit for this essay is a tight one, and you will
need to be relatively concise with your writing to answer all the questions asked without going over.
But be sure to not overdo quotations! There is no hard-and-fast rule, but consider 15-percent of your
total content to be the upper limit of quoted material allowed.
Read the source very carefully! There are many ways to interpret it, but some ways are better than
others.
Primary Sources – Declaration of Sentiments, 18481
The Seneca Falls Convention, named after the community where it took place, was the first convention to
discuss the condition and rights of women in American society. The “Declaration of Sentiments” drafted and
approved by the attendees presented grievances felt by many women, but not necessarily the authors’ who found
it difficult as relatively well-to-do Quakers to come up with a full list of complaints. This problem is what
inspired them to turn to the Declaration of Independence as a model document on which to pattern their own.
Things to consider: 1) Describe how the authors used the Declaration of Independence as a model. 2) Explain
the kinds of complaints the authors made. 3) What does this document reveal about gender relations in the midnineteenth century U.S.?
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 are 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.
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Text retrieved from The Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony Papers Project, http://ecssba.rutgers.edu/docs/seneca.html.
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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 of divorce; 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 the 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 made 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 her a sphere of action,
when that belongs to her conscience and her God.
He has endeavored, in every way that he could to destroy her confidence in her own powers, to lessen her selfrespect, and to make her willing to lead a dependent and abject life.
Now, in view of this entire disfranchisement of 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 belong to them as citizens of these 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.
Firmly relying upon the final triumph of the Right and the True, we do this day affix our signatures to this
declaration.
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