Women's History Month: "The Declaration of Sentiments" (1848)

The Declaration of Sentiments was presented in July 1848 at the first Women's Rights Convention in Seneca Falls. Composed by the abolitionist Elizabeth Cady Stanton, it deliberately echoes the Declaration of Independence by casting women in the role of the oppressed and men in the role of the tyrant. This led to much heated dispute, but it is now recognized as the first step towards the addition of the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. impel
    urge or force to an action; constrain or motivate
    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.
  2. inalienable
    incapable of being repudiated or transferred to another
    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.
  3. prudence
    discretion in practical affairs
    Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and, accordingly, all experience has shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they were accustomed.
  4. sufferance
    patient endurance especially of pain or distress
    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.
  5. usurpation
    entry to another's property without right or permission
    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.
  6. compel
    force somebody to do something
    He has compelled her to submit to law in the formation of which she had no voice.
  7. degraded
    unrestrained by convention or morality
    He has withheld from her rights which are given to the most ignorant and degraded men, both natives and foreigners.
  8. franchise
    a statutory right or privilege granted by a government
    Having deprived her of this first right as a citizen, the elective franchise, thereby leaving her without representation in the halls of legislation, he has oppressed her on all sides.
  9. impunity
    exemption from punishment or loss
    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.
  10. chastisement
    verbal punishment
    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.
  11. supposition
    a hypothesis that is taken for granted
    He has so framed the laws of divorce, as to what shall be the proper causes and, in case of separation, to whom the guardianship of the children shall be given, as to be wholly regardless of the happiness of the women—the law, in all cases, going upon a false supposition of the supremacy of man and giving all power into his hands.
  12. remuneration
    paying for goods or services or to recompense for losses
    He has monopolized nearly all the profitable employments, and from those she is permitted to follow, she receives but a scanty remuneration.
  13. facility
    a building or place that provides a particular service
    He has denied her the facilities for obtaining a thorough education, all colleges being closed against her.
  14. apostolic
    proceeding from or ordered by or subject to a pope or the papacy regarded as the successor of the Apostles
    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.
  15. sentiment
    a personal belief or judgment
    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.
  16. prerogative
    a right reserved exclusively by a person or group
    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 to her God.
  17. aggrieve
    infringe on the rights of
    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 the United States.
  18. anticipate
    regard something as probable or likely
    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.
  19. endeavor
    attempt by employing effort
    We shall employ agents, circulate tracts, petition the state and national legislatures, and endeavor to enlist the pulpit and the press in our behalf.
  20. coeval
    of the same period
    Whereas, the great precept of nature is conceded to be that "man shall pursue his own true and substantial happiness," Blackstone in his Commentaries remarks that this law of nature, being coeval with mankind and dictated by God himself, is, of course, superior in obligation to any other.
  21. precept
    a doctrine that is taught
    Resolved, That such laws as conflict, in any way, with the true and substantial happiness of woman, are contrary to the great precept of nature and of no validity, for this is "superior in obligation to any other."
  22. conscience
    motivation deriving from ethical or moral principles
    Resolved, that all laws which prevent woman from occupying such a station in society as her conscience shall dictate, or which place her in a position inferior to that of man, are contrary to the great precept of nature and therefore of no force or authority.
  23. assert
    declare or affirm solemnly and formally as true
    Resolved, that the women of this country ought to be enlightened in regard to the laws under which they live, that they may no longer publish their degradation by declaring themselves satisfied with their present position, nor their ignorance, by asserting that they have all the rights they want.
  24. transgression
    the violation of a law or a duty or moral principle
    Resolved, that the same amount of virtue, delicacy, and refinement of behavior that is required of woman in the social state also be required of man, and the same transgressions should be visited with equal severity on both man and woman.
  25. impropriety
    a wrong or indecent act
    Resolved, that the objection of indelicacy and impropriety, which is so often brought against woman when she addresses a public audience, comes with a very ill grace from those who encourage, by their attendance, her appearance on the stage, in the concert, or in feats of the circus.
  26. circumscribe
    restrict or confine
    Resolved, that woman has too long rested satisfied in the circumscribed limits which corrupt customs and a perverted application of the Scriptures have marked out for her, and that it is time she should move in the enlarged sphere which her great Creator has assigned her.
  27. capability
    the quality of being able to do something
    Resolved, that the equality of human rights results necessarily from the fact of the identity of the race in capabilities and responsibilities.
  28. zealous
    marked by active interest and enthusiasm
    Resolved, that the speedy success of our cause depends upon the zealous and untiring efforts of both men and women for the overthrow of the monopoly of the pulpit, and for the securing to woman an equal participation with men in the various trades, professions, and commerce.
  29. righteous
    morally justified
    it is demonstrably the right and duty of woman, equally with man, to promote every righteous cause by every righteous means
  30. adverse
    in an opposing direction
    and this being a self-evident truth growing out of the divinely implanted principles of human nature, any custom or authority adverse to it, whether modern or wearing the hoary sanction of antiquity, is to be regarded as a self-evident falsehood, and at war with mankind.
Created on March 19, 2014 (updated March 21, 2014)

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