THE SENECA FALLS
CONVENTION OF 1848

THURSDAY MORNING
JULY 19, 1848

The Convention assembled at the hour appointed,
James Mott, of Philadelphia, in The Chair.

The minutes of the previous day having been read,
Elizabeth Cady Stanton again read
The Declaration of Sentiments,
which was freely discussed by Lucretia Mott,
Ansel Bascom, S. E. Woodworth,
Thomas and Mary Ann Mcclintock,
Frederick Douglass,
Amy Post, Catharine Stebbins,
and Elizabeth Cady Stanton,
and was unanimously adopted, as follows:

THE 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.

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.

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 self-respect,
and to make her willing
to lead a dependent and abject life.

Now, in view of this entire disfranchisement
of on 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.

Lucretia Mott
Harriet Cady Eaton
Margaret Pryor
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Eunice Newton Foote
Mary Ann McClintock
Margaret Schooley
Martha C. Wright
Jane C. Hunt
Amy Post
Catharine F. Stebbins
Mary Ann Frink
Lydia Mount
Delia Mathews
Catharine C. Paine
Elizabeth W. McClintock
Malvina Seymour
Phebe Mosher
Catharine Shaw
Deborah Scott
Sarah Hallowell
Mary McClintock
Mary Gilbert
Sophrone Taylor
Cynthia Davis
Hannah Plant
Lucy Jones
Sarah Whitney
Mary H. Hallowell
Elizabeth Conklin
Sally Pitcher
Mary Conklin
Susan Quinn
Mary S. Mirror
Phebe King
Julia Ann Drake
Charlotte Woodward
Martha Underhill
Dorothy Mathews
Eunice Barker
Sarah R. Woods
Lydia Gild
Sarah Hoffman
Elizabeth Leslie
Martha Ridley
Rachel D. Bonnel
Betsey Tewksbury
Rhoda Palmer
Margaret Jenkins
Cynthia Fuller
Mary Martin
P. A. Culvert
Susan R. Doty
Rebecca Race
Sarah A. Mosher
Mary E. Vail
Lucy Spalding
Lavinia Latham
Sarah Smith
Eliza Martin
Maria E. Wilbur
Elizabeth D. Smith
Caroline Barker
Ann Porter
Experience Gibbs
Antoinette E. Segur
Hannah J. Latham
Sarah Sisson

The following are the names of the gentlemen
present in favor of the movement.

Richard P. Hunt
Samuel D. Tillman
Justin Williams
Elisha Foote
Frederick Douglass
Henry Seymour
Henry W. Seymour
David Spalding
William G. Barker
Elias J. Doty
John Jones
William S. Dell
James Mott
William Burroughs
Robert Smallbridge
Jacob Mathews
Charles L. Hoskins
Thomas McClintock
Saron Phillips
Jacob P. Chamberlain
Jonathan Metcalf
Nathan J. Milliken
S.E. Woodworth
Edward F. Underhill
George W. Pryor
Joel D. Bunker
Isaac Van Tassel
Thomas Dell
E. W. Capron
Stephen Shear
Henry Hatley
Azaliah Schooley