Elizabeth Cady Stanton's Declaration Of Sentiments

Elizabeth Cady Stanton was a headstrong woman, who was determined to give women the rights they deserved. Her devoted mindset lead her to start the American Women’s Right Movement, as well as she began a solution for women suffrage (“Declaration”). So, she started the Declaration of Sentiments. The Declaration of Sentiments was written primarily by Stanton herself, but she had based it upon the Declaration of Independence (“Declaration”). Throughout this document, Stanton addresses that women do not have the rights that men have, and that the Government is based upon a patriarchal society, which prevents women from having the rights they deserve. The Declaration of Sentiments starts by assuring women would have the same rights that men possess,
She received a extensive education at the Johnstown Academy, where she successfully graduated from in 1832 (“Declaration”). Her father, Daniel Cady, was a U.S. Congressman but later transgressed to a New York Supreme Court Judge. During work days, Elizabeth would go with her father to work, while she was there she learned about the laws about discrimination. Elizabeth was determined to give women the same rights as men and eliminate discrimination for women. In 1840, Elizabeth married Henry Brewster, a lawyer and abolitionist (“Declaration”). Later on in the same year, both Elizabeth and Henry attended the World’s Anti-Slavery Convention in London. (“Declaration”). After seeing this convention, Elizabeth was infuriated. She became an advent speaker for women’s rights, and started a plethora of petitions to change the New York Legislature to grant married women their property rights. In 1848, Elizabeth started the Declaration of Sentiments, a very powerful and debateable document. She introduced the Declaration of Sentiments in 1848, which was signed by sixty-eight women and thirty-two men, including Frederick Douglass ( “Declaration”). This document has opened up a questionable debate over whether women should have equal rights as men, or whether things should remain the
It also prohibits any laws from discriminating against women in the future. One document that is most compared to the Declaration of Sentiments is the Declaration of Independence (“Thompson, Hannah”). Throughout the writing process for the Declaration of Sentiments, Stanton based it off of the Declaration of Independence, and used some of the same ideas and philosophies (“Declaration”). For example, the Declaration of Independence concentrated on freedom. The Declaration of Sentiments also focused on freedom, just in a different form. (“Thompson, Hannah”). Other examples are the same word use and sentence structure such as “ We hold these truths to be self evident that all men are created equally..” while Stanton rephrased it to say “..all men and women are created equally.” (“Thompson, Hannah”). There is an adequate amount of resemblance between these two historical documents. The Declaration of Sentiments fulfilled its purpose to every extent. It expressed the thoughts and feelings of many women, and gave them a voice that could be heard. If this document would have never been created, women’s rights would still cease to exist