This is not a piece or law or legislature; but rather something of a petition or rallying point. Hence the name "Declaration of Sentiments"; it merely stated how women felt at the time. It raises many good points, and I naturally fully believe in the rights of woman, but one thing I could not overlook was the line, "woman [have] too long rested satisfied in the circumscribed limits which corrupt customs and a perverted application of the Scriptures have marked out for her[.]" It raises the question that if women were satisfied with their lives, whose right was it to dictate what they should do? Although this is a call to action, it is still a calling of authority, to state that any woman who was content with her life should not be. That aside, the major point of this document, from my viewpoint, was, "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 self-evident falsehood, and at war with the interests of mankind." I was surprised this line did not make it into the final "Declaration of Sentiments", because it is completely true. Disregarding the reference to faith, it is abundantly clear that men should not be the only gender free to choose a path in life. You should not compare the rights of woman at the current time, or in the past, when deciding on the rights of women, or anyone one for that matter, in the future.
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