Stanton: Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions

In the “Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions”, Elizabeth Stanton discusses how society has essentially withheld basic rights from women for far too long. From what I gathered, all she does is vent about how society treats women unfairly; but she never gives concrete examples, which, in my opinion, takes away all of her credibility. It’s possible that as a male I wouldn’t understand, but some of the things she was claiming, I thought, were just false.

For example, she says, “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.” WHAT? Excuse my ignorance, but I don’t understand how a man has the power to FORCE a woman to do that!! If YOU have so little confidence and assurance in YOURSELF that you “allow” a man to put you in a place where you aren’t comfortable, then that’s something YOU need to work on, but it isn’t the man’s fault. In addition, she complains about women being taxed to “support a government which recognizes her only when her property can be made profitable to it.” Excuse me, but doesn’t EVERYBODY have to pay taxes. It was almost like she pointed at things that were fairly sensible, and turned it into an “it’s because I’m a woman” thing. Insignificant criticism just took away ALL of her credibility in my mind, but I guess some people may agree with her. I, however, am not one of those people!!