Start by reading/reviewing the Declaration of Independence. I want you to pay a little attention to the form of this document. You've seen another document with a similar format (Hint: the initials are UDHR). We begin with a preamble-in this case two paragraphs long. Following this, is a section of very short statements. In the UDHR we would label these something like, the specific rights all humans have. This is also followed by a short concluding section.
In The Declaration of Independence, I'd like to have you think a good label for the middle section. I have some ideas, but I want to see what you come up with.
John Adams later remarked that about 1/3 of the Americans were "Patriots," 1/3 were "Tories" (those who wanted to remain a British Colony), and 1/3 just wanted to be left alone.
Learn a STILL more. . .(can you stand it???)
Lucretia Mott, (1793 - 1880) was one of the movers and
shakers of the Seneca Falls Convention. This fearless
Massachusetts Quaker was an important abolitionist as well as feminist. click on her portrait to learn more about her. Locate one of the "e-texts" by her, and add your thoughts about it as a sticky note to your document before you place it in your drop box.
The Seneca Falls Document actually consists of two parts. The first part, is the Declaration of Rights. It consists of a number of resolutions. The text and the form of the Seneca Falls Declaration will have a startlingly familiar ring. (The publication month is significant). I will want to discuss the tactic the women are using in crafting this declaration. I will also want to explore some of the implications of the resolutions. There are eleven of them. Please number them in the margins so we can move through them efficiently. The ones which will be of special interest are 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 9. Resolution 4 is the most sweeping, and resolution 9 is the most straightforward. The others will take a little work to understand the implications. You may notice some similarities with the letters we discussed a week ago. The "Streetview" to the left is of the Seneca Falls Methodist Church. The "Wesleyan Chapel" would have been of the Methodist Protestant Denomination. I do not know if the building is the same. It may have been built later in the century
The second half of the document is the "Declaration of Sentiments, which begins on page three. It should look a bit familiar to you. and perhaps sound a bit familiar to you to, especially the first two paragraphs. Compare the form to that of the Declaration of Independence. Is there a similarity? What might you call the middle section of the Declaration of Sentiments, in comparison with your suggested title for the middle section of the Declaration of Independence. This section is pure satire. Can you understand the strategy the women are employing? Make a note of this on your copy before you add it to your drop box. The Streetview image to the right is of the National Women's History Museum, also in Seneca Falls.
Edie Phillips of the University of Maryland analyzed aspects of the Women's Liberation Movement of the 1970s, comparing television images of women with the view of women promoted by persons in "The Movement". The Television image of the Ideal Woman is presented at the left. Sarah Grimké would not be surprised, I think. Click on the image to visit the website. Type a few final observations before we move on to a new topic next week. What has changed (or not changed) by 2015. The website has been archived. Thank goodness Internet Archive.org
In the 1970s there was an effort to pass an amendment guarantying equality regardless of sex. It failed to pass enough State Legislatures in the allowed seven years. Read about it here.
Has it all been settled?
Some argue that the battle for equality of the sexes is over, done with, and won. Yet when one considers certain economic factors, one notices disparity in terms of such things as median income and percentages below the poverty level. How many of the social conventions observed by Sarah Grimké still apply today? Which gender is likely to ask the other out on a "first date"? Do women "dumb down" to preserve delicate male egos? What do you think?
Susan B. Anthony, Feminist and Suffragette of the 19th century was tried for insisting on voting though women did not have the vote at the time. Click on the image to read about the trial. (That's a President in the cartoon).
