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Declaration of Sentiments

Elizabeth Cady Stanton · 1848

The 1848 Seneca Falls document demanding women's rights, which Douglass attended and signed, supporting its resolution for suffrage.

Douglass attended the Seneca Falls Convention, signed the Declaration, and spoke for including women's suffrage in its resolutions.

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Printed broadside titled "Our Roll of Honor" listing the signatories to the Declaration of Sentiments from the 1848 Woman's Rights Convention at Seneca Falls, New York. Names are arranged in columns under headings Ladies and Gentlemen, with handwritten notes across the top and bottom margins.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton (principal author), Declaration of Sentiments, 1848. Seneca Falls, New York.

About this source

What it is

The Declaration of Sentiments was written mainly by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and signed in 1848 by 68 women and 32 men who attended the Seneca Falls Convention, the first organized women's rights convention in the United States. It was modeled on the United States Declaration of Independence.

Why it matters

Frederick Douglass attended the convention and spoke in favor of including women's suffrage among its resolutions, helping those resolutions pass. His newspaper, the North Star, praised the convention's work. The document shows how the abolitionist and early women's rights movements were connected, and how Douglass linked his fight against slavery to the fight for equal rights for women.

Look closer

  • Why did Stanton model this document on the Declaration of Independence?
  • Why might a Black male abolitionist like Douglass have supported women's suffrage at this time?
  • What groups of men and women are missing from the list of signers, and why?

This document is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Frederick Douglass, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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