Reading and Discussion Questions for the Selections from the History of Woman Suffrage, including the “Declaration of Sentiments” (240-45)

Winter 2011

1. The “Declaration of Sentiments” itself is framed by an account of the Seneca Falls Convention (240-41) and events that followed on the reading of the declaration, the voting on resolutions, and the publication and reception of the document. How would you describe the voice of the historians writing the account? How does it differ from the voice (or ethos, character of the speaker) of the “Declaration”?

2. Why did the women propose a convention?

3. How did they go about composing the written materials for the convention? Why did they decide to use the Declaration of Independence as a model?

4. How does the problem representation – of speaking for others – enter into their account? How do they solve it?

5. Why did they decide to allow men to be present?

6. Read the “Declaration of Sentiments” side by side with the Declaration of Independence, marking the differences. How does their proposal for political change (in the second paragraph) differ from that of the 1776 Declaration?

7. Which of the list of “injuries and usurpations” are parallel to grievances of the Second Continental Congress?

8. Which conditions for women at the time were you unaware of? On your reading, does the declaration make a convincing case for change?

9. Among the Resolutions (244-45), which refer to Enlightenment ideas? (Numbering the resolutions will be helpful.)

10. Which are addressed to women themselves, urging them to change their attitudes and circumstances?

11. Which concern women’s participation in a public sphere, or republic of letters?

12. Consider the references to “ignorant and degraded men—both natives and foreigners” (242) and the degradation of the slave on the plantation (245). What do the references imply about social divisions the convention participants have not yet challenged?

13. What role did Frederick Douglass play in the convention?

14. What was the public response to the publication of the “Declaration of Sentiments”?