The Declaration of
Sentiments,
Seneca Falls Conference, 1848
When, in the course of human
events, it becomes necessary for one portion of the family of man to assume among the people of
the earth a position different from that which they have hitherto occupied, but one to which the laws of nature
and of nature's God entitle them,
a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare
the causes that impel them to such
a course.
We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and
women are created equal; that they
are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these
are life, liberty, and the pursuit
of happiness; that to secure these rights governments are instituted, deriving their just powers
from the consent of the governed.
The history of mankind is a
history of repeated injuries and usurpations on the part of man toward woman, having in direct
object the establishment of an absolute tyrranny over her. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid
world.
He has never permitted her to
exercise her inalienable right to the elective franchise.
He has compelled her to submit
to laws, in the formation of which she had no voice.
He has withheld from her rights
which are given to the most ignorant and degraded men--both natives and foreigners.
Having deprived her of this first right of a citizedn, the
elective franchise, thereby
leaving her without representation in the halls of legislation, he has
oppressed her on all sides.
Ho
Chi Minh, 1945
All
men are created equal. They are endowed by their Creator with certain
inalienable rights, among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of
HappinessÉ"
Nevertheless,
for more than eighty years, the French, abusing the standard of Liberty,
Equality, and Fraternity, have violated our Fatherland and oppressed our
fellow-citizens. They have acted contrary to the ideals of humanity and
justice. In the field of politics, they have deprived our people of every
democratic libertyÉ
They
have built more prisons than schools. They have mercilessly slain our patriots-
they have drowned our uprisings in rivers of blood. They have fettered public
opinion; they have practised obscurantism against our people. To weaken our
race they have forced us to use opium and alcohol.
In
the fields of economics, they have fleeced us to the backbone, impoverished our
people, and devastated our land.
They
have robbed us of our rice fields, our mines, our forests, and our raw
materials. They have monopolised the issuing of bank-notes and the export
trade.
They have invented numerous unjustifiable taxes and reduced our people, especially our peasantry, to a state of extreme poverty.