Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions

I took the quote "that man shall pursue his own true and substantial happiness," to mean something slightly different than Katie did. I took this quote to mean that humankind should pursue happiness, but that women were being denied their right to find what makes them happy and pursue it. I took it this way because in that time "man" was typically used to refer to humans as a species, without regard for gender. A similar usage still exists in other languages, even in "Western" cultures. For example, in the Spanish language, a group containing any number of women will have to be referred to in the masculine form if there is even one man among them. This is not because they do not have equal rights, because as far as I am aware (and feel free to correct me if I'm wrong on this), in most Spanish-speaking countries they do have equal rights. This is just a matter of it being the traditional usage. Rather than have a separate word for a group of mixed-gender people, or taking the time to say "men and women", they will often just use the word for "men". At any rate, what the women described in this reading were looking for was the right to be treated equally to men, as that was the "great precept of nature".

I like how they address the double-standards that apply to women vs. men. "Resolved, That the same amount of virtue, delicacy, and refinement of behavior, that is required of woman in the social state, should also be required of man, and the same tranegressions should be visited with equal severity on both man and woman.[sic]" I have had many arguments with my brother about this, mostly when he tries to impose upon me rules that he himself breaks because it is supposedly alright for him to do because he is a man. I ask him: "Why can I not do X when you can? Why should men be allowed to do X when I can't?" To date, he has not given me a satisfactory answer to my questions, and neither has anyone else who has overheard these arguments. "Because that's the way it is" is not a good enough answer.