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WOMEN'S
RIGHTS DECLARATIONS AND CONVENTION RESOLUTIONS:
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RESOLUTIONS FROM THE FOURTH NATIONAL WOMAN'S RIGHTS CONVENTION PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, OCTOBER 18-20,1854. RESOLVED, That we congra[u]late the true friends of woman upon the rapid progress which her cause has made ... RESOLVED, That woman's aspiration is to be the only limit of woman's destiny. RESOLVED, That so long as woman is debarred from an equal education, restricted in her employments, denied the right of independent property if married, and denied in all cases the right of controlling the legislation which she is nevertheless bound to obey, so long must the woman's rights agitation be continued. RESOLVED, That in perfect confidence that what we desire will one day be accomplished, we commit the cause of woman to God and to humanity. RESOLVED, That in demanding the educational rights of woman, we do not deny the natural distinctions of sex, but only wish to develop them fully and harmoniously. RESOLVED, That in demanding the industrial rights of woman, we only claim that she should have "a fair day's wages for a fair day's work," which is, however, impossible while she is restricted to few ill paid avocations, and unable (if married) to control her own earnings. RESOLVED, That in demanding the political rights of woman, we simply assert the fundamental principle of democracy -- that taxation and representation should go together, and that, if this principle is denied, all our institutions must fall with it. RESOLVED, That our present democracy is an absurdity, since it deprives woman even of the political power which is allowed to her in Europe, and abolishes all other aristocracy only to establish a new aristocracy of sex, which includes all men and excludes all women. RESOLVED, That it is because we recognize the beauty and sacredness of the family, that we demand for woman an equal position there, instead of her losing, as now, the control of her own property, the custody of her own children, and, finally, her own legal existence, under laws which have all been pronounced by jurists "a disgrace to a heathen nation." RESOLVED, That we urge it upon the women of every American State: First, to petition the legislatures for universal suffrage and a reform in the rights of property; second, to use their utmost efforts to improve female education; third, to open ... new channels for female industry.
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