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WOMEN'S
RIGHTS DECLARATIONS AND CONVENTION RESOLUTIONS:
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WOMAN'S RIGHTS CONVENTION MASSILON, OHIO, 1852 RESOLUTIONS. RESOLVED, That in the proposition affirmed by the nation to be self-evidently true, that "all men are created equal," the word "MEN"is a general term, including the whole race, without distinction of sex. RESOLVED, That this equality of the sexes must extend, and does extent, to rights personal, social, legal, political, industrial, and religious, including, of course, representation in the Government, the elective franchise, free choice in occupations, and an impartial distribution of the reward of effort; and in reference to all these particulars, woman has the same right to choose her sphere of action, as man to choose his. RESOLVED, That since every human being has an individual sphere, and that is the largest he or she can fill, no one has the right to determine the proper sphere of another. RESOLVED, That the assertion of these rights for woman, equally with man, involves the doctrine that she, equally with him, should be protected in their exercise. RESOLVED, That we do not believe any legal or political restriction necessary to preserve the distinctive character of woman, and that in demanding for women equality of rights with their fathers, husbands, brothers, and sons, we neither deny that distinctive character, nor wish them to avoid any duty, or to lay aside that feminine delicacy which legitimately belongs to them as mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters. RESOLVED, That to perfect the marriage union and provide for the inevitable vicissitudes of life, the individuality of both parties should be equally ... recognized by the parties themselves, and by the laws of the land; and, therefore justice, and the highest regard for the interests of society require that our laws be so amended, that married women may be permitted to conduct business on their own account; to acquire, hold, invest, and dispose of property in their own separate and individual right, subject to all corresponding and appropriate obligations. RESOLVED, That the clause of the Constitution of the State of Ohio, which declares that "all men have the right of acquiring and possessing property," is violated by the judicial doctrine that the labor of the wife is the property of the husband. RESOLVED, That in the general scantiness of compensation of women's labor, the restrictions imposed by custom and public opinion upon her choice of employments, and her opportunities of earning money, and the laws and social usages which regulate the distribution of property as between men and women, have produced a pecuniary dependence of woman upon man, widely and deeply injurious in many ways; and not the least of all in too often perverting marriage, which should be a holy relation growing out of spiritual affinities, into a mere bargain and sale -- a means to woman of securing a subsistence and a home, and to man of obtaining a kitchen drudge or a parlor ornament. RESOLVED, That sacred and inestimable in value as are the rights which we assert for women, their possession and exercise are not the ultimate end we aim at; for rights are not ends, but only means to ends ... and are to be demanded in order that duties may be performed. RESOLVED, That God, in constituting woman the mother of mankind, made her a living Providence, to produce, nourish, guard, and govern His best and noblest work from helpless infancy to adult years. Having endowed her with faculties ample, but no more than sufficient, for the performance of her great work, He requires of her, as essentially necessary to its performance, the full development of those faculties. RESOLVED, That we do not charge woman's deprivation of her rights upon man alone, for woman also has contributed to this result, and as both have sinned together, we call on both to repent together, that the wrong done by both may, by the united exertions of both, be undone.
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