Declaration Of Sentiment Analysis

The Declaration of Sentiment, signed July 1848, outlines the rights and issues that were denied women for many years. Prior to 1848, women slowly made their relevance known by being involved in the congregational churches during the Second Great Awakening. Women had been excluded from many public roles, but through the church they were able to receive recognition, bringing forth the principle of equality between men and women. Moreover, their activism, during the temperance crusade and the abolitionist movement, caused many gender issues like sexual behavior, marriage, and family authority to become the subject of many debates (Henretta, 2013).

“He allows her in Church, as well as State, but a subordinate position, claiming Apostolic authority

for her exclusion from the ministry, and. with some exceptions, from any public participation in the affairs of the Church.” –Declaration of Sentiment, 1848. During the Second Great Awakening, women, like Mary Walker Ostram, rejected this that women did not have a place in liberty or government. Women bolstered their authority in the household through spiritual activism, influencing family decisions, like the timing of pregnancies, and combating the excessive use of alcohol by their husbands. Additionally, women used religion as their grounds to increase access to education for young women. By 1820, educated women began moving into the workforce replacing men as schoolteachers. Accepting lower payments than the men, women gained an acknowledged place in public life. Yet, they continued to struggle to be fully accepted into realm of education. According to the Declaration of Sentiment, “He has monopolized nearly all the profitable employments, and from those she is permitted to follow, she receives but a scanty remuneration. He closes against her all the avenues to wealth and distinction, which he considers most honorable to himself. As a teacher of theology, medicine, or law, she is not known.” Still, women found ways to support