Declaration of Sentiments

1. prudence (noun):

wise carefulness

 “Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly, all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves, by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.” (Paragraph #2) 

2. inalienable (adjective):

impossible to take away 

“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.” (Paragraph #2) 

3. usurpations (plural noun):

wrongful seizures

4. evinces (present-tense verb):

to show clearly, make evident

5. despotism (noun):

abusive authority or control

“But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce [women] under absolute despotism, it is their duty to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.” (Paragraph #2)

5. tyranny (noun):

the arbitrary or unrestrained exercise of power

“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 tyranny over her.” (Paragraph #3)

6. franchise (noun):

in politics, the right to vote

“He has never permitted her to exercise her inalienable right to the elective franchise.” (Paragraph #4)

7. chastisement (noun):

severe criticism or rebuke

“In the covenant of marriage, she is compelled to promise obedience to her husband, he becoming, to all intents and purposes, her master - the law giving him power to deprive her of her liberty, and to administer chastisement.” (Paragraph #10)

8. remuneration (noun):

payment

“He has monopolized nearly all the profitable employments, and from those she is permitted to follow, she receives but a scanty remuneration.” (Paragraph #13)

9. subordinate (adjective):

lesser, secondary; of lower rank

10. Apostolic (adjective):

derived from the Apostles; rules handed down by a church

“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.” (Paragraph #16)

11. sentiment (noun):

attitude or opinion

“He has created a false public sentiment, by giving to the world a different code of morals for men and women, by which moral delinquencies which exclude women from society, are not only tolerated but deemed of little account in man.” (Paragraph #17)

12. delinquencies (plural noun):

moral failures or neglects

“He has created a false public sentiment, by giving to the world a different code of morals for men and women, by which moral delinquencies which exclude women from society, are not only tolerated but deemed of little account in man.” (Paragraph #17)

13. prerogative (noun):

right or privilege; authoritative power

“He has usurped the prerogative of Jehovah himself, claiming it as his right to assign for her a sphere of action, when that belongs to her conscience and her God.” (Paragraph #18)

14. endeavored (past-tense verb):

tried, attempted

“He has endeavored, in every way that he could, to destroy her confidence in her own powers, to lessen her self-respect, and to make her willing to lead a dependent and abject life.” (Paragraph #19)

15. disfranchisement (noun):

removal of rights, especially the right to vote

16. degradation (noun):

disrespect, debasement

17. aggrieved (participle verb):

wronged; deprived of rights

“Now, in view of this entire disfranchisement of one-half the people of this country, their social and religious degradation, - in view of the unjust laws above mentioned, and because women do feel themselves aggrieved, oppressed, and fraudulently deprived of their most sacred rights, we insist that they have immediate admission to all the rights and privileges which belong to them as citizens of these United States.” (Paragraph #20)

18. misconception (noun):

mistaken idea or belief

“In entering upon the great work before us, we anticipate no small amount of misconception, misrepresentation, and ridicule; but we shall use every instrumentality within our power to effect our object.” (Paragraph #21)

19. tracts (plural noun):

pamphlets, often religious

20. pulpit (noun):

church lectern, used in the larger sense of the church ministry; In this use, an example of the rhetorical and literary device of synecdoche

“We shall employ agents, circulate tracts, petition the State and national Legislatures, and endeavor to enlist the pulpit and the press in our behalf.” (Paragraph #21)

21. declaration (noun):

in politics, a formal proclamation

“Firmly relying upon the final triumph of the Right and the True, we do this day affix our signatures to this declaration.” (Paragraph #22)