CHAPTER
12
How to Read History
History Reading Skill Draw Conclusions From Sources
For which rights were nineteenth-century
women fighting?
In this chapter, you will learn how to use details to draw
conclusions from sources. Read the following selection by
women’s rights advocate Elizabeth Cady Stanton. The
side notes show you how to draw conclusions from
sources.
The Declaration of Sentiments was issued in 1848 during a
women’s rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York.
Primary
Source
This detail shows
that Stanton
believes action is
necessary to win
rights for women.
Women did not
get the same
type of education
as men.
. . .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 to
secure these rights governments are instituted, deriving their
just powers from the consent of the governed. Whenever any
form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is
the right of those who suffer from it to refuse allegiance to it,
and to insist upon the institution of a new government. . . .
The history of mankind is a history of repeated injuries
and usurpations [unlawful seizure of power] on the part of
man toward woman, having in direct object the establishment
of an absolute tyranny over her. . . .
He has never permitted her to exercise her inalienable
right to the elective franchise [right to vote]. . . .
He has taken from her all right in property, even to the
wages she earns. . . .
He has denied her the facilities [means] for obtaining a
thorough education, all colleges being closed against her.
This detail points
out that women
could not vote.
—Elizabeth Cady Stanton,
Declaration of Sentiments
Draw a Conclusion
Document-Based Questions
• Stanton provides details of injustices women
have faced.
• You can conclude that Stanton believes
women have been denied rights and that
they must fight for these rights.
1. Compare this excerpt to the opening of the
Declaration of Independence. Identify two
similarities in language.
2. Why do you think Stanton deliberately
repeated language from the Declaration of
Independence?
413 Chapter 12