The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1852-06-05
Wom.n's Rights Co.ventasn.


Women's Rights Convention, held at Westohestsr.
Pa, Of which Mrs. N. A. w. johnson was eleoted
President The following is the Philadelphia Bnl-
letin's report ofthe
PRESIDENTS ADDRESS.
Mrs. JOHNSON, after her'election as President Of
the convention, delivered the following address -
accept not without reluctance, the position which
your partalty has assigned me, because would not
even SEEM at this stage of movement, to set an
unworthy example by timidly shrinking FROM its
duties We are assembled on this occasion from a
deep consciousness of tho evils resulting from the
false position occupied by woman, and in the hope
that earnest and friendly discussion may prepare us
to labor efficiently for their removal. These evils
affect not woman alenc, but stand an obstruction
to the development and progress of the race. BY
her exclusion from voice in the public councils,
tho legislation of the country is deprived Of the pur
flying, elevating, unsefsh feminine element, which
is essential to the enactment of just and benefcent
laws: By depriving her Of the proper facilities for
wronged and deep shadows are resting upon
the world of mind, which be dispersed only by
mingling with the inadequate light OF the mas
culine element the rays emanating from woman's
clear instincts and cultivated mental powers.
Woman, in consequence of being placed in unequal
and unnatural socialrelations, fails to recognise her
her inviduality, and submissyely merges her own
life in that Of man. whom she has been taught to
reverence her intellectual superior This process
has gone on, age after age, until the great mass Of
the fail to perceive tho true relations of life and
duty and feel it to be of theirs if their
husbands, fathers, and brothers, to crafty their
political ambition, promote their personal ag-
grandiscment plunge the nation in the horrors Of
war, by which their own hearthstones are made
desolate, and widows and orphans are multiplied
throughout tho land They are too often content
with their present meagre facilities for culture and
Development, and willing to remain in the vale be-
low. and watch with exultation the progress Of their
their ascent to tho heights of learning and power
forgetting that tho mothers of the race, If they
would be prepared to transmit avigorous and health
full intellectual constitution to their children, and be
qualified to guard the infancy of great and vrtuous
people, must cultivate to their fullest extent, the
| intellectual capacities with which they them
| selves endowed. Thus woman connives at her own
degradation and so doing wrongs not only herself
but the whole race During the period Of her youth,
full existence, she is admired, fatcred, petted and
caressed, and ere the years ofrpening womanhoodar
rve she is readyto merge her being in that off hus-
band who is quite willing to assume her most inn
portant responsibilities, on condition of receiving
from her the love and obedience which he feels are
due to his superior intelligence and wisdom This
subserviency and weakness on the one hand, and
this authority and power on the other, yield their
legitimate fruits, and life is darkened by the bit
terest disappointment If the wife ycarns for larger,
freer, and more independent existence, and be-
gins to look in hope for wider field of thought and
action--something beyond mere household drudgery
she finds the letters of custom and prejudice bind
ing her as with bands of iron, while the powers by
which alone they can be broken have been enfeebled
/
ton. The position in which woman has been placed
is an anomaly. On tho one hand she is constantly
reminded Of duties and responsibilities from which
an angel might shrink. The world is to be saved by
is told. is ruedby her smies-his whole nature sub
dued by the potency of her tears. Priests, polit-
clans and poets assure her with hatterng tongue,
that on her depend the progress and destiny Of the
race. On the other hand, she is told that she must
lovingly conde in the strength and skill of man. who
has been endowed with superior intellectual powers;
| that she must count it her highest honor to re-
fleet upon tho world the light Of his intelligence and
wisdom, as the moon reflects the light of the SUM-
We may congratulate one another on this occasion,
in view of the cheering indications so manifest
every hand. that the ignorance and darkness which
have so long brooded over the propects Of woman,
are beginning to give place to the light Of truth
In the summer OF lsls. in the village of Seneca
Falls, small number of women, disregarding alike
| the snecrs OF the ignorant and the frowns of the
learned. assembledin convention, and boldly claimed
for themselves, and for their sex, the rights con-
terred by God and 50 long withheld by man. Their
which others haa fcl as deeply as themselves but
which the restraints imposed by long established
custom had taught them to suppress. But now the
hour had come, and the world stood prepared for the
reception of new thought, which is destined to
work revolution III human society, more bcnefcent
than any that has preceded it. The seeds OF truth
which that convention planted in faith and hope,
were not left to perish. In many thoughtful minds
they terminated apace, and brought forth ftuit.
That fruit was in the large convention held in
Ohio in the spring Of 1850, in chat held in Massach,-
sets in the autumn of the same year, and in those
which have followed since in New England and the
West. Woman atlengthi is awakng from the slumbcrs
OF ages. Many OF the sex already perceive that know
ledge, sound judgment. and perfect freedom of
thought and action, arc quite as important for the
mothers as for the fathers Of the race. Theyweary
| OF the senseless talk of ''womans sphere when
that sphere is so circunscribed that they may not
exert their full influence and power to save their
country from the war, nemperance. slavery lecn-
| Crim yyhtn man
IN the mad pursuit of his ambitious schemes, I'M
checked by their presence and counsel, permits to
desolate and destroy all that is fair and beautiful in
life. and ill the world with weeping, lamcntation
and wo. Woman begins to grow weary Of her help
less and dependent position, and Of bein. treated as
II she were formed only to cultivate her affections
that they may Tow in strong and deep currents
merely to CRAFTY the sell-lovc Of man. She does
not listen with delight, as she once did, when she
hears her relations to her equal brother represented
BY the poecal figure of the trcllis and creeping ten
drill Of the oak and the gracefully cnging vine.
No, she feels that she il, like him, accountable
| being-that the Infinite Father has laid response
blties upon her which may not be nnocently trans
| fered to another, hut which. in her present ieno-
rance, she is not prepared to meet. Shci becoming
rapidly inbued with the spirit Of progress and will
| not longer submit. without remembrance, to the
bondage of ancient dogmas and customs. In the
| retirement and secusion Of life, the stirring inn
pulse Of the times has reached even the heart Of
| woman. and she feels the necessity Of q more
thorough culture and a wider field Of usefulness.
She sees the garng injustice by which she has
long been deprived Of all fair opportunity to earn
an independent livelihood, and thus, in too many
instances, constrained TO enter the marriage rcla-
tion as choice of evils, to secure herself against
the ills ofimpcnding poverty. The wrong She so
deeply feels she is at length arousins herself to re-
dress. What, them is the substance Of our demand
answer. we demand for woman equal freedom with
her brother to raise her voice and exert her in
uence directly for the removal Of all the evils that
niilict the race; and that she be permitted to do
this in the manner dictated by her sense of pro-
prety and justice. We ask Tor her educational adj,
yantages equal TO those enjoyed by the other sex:
that the richly endowed institutions which she has
been taxed to establish and support may be open
alike to all her children We claim for her the
right to follow any honorable calling or pro-
tession for which she may be fitted by her intel
lectual training and capacity. We claim for her
a. fair OPPORTUNITY TO attain position Of pccu-
mary independence, and to this end that she re-
ceive Tor her labor compensation equivalent TO lis