The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1914-07-10
THE DECLARATION or INpEpEN-
DENcE-1ef4

- "a A0 ROok4C ~ AA06O4NC tAO ~
litical bondage which held them sub
ject to the other half Of the people,
and to the separate and equal
station to which the laws of nature
and of natures God entitle them, a
decent respect to the opinions of man
kind requires that they should de-
clare the causes which impel them to
freedom.
We hold these truths % be self
evident, that all men and women are
created equal, that they are endowed
by their Creator with certain unalien-
able Rights, that among these are
Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Hap
piness. That to secure these rights,
Governments should be instituted
among both men and women, deriv-
ing their just powers from the con-
sent of the governed; that whenever
any form of government becomes des-
tructive of these ends, it is the right
of the people-women people a well
as men people-to alter or abolish it,
and to institute new government, lay
ing it's foundation on such principles
and organizing it's powers in such
form, as to them shall seem most
likely to effect the Safety and Happi-
les of all the people. Prudence, in
deed, will dictate that governments
long established should not be chang
ed for light and transient causes, and
accordingly all experience has shown
that womankind are more disposed to
suffer, while evils are sufferable, than
to right themselves by abolishing the
forms to which they are accustomed.
But when a long train of abuses and
Interpretations, pursuing invariably
the same object, evidences a design to
keep them under absolute subsection,
although they are spiritually and
mentally ready for Freedom, it is
their right, 1t is their duty, to pro-
vide new guards for their future Sc
curity and the security of their child
rem.
Such has been the patient endur-
ance OF the women of this country;
and such is now the necessity which
co%nstrains them to demand an altera-
ton in the system of government.
The history of our government is a
history OF repeated injustices to wo-
men Gas wives, mothers and wage
earners) and of repeated unsurpa-
tons by men, many of them with the
avowed object of protecting women.
But the direct result has been the
establishment of a government which
benefits by the knowledge and expert
enc of only one-half of the people,
and which can not fully represent
the interests and the needs of the
other half of the people.
In every stage of these Expressions
we have Petitioned for Redress in
tnO IlOoL nui1D1C x uISs OCSlAAAAAiAS
even before the Constitution of the
United States was adopted. Our re-
peated Petitions have frequently been
answered by ridicule and by repeated
Justice. We have appealed to the
native fairness and magnanimity of
men, that they disavow these usur-
pations which inevitably render less.
dignified, honest and harmonious the
relations between men and women.
Man have too long been deaf to this
voice of justice and honor but many
are now joining with us in our re-
fusal to acquiesce longer in this un-
w~arrantable sovereignty v e us and
over our children.
We, therefore, the women citizens
of the United States of America, as
semble today throughout the nation,
appealing to the Supreme Judge of
the World for the rectitude of our in
t~entions, do in the name and by the
authority of the organizer woman
hood of America demanding enfran-
chisement, solemnly publish and de-
clare that women ought to be politi-
cally free.
Here and now, in this glorious
springtime sof the year, under the
azure skies of hope, in the sunshine
if life and enlightenment, we dedi-
cate ourselves to the great work we
have undertaken and go forward to
victory remembering that in unity
there is strength, and that not even
the prejudices of the ages, nor the
powers of entrencher political privi-
lege a keep in continual disfran-
chisement half of the citizens of u
country when their rights are de-
manded by the intelligent, patriotic
and united womanhood of the land.
Women of America, this is our
country: we have the Same deyOtiOnS