The Other Declaration of Independence

In 1876, Americans celebrated the centennial of the Declaration of Independence in grand fashion. For six months, millions of visitors flocked to Philadelphia to visit the Centennial Exhibition, a showcase for the nation’s growing industrial strength. And on July 4, thousands gathered in front of Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, where the Declaration had been signed, to hear the document read aloud by U.S. Senator Richard Henry Lee, and to listen to orations by various dignitaries commemorating the momentous event.

Suffrage leaders, understanding the symbolism of the occasion and the mass media attention it would bring, had prepared for this moment. Together, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Matilda Joslyn Gage of the National Woman Suffrage Association had drafted a Declaration of the Rights of the Women of the United States. “The history of our country the past hundred years has been a series of assumptions and usurpations of power over woman, in direct opposition to the principles of just government,” the Declaration declared. The document went on to “arraign our rulers,” listing the rights denied women as “articles of impeachment” against them.

Perhaps not surprisingly, when the suffragists asked to read their Declaration at the Independence Hall ceremonies that July 4, they were denied permission. Undeterred, they read it anyway and passed out copies to the crowd. While their staged defiance did not garner as much media coverage as the event itself (many reports failed to mention it), several newspapers did cover it. After the event, Anthony made sure that the Declaration circulated far and wide (see Mss 876419 Susan B. Anthony letter, at Rauner).

The Declaration is a reminder that it was both radical ideas and radical actions that defined the suffrage movement.

To view Rauner’s copy of the Declaration of Rights of the Women of the United States, ask for Rare Book HQ1236 .D44 1876.