Letters on the equality of the sexes, and the condition of womanGrimké, Sarah
Religion
Letters on the equality of the sexes, and the condition of woman
Grimké, Sarah
Women -- History; Women -- United States; Women's rights -- United States
DEAR FRIEND,--When I last addressed thee, I had not seen the Pastoral
Letter of the General Association. It has since fallen into my hands,
and I must digress from my intention of exhibiting the condition of
women in different parts of the world, in order to make some remarks
on this extraordinary document. I am persuaded that when the minds of
men and women become emancipated from the thraldom of superstition and
‘traditions of men,’ the sentiments contained in the Pastoral Letter
will be recurred to with as much astonishment as the opinions of
Cotton Mather and other distinguished men of his day, on the subject
of witchcraft; nor will it be deemed less wonderful, that a body of
divines should gravely assemble and endeavor to prove that woman has
no right to ‘open her mouth for the dumb,’ than it now is that judges
should have sat on the trials of witches, and solemnly condemned
nineteen persons and one dog to death for witchcraft.
But to the letter. It says, ‘We invite your attention to the dangers
which at present seem to threaten the FEMALE CHARACTER with wide-spread
and permanent injury.’ I rejoice that they have called the attention
of my sex to this subject, because I believe if woman investigates it,
she will soon discover that danger is impending, though from a totally
different source from that which the Association apprehends,--danger
from those who, having long held the reins of _usurped_ authority, are
unwilling to permit us to fill that sphere which God created us to
move in, and who have entered into league to crush the immortal mind
of woman. I rejoice, because I am persuaded that the rights of woman,
like the rights of slaves, need only be examined to be understood and
asserted, even by some of those, who are now endeavoring to smother the
irrepressible desire for mental and spiritual freedom which glows in
the breast of many, who hardly dare to speak their sentiments.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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