Seneca Falls, 165 years ago today, began a movement that remains the unfinished business of the 21st century.
When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one portion of the family of man to assume among the people of the earth a position different from that which they have hitherto occupied, but one to which the laws of nature and of nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes that impel them to such a course.
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 among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; 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, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly, all experience hath shown that mankind 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 usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their duty to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of the women under this government, and such is now the necessity which constrains them to demand the equal station to which they are entitled.
The history of mankind is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations on the part of man toward woman, having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over her. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.
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Back on February 15 of this year, after Hillary was honored at the Pentagon by departing Secretary of Defense Panetta, I posted this rationale for a Library/Museum in Hillary Clinton’s honor specifically in Seneca Falls – the only appropriate venue for our Hillary who occupies a very special place in women’s history in our country and in the world.
Over her 20 years as First Lady, NY Senator, and finally Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton has been honored with many awards. Yesterday, she received another. Through all of those years, she has also had a public office in which to keep and display them.
When she was preparing to vacate her office at the State Department, I was wondering where on earth she was planning to put all of these medals and awards. As she is planning (this is one thing we know for certain) to write another book, it seems logical for her to have a Library/Museum where she can display publicly her work and all of the honors she has received.
As the woman who has come closest to having smashed that hard glass ceiling (which she still might do), and as a New Yorker, she certainly deserves a special place in Seneca Falls. So let’s roll out this idea. Why wait? She needs a place for her honors, and she needs it now.
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Hillary Clinton
Still4Hill 