Philadelphia and Washington. The resolutions show the general
drift of the discussions:[8]

WHEREAS, The right of self-government inheres in the individual
before governments are founded, constitutions framed, or courts
created; and

WHEREAS, Governments exist to protect the people in the enjoyment
of their natural rights, and when any government becomes
destructive of this end, it is the right of the people to resist
and abolish it; and

WHEREAS, The women of the United States, for one hundred years,
have been denied the exercise of their natural right of
self-government and self-protection; therefore,

_Resolved_, That it is the natural right and most sacred duty of
the women of these United States to rebel against the injustice,
usurpation and tyranny of our present government.

WHEREAS, The men of 1776 rebelled against a government which did
not claim to be of the people, but, on the contrary, upheld the
"divine right of kings"; and

WHEREAS, The women of this nation to-day, under a government
which claims to be based upon individual rights, to be "of the
people, by the people, and for the people," in an infinitely
greater degree are suffering all the wrongs which led to the war
of the revolution; and WHEREAS, The oppression is all the more
keenly felt because our masters, instead of dwelling in a foreign
land, are our husbands, our fathers, our brothers and our sons;
therefore,

_Resolved_, That the women of this nation, in 1876, have greater
cause for discontent, rebellion and revolution, than the men of
1776.

_Resolved_, That with Abigail Adams, in 1776, we believe that
"the passion for liberty cannot be strong in the breasts of those
who are accustomed to deprive their fellow-creatures of liberty";
that, as Abigail Adams predicted, "We are determined to foment a
rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by laws in which we
have no voice or representation."

WHEREAS, We believe in the principles of the Declaration of
Independence and of the Constitution of the United States, and
believe a true republic is the best form of government in the
world; and

WHEREAS, This government is false to its underlying principles in
denying to women the only means of self-government, the ballot;
and

WHEREAS