Question

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James Gordon Bennett, editor of New York Herald, wrote in response to the 1850 Women’s Rights Convention.


The new dispensation of Lucretia Mott and the philosophers, proposes:

To dispense with Christianity and the Bible. After an experiment of nineteen centuries, they declare the system to be a humbug.

To abolish the existing political and social system of society as part of the false machinery of the age.

To put all races, sexes and colors upon a footing of perfect equality. The convention having proved by phrenology and biology that, the sexes are equal in point of intellect, and that color is a mere difference of complexion, it is proposed to abolish the only distinction of sex by a universal adoption of breeches. . . .

Old things are to be done away with, and all things are to become new. Seward is to be sustained, and [President Millard] Fillmore is only to be tolerated till the advent of the new dispensation, when Lucretia Mott, Abby Kelly, Douglas, Greeley and Sojourner Truth are to rule the roast. Then, and not till then, shall we realise the jubilee of the Devil and his angels.

Short-Answer Questions


What type of list does Bennett make here?

To what does Bennett compare Lucretia Mott and other defenders of women’s rights?

Answer 1

Bennett makes a satirical list of the proposals put forth by Lucretia Mott and the Women's Rights Convention of 1850.

Bennett compares Lucretia Mott and other defenders of women's rights to philosophers who propose radical changes to society, including the abandonment of Christianity and the Bible, the abolition of the existing political and social system, and the adoption of perfect equality among all races, sexes, and colors. He also makes fun of their proposal to abolish the only distinction of sex by a universal adoption of breeches.