Elizabeth Cady Stanton adding authority to her declaration of sentiments by

Elizabeth Cady Stanton added authority to her Declaration of Sentiments by modeling it after the Declaration of Independence, a respected and well-known document that laid the foundation for the United States' freedom and governance. She paralleled the structure and language of the Declaration of Independence, which allowed her to assert the notion that women, like all individuals, were entitled to the same inalienable rights as men. By doing so, she invoked the same moral and political authority that the Founding Fathers had appealed to, making the argument for women's rights seem as self-evident as those for men's rights had been considered at the founding of the nation.

Furthermore, Stanton included a list of grievances against women similar to how the Declaration of Independence included grievances against the King of England. These grievances highlighted the various ways in which women were denied their rights, thereby emphasizing the urgency and the justice of her cause. By drawing on the rhetoric of American freedom and equality, Stanton was reaching out to her audience's values and sense of identity, thus granting her declaration considerable weight and authority.