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VINDICATION

OF THE

RIGHTS of WOMAN.

 

PART I.

 

 

CHAP. I.

THE RIGHTS AND INVOLVED DUTIES OF MANKIND CONSIDERED.

In the preſent ſtate of ſociety it appears neceſſary to go back to firſt principles in ſearch of the moſt ſimple truths, and to diſpute with ſome prevailing prejudice every inch of ground. To clear my way, I muſt be allowed to aſk ſome plain queſtions, and the anſwers will probably appear as unequivocal as the axioms on which reaſoning is built; though, when entangled with various motives of action, they are formally contradicted, either by the words or conduct of men.

In what does man's pre-eminence over the brute creation conſiſt? The anſwer is as clear as that a half is leſs than the whole; in Reaſon.

What