The Inequalities Of Women In 1776 And In The Declaration Of Independence

Women are not equal to men. Is this what the founding fathers would have us believe? The year is 1776 and in the Declaration of Independence Thomas Jefferson wrote, “all men are created equal.” During this time in America women were not afforded the same rights as men. Women could not vote or participate in political activities. Higher education was not available for women, and a married woman had no rights to property. From the signing of the Declaration of Independence, it would be 72 years before these inequalities were addressed. In 1848, in the town of Seneca, New York, a Declaration of Rights would be adopted. This declaration states that “all men and women are created equal.” Two of the women who were instrumental in the meeting at Seneca …show more content…
Stanton would call it “the greatest movement for human liberty recorded on the pages of history-a demand for freedom to one-half the entire race.” When deciding how to voice women’s grievances she realized that the template was already there. In 1776 the colonists had listed eighteen grievances against King George. When Elizabeth Stanton took the stage at the Wesleyan Chapel, she started with the preamble to the Declaration of Independence with one change. The change was to state that “all men and women are created equal.” On the first day the declaration was read paragraph by paragraph. Throughout the day the declaration was debated, amended and adopted. On the second day the eleven resolutions were debated, with ten of the eleven passing with a unanimous vote. The ninth resolution was “elective franchise”, which would eventually lead to the nineteenth amendment to the Constitution, barely passed. This resolution only passed after the convention was addressed by Fredrick Douglas, an ex-slave and …show more content…
history. With reform issues such as slavery, education, prison reform, and intemperance dominating the landscape, women’s rights were viewed as the most radical. McMillen writes, “Seneca Falls led to a significant shift in Americas’ perceptions of women, their status, and the rights they deserved.” (McMillen 13) Just as it took 72 years from the signing of the Declaration of Independence until the Seneca Falls Convention, it would be another 72 years before the Women’s Suffrage amendment to be ratified. Even though several women contributed greatly to the women’s rights movement, the idea born between Elizabeth Stanton and Lucretia Mott, on that fated day in London, gave birth to a movement that would change their lives