How did the documents and ideals of the American Revolution, particularly the Declaration of Independence, speak to all people, including women and African slaves? How did these ideas clash with the reality of gender inequality and slavery?

Question

Bruce Hogan

History

21 January, 16:56

How did the documents and ideals of the American Revolution, particularly the Declaration of Independence, speak to all people, including women and African slaves? How did these ideas clash with the reality of gender inequality and slavery?

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Anna Fritz · Answer 1

At the beginning of the Declaration of independence, it says "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--"

Yet, there was slavery for a century after that ... and discrimination that still exists today, proving that the reality doesn't follow this ideal statement.

In such documents, "men" usually includes both sexes. So, how come for example the women needed to wait over 140 years to get the right to vote?

These are very important clashes at the core of the ideals of the American Revolution.

To have been a more realistic view of the reality, the Declaration should have said "the white males" instead of "men".