David Murray The Declaration Of Equality Analysis

During the late 1700’s, the colonies in America were upset and resentful of the British tyranny. In order to make the separation between the two groups official, Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence. Two hundred years later, women were facing the same injustice, only it was from men; and to protest against the unfair treatment, Elizabeth Cady Stanton wrote the Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions. Both parties of oppression fought against the same outcome, unjust treatment, yet, each fought against different causes and in different ways.

For example in the letter Abigail Adams wrote to John Adam she stated that “I desire you would remember the ladies and be more generous to them then your ancestors.” (Doc B). This document explains how Abigail Adams wrote a letter to the President, her husband john Adams explaining her view on how women should have rights. It’s important because they had an idea that the women should have rights to get an education so that they can educate the children (men) to become better citizens. From the Declaration of Seneca falls women’s rights convention Elizabeth Cady Stanton was quoted saying “The history of mankind is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations on the part of man toward women.”(Doc J). This means that the ideas of equality, liberty, and inalienable rights were battling in American civilization with common laws and religious traditions of the agreement of husband and wife. It is important because this goal was not realized until after this time. Women wanted rights as same as everyone else. In the court case Dred Scott v. Sanford the US Supreme Court chief justice Roger Taney was quoted saying “[blacks] had no rights which the white man was bound to respect; and the Negro might justly and lawfully be reduced to slavery.” (Doc L). This quotes means that even though blacks had no rights, the whites should still have respect for them, they are people too. It’s important because it’s another goal that the declaration

Judith Sargent Murray was a revolutionary woman- born into a socially prominent and wealthy family during the start of the American Revolution, Murray was recognized for her intellect at a young age and given an education along with her brother. Later in life, she had her written works widely published and read during a time when women’s voices were seen as fundamentally inferior to those of men. In one of her most influential and strongly opinionated works, ‘On the Equality of the Sexes’, Murray makes a strong case for the spiritual and intellectual equality of men and women, arguing that women and men are born equal, but that men are simply given more education and

And they can be equals if they believe they are. The basis of this essay is that knowledge is the solution to possessing value. In On the Equality of the Sexes, she believes women to be slandered in society, and they are only known to be inferior to men simply because men have an unjust difference in education. She declares that an educated woman would only increase her domestic skills and rational thoughts. In Observations on Female Abilities, she amasses an enormous amount of concrete detail to prove the general points she made earlier. Murray was clearly optimistic about the prospects of American women in 1798, imagining that a new era of gender equality was dawning in this "younger world." Yet again, as in her other essays on women's issues, Murray argues that women are rational beings, capable of exhibiting the traits associated with Republican citizenship. Once again she maintains that educated women make the most virtuous mothers and wives. At the same time, she continues to insist that women can be brave, strong, and heroic as well as modest, religious, and chaste.

Referring to the Constitution of Massachusetts, all men, without distinction of race or color, are equal before the law. The Declaration of Independence states that all men are created equal. Sumner builds his argument around “Equality before the law” and against the constitutionality of separate schools.

On the Equality of the Sexes Murray expresses her distaste in the way that women are looked at as incapable of doing basically anything. She was an advocate for woman’s equality, education, and also economic independence. She believed that women can be independent, women can be educated, and women can make their own decisions. Women aren’t as intellectually lacking as men would make them out to be in the 17 -1800’s. Which she proves by writing under the pen name Mr. Vigilius to get her readers to consider her ideals without dismissing them based off of her gender. Since women were not allowed a higher education they took on unappealing domestic roles. Which gave them no choice but to stick with the ‘needle and kitchen’. Since all weak, unscholarly women do what they do best, knit and cook.

When Thomas Jefferson wrote the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence, it became one of his greatest legacies. In the first line he wrote, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal" (U.S. Constitution, paragraph 2). Jefferson wrote these words to give inspiration to future generations in the hopes that they would be able to change what he either would or could not. The word “men” in the Declaration in the early 1700 and 1800’s meant exactly that, but even then it only was true for some men, not all. Women, children, and other segments of the population such as slaves and Native Americans were clearly not included. Jefferson himself was a slave owner and held the belief that women were

Robert Green Ingersoll, a lawyer, Civil War veteran, and political leader, once said that "It is a blessed thing that in every age some one had had the individuality enough and courage enough to stand by his own convictions." In Ayn Rand's novel Anthem, Equality 7-2521 represents this salient being. Equality has never been destined to be a street sweeper, instead, it is a sinister motive of the Council that determines his position. This is proven by several aspects throughout the book, encompassing the idea that Equality has been set aside from society from a young age, Equality is an individual in a communistic society, and that the Council has had unjust determinations

By the end of the story, Equality 7-2521 has changed his mind and become very critical of the leader of his society, denouncing them in moral terms. Do you think he is correct to do so?

Of all the issues that were in the middle of reformation mid 1800’s, antislavery, education, intemperance, prison reform, and world peace, women’s rights was the most radical idea proposed. The Seneca Falls Convention of 1848 was a rally held by Elizabeth Cady Stanton with the common goal to eventually achieve equal rights among all citizens. Frederick Douglass, who became an acclaimed activist in the African American Equal Rights movement, accompanied the movement. Moreover, The Declaration of Sentiments was a document that reflected the ideals of the Declaration of Independence, reiterating the sentiment from the Bible that “all men [and women] are created equal.” Concurrent to the publication of this document, for the first time, women insisted that they were men’s equals in every way. The Declaration of Sentiments was pivotal in Women’s history, although it was not given credit until the late 20th century. However, immediately after the Declaration of Sentiments was published, women and activist groups were inspired to take action towards rights for all underprivileged American citizens. The convention took place in a small town in upstate New York, which was home to four of the five people who organized the gathering. (DuBois, 1999, p. 45) This was the first time female equality was discussed in a public place. The Seneca Falls Convention of 1848 was one of the most important events in women’s rights history.

Not everyone was included in these promises of equality, women, slaves, and Native American’s were let out of these revolutionary ideals. While women

The idea of equality between sexes had slowly been rising, but in 1790 Judith Sargent Murray wrote “On the Equality of the Sexes”. Murray was a feminist of her days,she wrote and educated a lot of people through her essays that women were equal to man. The idea of being equal, no matter the gender became a big movement in democracy and everyone deserved equal rights. In the essay,

The American Ideal of Equality as conceived in both the Declaration of Independence and the Gettysburg Address is that all men are created equally, which suggests that every individual has. The Declaration of Independence describes equality in terms of individuals’ possession of the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. In addition, the declaration states that any form of Government that threatens those rights should be altered or abolished with New Government instituted. The Gettysburg address acts as an extension of the Declaration of Independence because Lincoln invoked the principles of human equality promoted in the Declaration and redefined the Civil war as a “new birth of freedom” that would have brought ideal equality

In the Tony Award winning musical “Hamilton” there is a very moving lyric in the song “The Scuyler Sisters,” in which they sing: “You want a revolution, I want a revelation, so listen to my declaration, We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, And when I meet Thomas Jefferson, I’m ’a compel him to include women in the sequel! Work!” I find this important because later on in history Elizabeth Cady Stanton says something similar to this at the Seneca Falls convention : “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal,” I find these two connected to each other because they are both talking about the same thing; Woman’s Equality. It made me think for where women stand today and

(Goldfield, 338) Since the cult of domesticity was making women inferior to men, women decided to do as the slaves did and fight for their own freedom. The women’s rights movement began in the mid-1800s. Female and male abolitionist found it necessary that women should be able to have the same rights as men. Just because biologically they are different, it does not mean they do not deserve the same rights. Women were denied the right to vote, property and a right to an education or job. (Goldfield, 338) At first the women’s movement was slow. Many women were afraid to speak out in fear of being shunned by their community. This was a brand new scary task that Women for the first time were going to deal with. A women speaking out against the norms of society was seen as a terrible thing to do. When you have many women speaking out for the same thing a change must be done. When the first national convention for women’s rights was called in Seneca Falls, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott were able to successfully use the Declaration of Independence as a model for their own Declaration of Sentiments. (Goldfield, 339) In their Declaration they branded that “male patriarchy as the source of women’s oppression” (Goldfield, 339) Stanton and Mott called for full women’s rights and to become independent citizens. Although the fight for women’s rights was always an important issue, most abolitionists deemed it less important