Declaration of Independence vs. Declaration of Sentiments As we read over two of the most important documents in the US history, we have the opportunity to compare and contrast the differences and similarities presented. When the Declaration of Independence was written, it paved the way for our freedom. However, even after America’s democratic ideas were determined and written down; freedom was still not granted to all citizens. This lead to women, such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton, bringing about the Declaration of Sentiments.
The mistakes and struggles in the past had to have happen for they want be repeated in the future. Just as the right to vote. The right to vote is essential to every American. If it wasn’t for the Women’s Right Movement women still would not be able to vote today. Voting is a sacred right that has been guaranteed to all citizens of America.
With these immigrants, come the differences each share regarding this so called “American Dream.” Depending on factors such as family support, background, and attitude, the American Dream may change in its details from individual to individual; however, all who come to this country or who were born here ultimately desire freedom. America won its independence from Great Britain fighting for their freedom and that is exactly what immigrants have been doing; they are facing “battles”, whether it’s internal or external, to get to what they eventually have in America, as quoted by Thomas Jefferson, “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” The American poet, born in New York, Emma Lazarus is best known for “The New Colossus” a sonnet written in 1883. It’s line written on a bronze plaque in the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty placed in 1903. As a Jewish American woman, Emma Lazarus faced the challenge of belonging to two, often, conflicting worlds. As a woman she dealt with unequal treatment in both.
While the end of the Civil War brought an end to the tragic institution of slavery, the hardships the African Americans were bound to endure had only begun. Tera W. Hunter wrote To ‘Joy My Freedom, a novel highlighting the difficulties black women had to face and the way they manipulated these struggles to make them happy and feel proud during the Reconstruction Era. Hunter shows how domestic black workers, mostly in cities like Atlanta, used their “freedom” to gain respect and make a life they could call their own. Working women, along with all freedpeople, established freedom as the idea that one has the liberty to practice their religion freely, get an education, be politically active and overall live a safe and fulfilling life. They pursued this through small and silent revolts
Besides their fight for rights, all of these movements have one other thing in common, unification. Therefore, society itself must come together for the sole purpose of unification in order to create new civil rights. The people of this great nation are the sole reason for it’s success, and failures. Time and time again we have come together with the purpose of achieving some benchmark. Equal rights for blacks during the civil war, emancipation of the Jews in WWII.
The Road to Women's Rights and Suffrage Today we have many “rights” which are apart of who we are. Of course, these rights did not come to us easily. Our Founding Father's had to make great sacrifices for us to be where we are today. We had to fight for our freedoms and rights through the war of independence. However, the rights which were won seemed to exclude women.
After Eleanor became aware of the inequities for African Americans with regard to their rights, she gave it the much deserved attention it required. This article points out why Eleanor was Self-reliant because she didn’t bend to the will of the public. She gave her opinions bluntly, not worrying what the country thought about her for becoming a champion to the African Americans. Eleanor also expressed her opinions through press conferences. This was unheard of prior to her.
What did freedom mean to the newly freed slaves? How did they express their new found freedom? Freedom is simply defined having liberty or independence. “With the end of Civil War, Illinois congressman declared in 1865,the United States was a new nation, for the first time wholly free.” (Foner 2007) Freedom mean to the newly freed slaves was “shaped by their experiences as slaves and their observation of the free society around them. To begin with, freedom meant escape the punishment by the lash, the separation from the families, denial of access to education, and the sexual exploitation of black women by their owners.
You would think life would get better for African Americans with these achievements however it did anything but that. As for women, they did not have the right to vote and still were searching of there own equality in
Out of these famous bedrock beliefs in America such as the desirable “nuclear family” myth or the values of “more is better,” expressed as “endless abundance” myth, the myth of “individual freedom” is one especially strong related to the roots of Americans (Nachbar 94). Becoming free from England in the Civil War, the theme of freedom from slavery and discrimination, and finally the freedom women expressed in feminist movements, are all characteristics of Americans. From the moment they set foot in the New World, this belief of individualism would forever be in the blood of the descendants. The myth of “individual freedom” is also connected to America’s mindset of “anti-intellectualism.” Nachbar and Lause refers to the myth in this way: The truly intelligent person translates ideas into practical solutions to real problems, lives “off” ideas instead of “for” them, and recognizes that human identity is found