Declaration of Independence of Thomas Jefferson and Elizabeth Cady Stanton - Essay Example

Lecturer’s Declaration of Independence of Thomas Jefferson and Elizabeth Cady Stanton "Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions" and Stefanie Coontz "Too Close for Comfort" America, has for years been viewed as a land of freedom and democracy, a place where personal liberty is respected, with the citizens entitled to their unalienable rights to pursue happiness, and defend themselves oppression and discrimination among other injustices. Americans appreciate value their freedom so much because, in the past, they have suffered greatly under the yoke of foreign domination and alienation from these rights by the British who occupied America up to the 18th century. In retrospect, even after independence the United States history, was marred by injustices and oppression against different groups who denied equal treatment in matters concerning, taxes, property ownership, and professional development. After Thomas Jefferson wrote the declaration of independence, Americans took over their country form the British and set out to govern themselves with a predefined set of democratic principles as established in the declaration and constitution. Nonetheless, several groups, especially women remained disenfranchised of their rights with the constitution guarantees for “all men”. Like many works written before it and after it, the declaration was written in masculine pronoun and as such assuming that women cannot be party to the contents, possibly since they are considered subordinate to men. As a reaction to the American treatment of women, Elizabeth Cady Stanton drafted her own version of the declaration of independence. She did this deliberately in the format of Jefferson’s declaration with the intention of attracting the attention of the American public. She was cognizant of the fact that, America’s historical situation had paradigmatically changed and several of the assumptions under which the declaration existed in were not applicable or acceptable to latter day women. This paper examines the two declarations by contrasting and comparing, in order to understand Elizabeth Stanton’s motivation for writing and the way it highlighted the inequalities that were tolerated in the declaration of independence. In her declaration, Stanton revisits the landmark lines in the declaration of independence “we hold that all men are equal” and rewrites the words in to “we hold that all men and women are equal” (1776). As afore mentioned, the declaration of independence was addressed to the British king who had kept America under his dominance for tens of years, however, the declaration of sentiment was directed to the male oppressors and hence the “He” used therein is in reference to the men in America who were reluctant to acknowledge that women were equal to them. In the declaration of sentiment, Elizabeth highlights the fact that women are American citizens in very right and respect and shows with the wording of the declaration of independence, which evidently served to promote male domination, and largely, ignoring the woman’s need for recognition. In contrast to these retrospective periods, today according to Elizabeth Coozy, many women have found a lot more joy in their marriages than their grandparents ever did because of the changes that have taken place on the institution of marriage. The declaration of sentiments resolves to pay no heed to laws that prevent a woman for occupying social positions that may desire or socially subordinate her to the man. She argued that, all are equal hence and such laws are unnatural hence without justifications or authority (Nordquist). The declaration of independence cites among many reasons for rebelling against the King of England his ignoring of the American laws and imposing others which were mean at humiliating and undermining the American people such as imposing unfair taxes and disrespecting their severity by taking them abroad for trials for pretend crimes (Nordquist). In her version of “candid submission of facts” Stanton then proceeds to outline the various abuses, indignities and moral dilemmas women often suffered under men due to legal restrictions or simply because they were married. Herein, she explores several issues that were representative of man’s unfair treatment for the fairer sex and which (although not all) were similar to those the American people protested against the British in the deception of independence. He has denied her the opportunity to exercise their right to the elective franchise this is because during this time, women were not allowed to vote hence could play no role in deciding their future leaders. Despite of this, women were still subject to the laws of the land, however, with no vote ergo no chance for political representation; they had no hand in creating these laws. In Jefferson’s declaration, the American people protested they had no hand in forming the laws yet they were subject to them (Nordquist), moreover, according to Stanton, the “free” woman lacks even rights, which are given to the most ignorant, degraded men--both natives and foreigners. Women were also denied freedoms, which were available to foreigners, and natives who were unanimously considered lower class, with her rights taken a way, woman was hence oppressed for all sides since she had no legal way of mounting a defense. In the same way, Jefferson attacked the blatant inequalities personified by the British rule. For instance American governors could not pass laws on issues pertaining to their own jurisdictions until the king had read and validated them that meant the matters (notwithstanding their urgency) would be suspended, awaiting his majesty’s convenience. Stanton attacked the rules that governed marriage because they rendered the woman “Civilly dead” since she was completely subjected to her husband’s political and civil inclinations and had no voice of her own as pertains to such matters. The institution of marriage makes women morally irresponsible since it is implied she can commit cries as long as they are done in front of her husband (Nordquist). Stanton also berates the fact that a married woman was made to pledge allegiance to their husband, by handing over her independence and hence empowering them to take away her freedom, and punish her if he finds it necessary. Even the laws of divorce did not take to consideration the woman’s opinion or position in view of who will get the children. Comparatively, todays generations are very independent and research as actually proven that single people are the majority in America, such a situation would have been impossible in Stanton’s days when the woman literally needed a man to protect her interests in a male dominated world (Coontz). Integrity is held very highly as a key component of liberty and freedom, howler their interpretations of the concept seem to differ considerably. Jefferson decried the British’s taxation without representation as the epitome of poor integrity by the British toward their American brethren as well as having army’s in position among the populace in times of peace (Nordquist). The Declaration of Sentiments claims that integrity is undermined by denying women equal aces to college education, and profitable jobs, while the declaration of independence considers subordinating citizens to be a violation of their freedom, the declaration of sentiment holds that making men superordinate to women is in violation of freedom. Stanton further examine the moral delinquencies in which men the same crimes that society tolerates and are of little consequence if done by men can cause women to be exclude from society (Nordquist). Ultimately, the main difference between the declaring of sentiment and the declaration of independence’s that he former is after establish gender equality while the latter aims at gaining political equality from the British. It is worth noting that the declaration of sentiment was written 72 years after the declaration of in pence, from the wording of the former, one would imagine that the American people notwithstanding their gender would be emancipated form any type of inequality. This was after the British had been ousted but 82 years later women evidently had grievances tithe were almost as serious as the ones the nation had against the British. This goes to show that the concept of justice and equality is highly dynamic and is subject to change according prevailing circumstances. Today most of the things Stanton desired have been fulfilled and there are no restrictions on what woman can or cannot do and neither is their fates tied to those of their husbands. These changes clearly worked in favor for women gradually emancipated themselves the role of housekeepers today they work and compete with men for positions on an even scale. Works Cited Coontz, Stefanie. "Too Close for Comfort" New York Times. November 7, 2006. Web 18 October 2012 Nordquist, Richard. “Elizabeth Cady Stanton: Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions" about.com. (n.d). Web. 18 October 2012 Nordquist, Richard “Declaration of Independence of Thomas Jefferson” about.com. Web. (n.d). 18 October 2012 Read More