The Declaration of Independence is one of the greatest document in American history, since it brings U.S. into an independent nation. However, the claim in the declaration that all men are equal was not actually a true statement, since not every person got treated equally. In this way, the declaration was actually a selfish statement for only the white male during the period; women and black people were not declared independent.
According to the history timeline of the women, about a decade before the declaration was finished in 1776, the colonies in America used the English system that women can not own any property under their own name; Also, the year after the declaration, 1777, all the states in America passed law on women suffrage that women can not vote. However, according to the declaration: “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.” While the declaration says that everyone has the right to gain their own happiness and people have the right to overthrow the government while the government violet these right, women were defined to be lower level than men, and they do not have the right to gain suffrage and do not have the right to decide what they want until the last century. In this way, the United State was not actually keeping the promise on people for keeping their rights, at least not all the people. As it says in the declaration, people have the right to abolish the government when they think the government is not protecting people’s basic rights, however, the situation of women was never changed and it is still the samthe history timeline of the womene government, no one wants to help women to gain the basic rights for their own happiness. Since the beginning of the United States, the tenet of the country is that all men are created equal, however, women gained their suffrage and the right to stand at the same level with men not until 1920. In this way, I condemn that the Declaration of Independent gains only the selfish white male that claimed people with independent but refuse to admit the basic right of some parties of people.
Black people were treated the same way. During the year of 1776, although the Declaration of Independence was issued, the slave trade was still a big part of America. Declaring that all men are created equal while transporting human beings to become slaves seems contradict. Even though the United States set up on freedom, at the time people still think that slave trade was the necessary part, since lower level people work for upper level people is the rule. However, this violet what says in the Declaration of Independence. Even when President Lincoln started the Civil War, there were half of the American still believed that slavery was right. After the abolishment of slavery, the same problem with women, African Americans’ suffrage was not admitted. Until 1870, the 15th Amendment of the Constitution helped African American finally gained the right to vote.
In my opinion, the Declaration of Independence was not a completed assignment, it declared the basic right for people, however, did not accomplish it. Even for nowadays, it is still in progress.
Image sources:
1: Upworthy
2: Ibtimes
21st Century Citizenship 