Unfinished business

Idealized image of John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin reading the Declaration of Independence to colonists.
Idealized image of John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin reading the Declaration of Independence to colonists. Public domain, work of the United States federal government

“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…” (From The Declaration of Independence: A Transcription, IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776, The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, signed by 56 white men).

Members of those 13 colonies successfully fought King George for independence, but large segments of the population then and now were excluded from the select group considered entitled to “certain unalienable Rights.”

Among the groups excluded from “all men” by the formulators of the Declaration were, of course, all women, plus all native peoples, slaves, freedmen, and others not seen as deserving the same rights as the men in the emerging power structures in the colonies.

There was no inclusive view of human rights in the minds of the authors of the Declaration of Independence—or most others of those times.

A vision of equal rights for all did not gain legal status in the U.S. until the passing of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution (1866), which  included an Equal Protection Clause guaranteeing all citizens equal protection under the law. The 15th Amendment (1869) prohibited both the federal and state governments from denying the right to vote for reasons of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” It was not until the 19th Amendment (1920) that women were given the right to vote.

Today, in 2014, women’s suffrage seems pretty secure within the United States—at least for women in the white majority; however, there continue to be efforts to prevent people of color from voting.  And rights are far from being equally distributed.  Lots of work still to be done.

Kathie Malley-Morrison, Professor of Psychology