Essay On The Declaration Of Independence Dbq

Throughout time, people have struggled to be recognized as equal, to be treated fairly and with dignity, as well as being able to partake in the same opportunities for sucess and hapiness as others. Take, for instance, the United States when it severed its ties to Great Britain. The United States recognized that they were being treated unjustly, and in response to that, leaders wrote a formal statement- The Declaration of Independence. The Declaration decreed that everyone was equal and that they should all have rights. This document later inspired other activists to fight for rights in the same way. The declaration inspired people fighting for suffrage, particularly women and African Americans. In addition, the LGBTQ+ community leaned

Suffragists said that this discrimination was not in the spirit of The Declaration of Independence, and in fact, went directly against its principles. As stated by Susan B. Anthony, a famous suffragette, “And here, in this first paragraph, is the assertion of the of the natural right of all the ballot; for how can ‘the consent of the governed’ be given, if the right to vote be denied?”(Document E). Susan B. Anthony is saying that women being denied the right to vote is denying them their basic rights detailed in The Declaration of Independence. African American men have similarly had their voices denied in the past. In Appeal of Forty Thousand Citizens, Threatened with Disfranchisement, to the People of Philadelphia, Robert Purvis said, “Was it the intention of the commonwealth that that the convention to which the Constitution was committed for revision and amendment, should tear up and cast away its first principles? Was it the business of the Convention to deny that all men are born equally free by making political rights depend upon the skin in which a man is born?”(Document C). Purvis, similar to Anthony, argues that denying people the right to vote because of something they can not control goes against the Declaration of independence and should not be tolerated. The Declaration protects all people’s right to vote, no matter what they look like or identify

Gay people have found themselves not having access to the rights promised to them by The Declaration of Independence. A pamphlet detailing this disparity said, “The homosexual American citizen finds himself denied many of the unique and special features of American life that are guaranteed by the Declaration of Independence.” (Document H). Gay people were prosecuted by many people in the 1960’s. Being an openly gay person opened you up for being unjustly arrested, losing your job for no reason, and other things similar to that. In this pamphlet, the LGBTQ+ community wasn’t asking for new rights, but for the ones promised to all to be recognized. The pamphlet says, “ Are we guanteening to all of our citizens the rights… which took birth and first form in the Declaration of Independence.” (Document H). A gay person in the United States was not guaranteed the same rights as a straight person, particularly socially. People in the LGBTQ+ community often were outcasts from straight