Name: Han Zhang
Student ID: 01250256
Class: English 101
Name of the paper: Three pioneers of feminist
The USA is a country that has a long history of immigration. During the time that
the USA was a colony of British, there were mass of European who escaped from the
political persecuting to this land, finding their “dreams of gold”. The Puritanism is the
major religion of the immigrants. Under the influence of the thinking of the
Puritanism they advocated freedom and welfare. Many of them were women who
were in middle class and educated somehow. Their values were deeply influenced by
the stream of thought across this “land of freedom”. Otherwise, there were another
group of women who were among the African immigrants. They worked as slaves in
the fields or factories and acted a major role in the production activities. But they still
had few rights by the law or the religion because of the deep-rooted thought of the
feudal system. Many pioneers of feminist originated a movement to gain freedom and
equal rights for women. There were three persons that contributed to the freedom
gained for women between 1776 and the 1850’s. Thomas Jefferson who was the
author of the Declaration Of Independence settled a foundation of the main ideas for
many philosophers and activists of the women’s rights to announce their points of
views. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, which was The Author of Declaration Of Sentiments,
also used the same frame as that of Declaration Of Independence. Sojourner Truth
was an African-American abolitionist activist, which was also a women’s rights
activist, present a speech, Ain’t I a Woman? Made a voice for women who were
“born as slaves” They all faced lots of different limitations to make progress for their
own ideas. Anyhow, the obstacles in front of these three people also became a
motivation for them to break the chains of old thought and achieve them or entire
world of women freedom and welfare.
Although there was no sentence against the unequal rights of women in the
Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson expounded the philosophy of
democracy and freedom. He was striving for rights gaining for all the human beings,
women certainly included. He declared that, “all men are created equal, they are by
their Creator with certain unalienable rights.”(Jefferson, Declaration Of Independence,
2) Jefferson also present that all the human rights were given by god, no one can
deprive them. These tow principal strongly supported the women’s rights movement
Jefferson was born in an affluent family and his mother owned a high social position,
so it was not easy for him to become a feminist activist. But he also wrote some
words, which was in the draft of the Declaration, blaming the slavery. He presented,
“He was waged cruel war against human nature itself, …or to incure miserable death
in their transportation hither.”(Jefferson, draft of Declaration, 16) Jefferson attempted
to fight against the slavery that was stopped by the congress; it would be the same
thing what if he was a feminist. From another side, the USA was not a country yet at
that time, the most important mission for a member of the drafting committee is
fighting for the sovereign rights. So there was no more “space” in the Declaration to
fight for feminist or antislavery. Under this limitation, Jefferson stood on the principal
that all people were born equal. Because of the success of the Declaration, The
principal was widely used among the feminists. As a person who made these two
principals famous, Jefferson settled a solid foundation of thinking for other feminists
on the other hand.
By not only using the foundation that Jefferson settled but also using the same
structure of writing, Elizabeth Cady Stanton wrote a declaration for women, which
was the Declaration Of Sentiments. She advocated that get the principal in practice of
women’s rights movement, the source of Stanton’s feminist idea were two principles
that said by Jefferson. All men are created equal and god gives all human rights. As
Stanton present: “When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one
portion of the family of man to assume among the people of the earth a position
different from that which they have hitherto occupied, but one to which the laws of
nature and nature’s god entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind
requires that they should declare the cause that impel them to such a course.”(Stanton,
Declaration, 1) But the definitions of gender before 1850’s were that, men and women
had different nature, so they had different social position; men controlled the political
activities while housework belonged to women. Under the constraint of the feudal
thought, women almost had no rights, they could not go out for a job or be educated;
they could not get the result of hardworking ether. The social public opinion even
thought that women should be weak and timid. But The two principles told by
Jefferson spread all over the USA after the war of independence, women who were
educated such as Stanton, began to recognize that the unequal rights that given to men
and women was incompatible with these two principles. As a woman, Stanton also
faced the same social circumstance, but it also made her rise and fight for her own
freedom. Stanton’s husband Henry Stanton was an abolitionist activist; she was
deeply influenced by him, when they were going to attend a meeting that against the
slavery in London later, Stanton was blocked at the door, as she was a woman. This
made Stanton very resentful. However, this kind of experience made Stanton found
the limitation faced before women and got enlightened, becoming the direct cause of
Stanton’s movement. Stanton thought that the major way to gain women freedom and
equal rights is striving for the right to vote. “He has never permitted her to exercise
her inalienable right to the elective franchise.” Stanton evidenced. (Stanton,
Declaration of Sentiments, 4). Two main kinds of slavery appeared in the most
advance country at freedom and equal---the USA. They are racial slavery and sex
slavery. As Stanton’s point of view, no one can control the others. The law should be
changed. To be truly “free” is to get the right to vote that the same as men can get.
Besides striving the legal rights for women, Stanton recognized that the religious
organizations strongly oppose the changing structure of gender; this would be another
barrier that stopped the progress of liberating women. The overwhelming majority of
the clergy thought that if women took men’s job and did what men could do, their
authority would in jeopardy and it would negatively influence the “meaning of god”
that they wanted to convey. Since this, Stanton criticized the thought that women
were created to try to please men. She criticized that: “Now, in view of this entire
disfranchisement of one –half the people of this country, their social and religious
degradation - in view of the unjust laws above mentioned, and because women do feel
themselves aggrieved, oppressed, and fraudulently deprived of their most sacred
rights, we insist that they have immediate admission to all the rights and privileges
which belong to them as citizens of these United States.”(Stanton, Declaration, 20) As
a woman who was well educated, Stanton wrote a declaration that had the same
structure and rhetoric as Jefferson’s showed that the woman could do all the things as
well as that man could do. The Declaration destroyed the impressions that women
were weak and timid, and made a significant progress of the women’s right
movement.
Sojourner Truth, which was an African-American woman, also contributed to
the freedom gained for women. Truth had different circumstance with Stanton; after
all, she had a worse life than Stanton as a slave woman. She might not be educated,
even could not read and write. But she handed out vivid evidence that proved the life
as a slave or a woman was hard at that time, because she escaped with her infant
daughter to freedom in 1826. Obviously She thought what she did is right. “I did not
run off, for I thought that wicked, but I walked off, believing that to be all right.” She
said. (Truth, 1827) Different from the way that Stanton used, Truth did not use
writing to prove the unbelievable ability of woman. But she used actives instead. She
went to court to recover her son and became the first black woman to win a case
against a white man. She helped recruit black troops for the Union Army. What she
did helped woman to recognize that they could do much more things than that they
could image. So these barriers in front of a black woman became the motivation for
the women’s rights movement. Although Truth have a low level of education, she
present a famous speech, Ain’t I A Woman, appealed and encouraged all the woman
and feminists to fight for their rights to be educated, go to work and vote. The speech
showed the power of women to the antifeminists. Truth mocked that: “Then they talk
about this thing in the head, if my cup would not hold a pint and yours hold a quarter,
wouldn’t you be mean not to let me have my little old half measure full?” (Truth
Ain’t I a woman)
The first women’s rights movement achieved a significant success on the
gaining of political rights and independence for women. As a representative of
thinkers of enlightenment, Jefferson laid the foundation of thought about the natural
rights, which helped other pioneers to prove their points of views. Stanton and Truth
were the leaders of the women’s right movement; they faced many limitations that
were from all the directions such as gender, social class, race and family. But they all
had their values that were advanced and their goals were almost the same that is
achieving women freedom and equal rights. And these things made them come across
the obstacles that in front of them, and finally, contributed to the progress of freedom
gaining for women between 1776 and 1850’s.
Reference:
The Draft Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson, 1776
Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson, 4.7.1776
Declaration of Sentiments, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, 1869
Ain’t I a woman, Sojourner Truth, 1851
The War Years, Abraham Lincoln, 1862