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