'We the People' preamble, Declaration of Independence, and Bill of Rights Reading Response

Susan B. Anthony once said:

"It was we, the people; not we, the white male citizens; nor yet we, the male citizens; but we, the whole people, who formed the Union.... Men, their rights and nothing more; women, their rights and nothing less."

The Declaration of Independence & the Bill of Rights, some of the most celebrated documents in America, were written by a group of white, Christian, heterosexual males. Whenever the words Men and people are used in the text, it always refers to males (white, Christian, land-owning, heterosexual). Women, children, and slaves, were not considered as equals when these documents were being created. It wasn't until these subordinate groups protested to gain the same rights as these dominant males that these texts were considered to refer to them as well in terms of "equality". Of course, full equality, the kind people can only dream of, does not exactly exist yet, but it certainly has made progress. I think it hasn't always crossed my mind before, because I've always assumed that when the documents like the Declaration of Independence mention, equal, men, and people, it covers men and women alike. I guess its important to realize these facts because these founding documents were so one-sided and the struggles to change that is a part of our history and contributes to our social location and identiy (which we read about in other chapters).