The Declaration Of Independence And Inequality In The Us
The Declaration of Independence states, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal...”(qtd. Jefferson). Women in this time did not have all of these equal rights. Slaves and black people were treated poorly as well. The people of minorities also were not treated with the proper respect of the people with money. The Declaration of Independence was most likely made in a hypocritical manner.
The founders of our nation constantly repeated to say we have equal rights even though women of today are paid less than the average male. Most women in 2016 earned only 90% of men’s pay(Striking Women). In 2018 women earned roughly $0.82 of every dollar earned by white men. Women on average are graduating college more than men. Even though the women have a better education they are offered fewer jobs than men. Black women earn about $0.61, Native American women earn about $0.58, Latina women earn about $0.53, and White and Asian women earn about $0.77 and $0.85(Connely). All of these numbers are compared to White men earning one dollar. In recent studies, people found out that in 2224 is when Hispanic/ Latina women will have equal pay but Black women will have equal pay in 2130(Mason). Although wage gaps are important in 1776 women could not vote for their leaders, own any land of some sort, or even work a job outside of the house.
Our founding fathers said that everyone is equal and everyone has a voice. Women, on the other hand, could not vote in any way shape or form. If the women were widows because their husbands died the women could not own the land by themself. Only in New Jersey women were allowed to vote for seven-teen years(Davidson). To kids now that seems like a long time but in reality, it really was not. The women were treated like property back then. The women worked for the male all-day long at there home making sure everything is in order. Abigail Adams wrote to her husband John Adams to remember the women to not give all the power the men(Women History Blog). Abigail really had her vision in the future. She really saw things wrong in that time period like women not being able to vote that was only broken in 1920. That was 144 years after the Declaration of Independence was signed stating that all men are equal. The writers of the declaration should have thought more about others and not themselves as much as they did.
Some of the writers, founders, and presidents of our very own nation were, in fact, slave owners and treated the slaves cruelly. 41 of the 47 signers were, in fact, slave owners(Heintz). 9 of the now 45 presidents were slave owners. George Washington was the only president that freed his slaves(Ambrose). This situation is kind of ironic. The writers were writing about how people should be all equal but they did not treat their slaves with the respect they needed. The slaves worked all night and day without proper care. The slaves were beaten and killed for anything wrong they did. Mississippi was the last state to abolish this law completely in 1995. Vermont on the other had abolished it in 1777(National Geographic). That is a 218-year difference. Those are all the past slavery and skin color discrimination examples. But what about the present?
Skin color discrimination is still a big thing in modern times. Judging people by their skin tone has been going around since slavery started. The popular opinion started when only slaves worked outside and did all the labor for the white people. The slaves did work that was very difficult but the white people and the slave owners did basic tasks(Nittle). People having all of these bias people were raised to think the people of darker skin tones are bad people. The kids then judge others with this thought in there mind. This discrimination is something some people go through every single day which is so unfair.
The Declaration of Independence was established by the rich and wealthy people of our beginning nation who also had a good reputation for leadership. All of the Founding Fathers were rich privileged white men. They would pass laws that would only benefit them in current ways(Sitaraman). They would only let people of money vote for the new leaders and their new laws. They highly encouraged freedom of speech event through most people who could not vote because of their social status. This example is pretty ironic. The deceleration says one thing while the government means another.
The leaders of the government would only give the people who paid taxes the ability to vote for their leaders. The requirements to vote were that they had to be over the age of 21. They had to be a white male. They also had to pay a certain amount of taxes. Or they could own a certain amount of property(Davidson). This was a major problem for the people who did not meet those specific requirements. The people did not have a voice in there community for their beliefs. They could not vote for governors, presidents or for laws even. This really played a major problem for people’s opinions.
The Declaration of Independence was created in a duplicitous way. Women had to only work at their household while men could work a job. Slaves did not get proper treatment. People with less money also could not do the same things as people with more money. All of these examples have been shown in modern-day life. Women get paid less for a job, black people get hate for their skin color, and people and children judge others by their wealth. These things have not changed drastically in the last 200 years.
