American culture has long been dominated by the ideas of liberty and freedom. The United States has always prided itself on being the land of the free; a place where citizens have inalienable rights, can pursue happiness, and are free from unjust oppression. While America has long remained committed to the idea of freedom, it has discovered that freedom can play a greater role in the ideal culture. The history of the United States has been marked by unjust oppression and struggles for freedom. The country's founding fathers paved the way for freedom by writing the Declaration of Independence, but even after America's democratic ideas were determined and written down, freedom was still not guaranteed to all citizens. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original EssayWomen faced many obstacles in their quest for freedom. Women were not fighting for freedom from Britain; they were fighting for freedom in their own country. When Elizebeth Cady Stanton wrote the Declaration of Sentiments, she used the Declaration of Independence as a framework. Freedom was still freedom, but the idea of it was used for a different purpose than the founding fathers. The histological context had changed and with it the idea of freedom. The Declaration of Sentiments demonstrates not only America's beliefs in freedom and independence, but also that the interpretation of these beliefs can change and be repurposed for different purposes. Elizebeth Cady Stanton, in order to derive a sense of sympathy and develop connections between women and the rest of the American public, closely followed the style and wording of the Declaration of Independence. Thomas Jefferson wrote, “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.” Elizebeth Cady Stone modified this same phrase to say that all men and women are created equal. While the Declaration of Independence outlines the “patient suffering of the colonies,” the Declaration of Sentiments outlines the “patient suffering of women under the government.” such as “He obstructed the administration of justice” and “He repeatedly dissolved the House of Representatives.” The Declaration of Sediments uses the same style but the "He" is not used to address the King, but the male oppressors. The Declaration of Sentiments mimics the style used in the Declaration of Independence to highlight the fact that women are American citizens. Although the style remains constant across the two documents, the expression of American freedom in the Declaration of Sentiments differs from the expression of American freedom in the Declaration of Independence. While the framers of the Declaration of Independence were concerned with political freedom, Stanton was concerned with the idea of martial freedom. In the Declaration of Sentiments, the husband is described as the master of the woman: "the law gives him the power to deprive her of liberty." Stanton also writes, "He made her civilly dead, if married in the eyes of the law." Times had changed. The citizens were no longer oppressed by the British monarch; they were oppressed by their husbands. Elizebeth Cady Stone focused carefully on the married woman's right to divorce and custody of her children (Lewis). He describes martial equivalence as a fundamental American freedom. Women were defined by their relationships with men as wives, sisters, and mothers and therefore could not represent themselves independently. Barbara Welter explains that women had to abide by the "four cardinal virtues: piety, purity, submission and domesticity", not assertiveness, independence and desire.
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