In 1776 Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, this document has served as a symbol of liberty, justice, and Democracy in the United States for over 200 years. Jefferson wrote a list of grievances against the King of England and articulated the beliefs and philosophies of the newly formed American citizenship when he stated "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." He further laid out the framework for the future Democracy by writing, "Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed" (US, 1776). While these statements were monumental in the formation of the future United States, they left a vacancy that would take generations to fill. The founders of this nation made sure to define their citizens as white, land owning men; and that definition would be one that would tear the nation apart on more than one occasion. Women and people of color would be forced to sit on the sidelines as the nation was built around them. They would watch as the men that ran the country made decisions that would change their lives with no anticipation of their voices being heard. Lyndon B. Johnson once stated, "a man without a vote is a man without protection," (Woods, 2007, p. 330) for the first half of this nation's life, it's women were women without protection and it took generations of women fighting a losing battle to secure the liberty that should have been theirs from the beginning.
*Above image: members of the National Woman's Party picket outside the White House (Harris & Ewing, 1917).