Sam Talbot
A 2
The Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence influenced a lot of well known men and women. The Declaration of Independence affected Abraham Lincoln’s speech about slavery. It inspired the women to fight to be equal to men which caused the Women’s Rights Movement. The Declaration of Independence affected Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech.
In 1854 Abraham Lincoln spoke out and against the slavery act and the Kansas-Nebraska act. He said that life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness were not limited to the white race but that it was limited to the colored race. He accused the southerners and the democrats of showing willingness to take all of Founding Fathers and throwing them down in the mud and recreating a new declaration to exclude blacks. After the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln gave his Gettysburg address which stated, "Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal." As a result of this and the war the blacks became one step closer to being equal to white men. Black people were free but only to an extent. Blacks were no longer slaves but still unable to enter certain stores, schools, bathrooms, and could not use “white” drinking fountains. In a way they really were not free; they were still controlled by the white people.
In 1848 Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott began a seventy year struggle to secure the right for women to vote. Women’s suffrage pointed out that black’s had the right to vote and they had protection regardless of their race. The women wanted the right to vote too because they wanted a say in the government. Also they wanted a say in what laws are made. The women in Utah wanted to vote really bad because they wanted to vote against polygamy. This gave the women enough will power to actually go out and fight for their right to vote. The white...