Unit 3... An Era of Reform
History by Ben Mandel
When Britain's thirteen colonies in America finalized the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, they assumed a responsibility of prodigious proportions. Now called the United States of America, this sovereign nation faced the burden of effective self-government, a task that it would fail to meet in its first decade of independence.
The Articles of Confederation in 1777 set a precedent for autonomy in America, but was insufficient to serve as the cornerstone of American government. The Articles of Confederation created an impotent confederation of states, each of which operating as its own nation. So in 1787, the forefathers wet back to the drawing board to draft the Constitution. The Constitution synthesized the ideals of John Locke and Baron De Montesquieu to organize what has become the quintessence of democracy. Unlike the Articles of Confederation before it, the Constitution created a federal organization of states, all subordinate to the federal government whose executive, judicial, and legislative powers were separated to maintain governmental equilibrium.
However, even the Constitution initiated a rift throughout the young nation. Despite George Washington's firm belief in non-partisan politics, the people became divided into Federalists, led by Alexander Hamilton, and Anti-Federalists, headed by Thomas Jefferson. Federalists were mostly wealthy Northerners and thus benefited from the new centralized government. The Bill of Rights was appended to the Constitution to better represent the voice of the people.
Thus in accordance with the principles for which the Bill of Rights stood, women began a reform movement in which they demanded the same rights that men had. Susan B. Anthony, Lucretia Mott, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton spearheaded a feminist movement. In 1848, in Seneca Falls, New York, Mott and Stanton among others drafted the "Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions", based on the "Declaration of Independence", which promised that "all men are created equal" without mention of women. While the initial feminist movement experienced little progress, it would gain steam and become and influential force by the early 20th century, due to the freedoms ensured by the American Constitution.
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