The Declaration of Independence is, to me, the founding document of America. It is what made America what it is and made Americans who they are. But it is also a controversial document, in that who were considered ‘men’ is unclear. Today, ‘men’ encompasses just about everyone, including women and minorities, in most aspects. Everyone has a right to liberty, unless they give up that right by breaking the law, and everyone can pursue a life that will make them happy, (though that doesn’t always happen!) This was not always true. In our nation’s beginning, the ‘men’ of the declaration only included white, property-owning males. Where did this leave the rest of America, and how did they feel about it? Two authors that answer this question are Frederick Douglass in his speech What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton in her Declaration of Sentiments.

First, the issue of manhood left many to question what the Declaration of Independence was all about. Who was a man, and what about those who

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