On July 4, 1776 the members of the Continental Congress put their lives and property at risk as they signed the Declaration of Independence. The second sentence of that document is one of the best known in the English language: “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.”
To the 55 rich white men who signed the document, that sentence referred to the rights of people like themselves. They weren’t suggesting that women were created equal to men, or that Native Americans were created equal to those who came here from Europe. But their words inspired those and other groups to fight for equal rights.
You can track the progress of these groups by looking at the dates when the group gained the right to vote. The history is complex because voting rules vary by state, but the progression goes something like this:
1828 all white men, not just property owners, can vote
1870 the constitution’s 15th amendment gives black men the right to vote. Some states comply
1890 Native Americans can vote
1920 Women can vote
1965 Voting Rights Act forces all states to follow the constitution and let Blacks vote
The struggle for voting rights continues. The current Supreme Court has weakened the Voting Rights Act, which allows the party in power to make voting more difficult for groups that tend to support the opposition. But much progress has been made since July 4, 1776.
Today we celebrate the brave men who signed the Declaration of Independence, and the millions of brave men and women who were inspired by their lofty words and worked to make the promise of equal rights come true for all Americans.
