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Equality created the need for excuses
Inequality needed no excuse
For most of history, people took it for granted that some were born to be serfs or slaves, some to be lower classes, and some to be leaders. Puritan preachers warned over and over that equality would be a terrible thing because it would unleash chaos. And it did, because once the idea was out that all men are created equal, people asked about women, about Black men, and about Native American men.
The paradox of equality
That created a paradox. Equality opened a radical possibility of human rights, and it also meant that anyone unwilling to stop exploiting native populations or enslaving people from Africa now needed an excuse they had not needed before. The same held for keeping women at home, without the freedom to choose whom to marry, let alone what to do in the world.
Excuses and legacy
The excuses differed by group. Native Americans and African Americans were called barbarous, like animals, and in need of control. Women were called sweet and said to lack the strength of mind or body for what men do in the world, so they needed protection.
That has been a long-term heritage of the American Revolution. In less democratic, more authoritarian societies, women are less likely to internalize the idea that they can't do hard work or be strong.
How did the Declaration inspire women's rights?
In July 1848, organizers of the Seneca Falls Convention in New York adopted a Declaration of Sentiments written largely by Elizabeth Cady Stanton. It copied the form of the Declaration of Independence and changed its famous line to say that all men and women are created equal. Sixty-eight women and thirty-two men signed it.
What did Puritan preachers say about rank?
In his 1630 sermon A Model of Christian Charity, John Winthrop told fellow colonists that God had ordained some people to be rich and others poor, some high and others low. He argued that this inequality bound people to depend on one another. Winthrop served multiple terms as governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
How did Massachusetts end slavery?
The Massachusetts constitution of 1780 declared that all men are born free and equal. Enslaved people, including a man named Quock Walker, sued for freedom on that basis. In 1783, Chief Justice William Cushing instructed a jury that the constitution's language was incompatible with slavery. Courts treated the case as ending slavery in the state.
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