The Sociology Book

26

T H E D E C L A R A T I O N O F

I N D E P E N D E N C E B E A R S

N O R E L A T I O N T O H A L F

T H E H U M A N R A C E

HARRIET MARTINEAU (1802–1876)

and 1836, Harriet Martineau

traveled around the US and

recorded a very different picture of

society. What she saw was a

marked discrepancy between the

ideals of equality and democracy,

and the reality of life in the US.

Before her visit, Martineau had

made her name as a journalist

writing on political economy and

I

n 1776, the Declaration

of Independence proclaimed:

“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.” More

than 50 years later, between 1834

IN CONTEXT

FOCUS

Feminism and social

injustice

KEY DATES

1791 French playwright and

political activist Olympe

de Gouges publishes the

Declaration of the Rights of

Woman and the Female Citizen

in response to the “Declaration

of the Rights of Man and of the

Citizen” of 1789.

1807–34 Slavery is abolished

in the British Empire.

1869 Harriet Taylor and John

Stuart Mill coauthor the essay

“The Subjection of Women.”

1949 Simone de Beauvoir’s

The Second Sex lays the

foundations for “second-wave”

feminism of the 1960s–1980s.

1981 The United Nations

Convention on the Elimination

of All Forms of Discrimination

Against Women (CEDAW) is

ratified by 188 states.

...yet these rights are

granted to men only...

...and women are treated as

second-class citizens.

The United States

is established on

the principle of

equal rights...

The Declaration

of Independence

bears no relation

to half the

human race.