What I really liked about this entire chapter is that it
illustrates how the American Revolution impacted the rest of the world, in
regards to both personal and ideological revolutions. It never ceases to amaze me how long it took
for people to realize that equality and civil liberties should be extended to
all people, women and those of color included. What surprises, or bothers, me
the most is that the abolition of slavery had almost been ended around 1890,
due to its success, while equality for women didn’t even really take off until
the 1900’s. What was it about women that made educating them and letting them
into politics that scared men so much? I don’t understand how white men could have
fought for civil liberties for men of color, people not too early before that
they enslaved, tortured and massacred, yet the women that lived by their sides
were still considered inferior. (Not that I believe women are above those of
color) I just don’t understand how their views of equality to all “men”,
including those that they treated with such a lack of humanity, were not at the
same time offered to their wives and daughters. Despite this fact I enjoyed
reading about how creative the women were in getting their voices heard; specifically
with the idea of “maternal feminism”, which was the idea that women had a right
to protect the interest of their children which allowed them to have a voice in
political issues. The idea that these women were willing to lay down their
lives in resistance to political power during the Revolutions as well as their
intelligence in legal matters should have been enough, in my opinion, to
convince men that they were due their civil liberties as well.
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