The Declaration of Independence

The Declaration of Independence is the birth certificate of the United States of America. It declared our commitment to freedom and guaranteed our basic rights. Every freedom we have as Americans comes from the Declaration of Independence. It is the foundation for our other precious documents, the Constitution, the Emancipation Proclamation and the Bill of Rights. Without the Declaration, our country would not be "the land of the free" as we know it today. During …

…women and men held the first Women's Rights Convention at Seneca Falls. The Declaration of Sentiments, modeled after the Declaration of Independence, was presented and passed by the convention. These resolutions included among other demands, that women have the right to vote. The struggle for women's rights had begun. Seventy-two years later in 1920, the 19th amendment to the Constitution of the United States was ratified, which gave women many rights, including the right to vote.