The country’s founding fathers paved the way for freedom when they wrote the Declaration of Independence, but even after America’s democratic ideas were determined and written down, freedom was still not granted to all citizens. Women have faced many impediments in their pursuit for freedom. Women were not fighting for freedom from Britain; they were fighting for freedom in their own country. When Elizabeth Cady Stanton wrote the Declaration of Sentiments, she used the Declaration of Independence as a framework. Freedom was still freedom, but the idea of it was used for a purpose different from that of the founding fathers. The historical context had changed, and with it, the idea of freedom. The Declaration of Sentiments demonstrates not only the American beliefs in freedom and liberty, but also that the interpretation of these beliefs can change and be reused for different purposes.
