In the drafting of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, women, African-Americans, and Native Americans had no representation, so their rights were not protected. Abigail Adams wrote a letter to her husband in 1776 about her concerns on this matter:
"I long to hear that you have declared an independancy - and by the way the new Code of Laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make - I desire for you to remember the Ladies and be more generous and favourable to them than were your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands. Remember, all men would be Tyrants if they could. If particular care and attention is not paid to the Ladies, we are determined to foment a Rebellion and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation."
- Letter from Abigail Adams to John Adams, 1776. Quoted in Stalcup, Women's Suffrage
This request was ignored. In 1776, women were given the vote in New Jersey, but then suffrage was limited to white tax-paying males in 1807. As Abigail Adams predicted, women eventually rose up and demanded equality under the law.
"I long to hear that you have declared an independancy - and by the way the new Code of Laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make - I desire for you to remember the Ladies and be more generous and favourable to them than were your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands. Remember, all men would be Tyrants if they could. If particular care and attention is not paid to the Ladies, we are determined to foment a Rebellion and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation."
- Letter from Abigail Adams to John Adams, 1776. Quoted in Stalcup, Women's Suffrage
This request was ignored. In 1776, women were given the vote in New Jersey, but then suffrage was limited to white tax-paying males in 1807. As Abigail Adams predicted, women eventually rose up and demanded equality under the law.