- America’s Ongoing Struggle for Equal Rights -
UConn Today by - Kenneth Best - UConn Communications
The ideal of equal rights articulated in the Declaration of Independence was at the core of the founding of the United States on July 4, 1776. Yet the young nation struggled with every form of social inequality, despite the declaration that “all men are created equal.” In a new book, “Self-Evident Truths: Contesting Equal Rights from the Revolution to the Civil War” (Yale University Press 2017), Richard D. Brown, Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of History Emeritus and Founding Director of the Humanities Institute , traces how the ideal was tested over issues of race and ethnicity, religious freedom, gender and social class, voting rights, and citizenship. He spoke with UConn Today about how some of these issues continue to evolve.
Self-Evident Truths: Contesting Equal Rights from the Revolution to the Civil War
How did Americans in the generations following the Declaration of Independence translate its lofty ideals into practice? In this broadly synthetic work, distinguished historian Richard Brown shows that despite its founding statement that “all men are created equal,” the early Republic struggled with every form of social inequality. While people paid homage to the ideal of equal rights, this ideal came up against entrenched social and political practices and beliefs.Brown illustrates how the ideal was tested in struggles over race and ethnicity, religious freedom, gender and social class, voting rights and citizenship. He shows how high principles fared in criminal trials and divorce cases when minorities, women, and people from different social classes faced judgment. This book offers a much-needed exploration of the ways revolutionary political ideas penetrated popular thinking and everyday practice.
Richard D. Brown is Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of History, Emeritus, and the Founding Director of the Humanities Institute at the University of Connecticut. His previous books include Knowledge Is Power: The Diffusion of Information in Early America, 1700–1865;The Strength of a People: The Idea of an Informed Citizenry in Early America, 1650-1870; and the coauthored microhistory The Hanging of Ephraim Wheeler: A Story of Rape, Incest, and Justice in Early America.