Why didn't Jefferson include women in the declaration of independence?

Answer 1

Presumably, the question refers to the expression Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness."

This is important because the answer lies in the last two clauses of the sentence. He's describing the characteristics of "Natural Rights," which are granted to us by our Creator by virtue of us being born human. (Natural Rights, incidentally, are beyond the authority of any government to bestow or revoke.) Therefore, the answer is unequivocally, "The Declaration of Independence does include women." Women's Natural Rights are universally theirs, just as men's are.

It is a common misunderstanding to believe it doesn't, however. Those who make this mistake quickly point out that in the 18th century, women, slaves, the poor, and others didn't have the right to vote, to own real estate, to have financial accounts, etc. This is true; however, these people are confusing Natural Rights with legal rights. Naturally speaking, yes. All people are created equal, then as now. Legally speaking, unfortunately, people were born into certain stations with inequality built into the system. But no human being is born with a Natural Right to a bank account, for example; after all, if you happen to be born into a society without a banking system, you don't suffer for not having an account.

Why, then, did he specify men? Simply put, language usage changes over time. "Men" was also used inclusively to refer to a group comprised of both sexes, or humanity overall. A likely reason for this is expedience. English doesn't have a good single word to refer to both, and it becomes problematic when continually writing "men and women," "his or hers," "he or she," etc. - especially when writing with a quill and ink.