Is the legalization of gay marriage inevitable?
THIS NATION'S FOUNDING MANIFESTO, the Declaration of Independence, declared “all men” to be “created equal” and latent in these revolutionary words were the civil rights issues — most glaringly slavery and the unequal status of women — that would dominate the next centuries of the American Republic. Not until near the end of one of the bloodiest civil wars ever fought did Congress approve the 13th amendment, abolishing slavery. Abigail Adams had written to her husband, John, that “if […] attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion and we will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation,” but not until the 20th century would suffrage be extended to adult women in the United States. The quest for equal treatment of minorities and women continues to the present day — a promise elevated to the level of constitutional guarantee by the post–Civil War enactment of the 14th Amendment, commanding that no state “deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”