In my history class today I asked students to write a mini-speech arguing to the Second Continental Congress that the “unalienable rights” included in the Declaration of Independence should be extended to women and slaves. I offered extra-credit for reading the speech aloud or for writing it “in character” (so that it reads something like an 18th century speech). Most of the arguments were fairly basic, and few tried to write in-character, and fewer still had any rhetorical flair. But this girl had both (imagine it delivered in a ringing voice to the assembled delegates):

We call ourselves Men, but only Animals would strip rights from another human being, be it a woman, or a slave, or a child, or the elderly. Am I right to suggest that by Excluding the majority of the population from the Rights we have created for ourselves, we have lost all humanity? I call upon myself and the members of this Congregation to restore this humanity, and to distribute fairness to all People!

I love it that she took on the role of a male delegate, wrote with passion, and capitalized words for emphasis (like they did in the Declaration). I can imagine Patrick Henry reading these very words!