For Women’s History Month, A More Perfect Blog will feature profiles of influential and heroic female leaders from our middle school curriculum,

Harriet Beecher Stowe used the power of her pen to open the eyes of a nation to the injustices of slavery.  She was born in Connecticut in 1811.  She lived in a Protestant, abolitionist tradition: her father was a minister, her brother a theologian, her husband a clergyman.

When Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850, Stowe knew she had to act.  At the time, women had few ways to engage in politics.  She could not run for office, or even vote, but she was undeterred.  Ever resourceful, she found a political voice in her writings.  She began to do research by interviewing former slaves and others who had personal experience with slavery.  Her first novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, told of the abuse suffered by enslaved people and families in emotional, human terms.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin sold 10,000 copies in its first week and was a bestseller in its time.  She reached peoples’ hearts and minds in a way that politicians had not been able to do.  Historians believe that the publication of Uncle Tom’s Cabin sped up the outbreak of the Civil War, as more and more people believed the nation had a duty to end slavery.  Harriet Beecher Stowe’s writing truly changed a nation’s view of justice.

Photo Credit: “Harriet Beecher Stowe.” Published by Johnson, Fry & Co., 1872, after Alonzo Chappel.  Part of African American Odessy, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs, Washington DC 20540.  Digital ID: cph 3a12898.

For Women’s History Month, A More Perfect Blog will feature profiles of influential and heroic female leaders from our middle school curriculum,

Elizabeth Cady Stanton fought for all of the ideals of the Declaration of Independence – that all people are created equal.  Stanton was born in New York Stat in 1815.  She received a formal education, unlike most women of her time.  She did well in school, impressing her teachers and classmates with her intelligence.  But as a woman, she could not attend the college of her choice.

Stanton was disturbed by women’s lower legal status.  She helped organize the first women’s rights convention in the US in Seneca Falls, New York.  At that convention, the Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions was read.  This document, based on the Declaration of Independence and written by Stanton, declared the legal equality of men and women, and listed the legal rights women should have, including the right of suffrage (voting).  Her work helped launch the women’s movement which eventually won women the right to vote.

Stanton knew she was fighting for something bigger than herself.  She did not live to see the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment.  Susan B. Anthony wrote when Elizabeth Cady Stanton died, “Mrs. Stanton was always a courageous woman, a leader of thought and new movements.”

PHOTO CREDIT: “Elizabeth Cady Stanton.” Digital ID: cph 3a28976. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress. Reproduction Number: LC-USZ62-28195.

For Women’s History Month, A More Perfect Blog will feature profiles of influential and heroic female leaders from our middle school curriculum,

Anne Hutchinson stood up to a religious theocracy (where the church and the government are the same) in defense of religious liberty.  A well-educated minister’s daughter, Hutchinson came to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1634.  She became a midwife, and she made friends.  Soon she began to invite women to her home for Bible study.

Over the years, Hutchinson attracted a following.  Almost sixty people, both men and women, joined her group.  The discussions at her home soon became more like sermons.  She criticized the teachings of the colony’s ministers.  For anyone – and especially a woman – to go against the official religion of the colony was a crime.  Colony ministers charged Hutchinson with eighty-two “erroneous opinions.”  But she did not keep silent.  She courageously defended her beliefs.  In the end, Hutchinson was convicted and banished.

Hutchinson’s struggle helped spread the values of respect and religious liberty.  In 1789, the Constitution banned religious tests for public office; the First Amendment, adopted in 1791, stopped the federal government from establishing a religion; finally, all the states ended their official churches by the early 19th century.  Anne Hutchinson’s struggle helped religious liberty take root.

For Women’s History Month, A More Perfect Blog will feature profiles of influential and heroic female leaders from our middle school curriculum,

From 1842 to 1887, Dix led a one-woman campaign for compassion.  She wrote and spoke publicly about what she had seen.  She was convinced that many patients, if treated well, could be cured.  She also thought the government had a responsibility to help.  Dix was successful in lobbying state legislatures.  She was well-connected, soft-spoken, and persuasive.

In a time when women could be jailed for voting, Dix courageously championed her cause.  She raised public awareness.  Congress debated many of Dix’s petitions.  Her petition led to the construction of a state hospital in Massachusetts.  Twelve other states and the District of Columbia followed suit.  Dorothea Dix forever changed the way Americans care for the mentally ill.

CREDIT: “Dorothea Lynde Dix.” Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress. Reproduction Number, LC-USZ62-9797

Rosa Parks (1913-2005) has been called “The Mother of the Civil Rights Movement.” In a moment of quiet, dignified courage, Parks moved a generation and a nation to end second class citizenship for African Americans.

Parks was born in Tuskegee, Alabama and was raised on a farm. She grew up in the shadow of Jim Crow law, and all aspects of social life were rigidly segregated by law. From water fountains, to city buses, to public schools, facilities were separate for blacks and whites. Parks had been riding the city buses for years. Once, in 1943, she entered the bus in front to pay her fare and then, as required by the bus company, exited and walked around to the rear entrance designated for blacks. But before she could board, the bus drove off.

On December 1, 1955, as Parks was riding the bus home, she was asked to give up her seat and move further back in the bus. She was already seated in the “colored” section, but because more white people had boarded, the “colored” section would need to be moved further back. Parks refused. She was arrested. Recounting the event for a documentary later, she said, “When [the driver] saw me still sitting, he asked if I was going to stand up, and I said, ‘No, I’m not.’ And he said, ‘Well, if you don’t stand up, I’m going to have to call the police and have you arrested.’ I said, ‘You may do that.’”

Parks’ courage led to a boycott of the city buses championed, along with many other leaders, by the relatively unknown Reverend of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Martin Luther King, Jr. During the boycott, members of the black community (many of whom would not afford cars), made sacrifices for their rights. Many cab drivers, in solidarity with the boycotters, began charging blacks only 10 cents per ride to assist with the hardships that came with the bus boycott. When the city government announced they would prosecute these cab drivers, leaders began a “private taxi plan” offering coordinated transportation. They risked not only arrest, but police brutality and mob violence.

The boycott was powerful—Montgomery county bus passengers were 75% African American—and it lasted more than a year: 381 days. In November of 1956 the District Court ruled that segregation on buses was unconstitutional and boycott officially ended.

CREDIT: “Woman fingerprinted. Mrs. Rosa Parks, Negro seamstress, whose refusal to move to the back of a bus touched off the bus boycott in Montgomery, Ala.,” 1956. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress. Reproduction Number LC-USZ62-109643.

For Black History Month, A More Perfect Blog will feature profiles of influential and heroic African-American leaders from our middle school curriculum,

Ida B. Wells worked to bring national attention to ending the injustice of lynching.  Wells was born in Mississippi in 1862, the oldest of eight children.  Her parents died when she was 14, and she raised her younger siblings herself.  She put herself through college and became a teacher in Memphis, Tennessee.

In 1892, Wells lost three close friends to a lynch mob.  These gruesome killings made headlines, but no one was arrested or charged.  As a journalist and a newspaper owner and editor, Wells courageously wrote about the racism that motivated such murders.  The press attacked her as a “black scoundrel.” A mob ransacked her office and threatened her life, but she continued to speak the truth about lynching.

Wells later moved to Chicago where she published The Red Record, the first documented statistical report on lynching.  She became a respected public speaker, and traveled widely.  She co-founded the National Association for the Advancement for Colored People (NAACP) in 1909.  Ida B. Well’s courage and perseverance helped end an on-going injustice and brought about important change in the United States.

As judicial review was seldom exercised prior to the 20th century, the case was cited exclusively for its discussion of the particular issues of the case for the first hundred years after it was handed down. Beginning in the early 20th Century, however, the Court began striking down federal laws more frequently. Proponents of judicial review pointed to Chief Justice John Marshall’s decision in Marbury as a source supporting the view that the Supreme Court has the final say on what the Constitution means.

The case of Marbury v. Madison (1803) was the first time the U.S. Supreme Court declared an act of Congress to be unconstitutional. (The case concerned a section of the Judiciary Act of 1789.) In his opinion, Chief Justice John Marshall relied almost exclusively on the specific language of the Constitution, saying that it was the “paramount law of the nation” and that it constrained the actions of all three branches of the national government. The whole point of a written Constitution, Marshall asserted, was to ensure that government stayed within its prescribed limits: “The powers of the Legislature are defined and limited; and [so] that those limits may not be mistaken or forgotten, the Constitution is written.” In cases where a law conflicted with the Constitution, Marshall wrote, then “the very essence of judicial duty” was to follow the Constitution.

Marshall also asserted that the courts had the responsibility to understand and articulate what the Constitution means: “It is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is.” The decision concluded “a law repugnant to the Constitution is void, and courts, as well as other departments, are bound by that instrument.”

The Supreme Court did not declare another act of Congress unconstitutional until it struck down the Missouri Compromise in Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857). The power of judicial review was used sparingly for the next several decades. Beginning in the early 20th Century, however, the Court began striking down federal laws more often than ever before. Proponents of judicial review pointed to Chief Justice John Marshall’s decision in Marbury as a source supporting the view that the Supreme Court has the final say on what the Constitution means.

Since then, as the powers of the national government have expanded and as more and more state laws became subject to federal review (as a result of the Fourteenth Amendment and the incorporation of the protections of the Bill of Rights against the states), the Supreme Court has had frequent opportunities to exercise its power of judicial review.

What do you think? Does the power to strike laws that are judged by nine justices to be unconstitutional establish the Supreme Court as a co-equal branch of government alongside Congress and the President? Who should have the final say on what the Constitution means?

Get a free copy of the Marbury v. Madison (1803) lesson plan from our curriculum Supreme Court DBQs .

George Washington wanted his presidency to be an example of moderation, just as he lived his life.  On September 19, 1796, Washington gave his Farewell Address.  Although the Constitution did not limit the president’s term, Washington knew that the system of checks and balances was designed to prevent abuse of power.  The letter of the law did not forbid a third term, but he believed its spirit did.

The decision to step down kept with Washington’s character.  Throughout his life, he worked to follow a set of strongly held values including moderation and responsibility.  He was a hot-tempered person, but he moderated his actions.  He always answered the call of duty – as Commander in Chief of the Continental Army, and as president of the Constitutional Convention.  And he always stepped down when the job was done.  In fact, Washington warned against the leaders with a “love of power” and the ability to abuse it.  There was no greater danger to liberty, no greater peril for a free people.

The people wanted him to stay, but he knew he could not.  He was aware that as the first president, everything he did would be setting an example for all the future presidents of the United States.  By resigning, he was a model of moderation.  To George Washington, the preservation of the American republic was more important than personal gain.

In many ways Octavius Catto was the Martin Luther King, Jr. of the Civil War era. Like Dr. King,  Catto was the son of a civically active reverend, both men had a great passion for justice in  America, and they were both gifted students.

Octavius enrolled in Philadelphia’s elite private academy for free blacks, the Institute for Colored Youth (I.C.Y.). After graduating Octavius began teaching at I.C.Y.; as a professor where he cultivated his skills as an orator and continued to advocate for education and liberty.

Later, Catto became part of a coalition of prominent free blacks and successful white business leaders who desired to see the Union prevail in the Civil War. The coalition was instrumental in persuading the federal government to allow colored men to enlist and take up arms. Later in life he would become a Major in the National Guard’s Black regiment the Fifth Brigade.

After the Civil War, Catto’s concerns turned from fighting wars to ensuring the emancipated masses could enjoy the freedom promised to them by politicians and eventually guaranteed by the Constitution. Education was a large component of Catto’s message. He urged his students to move south and teach their recently freed brethren. Many heeded his call and his words were circulated as a recruiting tool: “It is the duty of every man to the extent of his interest and means, to provide for the immediate improvement of the four or five millions of ignorant and previously dependent laborers who will be thrown upon society in the reorganization of the Union.”

At home in Philadelphia, Catto focused on issues that struck at the heart of the local community. Though no formal law existed, blacks often were not allowed to ride on the private horse-drawn street rail cars that crisscrossed the city grid. The treatment of Black female passengers and black Union veterans was of particular offense. Frederick Douglass, the famous intellectual and first black guest in the White House, was himself thrown off a streetcar on two separate occasions. As a member of the Car Committee, a subsidiary of Pennsylvania’s Equal Rights League, Catto and two colleagues drafted and submitted legislation to the state legislature.

The streetcar desegregation bill was passed by the legislature and signed by Governor John W. Geary on March, 1865. In a letter congratulating Catto and his colleagues, the Republican legislators wrote, “We have found you here every week from [the bill’s] presentation to its final passage, earnestly and persistently working for it. This bill is essentially your own.” Catto and his organization achieved this feat prior to passage of the 15^th Amendment.

It is in the fight for streetcar desegregation where the comparison between Dr. King and Catto becomes most striking. Not only did both men help lead successful desegregation efforts through public campaigns, but both men successfully lobbied the government to pass laws to make discrimination illegal.

In a tragic fit of irony, Catto lost his life on Election Day in 1871. A riot broke out in Philadelphia making it unsafe for people to walk alone in the streets. Catto wanted to avoid the commotion, as he was a well know figure and any venom about blacks voting would likely be directed at him if he were to be recognized. Ultimately, he was fatally shot by an assailant who escaped into the streets; despite the efforts of some white witnesses who gave chase to the gunman. It is unclear if Catto was walking to or from a polling station when he was shot, but nevertheless, the Election Day shooting of Catto is almost literary in its irony. Sadly, this is another similarity Catto shares with Dr. King—an untimely death at the hands of an assassin; a promising life cut short.

Much of the information in this post was gathered from Tasting Freedom: Octavius Catto and the Battle for Equality in Civil War America by Daniel Biddle and Murray Dubin.

For Black History Month, A More Perfect Blog will feature profiles of influential and heroic African-American leaders from our curriculum,

Martin Luther King, Jr. persevered for civil rights throughout his life.  King was born in Georgia in 1929.  He found for desegregation and equal rights for African Americans by speaking out and leading marches.  He always preached non-violence as a means for change.

The most important march of King’s career was the March on Washington in 1963.  A quarter of a million people packed the National Mall.  King stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.  In his speech, King referred to the “architects of our republic” and their commitment to freedom.  He electrified the crowd with his speech, saying, “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”

In the years that followed, King led civil rights marches in Selma, Alabama.  He always urged moderation in non-violent protest. King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.  King was assassinated in 1968.  Martin Luther King, Jr.’s funeral was attended by 300,000 people, and his courageous life continues to inspire people today.