January 31, 2025

It is we, the people; not we, the white male citizens; not yet we, the male citizens; but we, the whole people, who formed the Union.

Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906), American suffragist, Women’s Right to Suffrage (1873), Seldes p.13

You do, of course, realize she is quoting the preamble of the American constitution? “We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union…”

Whether intentional or not, the preamble to the American constitution was and is foundational to the claims of women, African-Americans, gays, and any other group seeking equality in that country. Conservatives have to be wary when it comes to such statements as they (the statements) can point to some goal or ideal incongruent with the conservative belief in the imperfectability of the human race, or of human unions.