Political tolerance is the willingness to extend basic rights and civil liberties to persons and groups whose viewpoints differ from one's own. It is a central tenet of a liberal democracy. The individual rights and freedoms that U.S. citizens value encourage a wide array of ideas and beliefs, some of which may offend segments of the population.…

Different groups at different times have turned to founding documents of the United States to meet their needs and to declare their entitlement to the promises of the Revolution of 1776. At Seneca Falls, New York in the summer of 1848, a group of U.S. men and women met to discuss the legal limitations imposed on women during this period. Their…