Angelina Grimke - "Human Rights Not Founded on Sex”

Here's a short bio of Angelina Grimke from PBS's documentary The Abolitionists (the full documentary can be seen here). 

Watch Who is Angelina Grimke? on PBS. See more from American Experience.

Here's an annotated page of Angelina Grimke's public letter to Catherine Beecher (published August 2, 1837).

Some questions to think about:

• According to Grimke, what should be the basis of any human rights? 
• How does Grimke's conception of human rights extend or apply to slaves and women? 
• What does she mean by the "physical constitution is the mere instrument of the moral nature"? 
• According to Grimke, what has our focus on physical sex differences resulted in for men and women?