Marriage, As It Was, As It Is, And As It Should Be

The recognition of human rights may be said to be of modern growth, and even yet they are but very imperfectly understood. Liberty used to be regarded as a privilege bestowed, instead of as an inherent right; rights of classes have often been claimed: right to rule, right to tax, right to punish, all these have been argued for and maintained by force; but these are not rights, they are only wrongs veiled as legal rights. Jean Jacques Rousseau struck a new note when he cried: "Men are born free;" free by birthright was a new thought, when declared as a universal inheritance, and this "gospel of Jean Jacques Rousseau" dawned on the world as the sun-rising of a glorious day-a day of human liberty, unrestrained by class. In 1789 the doctrine of the "Rights of Man" received its first European sanction by law; in the August of that year the National Assembly of France proclaimed: "Men are born, and remain, free and equal in rights. Annie Besant nee Wood was born on 1st October 1847 and was Died on 20th September 1933. In 1867 Annie at the age of 20 got married Frank Besant, a clergyman and they had two children. Annies increasingly anti religious views led to their legal septer just saw the source from which a universe proceeds is a manifested divine being to action in 1873. She then became a prominent speaker for the National Secular Society as well as a wrtier and a close friend of Charles Bradlaugh and in 1877 they were prosecuted for publishing a book by birth controller Campaigner. The scandal made them famous, and Brad laugh was subsequently elected M.P. for Northampton in 1880. Thereafter she became involved with union action, including the bloody Sunday demonstration and the London match girls strike of 1898. She was a leading speaker for both the Fabian Society and the Marxist Social Democratic Federation. She was also elected to the London School Board for tower hamlets, topping the poll ,even though few women were qualified to vote at that time. She started the