Final answer:
The Declaration of Independence did not represent women, Black people, and Native Americans, leading to contradictions between its ideals and practices. Women and Black individuals drew inspiration from it, hoping to achieve greater rights, although their efforts met with varying degrees of success.
Step-by-step explanation:
Groups unrepresented in the Declaration of Independence include women, Black people, and Native Americans. Their absence in the foundational document of the United States reveals a contradiction between the principles of liberty and equality and the reality of the time. Women were inspired by the Declaration to fight for political and economic rights, managing farms and businesses during the war but were largely unheard of when they sought political inclusion after.
Black individuals, enslaved and free, interpreted the ideals of the Declaration as an opportunity to fight for an end to slavery and achieve true equality. Southern slaves often sided with the Loyalists with the promise of freedom, while Northern blacks supported the Patriot cause. Although the war eventually led to the gradual end of slavery in the North, it persisted in the South, where it was integral to the economy.