...in the fullest sense of the terms, women and children weren't considered free citizens. In the 18th century each household was headed by a husband and father, sometimes an eldest male sibling. Children were considered property and women and wives weren't much above that. Many minorities were held as slaves, indentured or some other non-free status.
Children still can't vote. Women couldn't vote until about 1920. Native Americans were allowed to vote on a state by state basis. The last state to the voting restriction and allow Native Americans to vote was Utah in 1954.
While it's not to difficult to figure out what rights people really have and ought to have respected by their peers and government, it has always been difficult to decide which groups get to be recognized as "people". It's sad but true.
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