The American Revolution can be seen as one of the most significant events of the eighteenth century. It marked the first of any revolution that succeeded in declaring independence and differentiating themselves from their former parent nation. Although the American revolution is often referred to as a revolutionary movement, the extent to which it can truly be characterized as “revolutionary” is arguable. When examining the different parts of the revolution, as well as the various effects on the people in America, it becomes apparent that the benefits of equality were unequally distributed among the American people. In fact, inequality specifically affected groups such as African-Americans, Native Americans, and women. For this reason, the …show more content…
For one, many African Americans were still not free during this time. In a map infographic titled “The Abolition of Slavery 1777-1865” it details (by state) the dates in which slavery was abolished. Abolition began in the North as early as 1777. By 1787, the Northwest Ordinance passed which outlawed slavery in the northern states. In 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation was passed and it ended all slavery in America by 1865. (Document K) Despite the eventual abolition of slavery in America, it cannot be justified that the revolution had any causation in the matter. This is due to the timeline in which the revolution ended compared to when slavery was abolished. The revolution ended in 1783 when the Treaty of Paris was signed and the dates reveal the fact that it took nearly a century after the revolution to end for slavery to end as well. The majority of slave abolition that took place after the revolution cannot be directly attributed to it. Free Africans in the north also suffered as a result of the reality of African American peoples during this post-revolutionary era. An example that encapsulates the African American struggle is a speech given by a young valedictorian at a New York African free school. In this speech, the young black man describes how he will not be able to work for white employers, despite his academic excellence. He expresses that …show more content…
The desire for land has led to many brutal conflicts between colonists and native Americans, with colonists usually victorious to great extent. As a result of these conflicts that have taken place throughout the course of America’s history, colonists and native Americans generally share negative perceptions of each other. An example of the native Americans negative perception of the post-Colonization Americans is a letter written by three Seneca Indian leaders to the president, George Washington in 1790. It reads, “when your army entered the country of the six (Iroquois) nations, we called you the town destroyer. To this day, when your name is heard, our women look behind them and turn pale.” (Document Q) This letter captures native Americans view on the colonists and how they have fear instilled in them by the colonists. Three years prior to this letter being written, a clause in the northern ordinance was written with the intent to put an end to violence against the natives. The “utmost good faith” clause that was issued in 1787 stated that there shall always be “good faith” between the present day Americans and the natives. It also assured their “property, rights, and liberty.” (Document P) However, when comparing the two documents the clause directly contradicts the account written by the three Seneca leaders.The letter
The document “Colonists Encroach on the Stanwix Line”, records a speech made by a Native American, John Killbuck to the governors of three separate English Colonies. He tells of the English and other European Settlers invading Naive American lands base on their own greed and compete against one another. The English haven’t always agreed on bringing about peaceful compromises on the lands they and other European Nations have conquered, instead, wars erupted and whoever were the victors reaped all the rewards, land that consisted of Native American tribes. The Native had tried to make a peaceful compromise of a land dispute by setting a boundary between Native American tribes and the English Colonies. However, with the increase of Europeans flooding
One of Washington’s goals was to have Native Americans “gradually, over the course of the very next century, become assimilated as full-fledged American citizens,”(Ellis 54). However, Native Americans were not granted citizenship until 1924, long after both the McGillivray Moment and Chief Joseph’s Surrender. Although the Creek nation chiefs in the McGillivray Moment were seen as a sign of hope, and treated with respect, “celebrated, feted, honored, and ‘speechified’ by local officials eager to acknowledge their passing presence,”(Ellis 52), they were still seen as the lesser race--Native Americans. White settlers refused to recognize them as citizens of the United States, regardless of the fact that they were here first. The Nez Perce Indians in Chief Joseph’s Surrender were, of course, treated with less respect, but were still not seen as fellow citizens.
Maria Elena Perez 9/8/14 Period 3 The tightening of British control led to a revolution in colonial America that was led by a series of events. The taxes (Docs 1, 2, 3, 6) and laws (Docs 4, 5, 7, 8) that the British enforced led to actions (Docs 5, 7) that initiated the American Revolution. The British won a long and costly war against France, the Seven Years War. That left Great Britain with a large debt and Parliament saw the colonies as a source of money, so the British raised taxes to pay for war.
Throughout the seventeenth century, conflict between Europeans and Native Americans was rampant and constant. As more and more Europeans migrated to America, violence became increasingly consistent. This seemingly institutionalized pattern of conflict begs a question: Was conflict between Europeans and Native Americans inevitable? Kevin Kenny and Cynthia J. Van Zandt take opposing sides on the issue. Kevin Kenny asserts that William Penn’s vision for cordial relations with local Native Americans was destined for failure due to European colonists’ demands for privately owned land.
Was the American Revolution unavoidable? Should King George have handled things differently? Were the colonist right in the way they reacted? Should colonist be expected to pay debts incurred by British merchants? Were all the “Acts” imposed the cause ultimate cause?
The American Revolutionary War has been known to inspire other nations to fight for their independence. This revolution has also given birth to a new nation that was built on a new fundamental system. But what led to a war between the greatest empire and a new imperfect colony were events like: The French and Indian War of 1754, The Sugar Act of 1764, The Stamp Act of 1765, The Boston Massacre of 1770 and a few other occurrences. Due to years of lack of attention and misuse of powerful from England had forced the American colonists to break away from their motherland.
The American Revolution effectively changed American society in social, religious, and economical aspects. The traditional view of women’s roles drastically changed during and after the Revolutionary war of 1779. The culture of domesticity continued to empower women. This idea revolved around women being family oriented.
The American Revolution was an important time for the American Colonists in their journey to becoming their own independent country. The American colonists changed their views from loyal to Britain in 1763 to rebellion in 1775 and pushed for the formation of a new government. This was caused by of the lack of voice they had in parliament, lack of rights, and violence within the colonies. When the colonists had officially gained their freedom in 1783, it started the formation of civil rights groups and activist groups that are still common and around today as well as the start to a new government. The natural rights of the colonists were first violated after the French and Indian war.
The call to revolution is often romanticized to show a needy people rising up against their oppressors. The entire population tends to advocate for the change. Unfortunately, reality is often the opposite. Even though a minority of colonists, patriots, demanded revolution the war and Revolution, itself, had a huge impact on the political, social, and economic aspects of life in the American colonies from 1775 to 1800. Politically, the time after Revolution, 1777 – 1800, was full of tension.
The American Revolution was a major turning point in American society due to the political, social and economic reforms instigated after they gained their independence. After breaking away from their mother country, Britain, the Americans formed their ideal society in which the people held more power than the government. During this time women and slaves experienced more freedom within society. Women were allowed to serve in war and many slaves were set free. Because the United States was a new nation who just gained independence, they were still struggling to pay back the war debt thus there were less economic reforms than social and political.
There was tension, blood, and tears with the Thirteen Colonies and Great Britain. This was due to the American Revolution that started in 1765 and ended in 1783. So how revolutionary was the American revolutionary war? Well, first what does revolutionary mean? Revolutionary means that things have changed dramatically.
This hatred of Native Americans, caused the colonists to justify expanding westward and taking land from the “savages”. On the other hand, Native Americans began to equally resent the white settlers encroaching on their land. This encroachment inspired Pontiac’s Rebellion in 1763, The leader of the
During the Revolutionary War and after the war ended, slavery was still occurring and very popular according to a map adopted from North of Slavery (Leon F. Litwack). The map depicts which states of America, north or south, abolished slavery versus states who continued using the method of slavery. After the war ended in 1783, many slaves were still working and not have been freed. By 1786, the northern states had freed the slaves, while the slaves in the south were not free until 1863 due to the Emancipation Proclamation. The time difference of the release of slaves in the north compared to the south is precisely 77 years.
The total Abolition of slavery, which was supported by the majority of the American population, lead to other events such as: the reconstruction of the country, the rise of the Ku Klux Klan know as the KKK’s, the migration patterns, some new types of discriminations, and consequently the number of black’s who
Throughout the 19th century Native Americans were treated far less than respectful by the United States’ government. This was the time when the United States wanted to expand and grow rapidly as a land, and to achieve this goal, the Native Americans were “pushed” westward. It was a memorable and tricky time in the Natives’ history, and the US government made many treatments with the Native Americans, making big changes on the Indian nation. Native Americans wanted to live peacefully with the white men, but the result of treatments and agreements was not quite peaceful. This precedent of mistreatment of minorities began with Andrew Jackson’s indian removal policies to the tribes of Oklahoma (specifically the Cherokee indians) in 1829 because of the lack of respect given to the indians during the removal laws.