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Chapter 6 Chapter 6 The Revolution Within.

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1 Chapter 6 Chapter 6 The Revolution Within

2 Lecture Preview Democratizing Freedom Toward Religious Toleration
Defining Economic Freedom The Limits of Liberty Slavery and the Revolution Daughters of Liberty The subtopics for this lecture are listed on the screen above.

3 Democratizing Freedom
Focus Question: How did equality become a stronger component of American freedom after the Revolution? The purpose of the focus questions is to help students find larger themes and structures to bring the historical evidence, events, and examples together for a connected thematic purpose. As we go through each portion of this lecture, you may want to keep in mind how the information relates to this larger thematic question. Here are some suggestions: write the focus question in the left or right margin on your notes and as we go through, either mark areas of your notes for you to come back to later and think about the connection OR as you review your notes later (to fill in anything else you remember from the lecture or your thoughts during the lecture or additional information from the readings), write small phrases from the lecture and readings that connect that information to each focus question AND/OR are examples that work together to answer the focus question.

4 Democratizing Freedom: Equality
The Dream of Equality Traditional power structures and hierarchies shaken by calls for Liberty and Freedom Declaration of Independence gave hope to those who had no voice in government Women, slaves, free blacks The American Revolution took three forms: a struggle for national independence, a phase in a long-term worldwide contest among European empires, and a conflict over what kind of nation the new America would become. Because of its wide property distribution, the absence of a legally established hereditary aristocracy, and its weak established churches, colonial America had the potential to become very democratic. The Revolution released this potential, allowing space for political and social struggles to expand ideas of freedom and challenge traditional power structures and hierarchies. Though the Revolution’s leaders were almost all from the American elite, and though the lower classes did not seize power, the idea of liberty animated attacks on both British and domestic American institutions. So did the notion of equality, enshrined in the Declaration of Independence, which caused many in the social order who were deemed inferior—women, slaves and free blacks, servants, and apprentices—to question the authority of their superiors.

5 Democratizing Freedom: Expansion
Expanding the Political Nation “Democracy-serving the interests of the people, rather than the elite Universal male suffrage Religious toleration Abolition of slavery By the Revolution’s end, the authority of male heads of households over women and children, and slaveowners over slaves, was intact. For free men, however, the Revolution had very democratic effects, especially in challenging the traditional limitation of political participation to property owners. “Democracy” at this time meant many things, including direct rule by the population, considered mob rule, or the mixed constitution of England. But during the Revolution it came to mean a form of government that served the interests of the people, rather than an elite. In the colonies that became states, members of all classes debated universal male suffrage, religious toleration, and even the abolition of slavery. Demands by disenfranchised militiamen for the right to elect their officers and vote in political elections established a precedent for enfranchising veterans.

6 Democratizing Freedom: Revolution
The Revolution in Pennsylvania New Constitution Abolished governor’s office Ended property qualification for office holding One-house legislature elected annually by men over the age of 21 who paid taxes Established public schools Guaranteed free speech Other states opted for two-house legislatures The Revolution’s radicalism was most evident in Pennsylvania, where almost all the colonial elite opposed independence, fearing that it would cause the “rabble” to rule and attack property. Their opposition opened space for pro-independence forces, mainly artisans and the lower class, to organize in extralegal groups and militias led by men of modest means, such as Thomas Paine and Benjamin Rush, a physician. These men criticized property qualifications for voting and officeholding. Shortly after independence, the state adopted a new constitution, abolishing the governor’s office, ending property qualifications for officeholding, and concentrating power in a one-house legislature elected annually by all men over the age of 21 who paid taxes. It also established public schools and guaranteed free speech. Every state adopted a new constitution during or after the Revolution. Almost all Americans agreed that their state government should be republican—meaning that their authority should rest on the consent of the governed and that no king or hereditary aristocracy would be established. But Americans disagreed about the form the republican governments should take to best promote the public good. John Adams and others criticized Pennsylvania’s one-house legislature as too radical, and they argued that the new constitutions should establish governments that reflect the division of the society between the wealthy, to be represented in the legislature’s upper house, and the ordinary, the lower house. A powerful governor and judiciary would act as a check on the power of one class to infringe on the rights of the other class. Every state except Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Georgia established two-house legislatures, but only Massachusetts gave its governor the power to veto laws passed by the legislature. Americans preferred a strong legislative branch.

7 Democratizing Freedom: Voting
The Right to Vote Southern states (VA, SC) required property qualifications Democratizing Government Other states most men met voting qualifications NJ allowed all inhabitants with property to vote Far more controversial were limits on voting and officeholding. While conservatives tried to restrict these rights to property owners, arguing that men without property were too dependent on others to have their own judgment, radicals such as Thomas Paine wanted to eliminate traditional social ranks. The new state constitutions reflected the balance of power between conservatives and radicals. Southern states such as Virginia and South Carolina were least democratic, allowing the landed gentry to control politics by retaining property qualifications for voting and allowing the legislature to elect the governor. The more democratic constitutions moved toward making voting an entitlement, rather than a privilege, but they did not establish universal male suffrage. Only Vermont did not require voters to own property or pay taxes. Ultimately, the Revolution greatly expanded voting rights. By the 1780s, except for Virginia, Maryland, and New York, a large majority of adult white men met voting requirements. Alone among the states, New Jersey in its constitution allowed all inhabitants with property to vote. This allowed women to vote in that state until the vote was restricted to men there in For women and non-whites, getting the vote would be a much longer process. By the end of the Revolution, freedom and the right to vote and participate in politics had come to mean the same thing.

8 Toward Religious Toleration
Focus Question: How did the expansion of religious liberty after the Revolution reflect the new American ideal of freedom? The purpose of the focus questions is to help students find larger themes and structures to bring the historical evidence, events, and examples together for a connected thematic purpose. As we go through each portion of this lecture, you may want to keep in mind how the information relates to this larger thematic question. Here are some suggestions: write the focus question in the left or right margin on your notes and as we go through, either mark areas of your notes for you to come back to later and think about the connection OR as you review your notes later (to fill in anything else you remember from the lecture or your thoughts during the lecture or additional information from the readings), write small phrases from the lecture and readings that connect that information to each focus question AND/OR are examples that work together to answer the focus question.

9 Toward Religious Toleration: Catholics
Catholic Americans Prior to Revolution, Catholics, Jews and dissenting Protestants restricted from holding office Impact of French support in Revolution change role of Catholics The Revolution also expanded religious freedoms. Although a few colonies, such as Rhode Island and Pennsylvania, tolerated different religious groups and sects before the Revolution, freedom to worship elsewhere flowed from the reality of religious pluralism. Before the Revolution, most colonies supported religious institutions with public funds and discriminated in officeholding against Catholics, Jews, and even dissenting Protestants. The deep anti-Catholicism of colonial America was weakened by the Revolution. In approving a plan to invade Canada, the Second Continental Congress invited the Catholic inhabitants of Quebec to join Protestant American revolutionaries. Once the Congress formed an alliance with the Catholic nation of France in 1778, and after France proved essential to American victory, Catholics were seen as having a role in the new nation.

10 Toward Religious Toleration: Church and State
The Founders and Religion Avoid religious-driven political conflict Belief in benevolent creator—not divine intervention Separating Church and State States deprived of public funding for churches “free exercise of religion”—exception: Jews The end of British rule led many to challenge the privileges of the established Anglican Church in several colonies. Revolutionary leaders such as Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton wanted to avoid the kind of religious-driven political conflict that had engulfed Europe for centuries. While viewing religion as a necessary basis for public morality, they were also skeptics and rationalists steeped in Enlightenment philosophy and believed in a benevolent creator, not in divine intervention in human affairs. The push to separate church and state united Deists like Thomas Jefferson and evangelical Protestants who sought to protect religion from the corruptions of government. Throughout the new United States, states deprived the established churches of their public funding and special legal privileges, and several state constitutions guaranteed the “free exercise of religion.” Yet, religious toleration was far from universal. Every state except New York retained laws barring Jews from voting and holding office, and seven states limited officeholding to Protestants. Massachusetts retained its Congregational establishment well into the nineteenth century. Catholics, however, gained the right to worship freely throughout the former colonies.

11 Toward Religious Toleration: Jefferson
Jefferson and Religious Liberty Wrote “Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom” Eliminated religious requirements to vote or hold office Ended financial support for churches Separation of church and state Thomas Jefferson was an important figure in the advancement of religious liberty. In 1779, he wrote a “Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom” for the Virginia legislature. It was adopted in 1786, only after much controversy. Jefferson saw established churches as tyrannies that constrained free thought, and the bill eliminated religious requirements for voting and officeholding and government financial support for churches. Religious liberty became the model for the revolutionary generation’s definition of rights as private matters to be protected from government. In a very Christian but not very pious United States, the separation of church and state drew a line between public authority and a private sphere in which rights existed as a limitation on government power.

12 Toward Religious Toleration: Revolution
The Revolution and the Churches Challenges to religious authority Growth of different denominations Expansion of religious influence Christian Republicanism Religious values reinforced morality of new Republic Promoted free public schools-citizenship While the Revolution expanded religious freedom, its emphasis on individual rights also challenged religious institutions and authority. In some churches, such as the Moravians who migrated to America from Germany, younger members of the community insisted that they had the liberty to conduct their own affairs, including arranging their own marriages. Yet, by allowing for the growth of different denominations, the separation of church and state actually expanded religion’s influence in American society. Anglicans, Presbyterians, and Congregationalists faced growing dissent from sects such as the Baptists and the Universalists. Colonial leaders were not hostile to religion. Separation of church and state was not designed as an attack on religiosity in itself. Instead, religious and secular language merged during the struggle for independence, thus creating an outlook some scholars have called “Christian Republicanism.” Most leaders of the American Revolution were devout Christians, and even Deists who did not attend an organized church believed that religious values reinforced the morality required for a republic to thrive. Some states continued to bar non-Christians from political office and prosecute people for blasphemy or violating the Sabbath. Revolutionary leaders worried about the character of citizens, especially their virtue— their ability to sacrifice self-interest for the public good. Some promoted free public schools as a way to prepare citizens for a civic life of participation in government required of a free people.

13 Defining Economic Freedom
Focus Question: How did the definition of economic freedom change after the Revolution, and who benefited from the changes? The purpose of the focus questions is to help students find larger themes and structures to bring the historical evidence, events, and examples together for a connected thematic purpose. As we go through each portion of this lecture, you may want to keep in mind how the information relates to this larger thematic question. Here are some suggestions: write the focus question in the left or right margin on your notes and as we go through, either mark areas of your notes for you to come back to later and think about the connection OR as you review your notes later (to fill in anything else you remember from the lecture or your thoughts during the lecture or additional information from the readings), write small phrases from the lecture and readings that connect that information to each focus question AND/OR are examples that work together to answer the focus question.

14 Defining Economic Freedom: Free Labor
Toward Free Labor Loss of apprenticeships and indentured servitude Wage labor vs slavery The Soul of a Republic Land ownership: would ensure republican liberty and social equality The Revolution also redefined and reshaped economic freedom. Slavery was only one of many kinds of unfree labor in colonial America, but after the Revolution the decline of indentured servitude and apprenticeship, and the transformation of paid domestic service into a job for black and white women, made unfree labor for white men increasingly rare. As wage labor became more common, and as republican citizenship seemed more and more incompatible with the restraints of apprenticeship and indentured servitude, more white men insisted on economic freedom. By 1800, when indentured servitude had virtually ceased to exist in America, a distinction had hardened between freedom and slavery and a northern economy based on “free labor” (working for a wage or owning a farm or shop) and a southern economy based on slave labor. The question of what constituted the social conditions of freedom greatly interested Americans in the revolutionary period. Many believed a republic could not survive with a large number of dependent citizens who, being subject to the power and influence of superior and independent men, would be corrupted. Men such as Thomas Jefferson saw landownership for all white men as the key to ensuring a republican future for the nation. Many Americans thought the abundance of land, much of it occupied by Indians, would ensure republican liberty and social equality.

15 Defining Economic Freedom: Free Trade
The Politics of Inflation “Just Price” The Debate over Free Trade Fixing wages and prices Adam Smith’s “Wealth of Nations” notion of the “invisible hand” of the free market instead of government intervention The Revolution exacerbated conflict about whether local or national governments should ensure household independence and Americans’ livelihoods by limiting price increases. To finance the war, Congress issued hundreds of millions of dollars in paper money. Combined with disruptions to agriculture and trade and hoarding by merchants who hoped to profit from shortages, this caused extraordinary price increases. In many areas, Americans rioted against merchants and demanded they charge a “just price.” By 1779, inflation was so great that Congress asked the states to pass laws fixing wages and prices, a move embodying the idea that a republican government should promote the public good, not the self-interest of individuals. But some Americans arguing for free trade believed that prosperity flowed from economic self-interest. Readers of Adam Smith’s treatise, The Wealth of Nations, published in 1776, were influenced by his arguments that the “invisible hand” of the free market directed economic life more fairly and effectively than government intervention. They argued that once America’s trade was independent from British control, the natural workings of the economy would ensure the nation’s prosperity.

16 The Limits of Liberty Focus Question:
How did the Revolution diminish the freedoms of both Loyalists and Native Americans? The purpose of the focus questions is to help students find larger themes and structures to bring the historical evidence, events, and examples together for a connected thematic purpose. As we go through each portion of this lecture, you may want to keep in mind how the information relates to this larger thematic question. Here are some suggestions: write the focus question in the left or right margin on your notes and as we go through, either mark areas of your notes for you to come back to later and think about the connection OR as you review your notes later (to fill in anything else you remember from the lecture or your thoughts during the lecture or additional information from the readings), write small phrases from the lecture and readings that connect that information to each focus question AND/OR are examples that work together to answer the focus question.

17 The Limits of Liberty: Loyalists
Colonial Loyalists 20,000 fought for British The Loyalists’ Plight Oaths of allegiance Property confiscated Exiled or voluntarily emigrated Some stay and reintegrated into American society Not all Americans experienced the Revolution and its effects as an expansion of freedom. Individuals who maintained their allegiance to the British crown, called Loyalists, lost their liberties. Many Loyalists, which included men and women from all social classes, had supported resistance in the 1760s, but opposed independence and war. About 20 to 25 percent of free Americans were Loyalists, and 20,000 Loyalists fought for the British. Although there were Loyalists in every colony, they were most numerous in New York, Pennsylvania, and the backcountry of Georgia and the Carolinas. The American Revolution took on the quality of a civil war in some places. Neighbors intimidated and assaulted each other. Pacifists who refused to bear arms were arrested, and their property seized. Many states required oaths of allegiance, and those who refused were stripped of their voting rights or expelled. Some Loyalists had their property confiscated. When the war ended, almost 100,000 Loyalists were exiled or voluntarily emigrated from the United States. Loyalists who stayed were reintegrated into American society.

18 Loyalism in the American Revolution
Give Me Liberty!: An American History, 4th Edition Copyright © 2011 W.W. Norton & Company

19 The Limits of Liberty: Indians
The Indians’ Revolution Fought on both sides-American and British White Freedom, Indian Freedom White: Land and liberty for Americans Indians: Independence and possession of their own land The Indians particularly faced the Revolution as a loss of freedom. Between the Proclamation of 1763 and the American Revolution, colonists continued to move westward and claim Indian lands east of the Mississippi. Many leaders in the Revolution, including George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, were deeply involved in western land speculation, and British efforts to restrain land speculation was a major grievance of the Virginians supporting independence. Different Indian tribes backed the British or the Americans in the conflict, and some tribes like the Iroquois split internally over the war, and fought each other. Both the Americans and their Indian enemies inflicted atrocities on each other and civilians. Independence created state governments that were democratically accountable to voters who wanted Indian lands. Many, including Thomas Jefferson, saw the war as an opportunity to secure more land and “liberty” for white Americans by expelling or conquering the Indians. The Treaty of Paris marked the end of a process whereby power in eastern North America moved from Indians to white Americans. Limiting the British in eastern North America to Canada, the agreement led the British to abandon their Indian allies and recognized American sovereignty over the entire region east of the Mississippi River, disregarding the natives who lived there. For Indians, on the other hand, freedom meant independence and possession of their own land, and they used Americans’ language of liberty to defend themselves.

20 Slavery and the Revolution
Focus Question: What was the impact of the Revolution on slavery? The purpose of the focus questions is to help students find larger themes and structures to bring the historical evidence, events, and examples together for a connected thematic purpose. As we go through each portion of this lecture, you may want to keep in mind how the information relates to this larger thematic question. Here are some suggestions: write the focus question in the left or right margin on your notes and as we go through, either mark areas of your notes for you to come back to later and think about the connection OR as you review your notes later (to fill in anything else you remember from the lecture or your thoughts during the lecture or additional information from the readings), write small phrases from the lecture and readings that connect that information to each focus question AND/OR are examples that work together to answer the focus question.

21 Slavery and the Revolution: Abolition
The Language of Slavery and Freedom Allowed whites economic independence and leisure Obstacles to Abolition Protection of natural rights (property) For African-Americans, the Revolution’s ideals and the war presented an opportunity for freedom. In 1776, one-fifth of the new nation’s inhabitants, about 500,000 people, were slaves. Slavery was central to the language of the Revolution. Other than “liberty,” it was the word most often used in this era’s legal and political writings. Slavery, often defined as the opposite of liberty, was primarily political in its meaning, and signified the denial of an individual’s personal and political rights by arbitrary government. Even slaveowners resisting or fighting the British expressed that they were “enslaved” by their enemies. By the Revolution, slavery was entrenched in every American colony. Nearly every founding father, North and South, owned slaves at some point. When writing of man’s unalienable right to liberty in the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson owned more than 100 slaves, all of whom made possible his pursuit of leisure and arts and sciences. Some patriots argued that slavery for blacks allowed freedom for whites, by removing the dependent poor from the political nation and giving white men economic independence. John Locke’s vision of the political community as a group of individuals who contracted together to protect their natural rights was also used to defend slavery. The rights of self-government and the protection of property from government interference, some argued, prevented the government from interfering with their human property. Government intervention with their slave property, these whites complained, would make slaves of them.

22 Slavery and the Revolution: Freedom
The Cause of General Liberty Ideas of freedom as a universal entitlement Petitions for Freedom African-Americans used language “liberty” and fighting tyranny to apply to their slave status By making liberty an absolute value and defining freedom as a universal entitlement, rather than a set of rights limited to a particular place or people, the Revolution inevitably led to questions about slavery and its status in the new nation. Before independence, slavery was rarely discussed in public, even though enlightened opinion had come to see the institution as immoral, inefficient, and a relic of ancient barbarism. Quakers in the late 1600s had protested slavery, and by the American Revolution many Pennsylvania Quakers had come to oppose slavery. Only with the Revolution, however, did slavery emerge as a subject of public debate and controversy. Many slaves realized that the revolutionaries’ definition of liberty as a universal right opened the door for them to use this language to challenge their bondage. African-Americans were the most persistent advocates of freedom as a universal entitlement, and they pressed revolutionary whites to follow their own principles. In the early 1770s, enslaved blacks in New England presented petitions to courts and legislatures asking Americans fighting English tyranny to end the tyranny that Americans exercised over their slaves. The war offered opportunities for escape, the incidence of which seemed to increase during the conflict.

23 Abolition Notice A 1775 notice in The Massachusetts Spy reporting a resolution of the Committees of Correspondence of Worcester County that advocated the abolition of slavery. Give Me Liberty!: An American History, 4th Edition Copyright © 2011 W.W. Norton & Company

24 Slavery and the Revolution: Emancipation
British Emancipators Some gained freedom fighting for Americans and British armies Voluntary Emancipations Banned or discouraged importation of slaves Most northern and some southern states emancipated their slaves Although 5,000 slaves fought for American independence, by which some gained their freedom, many more slaves obtained their liberty by siding with the British. Several proclamations by British generals offered freedom to slaves who enlisted in the British military. Nearly 100,000 slaves, including many in Georgia and South Carolina, escaped and fled to British lines. Although by the end of the war many had been recaptured, nearly 20,000 former slaves faced being returned to their owners, like George Washington, who insisted that they rejoin their owners. But the British refused, and many emigrated to England or other British colonies. The Revolution momentarily seemed to threaten the perpetuation of slavery. During the war, most states banned or discouraged the further importation of African slaves, and the conflict devastated many southern plantations. In the 1780s, a significant number of slaveholders, especially in Virginia and Maryland, emancipated their slaves. This happened only very rarely in the other southern states.

25 Slavery and the Revolution: The North
Abolition in the North Some constitutions banned slavery “gradual” emancipation of slave’s children Free Black Communities Established churches and schools Voting for taxpaying and propertied men Between 1777, when Vermont’s new constitution prohibited slavery, and 1804, when New Jersey banned slavery, every state north of Maryland moved toward emancipation. This was the first time in history that legislatures had acted to end slavery. But even in the North, slaves’ importance as property shaped the way emancipation unfolded. Most northern laws allowed for gradual emancipation. Living slaves were not freed; only the children of slave mothers would become free after serving the master until adulthood, to compensate for the loss of property. Many northern slaveowners were just as reluctant as southerners to emancipate their slaves after the war. The Revolution had a contradictory impact on American slavery and American freedom. Emancipation in the North, however gradual, came to distinguish free from slave states, and northern abolition, voluntary emancipation in the South, and slave escapees created large, free black communities for the first time in American history. Free black communities had their own leaders and established their own independent churches and schools. In all new states except Maryland, South Carolina, and Georgia, free black men who met taxpaying or property requirements could vote. Nevertheless, slavery survived the war and thrived in its aftermath. By 1790, there were 700,000 slaves in the United States—200,000 more than had existed in 1776.

26 Daughters of Liberty Focus Question:
How did the Revolution affect the status of women? The purpose of the focus questions is to help students find larger themes and structures to bring the historical evidence, events, and examples together for a connected thematic purpose. As we go through each portion of this lecture, you may want to keep in mind how the information relates to this larger thematic question. Here are some suggestions: write the focus question in the left or right margin on your notes and as we go through, either mark areas of your notes for you to come back to later and think about the connection OR as you review your notes later (to fill in anything else you remember from the lecture or your thoughts during the lecture or additional information from the readings), write small phrases from the lecture and readings that connect that information to each focus question AND/OR are examples that work together to answer the focus question.

27 Daughters of Liberty: Women
Revolutionary Women Fought, protested high prices, made war materials and became military spies Gender and Politics Bound to husband Submissive and irrational-unfit for citizenship Role of mother and caregiver Women contributed to the struggle for national independence. At least one woman disguised herself as a man, enlisted in the Continental army, and fought in several battles. Other patriot women protested merchants charging high prices, made homespun goods for the army, or passed information about the British to the rebel army. Other women formed Ladies Associations to raise funds for American soldiers. The conflict pulled women into private and sometimes public political discussion. Most famously, Abigail Adams admonished her husband John Adams to “remember the ladies” when establishing government and rights in the new nation. Nevertheless, gender remained an important boundary of freedom in America. Independence did not change the family law inherited from Britain. Husbands still held legal authority over the body, property, and choices of their wives. While political freedom for men meant the right to self-government and consent over the political arrangements that ruled over them, for women the marriage contract was more important than the social contract. Women’s relationship to the society was mediated through her relationship to her husband. Women lacked the essential basis of political participation—autonomy founded on property ownership or control over one’s own person. Most men considered women naturally submissive and irrational, and therefore unfit for citizenship. Public debate in the revolutionary era saw men’s rights as natural entitlements. Women’s role was viewed in terms of duty and obligations, and their rights flowed from their roles as wives and mothers. By definition, the republican citizen was male.

28 -- Managed farms & businesses while men fought.
Women’s roles: -- Managed farms & businesses while men fought. -- Some traveled with the army as cooks & nurses. -- Became more politically active; expressed their thoughts more freely. Molly Pitcher was a nickname given to a woman who may have fought in the American Revolutionary War. Historians differ on the real identity of Molly Pitcher, or even if she existed. Since the various Molly Pitcher tales grew in the telling, historians now often regard Molly Pitcher as folklore, rather than history. However, Molly Pitcher may be a composite image inspired by the actions of a number of real women. The name itself may have originated as a nickname given to women who carried water to men on the battlefield during the war. This water was not for drinking, as is popularly believed, but for swabbing the cannons.

29 Abigail Adams Before, women were considered morally inferior, especially in areas of sexuality and religion. Now they were considered morally superior to men and became “caretakers” of the Republic. Ex: Abigail Adams, wife of Founding Father John Adams is best known for a 1776 letter to John Adams and the Continental Congress, requesting that they… “remember the ladies; be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands. All Men would be tyrants if they could. If particular attention is not paid to the Ladies, we are determined to foment a Rebellion and not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice or Representation.”

30 Daughters of Liberty: Republican motherhood
Women did not enjoy increased legal rights: idea of Republican Motherhood took hold. (“It is the duty of women to maintain the home and raise good & moral children who will be good citizens in the republic.”) The Arduous Struggle for Liberty Expansion of vote for white men Bound labor declined, religious freedom and blacks challenged slavery Indians, Loyalists and slave loss of freedom Yet, the Revolution did improve the status of many women. The ideology of “republican motherhood” produced by the Revolution gave women the responsibility to train future citizens. Revolutionary leaders believed that the nation’s morality would be developed by women within the household and family. While it ruled out women’s direct participation in politics, republican motherhood did encourage the expansion of women’s educational opportunities. It also strengthened the emerging ideal of “companionate marriage,” in which marriages were cemented by affection and mutual dependency, rather than male authority. The Revolution also changed family structure. While slaves, as dependents on the male head of household, remained part of the owners’ “family,” in the North hired wage workers, replacing indentured servants and apprentices who had once been considered family members, were not seen as part of the household. The Revolution changed the lives of all Americans. On the one hand, the right to vote expanded for white men. Bound labor among whites declined, religious groups had greater freedoms, and blacks challenged slavery. On the other hand, Indians, Loyalists, and slaves experienced the Revolution as a loss of freedom. Many Americans saw the Revolution as a struggle for freedom with worldwide significance. The Revolution inspired other fights for national independence and social equality, from the French Revolution to the Haitian Revolution and the Latin American wars for independence. But the struggle over the meaning of freedom within the United States continued long after independence had been won.

31 Women did not enjoy increased legal rights: idea of Republican Motherhood took hold. (“It is
the duty of women to maintain the home and raise good & moral children who will be good citizens in the republic.”)


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