The American Revolution And Women's Freedom Essay

From the social viewpoint the war changed the lives and rights of women all across the United States. Many of the husbands left to fight in the Revolutionary war leaving countless women in charge of farms and businesses, roles which they were not accustomed to. Although the war did little to change women’s rights, in some states it did become possible for women to divorce and in new jersey women even obtained the right to vote which was way out of the ordinary in that time. Before the war both men and women viewed the wife as an obedient and serving spouse that raised the children and took care of the house. But the revolution encouraged people of both genders to reconsider the contribution of women to the family and society.

Throughout our society, women have played significant economic, political and social roles, globally and historical. Even though their influence has been steadily increasing since the beginning of the seventeenth century, not must has been recorded about their roles in society beyond their traditional household responsibilities. The beginning of the revolution centuries, European countries and the United States experienced vast social, economic and political changes that began to require a heavier participation from all members of society, including women. These historically global events included but are not limited to settlement, colonization and industrialization. In the United States, the involvement of women can be traced back to before

During the American Revolution, not only did men have to face the struggles of war time atmosphere, but women had to as well. The country during the war was divided into three different groups of people; the loyalists, the patriots and the remaining people who did not care. Catherine Van Cortlandt, a loyalist had to endure different struggles then the patriot women Eliza Pinckney and Abigail Adams. However, parts of their stories are similar when it came to their family struggles.

The role of women played in any given war is quite often severely underestimated. This sentiment especially goes for the American Revolutionary War, where women actually played an absolutely essential role in our victory against the British. Not only where there different types of women who had helped, but there were many different ways each of them helped--particularly as nurses to help save lives and tend to injured soldiers. Without women helping in the war, we would have most certainly lost (National History Education Clearinghouse).

In addition, the revolutionary war affected the political situation of the United States as well. This is because after the revolutionary war of independence, women’s were able to obtain several rights that were not available to them before the war. Before the war, the women in the American colonies were not given the right to work outside their houses and possessed no right to take any decisions regarding politics, businesses, homes, or property. However, after the revolutionary war, a handful of women such as Mercy Otis Warren and Abigail Adams became a part of the politics (MacLean). Furthermore, a campaign also began to provide the women with the education and establish gender equality. Thus, the American Revolution improved the status of the women in the society and improved the political situation of the women later on due to which the women in the United States are given the opportunity to vote now. Therefore, the American Revolution changed the structure of the United States else the women would still be not given certain rights which they possess now.

Kreber notes that women played a number of key roles during the revolution including participating in various boycotts, enforcement of economic norms, nursing, or even the production of clothing for soldiers1. These positions were often needed but were not exulted because of the women filling these roles. This is what led Kreber to investigate the role of female patriotism in the revolution2. Kreber says that the revolution changed the minds of women in the Early Republic. She said that the Revolution argued for women's rights due to its claims of equality and freedom.3 Since women were actively allowed to participate in political and war-time activities, it created a spark for change in the woman's role. These activities gave women a new meaning to the word equality amongst their superior male counterparts. For the first time, women began to challenge the status quo of being confined to house life. Kreber describes the four major areas that women were effected by as a result of the revolution were womien education, derture, divorce, and reading4. These were the four biggest areas because women wanted to be like men. These were all areas men prided themselves in. Education was heavily constricted because of the belief of the woman's place in the home. Kreber says “even a contemporary women's magazine warned, learning in men was the road to preferment...consequently very opposite were the results of the same in women5.” Kreber saw the limitations on education as the

The American Revolution was an important sequence of events over a period of time that has affected early American society up to today’s modern society. It all started with the Revolutionary War, which led to the Declaration of Independence from Britain, and in turn created a reason for America to write the Constitution and develop their own government. Ideas of equality became a major point of the Revolution, and although it wasn’t very quick to happen, ideas eventually spread throughout the colonies, giving the equality that poor to middle classes, African American slaves, and women deserved.

Women in the Revolution do not get as much recognition as men. They took on many jobs in the Revolutionary War. Some of these jobs were traditional, some even were uncommon and sometimes scandalous for the time period. There were jobs like nurses, cooks, and maids. There was also the more, uncommon and scandalous jobs, such as secret soldiers, spies and Daughters of Liberty.

As the saying goes, “a woman’s work is never done,” but today’s women live a far different life than their predecessors. The women of the revolution were courageous and brave-hearted. The obstacles of their time were far more difficult to overcome than those faced by women in this day and age. Whether it was slavery, war, or racial prejudice, these women kept their heads held high and worked to break down these barriers and create change for the future. On top of having to deal with these hardships, the women of the revolution had families to take care of, mouths to feed, houses to clean, and wounds to heal. For many women of the revolution it was all about taking a stand for their rights and being

Women in colonial America played revolutionary roles. They played roles that were always changing. “All men are created equal.” It’s the basis in which America was built, but what about the women? Without women, men wouldn’t have been nearly as successful. But what exactly did women do? Well, different races had different roles to play within their population(WiseGEEK).

Women generally did not fight in the revolution, and the traditional status of Eighteenth Century women meant that they were not publicly able to participate fully in the debates over the revolution. However, in their own sphere, and sometimes out of it, woman participated fully in the revolution in all the ways that their status and custom allowed.

Back in the nineteenth century men and women were not treated equally as they are now. Women did not have as much freedom as the men did and that caused a national movement. Not only were the women segregated from the men, but the discrimination against the African American race was a huge ordeal as well. With both movements combined, it led to a controversial development at that time. Not only were women fighting for equality, they were also fighting for the prejudice to end amongst the different races. The beginning of the Women’s Rights Movement and the Abolitionist Movement was not only a historic development, but it changed the world forever.

The Changing Role of Women: Identify the new ways that women were involved in society in the United States. Be sure to include organizations that developed, meetings they held and actions they took, and results of those actions.

The American Revolution set the ground work for a major change in the New England colonies. It was a time of significant governmental changes on political and social levels, and a growing ideology on the obedience of a women and the dissolution of slavery.

After the war ended, women were pushed out of the workplace as men were being welcomed back into society. Some women preferred to stay at home with the children as their husbands financially supported