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How Are Women Treated In Early America

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In early America, women, Africans, and poor people were oppressed. These three groups of people were not treated inhumanely and lacked basic rights. Every group suffered from similar living conditions. They were malnutritioned, stipped of their rights, and cruelly abused. Out of the three groups Africans were mistreated the most had the harshest living environment, but they are suffered greatly. People of money and status were the only ones making the rules which made a harsh and unjust reality for some. In early America, women were controlled by their husbands. Women were referred to as belonging to their husbands, they were not treated equal to men. They weren’t allowed to vote and had to stay at home to take care of the house and children. When the declaration of independence was made, women and blacks were not included in it. “Under law, when a woman married, her …show more content…

These settlers would sign a contract and become indentured servants. They traded seven years of work for a trip to America and other life essentials. Instead of receiving better treatment, these poor people were treated very badly. “Beatings and whippings were common. Servant women were raped. Masters had other means of control”(Zinn, p.46). These are a few examples of how horrible the poor were treated and how they were divided from the rest of society. Poor people were only fed beans and bread which caused them to grow very weak. It was very unfair how the people with some of the most difficult working conditions were fed the worst. Poor people were given more benefits than Africans because the upper and lower class needed to keep them on their side to keep them from teaming up with the slaves. Any white person including indentured servants would get paid for every black slave they returned dead or alive. Racism was used as a tool to keep poor whites and Africans from uniting as one and overpowering the upper

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