Last Act Of Defiance Analysis

This document has a very distinct pathetic appeal created by the passion and determination for freedom. For example, Stanton says, “In the covenant of marriage, she is compelled to promise obedience to her husband... the law giving him power to deprive her of her liberty.” This sentence conveys to the readers that women are nothing but servants to their “master.” It also shows how women are just known as “objects” that men can use.

However, the revolution didn’t encourage both sexes to reevaluate the women’s right. It very little changed happen women still had the same basic rights like before. However, Abigail Adams, wife of John Adams, became an early supporter of women's rights when she prompted her husband to "REMEMBER THE LADIES" when starting up a new government. Even though Adams passed a new law that protects some women from bad husband this new law did not protect the single women. Also, women need and wanted to have the same right as men. Women have the same capacity and the same intellectual as men, there is no difference. The only difference between women and men that men have access to education and have more power than women before the American Revolution, this changed after women started to realize that they could have the same rights as men. Furthermore, American women deserve to have the same right. If the republic were to succeed, women must be educated in quality so they could teach their children how

John Adams claimed that children and apprentices grew disobedient, schools and colleges became restless, Indians ignored elders, slaves grew disrespectful, and women grew discontent. All of these groups have no voice and unequal treatment in common. A connection is that women could not vote until relatively recently. That was man’s claim on control of how things were run. I honestly am appalled at what came out of his response as far as ,”subjection to the unfair rule of women.” Hypocrisy at its finest there because how do you think the women felt about subjection to the Despotism of the egotisticals? Yeah, probably not that great.

This letter is a fine example of Abigail Adams' strong feminist and strong federalist views. These letters represented the turmoil felt by women during the uncertain times facing the colonies. The views of Abigail Adams became the first in a long line of cries out for women's equality.

Linda Kerber’s Women of the Republic: Intellect and Ideology in Revolutionary America was a refreshing historian analysis of the role of women in our nation’s history. In the early Revolution eras, the political role of women was nonexistent due to the traditional roles held by the patriarchal society the colonists lived in for most of their years. Kerber intertwined her book with an intelligent analysis, but also conveys this analysis in a clear way so that reader can comprehend further. Throughout the book, chapters divide each segment of women’s rights by explaining the slow, but progressive build of them. The exploration of womens rights in Women of the Republic is developed by each opportunity opened during the American Revolution.

The author of this document is Abigail Adams, a white female that is married to John Adams. She lives in a time where women have no form of representation, and they live in the shadow of men. Because of this, Abigail takes up a woman’s traditional role and performs activities such as manufacture clothing for her family, soap making, creating gun/cannon powder for her husband, and other chores for the benefit of her household (Adams, Paragraph 12). Fulfilling this role has shaped her by securing her inferiority to her husband and other males. She as a woman lacks power both socially and politically when it comes to the opposite gender; however, it is just this that has cultivated her attitude towards her government, the male sex, and even her own spouse. By requesting that her husband remember to give rights to women, it shows that she was brave enough to present her opinions even though they were unwelcomed (Adams, Paragraph 9). She is headstrong in the sense that she is willing to rebel if she does not receive the proper representation that she is asking for. Also, by mentioning that the women would rebel, Abigail displays her intelligence because she could foresee the inevitable future if women’s rights were not improved (Adams, Paragraph 9). She sees the world for what it is, unjust. Moreover, her social and political inferiority did not result in ignorance. Based on her vocabulary, writing style, and comprehension/expression of such complex ideas, she reveals that she is

Abigail Adams wrote a letter to her husband John Adams called Remember the Ladies. Abigail is writing this letter during the Revolutionary War. The timing of the letter is significant because the country is at war for freedom and equality. In her letter Abigail pleas with her husband for women’s equality. Abigail’s purpose for writing to John regarding women’s equality is so that he will think of women as they adopt new laws. Throughout the letter Abigail uses different points of view, word choice, and varying tones to persuade her husband to see the need for laws that are considerate of women.

Women were considered by the majority of the population to be rightfully subservient to men because of both tradition and religious practices. While women were undoubtedly called upon to take care of the home front while their men were called away to war, and in some cased supported the war directly, they were not given any political rights worth noting. They could not vote, could not hold political office, and could not legally join the military. Abigail Adams, advocated for the political rights of women in her letters to her husband John with little effect. While John Adams did address this issue in a letter to James Sullivan, he did not support this as a right. It seemed that there was little political will for women to be treated the equal with men, even slave men. (Brown & Carp,

Abigail Adams’ letter stated, “I long to hear that you have declared an independency. And, by the way, in the new code of laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make, I desire you would remember the ladies and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the husbands. Remember, all men would be tyrants if they could. If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation.” Abigail tells John that women will not stand for the maltreatment in a new republic, she then explains that men should not be given any authority that can be used against women, and society should treat women as equals. John not only disagree with Abigail’s letter, but also wrote back saying, “…we know better than to repeal our Masculine

Abigail Adams had even warned her husband that if women did not receive equal rights within the constitution, the founding fathers would have to fear rebellion. This seemed to hold true over a hundred years later when the women’s suffrage movement increased rapidly and showed the nation that women deserved the right to vote through protests and marches. Despite these strong similarities, there are also a few differences that separate their writings. For example, both women wrote in different styles. While Elizabeth Cady Stanton wrote in a logical appeal, Abigail Adams appealed to her husband with emotion. Unfortunately, Abigail Adams did not leave a large impression on the women’s rights movement. Although letters like hers were what eventually inspired a young E. C. Stanton. Although Adams did not succeed in bringing women’s rights, Stanton left a lasting impression that won’t be forgotten.

Women feel like they are slaves and owned because they have no freedom. Women submit to laws in the formation of which she has no voice, they have no representation in the halls of legislation. Stanton elaborates further by providing that women have the same rights and privileges as men stating “we insist that they have immediate admission to all the rights and privileges which belong to them as citizens of the United States”(Stanton, 583) and that all people within a society should have the same status in respects of civil rights, freedom of speech, property rights and equal access to all social goods and services by stating, “it is their duty to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.” (Stanton, 582) When explaining each injustice and oppression against women, Stanton induces the reader to act “because women do feel themselves aggrieved, oppressed, and fraudulently deprived of their most sacred rights.” (Stanton, 583) Stanton is portraying women as innocent, blameless victims, and men as the evil opposition.

Ironically, "Sarah was formally chastised in print by Catherine Beecher, a prominent educator who objected not only to her position for immediate abolition but also to her "unwomanliness" in defending it in public (Intro.Pg1046). This pushed Sarah to her highest limitations and encouraged her to write Letters on the Equality of the Sexes and the Condition of Woman. Sarah angry at the way woman has been treated, makes a powerful statement-hoping woman will wake up. She writes, "Women has inflicted an injury upon herself by submitting to be thus regarded; and she is now called upon to rise from the station where man, not God, has placed her, and claim those sacred and inalienable rights, as a moral and responsible being, with which her Creator has invested her (Letters on the Equality of Sexes Pg.1053 col.2)

The Constitution of the United States of America is apparently one of the best documents ever to be written. For quite a long time, individuals have dependably thought the Constitution has been honored and adored, however this is not the situation. Prior to the Constitution, the Articles of Confederation managed the settlements, yet was immediately abolished in light of the fact that they were excessively powerless. On September 17, 1787, the constitution was made for the representatives, who at last got an understanding and endorsed the documents over which they had toiled since May. The constitution created another structure for American improvement.

(Goldfield, 338) Since the cult of domesticity was making women inferior to men, women decided to do as the slaves did and fight for their own freedom. The women’s rights movement began in the mid-1800s. Female and male abolitionist found it necessary that women should be able to have the same rights as men. Just because biologically they are different, it does not mean they do not deserve the same rights. Women were denied the right to vote, property and a right to an education or job. (Goldfield, 338) At first the women’s movement was slow. Many women were afraid to speak out in fear of being shunned by their community. This was a brand new scary task that Women for the first time were going to deal with. A women speaking out against the norms of society was seen as a terrible thing to do. When you have many women speaking out for the same thing a change must be done. When the first national convention for women’s rights was called in Seneca Falls, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott were able to successfully use the Declaration of Independence as a model for their own Declaration of Sentiments. (Goldfield, 339) In their Declaration they branded that “male patriarchy as the source of women’s oppression” (Goldfield, 339) Stanton and Mott called for full women’s rights and to become independent citizens. Although the fight for women’s rights was always an important issue, most abolitionists deemed it less important

Feminists movements start to emerge and are being recognized, but the plea for independence and gender equality still stands. In light of women’s plead for independence, Adams starts with an appeal to her husband, “I desire you would Remember the ladies, and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors”(Adams lines 5-8). Notably, she expresses her hope for women’s freedom. Similarly, Bronte asserts her strong beliefs against societal views through Jane by stating, “Women are supposed to be very calm generally: but women feel just as men feel”(Bronte 103). Her desire for a life of action and independence is as strong as Adam’s plea towards her husband. They both desire one thing and that is their freedom. In addition, the 1920’s