Essay on My Gatherfather´s History and Key Events in American History

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.

American colonists should support the Declaration of Independence and the Patriots in the Revolutionary War. Great Britain was taxing the American colonists because of Britain’s great debt from the French and Indian War. Britain made the quartering act, the stamp act, townshend act, and the tea act. This is taxation without representation and it was unjust. The Patriots were angry and rightfully so. The King was making the colonists pay taxes on imported goods to decrease his country’s debt, the Patriots were outraged and wanted freedom.

Women were generally not active in the political sphere, but there were some exceptions. A famous instance of this was Abigail Adams, the wife of John Adams and mother of John Quincy Adams. She was intelligent and well read, and in her letters to her husband, she employs the rhetoric of the Revolution to address all the issues of power between men and women.

The first Americans came from Asia, beginning as early as thirty thousand years ago, over a land bridge that formed at the Bering Strait during the Ice Age. The new immigrants were hunters and gatherers, and over a period of fifteen thousand years various groups spread over the American continents. By the time of the European “discovery” of the New World, there were perhaps as many as 100 million native Americans, the vast majority living in Central and South America.

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

Adams recognized the limited role women were allowed to play in the world at that time. However, she insisted that a woman's role carried an equal amount of importance and responsibility to a man's. She believed that

England 's introduction of the intolerable acts upon American colonists created a ripple effect which they did not anticipate, which completely changed the views of many colonists. These colonists went on to become the voices that fueled the American Revolutionary War and spread the messages of liberty, freedom, and a new way of life. Some voices stood out more so than the rest, their names became etched in our history books their thoughts and beliefs paving the way for the Revolution. One such colonist is James Otis wrote a series of patriotic pamphlets outlining his views on the colonies state of affairs , one of those pamphlets is The Rights of British Colonies Asserted and Proved written in 1763. In The Rights of British Colonies Asserted and Proved James Otis outlines his perspectives on government 's rights and the rights of the people , these perspectives revolutionized colonial opinions and made famous the quote” no taxation without representation.”

This can be evidenced by document three, which shows Thomas Paine’s pamphlet called “Common Sense”, and through document six, which shows the Declaration of Independence. In “Common Sense”, Paine states that if the powers of governing remains in the hands of the king, he will have a negative effect over the whole legislation of the continent. He later states that the King has imposed laws on the colonies that have benefitted no one but himself and has caused the bloodshed and slaughter of the colonists, despite having a pretended title of “Father of his People”. The Declaration of Independence displays all the grievances of the colonists toward the King; in other words, all the negative impacts the King has imposed on the colonists. Some of these grievances include: “forbidding his Governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance”, “dissolving Representative Houses”, and “quartering large bodies of armed troops”. King George III having little consideration for the colonies is a strong argument for a revolution and independence because the applied to almost everyone in the British colonies, whether it be the colonists, the Africans, or the Native Americans- therefore they could all empathize with the cause. The strongest argument made by those who were against the American Revolution was that the American colonies would be weak without Britain. This can be seen in document nine, which shows the loyalists plead their cause to the King, in which they state that Great Britain will prevent the ruin of “her American friends” because it is in their best common interest since they are also British subjects. They also state that the British have provided them with the aid of powerful and good allies and relief which has helped them in the past.This is a strong argument

    Abigail Adams was also a very intelligent woman for her time.  She was never formally educated, but she wanted to be as educated as she could be.  Instead of being formally educated she was educated through her peers, friends, family members, and books.  Being a female it wasn’t seen as important for a women to get a formal education, “Female education in the best of families went no further than writing and arithmetic.” (Holton, 7).  They were suppose to focus on the family and the work at home.  She loved reading.  Her education played a great role in her relationship with her husband John Adams.  For example, John gave Abigail books as a way to win her over, because he knew her love for expanding her knowledge.  They also would show off to each other their own knowledge, and while doing so Abigail learned many new things.  Abigail was also very involved in the politics that were going on around her.  She kept up with them very religiously.  While John was away she would write to him about the politics going on at home and she felt about them.  She wanted to be educated in politics and believed that women should have more rights.  Overall Abigail didn’t let gender restrictions, or any other ideas or practices get in the way of

In the year 1764, King George III of Great Britain placed taxes on colonial America causing anger to flourish within the colonies resulting in their rebellion from the British. One-third of the colony wanted independence from Great Britain, the Patriots, while another third decided to stay loyal to the British, the loyalists/tories. The Patriots soon went to war with Britain for their independence, but the rest of the colony was reluctant to join the Patriots’ cause for various reasons. The loyalists were hesitant to join the American Revolution because of the nonideal living location and the British protected them when no one else would.

The war had greatly enlarged Britain's debt so the government decided to implement taxes on the colonists. While the colonists were resentful of these taxes, the British felt the colonists should pay for their own defense. George Greenville's Program contained a series of acts including the Stamp Act which said any document must have a stamp on it. This action enraged many colonists. The outrage over the taxes was justified by the British government as necessary because of the amount of land they now had. (Document 5) That the huge increase in territory and population drove them to regulate trade. The British also saw the taxes as fair because the British were “protecting” the colonists. Many colonists such as Benjamin Franklin wanted the Stamp Act repealed because of its unfair taxing. (Document 6) Franklin called for an immediate repeal of the act in a letter to a friend. The taxation of the colonists was a significant change that cause the shift between the British and the

Once again, the only way Abigail could communicate with him were letters. The letters this time were full of even more meaning because Abigail would report what she knew about the British and what they were doing. She knew how important this all was. She even took young John Quincy to the top of Penn’s Hill to watch the Battle of Bunker Hill on June 17,1775. Although not all the people saw eye to eye with Abigail on her ideas, her husband agreed with her. In June of 1776 John was appointed to the committee of five men to help create the Declaration of Independence. Abigail was very please but she still longed for more. She had a broader idea then the delegates, she believed both sexes should have equal rights. In one of her most famous letter she wrote “remember the ladies, and be more favorable to the than your ancestors”. While they did adopt the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776 it failed to give rights to women or blacks. Abigail was not discouraged and that was good because there would be many more chances for her to make a difference. John was soon appointed head of the Board of War and would turn to Abigail in seek of help many times. He valued his wife’s opinion and once even wrote “I want to hear you think or see your thoughts”. In a letter she wrote to him at one point of his job as the board leader said “These are times a genius would wish to live…great necessities call out great virtues (Page

Adams defined the revolution as not a war but “an effect and consequence of it” (qtd. in Glessner 5). He believed that the British didn’t have the best interest in mind for the colonies by taxing them, he spoke out during the Stamp Act in 1765 and didn’t agree with the taxes on legal documents, newspapers and playing cards in the North American