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

In the Article “Major Problems in American Women's History” there is a conversation between Abigail Adams and John Adams they were married. Abigail's purpose to write the letter to John was for a compliance for women rights in the new code of law. This new code of law she was talking about during 1776, was the Declaration of Independence. The declaration of Independence at the time was being developed by the thirteen colonies. Something John Adams was a part of at the time, he was also a lawyer and become the second president of the United States. As to Abigail, she was Johns wife.

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

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

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

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 patriots were just in wanting their nation. King George III said, "The die is now cast, the colonies must either submit or triumph.” Many Patriots said that King

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.”

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.

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

In the letter to her husband, John Adams in Philadelphia, serving the Continental Congress, Abigail Adams refers “unlimited power husbands exercise over their wives” to make a point about gender inequality between men and women in their society. As in 1700s women were considered a second-class citizen, where the husband (men) has power over their women. Abigail Adams doesn’t want men to have such a power, “do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the husbands” and asks her husband to give women more rights “[she] desire [her husband] would Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favorable to them than you ancestors.”

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.

Last of all, the ideological relations between Britain and the American colonies were altered because of the French and Indian War. The relationship between the American colonies and Britain is becoming more strained because the cost for the war (on Britain’s side) and the needs of the colonists. In Document D, a Massachusetts soldier writes in his diary about his regiment being treated poorly or “like slaves.” It was believed that once they completed their duty, they would be able to return home but this wasn’t the case. Therefore, doubt started to arise in the colonists. They began to question whether Britain was going to do what was best for them. Another way the colonists’ relationship with Britain was being strained was through the taxes that Britain imposed on the colonists after the war (Stamp Act). Benjamin Franklin, in Document G, writes to John Hughs encouraging him to play both sides; appease to the colonists but also stay loyal to the King until they can repeal the Stamp Act. This is just the beginning and the bottom line is that Britain feels like the colonists owe them after the war. The colonists aren’t happy with this as they were promised land that the Proclamation of

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

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.