Primary Source Analysis : Virginian Luxuries

During the late 1700’s, the colonies in America were upset and resentful of the British tyranny. In order to make the separation between the two groups official, Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence. Two hundred years later, women were facing the same injustice, only it was from men; and to protest against the unfair treatment, Elizabeth Cady Stanton wrote the Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions. Both parties of oppression fought against the same outcome, unjust treatment, yet, each fought against different causes and in different ways.

Historians once presumed that, since women during the American Revolution had limited or no political decisions, and demonstrated little concern in achieving the franchise, they were fundamentally apolitical members of the society. In the modern world, scholars acknowledge the fact that women played a leading role during the war and they were actively involved in debates, which accompanied the movement towards independence, and that the war expanded their territories in their political and legal roles. Furthermore, the male welcomed women’s support during the war that was a very instrumental move towards the expansion of the women’s roles in the society unlike in the past when women were restricted to household chores. As women filled important roles because of the shortage of men to fill these roles, like managing business and farms, the idea that females were lesser than males started to fade away (Bielich, 2008). The laws prior to and during the revolution did not acknowledge females as equal to men in

The ideals in the Declaration were not fulfilled because women did not have equal political or social rights, or even a bare minimum say in the issues that dominated society. Document 1 is a fantastic example of this, and states the inequality in its text- “It is considered improper for women to speak in public.” Published in 1848, it provides context for the Seneca Falls convention that would occur to bring attention to the issue of lack of human rights for women. Women had little to no say in society at the time, which then meant that their words had no value and that their opinions would never be considered as salient as those of men. This can be considered the definition of inequality, thought the Declaration of independence says otherwise. Document 3 makes a similar claim to that of the previous document, that women’s voices held no significance- “...He has made her, if married, in the eye of the law, civilly dead.” Women, after marriage, were considered bound to their husbands and his needs. There was no need for a woman to engage in outside activities at that time, and therefore she was to stay home and take care of the children. This meant that women had little opportunity to go as far as men with politically-oriented lives could. This kept in mind, women had a low place in society and had to endure inequality in a ‘free’ country. Document 1 was published by an education project and brought attention to the many reasons for an instigation of public interest in women’s rights. It lists the many reasons for women to be upset at the empty promises states by the Declaration Of Independence, and quotes a civil occurence to back the authenticity of these claims. This document, as stated previously, provides context for the Seneca Falls convention and the rising intolerance for inequality. It has a large chance of being

Whether Virginia was a color-blind society or not, lots of examples were used to support each of the themes. The readers could easily follow the two main themes by reading through the book. To support that Virginia was not a color-blind society, the authors used African “indentured servants” as examples to illustrate the differences among African and white people, such as how Virginia court treat run-away “indentured servants”, how “indentured servants” were named with racial prejudice, and how law makers set African people apart. On the other hand, for what supports that Virginia was a color-blind society, the authors used plenty of examples as well. The most significant examples should be how Anthony Johnson and Emanuell Driggus, as examples of rich African people, were treated by the society. From those aspects, readers could easily find out that Virginia colony was a color-blind society when an African person became wealthy.

What relationships of power are featured in “Virginian Luxuries” (Document 1)? How are unequal power relationships reflected in Toqueville’s distinctions between the three races (Document 2)? What future does Toqueville predict for these groups of people and why? Based upon your own knowledge, how accurate do you believe Toqueville’s observations and predictions were?

What relationships of power are featured in “Virginian Luxuries” (Document 1)? How are unequal power relationships reflected in Toqueville’s distinctions between the three races (Document 2)? What future does Toqueville predict for these groups of people and why? Based upon your own knowledge, how accurate do you believe Toqueville’s observations and predictions were?

What relationships of power are featured in “The Discord: (Document 4)? How the Declaration of Sentiments (documents 3) does reveals the nature of gender relationships in nineteenth century America? Based upon your knowledge of this time period, do you agree with these sentiment, why or why not?

Along with being an advocate for civil rights, Martin Luther King Jr. was a skilled writer and public speaker. He wrote many books and delivered a multitude of speeches all over the country. In an excerpt from his book, Why We Can’t Wait, King uses a plethora of rhetorical strategies to move his audience, the people of America. He specifically is reaching out to the African American population in the 1960s to encourage them to take the necessary steps to gain freedom.

It was said that in the aftermath of the uprising, the tavern keeper would become the king and the slave a governor. However, a white man would still have a more powerful position than a black one. Likewise, even as the black men imagined being more powerful than white men, they envisioned white women as “passive bodies to be handed over from one man to another…” They contemplated women as just pieces of property that did not serve any other purpose other than having children or sex.

Tocqueville describes the Negro and the Indian as opposites with seemingly nothing similar except for their misfortunes in America. In a deeper analysis, they are a metaphor for democracy and aristocracy respectively. In expansion to this metaphor of the Negro as democracy and the Indian as aristocracy, Tocqueville recounts a story of an interaction between a young European child, a Native American woman, and a Negro woman that seems to reveal more about democracy in America.

What relationships of power are featured in “Virginian Luxuries” (Document 1)? How are unequal power relationships reflected in Tocqueville’s distinctions between the three races (Document 2)? What future does Tocqueville predict for these groups of people and why? Based upon your own knowledge, how accurate do you believe Tocqueville’s observations and predictions were?

In Colonial Virginia, the growing tobacco economy required ever increasing numbers of workers to manage such a labor-intensive crop. For much of the 1600s, the large portion of farm laborers consisted of European indentured servants, with the lesser portion made up of African indentured servants, and an even smaller number of slaves. This early Virginian society was surely aware of racial differences; indeed, some racial disparities did exist. For example, Europeans and Africans were often punished differently for committing the same crime. However, the majority of colonists identified with one another not on a racial basis, but on the basis of class and shared experiences, and the idea of white superiority was largely peripheral. Servants, slaves, and laborers of all races worked together, “married each other, ran away with each other, lived as neighbors,

Also, that in America there was not any nobles or kings in the country it was only made up of poor emigrants who left their own country to build a new life here (lecture notes, Oct.12). In the book, he also wrote about some interesting predications about each countries politics. Tocqueville’s book showed how in the United

On class mobility, Tocqueville did not comment on the racial factor that prevents social mobility. Tocqueville claimed that, “when men living in a democratic society are enlightened, they readily discover they are not confined and fixed by any limits which force them to accept their present fortune. They all, therefore, conceive the idea of increasing it… The legislature, it is true, no longer grants privileges…” (Tocqueville 38). This means that once men understand they are not confined to their current financial situation, they realize they can increase it, and that the legislature no longer plays a role in who has privilege. While this may be true, the great difference between the realization that one can improve their economic status to the reality of that happening disregards many important factors that come into play in this pursuit of wealth. Tocqueville specifically mentions that there is no legislature that grants privileges, however, that is false, as laws created and enforced at that time allowed white men to be treated with more privilege than other races.

Unequal power relationships are shown in Tocqueville’s “Democracy in America”. First, Tocqueville tells us that the three races are naturally distinct and hostile toward one another. He tells of the superior white man who is more intelligent and has more power over everyone else around him, and then goes on to describe in depth the “Negro” and the Indian who are the two “unhappy races” that have nothing in common besides their disadvantages and misery.