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The Definition Of Freedom In 1776 By David Mccullough

Decent Essays

Freedom means different things to various groups of people. For African Americans, freedom was being released from slavery and given the same rights that their white counterparts were allowed. For female suffragettes, freedom meant the right to vote, and to have a voice equal to the one that men had. Different groups have a different definition of what freedom means to them.
In the book 1776, David Mccullough covers the year of the Revolutionary War that many consider the most important. During this year, the Continental Congress met in Philadelphia and made the decision to declare their freedom from the British, and, as a result, the American Revolution began in earnest. It was also during this year that America nearly lost the war, and the freedom that they were fighting for was almost given up.
Mccullough describes the definition of freedom that Americans during that time period had: independence from the British. In order to gain this freedom, the men who fought in the Continental army needed to regain optimism. Heading on a downhill path, many men were ready to give up once their enlistments were up, and not sign up to fight any longer. These men, known as New England militia men, were untrained and had never seen war before. They felt that they were fighting a losing battle, and many were dying of sickness that they referred to as “camp fever,” which included dysentery, typhus, and typhoid fever, the causes of which were not understood well enough to properly treat.

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