The Fight for Freedom and Rights in Early America
The names and faces of those considered pioneers in the fight for rights and freedom may not be instantly recognizable, but nevertheless, they are an important part to the history of the United States of America. Throughout the history of our country, there has not just been an injustice towards black slaves, but also towards women, with both being unfairly discriminated against. It was the work of many individuals who brought the unfamiliar taste for rights for all God’s creatures to the mouths of many people. The impact of such people, including Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Frederick Douglass, towards the demand for rights for women and slaves cannot be measured.
Elizabeth Cady
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In a time where freedom and rights for every single person was virtuously an unknown and an unwanted idea in this country by many of the male gender, these two individuals, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Frederick Douglass, sought to change a society in which these ideas were just not acceptable to them and by many others. Elizabeth and Frederick banded people together to fight for their God given rights and to be freed from a tyrannical society. Elizabeth Cady Stanton fought to be freed from the usurpations upon woman’s liberty from a tyrannical male society that ruled over her and woman alike; Frederick Douglass fought to free him and his fellow slaves from bondage and to gain the rights that he and his fellow slaves rightfully deserved. Both of these individuals were pioneers in this freedom movement and both supported each other in their fight. Frederick Douglass was one of the many who attended the Seneca Falls Convention to show his support, and also signed the Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions, showing that his fight for freedom was just as important as Stanton’s fight for women’s rights.
For the Seneca Falls Convention, Cady Stanton drafted a Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions modeled after the U.S. Declaration of Independence, in which she declared, “…that all men and women are created equal” (Stanton 172).
She and many others believed that there was no reason as to why women
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.
The years of 1763-1765 were truly defining moments for colonist of the colonies, soon to become the United States of America. ‘’War! War! This is the only way!” American Colonist shouted,as they took to the streets proclaiming defiance of British rule. “We as a people shall fight for our freedom and have victory.No more shall we continue to let others control our countries and give our money to a monarch who has no concern for our right’s, dedication that was put forth to help fight and respect us as loyal subjects.We must fight for our freedom!” When American colonist waged war it proved to be the only way for the colonies to become free from Britian. In turn, the colonist were justified in breaking away from England because of: The
In “The Keynote Address of Seneca Falls”, Elizabeth Stanton uses the rhetorical devices, repetition, imagery, and tone to portray her feelings about women’s rights and to speak up for all women who believe that woman are just as great as man. Seneca Falls in New York was where one of the first women’s right’s convention was held, which over three hundred people, men and woman, attended. This convention is where Elizabeth gave her speech to hundreds of people who wanted to reach the same goals.
Although the lives of women and slaves differed, they had their similarities. They both were placed in powerless positions and had no control of their own life. Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s belief of how the inequality of a woman's life should change has affected how women are perceived today. Women now have power and individuality where they have learned they are strong enough to survive on their own. Also, Frederick Douglass’s belief on how the fight for freedom and that the end of slavery needs to exist in the future to make a better world has affected the world today. Since Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s speech and Frederick Douglass’s speech, the world has been persuaded there needs to be changes made for the better of inequality and freedom. The fight for equality and freedom in American history has affected life as we know today and the two speeches help understand and reflect on the changes needed to make as a nation to become better as a
1. Members of the Catholic or non-Trinitarians would be excluded from toleration under Maryland Law.
America is the universal symbol of freedom. But is it really free? Does the history of the United States stay true to the ideas of our forefathers? Or has the definition been altered to fit American policies? Has freedom defined America? Or has America defined freedom? I believe America was at first defined by freedom, then after time, America defined freedom, altering the definition to fit the niche it fits in, but still keeping key components so it still seems to be staying true to the ideas of America’s founding fathers.
In 1619, when the first Africans were brought into Jamestown, Virginia to aid in the production of crops on the farms of Caucasian landowners, a period in our country’s dark history began, and with it a struggle for equality and freedom. For over 200 years, slavery consumed the United States, compelling blacks to long and later fight for the freedom their fair skinned counterparts had stripped from them. Decades later, the oppression of black rights marked the beginning of another struggle; one for basic rights that the black population had been denied. During these struggles, several names would come to mind for their achievements and efforts against racism and slavery, names like Frederick Douglass and Anne Moody. Frederick Douglass paved his own road to freedom while Anne Moody put her life on the line fighting for the rights that she knew she deserved. Although time frames apart, both Frederick Douglass and Anne Moody were able to resist and fight racism due to their thirst for knowledge, the help they extended towards other blacks, and their faith in succeeding despite previous failures.
Edmund S. Morgan’s famous novel American Slavery, American Freedom was published by Norton in 1975, and since then has been a compelling scholarship in which he portrays how the first stages of America began to develop and prosper. Within his researched narrative, Morgan displays the question of how society with the influence of the leaders of the American Revolution, could have grown so devoted to human freedom while at the same time conformed to a system of labor that fully revoked human dignity and liberty. Using colonial Virginia, Morgan endeavors how American perceptions of independence gave way to the upswing of slavery. At such a time of underdevelopment and exiguity, cultivation and production of commodities were at a high demand. Resources were of monumental importance not just in Virginia, but all over North America, for they helped immensely in maintaining and enriching individuals and families lives. In different ways, people in colonies like Virginia’s took advantage of these commodities to ultimately establish or reestablish their societies.
Of all the issues that were in the middle of reformation mid 1800’s, antislavery, education, intemperance, prison reform, and world peace, women’s rights was the most radical idea proposed. The Seneca Falls Convention of 1848 was a rally held by Elizabeth Cady Stanton with the common goal to eventually achieve equal rights among all citizens. Frederick Douglass, who became an acclaimed activist in the African American Equal Rights movement, accompanied the movement. Moreover, The Declaration of Sentiments was a document that reflected the ideals of the Declaration of Independence, reiterating the sentiment from the Bible that “all men [and women] are created equal.” Concurrent to the publication of this document, for the first time, women insisted that they were men’s equals in every way. The Declaration of Sentiments was pivotal in Women’s history, although it was not given credit until the late 20th century. However, immediately after the Declaration of Sentiments was published, women and activist groups were inspired to take action towards rights for all underprivileged American citizens. The convention took place in a small town in upstate New York, which was home to four of the five people who organized the gathering. (DuBois, 1999, p. 45) This was the first time female equality was discussed in a public place. The Seneca Falls Convention of 1848 was one of the most important events in women’s rights history.
Since the creation of the United States, the meaning of freedom has changed to meet changing attitudes. Throughout our nation’s history, there have been significant periods of racial, economic and civil rights inequalities. There are different meanings for freedoms that have been established throughout the historical period of the United States. During this modern era, the US had certain periods of time that lived up to the ideals of freedom such as the Gilded Age. In opposition, the US has also had periods of time where our ideals of freedom failed to meet the requirements of our nation, a prime example being the late 1940s when the US entered the Cold War and led to the anti-communism period of McCarthyism which ultimately restricted
The power or right to act, speak or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint. A word created by man to escape the bonds of tyranny to express the idea of what it means to persist one's own ambitions. Freedom. Freedom is not the absence of confinement but the will to achieve freedom when imprisoned. After carefully concluding the reading done over this semester one is able to clearly understand the confinement these early Americans felt and their decision to achieve a form of freedom. Freedom has always existed but it is the history of this nation that will define what actions freedom takes.
When you think of great Americans in our history there are countless that come to mind. Some immediately think of the many presidents we have had, others think of inventors, but what about the people that are in between – the people that fought for equality. Fredrick Douglass arguably had the greatest impact on American society, especially African American society, in the nineteenth century. Douglass is credited as being an abolitionist, author, editor, and diplomat. He used literature, books, newspapers, and even speeches, to leave a long lasting mark on our society. Douglass advised presidents and lectured to thousands about different causes, including women’s rights. A cause he felt a strong connection with was the abolishing of slavery, being that he was once a slave.
Unity within colonies was extremely strong because it was assembled in a primal urge for survival. The colonists were in this entirely new land, so it was natural they would stick together to the familiar, and therefore build strong bonds and loyalty to their colony. Exclusion also excellently describes early America because of the way colonies expelled their own people if they did not follow the colony's strict rules' of life. The primary source documents; "City upon a Hill", "Ann Hutchinson's Trial", "Founding Of The Iroquois League", and "The Mayflower Compact" are all brilliant examples of this contradictory yet surprisingly honest view of early American history. Early American History should be remembered as
America is commonly called the “Land of the Free”, but the abundance of liberties, and liberties for all, has not always been the case. The Puritans were some of the first to settle in the New World, but they were self-interested and did not come with the purpose of creating a free state for all. As time progressed, so did their believes, and by the time Tocqueville arrived from France, liberty was an important aspect of American life. So important that people would fight and die for it. Tocqueville, while impressed at the amount liberty and freedoms that citizens had, believed that America had a long way to go before it could call itself a truly free country. Fast forward over a hundred years later, and John Rawls lived in a time were the
For Edmund S. Morgan American slavery and American freedom go together hand in hand. Morgan argues that many historians seem to ignore writing about the early development of American freedom simply because it was shaped by the rise of slavery. It seems ironic that while one group of people is trying to break the mold and become liberated, that same group is making others confined and shattering their respectability. The aspects of liberty, race, and slavery are closely intertwined in the essay, 'Slavery and Freedom: The American Paradox.'