The Influence Of The Grimke Sisters On American Expansion And Culture

In First Generations Women in Colonial America, Carol Berkin demonstrates the social, political, and economic circumstances that shaped and influenced the lives of women during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in the colonies. In exploring these women’s lives and circumstances it becomes clear that geography, race, ethnicity, religion, social class, and other factors less fixed such as war each influenced a woman’s experience differently and to varying degrees. In doing this, Berkin first showcases the life of a specific woman and then transposes that life onto the general historical framework and provides a context in which this woman would have lived. The lives of these women exemplified is also explored and demonstrated through the use of comparison to highlight their different experiences. Moreover, this analysis also seeks to identify the varied sources of these women’s power, albeit for many this power was limited. The analysis is broken up primarily by geography, then by race, and lastly by time and war. While these factors provide the overarching context of analysis, more specific factors are also introduced.

The role of American women has changed significantly from the time the nation was born, to the modern era of the 1950s and 1960s. Many people, "... believed that women's talent and energies ... would be put to the better [use] in the new republic." (Clinton 3) Clearly showing that society has seen the importance of the women's talents and that their skills can be very useful, exploited this and thus, the change of the women's role was inevitable. Society has understood that the roles of women played an important role on all parts of life.

During the time of 1600-1700’s women did not have the same rights as men in other words they did not have any rights at all. Women were treated very poorly with no type of respect. In the book called FIRST Generations WOMEN in COLONIAL AMERICA, by Carol Berkin it talked about various examples of how women were treated. Throughout my essay I will be explaining a few topics that were repeatedly in the book and I found important. Huge topic like gender roles, women population, and men being privilege. It was not easy for women around this time era, because they had to deal with a lot of hurtful things. Women were doing things we would not to today just so they can survive. Even though some women by becoming a mother meant to die soon.

Over the past few weeks of class, we have covered the first five chapters of our textbook, written by George Brown Tindell and David Emory Shi called, “America, A Narrative History.” Each chapter told the reader a narration of the history of America, as opposed to an expository version of America’s history. Each chapter had its own main idea over a portion of history, along with many details that cover the importance of the main idea. As a reader, one may obtain a deeper appreciation for the country 's history, prior to entering the class on the first day. The most important aspect of history, besides the battles that are fought, is the different cultures that make up today’s modern America.

First Generations: Women in Colonial America was written by Carol Berkin in 1996. The book was printed in the United States of America. It was published simultaneously in Canada by HarperCollinsCanadaLtd. It was designed by Abby Kagan. It includes bibliographical references and an index.

In The First American Women, Sara M. Evans describes the changing roles of the respective populations of indigenous, white European, and black slave women, from before Columbus’s arrival to the American Revolution, and how the perception of these roles were shaped by the sociocultural context of each group. For example, although indigenous women in North America had significant political and economic power, especially initially, most white European settlers did not recognize this power-- their Eurocentric lens conveying women as inferior-- and thus they instead saw these female political leaders as slaves, basing this conclusion on a comparison to black slaves.

The first Europeans arrived in North America in the fifteenth century CE. Native cultures included the Olmec, the Maya, the Aztecs, the Incas, the Mound Builders of the Mississippi region, and the Anasazi of the American Southwest. The first metropolis in Mesoamerica, was the city of Teotihuacan, capital of an early state about thirty miles northeast of Mexico City that arose around the third century B.C.E. and flourished for nearly a millennium until it collapsed under mysterious circumstances. Among the groups moving into the Valley of Mexico after the fall of Teotihuacan were the Mexica. Folk legend held that their original homeland was the island in the lake called Aztlan, from that is why today they are known as the Aztecs. The Aztecs were excellent warriors. They set out to bring the entire region under their domination. For the remainder of the fifteenth century, the Aztecs took control over much of which is known as modern Mexico, from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean and as far south as the Guatemalan border. The Chimor kingdom was eventually succeeded in the late fifteenth century by an invading force from the mountains far to the south. The Inka were a small community in the area of Cuzco, a city located at an altitude of ten thousand feet in the mountains of southern Peru. In the 1440s, under the leadership of their powerful ruler Pachakuti, the Inka launched a campaign of conquest that eventually brought the entire region under their authority. Under his

Westward expansions of the united states molded and affected the nations advancement socially, politically and economically holding quick to its connections to agriculture, its relations with and through slavery with the westward expansion therefore there would not be an abolishment movement and the women would not have been there to find against it. Although the Indian removal has helped shape the westward expansion politically and economically because it has given America more land and cotton. The Mexican war shaped the western expansion culturally and politically because the Mexican were racially religiously superior.

In the early nineteenth century, as a response to industrialism and new democratic ideas, the Second Great Awakening spread across the United States prompting a religious revival. As a result, many people became devoted to bringing about reform. One active group at the time was the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, or Shakers, led by Ann Lee, commonly known as Mother Ann Lee. They were known for their “hands to work and their hearts to God” mentality, and the ideals and practices of the Shakers caused them to be among the first in America to advocate pacifism, abolition of slavery, equality of the sexes, communal ownership of goods, and absolute celibacy. Thus, during the antebellum period, Mother Ann Lee reflected early

History is the framework of every nation. It describes what life was like in a nation, hundreds perhaps thousands of years previously. With history, many citizens are able to examine what lead to a crisis in a nation such as the Stock Market Crash of 1929 or the Civil War in the 1800s in the United States of America. Likewise, the moments of growth and economic success are looked at. From these past endeavors, the people can examine what went wrong and what went right and determine how they can stop themselves from making similar mistakes or act in a way that has been proven to work. In Eve Kornfeld’s “Creating an American Culture 1775-1800,” many different areas of national identity are discussed, including the beginnings of documenting the history of America as an independent nation. This was especially hard for Americans to create a singular national identity because there was bias in the early works, the different colonies or states were extremely diverse, and many intellectuals had different perspectives on the American identity.

In his declaration of the National Anti-Slavery Convention, William Lloyd Garrison denounced the horrors of slavery (Doc 1). A famous abolitionist, Garrison highlighted the brutality and dehumanization of slavery and bondage as a means of chasing equality. Depriving Americans the right to vote and the basic rights of humanity based on the color of their skin directly contradicts the tenets of the Constitution. Similar to William Lloyd Garrison was Frederick Douglass, a famous black abolitionist. An escaped slave, Douglass campaigned across America and even into Europe to preach the atrocities of slavery. Douglass was also a prominent writer who published numerous autobiographies, as well as his own newspaper, The North Star. Alongside the abolition movement was the women’s rights movement. A freed slave woman, Sojourner Truth worked toward both abolition women’s rights. In her 1851 speech, Truth highlights the toils of labor she has endured to demonstrate that she is just as capable at work as men. In addition, she notes the discrimination she experiences due to her race. She empowers women to act together as one to overcome the bondage of slavery to ultimately prove that women are a powerful working force in America. Similar to Truth were the Grimke Sisters, who witnessed slavery firsthand during their upbringing. The Grimke Sisters, both abolitionists and women’s rights activists, pushed for women to become involved in abolition. Women in America were notoriously denied the ability to work in stereotypically “men’s work.” Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s Declaration of Rights and Sentiments exemplifies the distinction between men and women in American society (Doc 6). She posits that there equality is not present in society — that men and women do not enjoy the same abilities and powers guaranteed by the Constitution.

Sarah and Angelina Grimke were the first Southern women to become influential abolitionist, which spoke on the end of slavery; as well as social and political equality for freedmen and women as well. The Grimke sisters stretched the boundary of women’s public role, by giving speeches to audiences with men and women, and by speaking in front of a state legislature about African American rights. Sarah and Angelina broke many of the social and political boundaries subjected on women.

    Many people see the world and others differently. Just like the two sisters in “Everyday Use”, the two sisters in “Two Ways to Belong in America”, and the father in the letter/short essay “An Indian Father's Plea”. All these people have different past and things they’re going through. The two sisters in “Two Ways To Belong In America” both have their different stories from their past, one likes America the other does not because they betrayed her. Next, the father from “An Indian Father’s Plea” sees America differently because the school was labeled his kid a “slow learner” which made him upset. In addition, the two sisters from “ Everyday Use” argue about a quilt in which they both view differently

Mothers of Invention: Women of the Slaveholding South in the American Civil War is a work by Drew Gilpin Faust, a renowned American historian and current President of Harvard University. Published in 1996 by the University of North Carolina Press in Chapel Hill, this is one of the several literary works by Faust describing history of the Civil War and of the American South. This nonfiction book includes 257 pages detailing the struggles and labors of the women on the Southern home front during the American Civil War, as well as 67 pages of notes, a bibliographic note, and an index. The book illustrates the hardships of wives and their children during the war and describes many changes they endured throughout the nineteenth century.

The purchase of the Louisiana Territory in 1803 opened the door to westward expansion. Thomas Jefferson purchased this extensive plot of land with the hopes of strengthening and expanding the Republic, unaware that it would have the opposite effect. Jefferson’s fateful decision to expand the United States nearly destroyed the Republic that Americans worked so hard to build. It triggered the rise of divisions amongst Americans. These small cracks continued to grow and tear at the seams of the nation. Although westward expansion between 1800 and 1848 granted many new opportunities to the American people, it also brought about tension that plagued the nation for years to come.