The Revolutionary War: The Revolution And Social Change

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The Revolution and Social Change The war left the United States in a dark spot as they must settle two important issues as to what kind of society America was to become and what sort of government the new nation would possess. Social tensions exposed during the imperial crises of 1765-1775 were subsequently magnified along with the principles articulated in the Declaration of Independence and the dislocations caused by the war itself. 1. Egalitarianism Among White Males • By 1776, the anti-British movement that had persuaded many elites to maintain the appearance, if not the substance, of equality. • The war only helped efforts to erode the class differences between the gentry who held offices and the ordinary folk serving as privates.…show more content…
A Revolution for Black Americans • The wartime situation of African-Americans contradicted the ideals of equality and justice for which Americans were fighting and lived under restrictions with grudging toleration if they were free. • Although the United States was a “white man’s country” in 1776, the war opened some opportunities for African-Americans. • African-Americans served both sides during the war even though the Continental Army had forbid the enlistment by blacks in 1775, the black-listing started to collapse in 1777. • Until the mid-18th century, slavery was not a question for Europeans and white Americans just as they saw how disease and sin was part of the natural order. However, the debate about the validity of slavery grew swelled in the decade before the Revolution as resistance leaders increasingly compared the colonies’ relationship with Britain to that between slaves and a master. • The Declaration of Independence’s broad assertion of natural rights and human equality spurred a more general attack on the institution of slavery. Northern states like Vermont and Massachusetts were lead by the Quakers’ example, who aimed mainly to abolish slaveholding within their own ranks, to abolish slavery within their own…show more content…
Some female “camp followers” served military units on both sides by cooking, laundering, and nursing the wounded, while a few female patriots disguised themselves as male and even served in combat. • Traditional roles took on new meaning in the absence of male household heads as the experience boosted women’s confidence in their abilities to think and act on matters traditionally reserved for men. 4. Native Americans and the Revolution • For Native Americans, the consequences of the Revolution were even less certain as they fear the influx of American posed a threat to the Native’s way of life as they introduce diseases to the already weakened Native population. • In face of these uncertainties, Native Americans continued to incorporate the most useful aspects of European culture into their own and this interweaving of the new with the traditional characterized Indian communities in the east. • Native Americans, then, did not remain stubbornly rooted in traditional ways but continued to insist of retaining control of their communities and their way of life. However, these resolutions appeared doubtful with the end of the
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