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After the Revolutionary War, many things had changed for America. She had gained her independence from Great Britain and was recognized as an independent nation resulting in a monumental change in political power. Another swing in momentum was the power and rights that Were given to women. Many different women such as Molly Wallace and Abigail Adams were inspired to try and empower women’s rights.
African American slaves ere given the opportunity to fight in armies which gave them the chance for freedom. The Revolutionary War set the stage for the first steps in women and slaves gaining independence. In 1 776, the members of the Continental Congress signed the Declaration of Independence marking the freedom of America. In 1778, the French joined America in the fight against Britain. In 1783, the Treaty of Paris was signed representing the true freedom of America. All of these historical events caused an impact on everyone including the slaves and women.
More importantly, the Revolution brought about a new mindset that most of the colonists had never experienced. This was the spark that the revolutionists needed to fight Britain. They did this willfully and clearly defeated the British with the final blow coming from The Siege of Yorktown. One of the most heartfelt desires of a slave was for freedom. Some slaves were told if they fought with the British, the British might free them and ban slavery from the colonies. Even if the British had won the war, they probably loud not have banned slavery from the colonies Some slaves also fought with the colonists for promised freedom.
Both sides offered freedom and re- settlement to slaves who were willing to fight for them, especially targeting slaves whose owners supported the opposing cause. Even though some slaves fought in the war, many African Americas used the turmoil Of the war to escape. So, after the war, some slaves did get the long-awaited freedom they wanted. Other slaves were not as fortunate as these though. Some slaves that fought in the war were recaptured afterwards and forced to work n plantations as before the war.
Women suffered lack of rights and an undesirable social status before the Revolution. A woman was recognized as a person under the law, subsumed by all the rights of her husband. This was well expressed by the quip, “Husband and wife are but one, and the husband is that one. ” Although suppressed, women did play a major role in the Revolutionary War and received major rewards also. Different women like Molly Wallace and Abigail Adams worked extremely hard trying to persuade politicians to “Remember he ladies” as Abigail Adams said in a letter to John Adams.
During the Revolutionary War, women had to take on their husbands role while he was out fighting the war. This meant taking care of the plantation plus doing all the house duties that they regularly did. The wives also played a major role in boycotting British goods by sewing and knitting clothes instead of buying them from the British. The women did much more than mentioned such as spying and tending for soldiers. After the war, women gained much more freedom than they had been permitted before.
The Revolutionary War had major impacts on woman’s rights and a slave’s life. The female race gained political and social privileges and continued to gain even up until modern day. This war was a make or break situation for most slaves. If they fought in the war, they might die fighting for freedom, or they might survive the war and gain freedom. In the final results of the Revolutionary war, the women succeeded greatly in gaining more freedom while the African Americans arguably experienced more hardships after the war then before.