6.1 Abigail and John Adams on Women and the American Revolution (1776)

The Unlimited Power of Husbands over their Wives

• Abigail Adams asks her husband to ensure women were protected under the new laws

  • She wants both men and women to have freedom and the same rights, instead of men controlling women

• Women were expected to be subservient to their husbands and also had limited legal rights

The Effects of the Struggle for Independence

• John Adams remarked that the struggle for independence loosened the bands of government everywhere

  • The government was failing at its job creating distrust amongst its citizens

6.2 Jefferson’s Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom (1779)

Religious Freedom is a Natural Right

• Jefferson pointed out his philosophy of both natural rights and the sovereignty of the people

• Jefferson thought the Almighty God created the world and everyone’s mind

  • God was a supreme being who ruled the earth and this whole world

  • He naturally controlled everyone’s hearts

• He argues in the Declaration of Independence that “the laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle man“

  • It is important to give men the freedom to choose their religious beliefs

  • He thought this God gives man the freedom to believe or not to believe and this God is also to be called the God of the Christian sects

• Jefferson also articulated that religion was a part of morality.

  • The law was a tool to protect people’s rights and benefits but may not be helpful in morality

• Jefferson’s concept of religious freedom could be influenced by article VI, which was the first amendment to the constitution adopted in 1791

Jefferson’s Agenda regarding Religious Influence

• Jefferson seeks to strengthen religion by prohibiting governmental enforcement of religious belief

6.3 The Right of “Free Suffrage“ (1776)

Definition of Freedom and Slavery

• The author defines freedom and slavery as suffrage

• Suffrage - means those without the right to vote

  • The author displays the inequality in a society where everything is weighted differently

• The Americans wanted to vote but they were prohibited

Arguments for Free Suffrage

• The author’s belief that everyone should have the right to vote

  • Everyone should enjoy an equal claim to all privileges, liberties, and immunities

• No power in the states can legally diminish the government

• It would be unjust to shut down the poor of the right to vote

• Everyone should have the same right even for the poor, if not, then it is not equal

  • Property owners would control the government while leaving out the non property owners

  • The wealthy would look out for the wealthy and leave out the poor

  • This would cause distress and trouble

6.4 Noah Webster on Equality (1787)

Equal Distribution of Landed Property, Liberty of the Press, Trial by Jury, and Other rights

• Noah Webster believes that equal distribution of landed property is more important to freedom than the liberty of the press, trial by jury, and other rights

• It keeps the power within the people

• If it is lost, power departs, liberty expires, and the commonwealth will take a different form

• Inevitably prevents the restriction of privileges given to the people

• Correlation between power and property

• The ability to obtain rights comes when the citizen has a right to their own land

Indefinite Survival of Republican Institutions of the US

• Webster believes that the Republican Institutions of the US will survive indefinitely

  • Not exposed to conquest and invasion

  • Equality of power diminishes the powerful families, the very sole of the republic

  • Equality of power = power and freedom

6.5 Liberating Indentured Servants (1784)

Notice for Eliminating Indentured Servitude

• The indentured servitude was declined in the time after independence appeared

• The American Revolution was one of the main reasons for declining or eliminating indentured servitude

• Many New York people demanded equality and liberty during the revolution

• When America became an independent country, America was a gradually developing economic system

Singling out the sale of “White people“ as contrary to liberty

• The US encouraged people, immigrants, here because it was good for the liberal plan

6.6 Letter of Phillis Wheatley (1774)

Wheatley on the “absurdity“ of American Conduct

• The strange absurdity is compliance.

  • The words and actions are those who actively support the state of slavery, as well as those who are against it but take no action to change things

Limits of Religious Freedom

• Religious Freedom by itself is not enough to make a person free

Other Necessary Freedoms

• Civil Freedom - rights of citizenship

  • With civil liberty, there would be no slaves

Language of White Revolutionaries Used

• She validates her own points by trying to relate the colony to religion

• She uses the Israelite and specifically states God has given them a love for freedom

• She wanted independence for African Americans

6.7 Benjamin Rush, Thoughts upon Female Education (1787)

Role of Women in the New American Republic

• Women needed access and admission to school training

• Rush foresees educated persons that has the skills and resources to make wise decisions and educate her family in a proper way

Benefits from Extending Educational Opportunities to Women

• Improving language skills

  • Women can teach their children to communicate effectively

• Guard their husbands’ properties

  • Education would give women necessary knowledge to accomplish this

• Contribute to society by qualifying for different jobs