American Revolution Dbq
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Prior to the American Revolution, society in the American colonies were unjust and lacked a sense of leadership. Slavery was popular, women were disrespected, the elite served as the owners to the land, and British government carried out many acts that resulted in taxation of the colonies. Because of a group of brave patriots who stood up for what they believed in, the American Revolution sparked. The effects resulted in the political, social, and economical areas of our country flourished. Government broke away from British styles, the power of feminism sparked, and local farmers in states were given a bigger voice.
After American Colonists gained the idea to be completely different from Britain, Religion no longer became a major key in Politics. This is shown in the Statutes at Large of Virginia where the general Assembly enacted every man the right to religious freedom (Document D). Aside from that, the first major change to American politics actually happened during the revolution. In 1781, the Articles of Confederation were ratified in hopes of changing our governments ways for the better; however, several citizens found many flaws in the ratification. One of which was Abigail Adams who decided to write a letter to Thomas Jefferson highlighting what needed to be fixed. “Ignorant, restless, desperados, without conscience or principles, have led a deluded multitude to follow their standard, under pretense of grievances which have no existence but in their imaginations.” (Document G) Later down the road, the Constitution was put in the works to clean up the mess. Many also had opinions and beliefs on how this should be done including James Madison. He addressed in The Federalist 51 the importance of government control (Document I) which initially caused the split between Federalists and the Anti-Federalists. From that period on, political parties will always serve as a factor in making decisions.
With our country being divided, Jefferson took the opportunity to act on the equality of lower class farmers. He believed that the elite should “reward” and praise the laborers for their work done (Document F). Daniel Shay had similar ideas especially when he led the attack on the high taxes placed which we now know as Shay’s Rebellion. Changes were not permanently made as we can infer from the Whiskey Rebellion of 1791, but it did encourage the Democratic-Republican party to fight aggressively for what they believe in.
Much progress was shown in the social aspect as more and more citizens gained a voice and stood up for what they believe in. Molly Wallace definitely took a stand