The Revolutions of the Revolutionary War

Since the commencement of American History this nation has had traditions and transitions. It has undergone great changes in its governmental structure, its local and foreign policies, and to this day the role of each type of citizen plays in society is constantly changing. Our nation is structured on change, making it the most stable nation in history. It finds its stability in that it was built on a foundation of laws that were designed by great men that understood that change cannot be prevented, and the only way to keep a nation running long term is to make it adaptable to change. One of the greatest major changes that this nation has gone through was the transition of the traditional role of women and the blacks into the roles that women and black people hold today. The first steps to the finalizing of this change can be seen around the time of the revolutionary war.

America was built with slave labor. In its earliest times America's white population enslaved the black population and built their farms and other sources of income off of the free labor that was forced upon the black population. This tactic, as horrific as it may have been, was highly successful because there were so many African Americans for the white slave masters to take advantage of that they were never without free laborers. According to Tindall and Shi, slavery in British North America differed greatly from region to region. Africans were a small minority in New England, in fact they comprised a mere 8% (roughly) of the New England population. In the South, however, slaves were far more numerous and most of them worked on farms and plantations. In 1750, the vast majority of the slaves in British America resided in Virginia and Maryland. Virginia and Maryland totaled at about 150,000 slaves within the population, whereas there were only about 60,000 slaves in the total South Carolina and Georgia population, and a mere 33,000 slaves in all of the northern colonies (Tindall and Shi 117).

Despite the language barrier and the severe lack of education, slaves were easily able to understand that the odds of successfully resisting slavery were not in their favor and so most slaves resigned themselves to their condition and in doing so they played essential roles in the rapid construction and Revolution of this nation. This is not to say, however, that slaves did not want their freedom. Slaves saw the revolution as an opportunity, and they were right. The revolutionary generation of leaders was the first to confront the issue of slavery and to consider abolishing it, and the principles of liberty and equality had clear implications for enslaved blacks (Tindall and Shi 171).

One of the greatest venues toward slave liberation was the compassion of the whites around them. One of they key characters in America's construction, Abigail Adams, had a great compassion for slaves. She even went so far as to employ rather than enslave one black man, we see this when she writes to John Adams "I would not have you [illegible] anxious about me. I make out better than I did. I have hired a Negro fellow for 6 months, am to give him ten pounds which is much lower than I had any prospect of getting help. . ."( Letter from Abigail Adams to John Adams, 27 May 1776 [electronic edition]). When she writes to John Adams we see that she has not completely disavowed the idea of slavery in that she admits that she is paying a black man less than she would have paid a white man, and she seems to see this as acceptable rather than showing remorse; it is as though she herself was already in the transition that America was about to go through.

She also agreed with the idea of slaves earning their freedom; she felt that a means of doing this would be serving in the war. She writes to John Adams ". . .They conducted in this way-got an Irishman to draw up a petition letting to the Governor telling him they would fight for him provided he would arm them and engage to liberate them if he conquered, and it is said that he attended so much to it as to consult Pircy upon it, and one [Lieut.?] Small has been very busy and active. There is but little said, and what Steps they will take in consequence of it I know not. I wish most sincerely there was not a Slave in the province. . ." (Letter from Abigail Adams to John Adams, 22 September 1774 [electronic edition]). It is interesting to see that Abigail Adams state of being in "mid-transition" has put her in a place in which she seems to find acceptable to think that blacks can earn their freedom (where as with whites freedom is understood).

Another interesting point that can be seen in this letter to John Adams, is that Abigail Adams is reporting to him the occurrences of their town for a possible two reasons. The first reason being that his absence requires her letters to keep him informed of his home's situation. The second reason, however, could be construed as Abigail Adams having the insight to realize how much influence her husband had at the time of the letter. It could be reasonably deducted that she used the letter as a means of reminding her husband of her feelings (and quite possibly his as well) on slavery. Abigail Adams, knowing the ultimate goal of the revolution her husband was working so hard on writes ". . .It always appeard a most iniquitious Scheme to me-fight ourselfs for what we are daily robbing and plundering from those who have as good a right to freedom as we have. You know my mind upon this subject. . ." (Letter from Abigail Adams to John Adams, 22 September 1774 [electronic edition]). In this quote, one can see clearly that she is reminding John Adams that it is a paradox to fight for the liberation of America from Britain, while at the same time enslaving blacks.

It was the wisdom and compassion of pioneers such as Abigail Adams that gave confidence to slaves as well as influenced legislators to eventually abolish slavery. Abigail Adams was also a pioneer in that she also was one of the first major historical characters in American History to dance on the line between the definitions of traditional man and traditional woman, and she intended to promote the role of women in society. "The logic or liberty applied to the status of women as much as to that of blacks. Women in the colonies had remained essentially confined to the domestic sphere during the eighteenth century" (Tindall and Shi 256). She danced in the line in that she took care of the "women's work" as well as picking up the chores that John Adams had left behind.

In the 18th century "women's work" typically involved activities in and around the house, garden, and yard. A farm woman's day usually lasted from 4am to 9pm. She started each day with dressing and then preparing breakfast. After preparing breakfast women would then feed and water the livestock, get the children out of bed, churn the day's butter, as well as tend the garden, prepare lunch, play with the children, cook dinner, and milk the cows. By the time all of the "woman's work" was done it was time for her to put her children to bed once more. Women also combed, spun, spooled, wove, and bleached wool for clothing, knitted linen and cotton, hemmed sheets, pieced quilts, made candles and soap, chopped wood, hauled water, mopped floors, and washed clothes. (Tindall and Shi 107). Abigail Adams, in the absence of her husband, was forced to play the roles of both man and woman to keep her house running, but the most original thing about her was that, independently, she was well educated, but she wanted the same for all women, this was an opinion not popularly vocalized. In a letter to her husband she writes, "You remark upon the deficiency [illegible] of Education in your Countrymen. It never I believe was in a worse state, at least for many years. . . If you complain of neglect of Education in sons, what shall I say with regard to daughters, who every day experience the want of it. With regard to the Education of my own children, I find myself soon out of my debth, and destitute and deficient in every part of Education. . ." (Letter from Abigail Adams to John Adams, 14 August 1776 [electronic edition]). It is interesting to see here that although Abigail Adams is confident in herself enough to state, intelligently, that she would like to see all women educated, she lacks the confidence required to bring herself to educate her own children. Instead, she turns to her husband, and asks him

Abigail Adams saw the revolutionary war as an opportunity to show America that women can do whatever men can. It opened doors in that with the men fighting in the war for independence, women were needed to take over the men's jobs on the farm so that America could keep its economy going. She also vocalized during the revolution that basically women should be permitted to rule because men are too easily corrupted by power. She writes to her husband, "That your Sex are Naturally Tyrannical is a Truth so thoroughly established as to admit of no dispute, but such of you as wish to be happy willingly give up the harsh title of Master for the more tender and endearing one of Friend. . . " (Letter from Abigail Adams to John Adams, 31 March - 5 April 1776 [electronic edition]). Here Abigail Adams does something that a woman would very rarely do (especially in writing) in her time, she attacks the character of all men everywhere. She stands up to her husband and infers that he (as well as all other men) need to get off their high horse and realize that women are not actually inferior to men. She teeters on the line in that her feminism does not her to say that women are superior, but she crosses it enough to infer that women are man's equal.

Abigail Adams was one of a few pioneers to be completely liberal from the point of America's construction, and since liberalism was so rare I find its influence on transition interesting and appealing. New ideas are what cause major changes in the world, and the thought that the liberalism of one politicians wife helped to gear this nation into what it is today is something astonishing to any historian who takes the time to sit back and look at the big picture. Historians enjoy change, because without change history would not exist.

Works Cited

"Letter from Abigail Adams to John Adams, 22 September 1774 [electronic edition]." Adams Electronic Archive. 4 Mar 2007 .

"Letter from Abigail Adams to John Adams, 31 March - 5 April 1776 [electronic edition]." Adams Electronic Archive. 4 Mar 2007 .

"Letter from Abigail Adams to John Adams, 27 May 1776 [electronic edition]." Adams Electronic Archive. 4 Mar 2007 .

"Letter from Abigail Adams to John Adams, 14 August 1776 [electronic edition]." Adams Electronic Archive. 4 Mar 2007 .

Tindall, George Brown, and David E. Shi. America: A Narrative History. 6th Ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 2004.