Essay On Women In Colonial America

Freedom has always been something that Americans greatly value. The Declaration of Independence states that “all men are created equal”, and one of the lines in the national anthem boasts that the United States is “the land of the free”. However, looking back to when these documents were created, few statements could have been further from the truth. The treatment of many groups in America’s history proves that the country has not always been “land of the free”.

The treatment of Native Americans in colonial America was cruel almost from the beginning. While some people attempted to coexist with them peacefully, many white settlers did not treat the Native Americans as neighbors, but as pests to be driven away or exterminated. When the Manifest

“Even wealthy women… started to see that women and slaves had much in common” (History Alive 248). Women were not allowed to hold office, vote, or control their own money or property. Even after the reform movement for schools had begun, many high schools and colleges did not accept women. In the south, women were taught to value being a good housewife and host over being formally educated. Very few women actually attended school in the south. In addition, there were no laws protecting wives from their abusive husbands. Elizabeth Stanton had grown up hearing women beg her father, a judge, to save them from their abusers. He would be forced to tell them that there were no laws against it. Even women with fine education and wealth were not treated fairly. In some places, women could not speak publicly. They would struggle to find jobs that would accept them. Elizabeth Blackwell wanted to become a doctor, so she learned mathematics, science, and history. However, 29 medical schools rejected her before she was finally accepted into one. Even after graduating at the top of the class, no medical facilities would work with her. The way that women were treated in the past discredits the claim that all had an equal right to