American Revolution Social Class Essay

706 Words2 Pages

The social environment during the revolution was complex, and only became more so as the colonies declared their independence. The colonies themselves could be divided along several lines including Northern, Mid-Atlantic and Southern colonies. They could also be considered by their populations as small or large colonies. These geographic and population based lines were likely as important as class lines during the American Revolution. The classes fell into three main categories. The gentry, the middle class and the lower class or poor. The economic class played a large role in the opportunities available at the time. Gentry typically held political offices while the middle class struggled to acquire enough property to attain voting rights. …show more content…

The poor or lower class had a much tougher time in life than the middle class and gentry. Many of these in the lower class were not free men, yet were not slaves either. Indentured servitude was a relatively common source of labor. These individuals agreed to server for a period of time, often for four years, in return for the payment of their passage to the colonies. This practice was often corrupt and unsafe as the future indentured servants faced a high mortality rate during the crossing and at times were the victims of kidnapping. Apprenticeships were similar to indentured servitude as the apprentice was bound to serve their master while they learned a trade and were subject to their master’s will. Laws regarding these servants and apprentices were often harsh and imposed yet more servitude as punishment for petty offenses. Further in the case of indentured servants, their contract could be sold or transferred to another at the whim of their master (Morris, …show more content…

Under the traditional systems prior to the Revolution women were considered to be under the care of either their fathers or their husbands and as such could not own property or exercise a number of rights that were a given for men. This began to change with the revolution. The status of women did not change radically, but though expressions from authors at the time, it became obvious that women’s rights were starting to be considered on equal footing with men’s as displayed by the New Jersey constitution which allowed for either gender to vote provided they had sufficient property (Brown & Carp, 2014). This was certainly a step in the right direction but did not realize the full potential of the revolution much like the failure to free those held in

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