Star Spangled Banner: The Land Of The Free

America has long been well known for its values of freedom and diversity, it is even stated in the Star Spangled Banner, “The Land of the Free.” However, was America truly the land of the free? African Americans were stripped from their native homes and forced to work in the fields of the South, some even being born into this slavery and dying because of it. Women, did not share the same freedoms that white men did, and immigrants, though being welcomed into the border of this country because of its roots, were being discriminated against and had some of the freedoms they were promised taken away from them. Many people were not given the rights and freedoms they were supposed to have in America from the colonial times to the Civil War.
One

Women faced this problem as well. Though many of them may have been white and held some privileges that many other did not, women still did not hold the rights they were supposed to. They were thought as as weak and vulnerable, and they were expected to stay at home for their whole lives, caring for children and the household. Many of them did not get to choose who they wanted to marry and many of them had no protection against the men who would beat them. Women were not allowed to speak in public or even go out at all, and if they did, they were separated from the men. This sparked outrage in many women rights activists and caused many of them to fight back peacefully and also led to protests that made the governments rethink their actions. The line may have gone “all men are created equal” but the women of the 19th century were devoted to making all men and women equal to each

Chinese immigrants risked everything to move to America and ensure a future for themselves, and only some actually made their dreams come true. When they arrived, they were welcomed. One immigrant even noticed how they were treated as distinguished guests. The California Governor even said how the Chinese were “one of the most worthy classes of our newly adopted citizens.” However, as mining became more difficult, relations between the Chinese and other foreigners and the Americans turned cold. American miners complained of all the foreigners taking the gold, and even went as far as going to the government to force them out of the country. America was built on immigration, yet the backlash foreigners faced during that time proved it to be wrong. The state legislature of California passed a law in 1852 forcing all foreign miners to pay a monthly tax for their license to mine. Many foreigners left the mining fields and returned home, however the Chinese stayed, proving how they were not going to be bullied into giving up on everything they had risked. When they would not leave, American miners decided to forcefully make them do so. Chinese homes were burned to the ground, and many beatings were brought down upon them as well. Defeated, the Chinese left, many of them not being able to return home at all. As immigrants, the Chinese had the right to mine freely, but the