17 Aug How did popular views of property rights prevent slaves from enjoying all the freedoms of the social contract?

Chapter 6 Summary The Revolution Within

This chapter concentrates on the political and social changes resulting from the American Revolution. It focuses on how the concepts of liberty and freedom continued to evolve during the Revolution and how they transformed society and politics in the 1770s and 1780s. The chapter begins with a look at a remarkable American woman, Abigail Adams. Her memorable plea to her husband to “remember the ladies” can be heard in “Voices of Freedom.” The democratization of freedom in the public sphere is explored through an examination of how new state constitutions dealt with suffrage requirements. The chapter also explores how the Revolution affected religious liberty, religious toleration, and the separation of church and state. The next topic is economic freedom. Here the text contrasts the idea that government should regulate for the public good with a newer idea, which gained support from Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations, that individual self-interest acting in a free market should be the rule. Limitations on freedom—with emphasis on the experiences of Loyalists, Indians, slaves, and women—are then discussed. Those who remained loyal to the British found some of their liberties stripped away, but mostly they were able to reintegrate into society. Indians lost much of their land and freedom as a result of the war. Slaves believed that they could rely on the American rhetoric of freedom and liberty to press for emancipation. Some slaves presented petitions for freedom to New England courts; “Voices of Freedom” includes excerpts from two such petitions from Massachusetts. The Revolution did result in gradual emancipation in the North and some voluntary manumissions in the Upper South, but not in the complete elimination of slavery. The chapter concludes with a look at women and their various roles in the war and its aftermath, including serving as soldiers and as “republican mothers” charged with the serious task of raising the next generation of republican leaders.

Source 1

Read: Zinn “A Kind of Revolution.” Think about how Zinn gives a different perspective on the American Revolution. (PDF)

Discussion Questions

1. For the lower classes, colonial society had been based on inequality, deference, and obedience. How did the American Revolution challenge that social order? Make sure to use evidence from the Zinn reading.
2. What role did the founders foresee for religion in American government and society?
3. How did popular views of property rights prevent slaves from enjoying all the freedoms of the social contract?

Makes sure to provide in-text citations for all of your sources of information. Put your answers in your own words.