Women, Slaves, and Natives After the Revolutionary War

The Revolutionary War not only garnered the freedom and Independence of America from Great Britain,  but it had a lasting effect on society. Including the people who participated in and were apart of, directly or indirectly, the war itself. The individuals  most greatly affected long term, were women, Native Americans, and slaves.
Slaves fought on both sides of the Revolutionary War, with some states promising their freedom for service in the war. Many slaves having been inspired by the Declaration of Independence petitioned for their own Freedom after the war,  some were successful while others simply fled the states where they were slaves (Films on Demand).

Many of the northern states implemented liberation laws which liberated their slaves; however, in the South the numbers of slaves increased dramatically; with no attempts to abolish slavery (Films on Demand). Although Washington himself released his slaves in his will after his death,  a new form of racial slavery had settled in the United States (OpenStax, Chapter 6, p.175).  Whiteness stood as a national identity and denoted freedom while blackness denoted a status of servitude and slavery.  With the South refusing to liberate their slaves it furthered the divisions between the Northern and the Southern States. Many slaves that belonged to people such as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson,  took the opportunity to run away from bondage by joining the British army.  And after the war was over many as five thousand free blacks went to Britain-- effectively changing the demographics of Great Britain. All in all “between ten and twenty thousand slaves gained their freedom because of the revolution... making it the greatest emancipation [ of slaves] until the Civil War”(OpenStax, Chapter 6, p.177).

Even though there was a large number of free blacks living in the United States, after the war,  they were not immune to prejudice and discrimination. And although the Declaration of Independence stated that all men are created equal, this was not the case for free blacks or slaves after the war.  The lives of slaves were both improved and unimproved after the war, depending on where they lived in the United States, or even if they lived in the United States at all. If they lived in the northern United States they seem to fare a lot better because even though they were subjected to prejudice, they were free.  Blacks in the South had a much harsher story and suffered for many more years.
Native Americans found themselves fighting on the side of the British during the Revolutionary War, hoping that a deal with the British would help them maintain some of their lands and territory.  Unfortunately, the “Treaty of Paris [signed by the British when the war ended] granted the United States huge amounts of property that were supposedly British owned but we're actually Indian lands” (OpenStax, Chapter 6, p.177).

Although not all Indians fought in the War,  and some even fought on the side of the Americans, none of it mattered after the war, they were all lumped into one general category. After the war, Indians found themselves without territories or an ally. The Declaration of Independence itself accused the king of England of “using merciless savages [the Indians] as mercenaries during the Revolutionary War (Calloway). Because the Declaration of Independence painted all Indians as savages, all Indians were treated mercilessly by colonists of America.  Almost all “Americans believed that Indians had backed monarchy and tyranny” (Calloway). Because the Indians were seen as backing the monarchy and tyranny the colonists had no problem with taking away Indian lands and viewing them as crowned backed savages. The landscape of America change drastically with Indian lands being taken away left and right,  and many more murdered  by Americans.  So, “despite their class and ethnic differences,  white revolutionaries stood united in their hostility to both blacks and Indians” (OpenStax, Chapter 6, p.175).

Women's responsibilities increased drastically. Primarily seen as responsible for the domestic and child-rearing duties,  the rules were solidified during the war. Women were responsible for creating clothing for rebel leaders as well as feeding them, plus keeping their homesteads going while their husbands were away at war. To top it off many times they had to provide nursing and lodging to wounded soldiers. Women during the Revolutionary War wore many hats and bore many responsibilities, proving them capable of taking care of their homesteads, their children, wounded strangers, and armies.

However many women referred to as “camp followers”  actively sought out positions at camps during the war in which they could provide food and clothing for the soldiers. These women “needed the army, and while Washington and many officers did not like to admit it, the army needed them” (Danyluk). The women that perform laundering duties, cooking duties, and nursing duties at the camps during the war we're compensated with rations much like the soldiers were. Most of the women earned rations by laundressing, and they were permitted to stay in camp with their husbands, as well as “charge [a fee] for each piece they washed” (Danyluk). Women also earned wages for being cooks, in some instances as much as $10 per month, as well as earning wages nursing sick soldiers. Earning wages allowed women to contribute to their household in the same manner as their husbands, which was revolutionary in itself.

However, there “were some women, who chose to break out of traditional gender roles and defend their country by taking up arms against the enemy”(Danyluk). Some women fought in the war as women and others concealed their gender by dressing like men and fighting directly in the war to avenge the what the saw as wrongful deaths at the hands of the British.
All three groups, blacks, Indians, and women were effectively left out of the Declaration of Independence, and as such were not represented. Blacks were still held as slaves, and even the free blacks were treated with prejudice. Natives were looked upon as savages and treated as if they were less than human by Americans.

Although “the Revolution opened some new door for women...as they took on public roles usually reserved for men” they were still relegated to being second class citizens, to that of their husbands, even though they had contributed their part during the Revolutionary War (OpenStax, Chapter 6, p.178). The Revolutionary War had a great impact on society, for white men. However, if a person were a slave, an Indian, or a woman then the Declaration of Independence did not have a great of effect on their lives, if it had much of one at all.

Works Cited

Calloway, Collin G. “The American Revolution.” National Parks Service, U.S. Department of the      Interior, www.nps.gov/revwar/about_the_revolution/american_indians.html.

Danyluk, Kaia. “Women's Service with the Revolutionary Army.” Women's Service with the      Revolutionary Army : The Colonial Williamsburg Official History & Citizenship Site, Colonial      Williamsburg, www.history.org/history/teaching/enewsletter/volume7/nov08/women_revarmy.cfm.

Films on Demand. “Slavery and the American Revolution.” Fod-Infobase-Com.proxygsu-      Ecor.galileo.usg.edu, Films on Demand, fod-infobase-com.proxygsu-      ecor.galileo.usg.edu/p_ViewVideo.aspx?xtid=49105#.

OpenStax. “U.S. History.” OpenStax CNX, U.S History, OpenStax, 2014,      cnx.org/contents/p7ovuIkl@3.84:gMXC1GEM@3.