Abigail Adams Essay

The previous First Lady of the United States was Abigail Adams. She played a significant role in the American Revolution between 1763 and 1783 when she fought for women's rights equity and the idea that women's rights should be on par with men's. She advocated more for the right to a formal education in her interactions.

During the era of the revolution, Thomas Paine was a political thinker and writer from England. Thomas influenced ideas that defined the time of the revolution with his writings. While the majority of his first pamphlet's arguments supported American freedom, his later works championed for citizens' rights through his defense of the French Revolution and the Exposition of an institutionalized region in his work ‘the age of reason.’

III. Sons of Liberty was an organization by the American colonists formed in the different 13 American colonies. The primary role of the formation of the organization was to fight for the rights of the colonists and fighting of taxation imposed by the British government. The significant role played involved the battling of the stamp act, which involved a tax on each printed paper used by the colonists during the Revolution era.

IV. The Olive Branch Petition was a draft used by the colonists in asserting their rights while remaining loyal to the British crown. Following its drafting by John Dickson, the petition was adopted by the Second Continental Congress. However, the King refused to read the petition with a claim that the petition was a way of the colonists opening and avowing rebellion.

Part Two

1. Native Americans, slaves, black Americans, and women had varied experiences and contributions in the American Revolution and the Early Republic. Ideally, both the men and the women made equal contributions to the American Revolution and the Early Republic. While the slaves and the black American people went out into war, a significant number of women also took part in the armies or defense of their homes and families from attacks by troops of both the British and Native American. Women went ahead to offer medical care to the injured while also sewing uniforms, and blankets for the soldiers. In the case of Native Americans were tasked with navigation within the other competing European powers around the North American continent. Besides, the Native Americans provided the necessary strategic military assistance, an aspect that shifted war onto the opposite side.

2. The transition to the American republic significantly affected the position of Native Americans, slaves or black Americans, and women. One critical aspect of the transition was America’s recommitment to slavery, while equally addressing the aspects of liberty and equality. Whereas slavery had become the central part of the American Society, the transition to the American Republic increased the trade, with a majority of the slaves taken to perform different tasks such as working in farms. Such occurrences were; however, later challenged as the number of black Americans increased. Uncommon to the expected, the Native Americans were also enslaved even though the exact numbers of the same are not clear. Over time, slavery became a predominant form of labor as an attribute to the transition.

Part Three

The extract from The Case against Parliamentary Authority in Internal Colonial Matters: Richard Bland, "An Enquiry into the Rights of the British Colonists" (1766), the author records an instance involving the colonists. The main speaker in the extract is John Dickson, the person that drafted the Olive Branch Petition, the document that asserts the colonists’ rights while remaining loyal to the British Crown. In the extract, the colonialists make it clear that provided they are not in a position to get rights as demanded, then it is possible that they seek for it elsewhere. The document is written to the Second Continental Congress. Despite the Second Continental Congress adopting the document, the King still refused to read it claiming that the petition was a way of the colonists opening and avowing rebellion. The colonists are against the treatment they get from the British government in their motherland.