Ch.+5-+War+and+Society

=War and Society = = = 

The American Revolution had a great impact on society. Some changes came about suddenly, right after the war ended, while others came abut gradually, evolving around ideas and thoughts.

Since Americans were trying to rid their lives of all things that had been brought about by the British, the aristocratic titles that had been in place were starting to become slowly abolished. Now, titles of nobility could not be granted by any legislature and all aristocratic values were being demolished little by little especially with the confiscation and distribution of Loyalist lands. Many Loyalists had to flee the country because the Patriots were making it impossible for them to live there. They went to Britain, but most of them went to Canada to escape the persecution of their fellow Americans.

The Separation between church and state also happened really quickly. The Anglican Church was disestablished in the south because of it's close ties to [|King George III's] government. The Congregational Church only survived in three states for a while- New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Connecticut- because of a religious tax passed by the individual states, but after a while even that was discontinued. Although the war was weakening the Anglicans and [|Quakers], it was strengthening the Roman Catholic Church. The religion was brought in by the French, who had gained the trust and gratitude of the Americans, so the Americans started to follow Roman Catholicism. The idea that "All men are created equal" did not apply to some groups of people: minorities (mainly African Americans), and women. While some northern states decided to abolish slavery, many southerners realized that slaves were needed for labor. They saw that slave labor was vital for the economy. Many slaves longed for freedom and saw the white men as hypocrites because they had just fought for their freedom but they would not even consider giving African Americans freedom. The Continental Congress voted to abolish the importation of slaves.



Women were not being treated equally either. During the war they had had important role being nurses and cooks. Some brave women even took their husbands places or pretended to be men and fight in order to fight in the war like Mary McCauley and [|Deborah Sampson] did. What most women did, though, was keep order at home while the men were away. They had to learn how to run the households, the businesses, the farms, and anything else that their husbands usually did in their absence. On top of that, women were busy making food and clothing for all the soldiers to show support for the war. After the war was over though, women went back to being under appreciated and subservient to men. It would never even have been considered to let a woman have the same rights as men did.

~http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_Society_of_Friends ~http://americanrevwar.homestead.com/files/civwar/slavery.html ~http://www.distinguishedwomen.com/biographies/sampson.html