Americans Seeking Freedom: Freedom Of Religion And Expression

Throughout America's history, there has been a lack of individual rights and rights to personal identity from America being first discovered, even going on to this day. The usual victims being those of Nonanglo-Saxon descent and dominantly female. America's history shows the people who have struggled in the past to gain a semblance of independence and equality. Once having obtained these hard-earned and well-deserved rights, the story of America expanded to include all. The significant events that brought change in our country are the abolitionist movement, the women's rights convention, and the freedom of religion.

First off, the abolitionist movement had a primary goal of abolishing slavery in the United States. Abolitionists wanted to reveal the cruel nature of slavery and how the institution, on both the Northern and Southern side's Christianity and American values, is contradictory. One of the famous figures that set out to achieve this goal in the abolitionist movement was Frederick Douglass. In his viewpoint as a slave, he sought how slaveholders were able to overpower African-Americans because of how most of them in the South were intellectually inferior to white people. This inferiority came into American's belief that since African-Americans were in the lower status of American society, it was acceptable to enslave them. Douglass, however, wanted to show that was not the case. He wanted Americans to see that African Americans were just as equal as to any men and that they too can achieve as much as a white man can. By that, Douglass wrote an autobiography called 'The Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass,' it explains how much Douglass has struggled to live as a slave with no sense of identity or dehumanized by his masters constantly. Over time he became introduced to writing and reading; he learned at that point that this was the key to finding his identity and becoming a free man, as revealed by one of his masters. Douglass's determination made him continue to educate himself in literature, and as an adult, he was able to escape from slavery. When achieving his freedom, Douglass continued to learn and teach himself as much as possible. From his hard work and his efforts, he was able to become an influential writer and orator. This example is what Douglass had struggled to set for Americans to see how long it had taken him for his human spirit to be free and become the most prominent figure amongst his people and in the abolitionist movement. Overall, Douglass wants to set a reminder that men of color are equal to any different kind as human beings; it is what he stood by and fought for when once a slave.

On the contrary, though, men tend to have unfair advantages over women in the United States. In American history, it informs that women were usually subservient towards their husbands and were the caregiver of their families. They were always reliant on their husbands, as most women in the past could not work, own property, or have authority over their families. Before the nineteenth hundreds, American society had degraded women, both in political and social equality. In the 'Declaration of Sentiments,' by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, it reveals the grievances a women's condition is displayed unfairly compared to men. For instance, the document states that women were not allowed to vote, which, therefore, women had no say or voice in the creation of laws that they must follow or determining the elected officials to represent their government. Such as followed, 'He has never permitted her to exercise her inalienable right to the elective franchise. He has compelled her to submit to laws, in the formation of which she had no voice.' It also focuses on how marriage was another factor of a women's rights being taken away by men, like how women treated as a slave since they must agree to be obedient towards their husband. If a woman wanted to get a divorce, the law would favor more on the man's decision rather than the woman's choice. In other words, it redresses the condition of women on economic, social, and political grounds. Despite the grievances shown in the document, Elizabeth ends the text by speaking its resolutions and purpose that women gain the same opportunity and respect as to how the law treats men. Adding for a call of equality whereby 'women is a man's equal.' In 1920, the nineteenth amendment had finally passed for all American women to have the right to vote after years of agitation and protests.

Moreover, before these events had taken place, there were issues of having the freedom of one's religion when the European colonists first came to America. Where in general, that is one main reason why colonists have come to America to escape religious persecutions. Their belief system was different than what England accepted and, therefore, not socially acceptable in their hometown or country. That is when they soon set sail for the new world, America. A place of sacred worship where religious expression could be fully realized, on the colonist's perspective. However, when they first met the Native Americans, their first instinct was to take advantage of them for their survival and change their belief of religion into their own. Ironically that is how it came down between the colonist and Native Americans. A Native American that goes by, Seneca Chief Red Jacket, concluded that God created different religions for all us to follow our own choice and that they desire to go along their faith. As observed, 'Since he has made so great a difference between us in other things, why may we not conclude that he has given us a different religion, according to our understanding? We do not wish to destroy your religion or take it from you. We only want to enjoy our own.' Nevertheless, the colonists were stubborn and greedy at that time, so the conflict of religion continued alongside the wars and development of the United States. It was not until 1791, where the founding fathers decided to implement the Freedom of Religion as the first amendment towards the Bill of Rights.

In conclusion, America had not provided each individual with the freedom and rights of an American citizen at the beginning of time. Mostly shown by those who were not white, men, or have their different perspectives. Frederick Douglass, Elizabeth Stanton, and other religious people were the victims that sought to bring change. They have struggled to make movements on improving American society. Not just for their people but for the next generation to not be affected by these causes, and to impact America on a much better purpose.