The American Revolution Coursework Assignment

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The American Revolution
Why do you suppose questions of loyalty (Tories v patriots) were so important when the American revolution began? How could questions of loyalty affect the war?
The Patriots wanted to understand and know the people they could count on when they went up against the British. Loyalty was declaring which party in the war you supported. There were many factors to consider when deciding who to support in the war. Swearing allegiance also came with some sacrifice either by joining the soldiers or by supporting the army materially and or with information. There were Tories and patriots who were not on the battlefield but helped the soldiers. Additionally, declaring allegiance to one party in the war also had implications to the post-war period because if you were a loyalist and lost, you became an enemy of the Patriots in your land who formed the government. On the other hand, if you joined the Patriots and lost, the British would charge you with treason. These are the reasons why many people remained neutral because they did not want to have enemies after the war.
The issue of loyalism was a determining factor in distinguishing a friend from a foe. Some people who were patriots deflected and joined the Loyalists and such treasonous events weakened the continental army and their quest for liberty. Having more people declare allegiance to your side also meant more support and bigger armies. At the time the likelihood of winning wars depended on numbers to a certain extent.
Why do you suppose the founding fathers essentially ignored the pleas of Abigail Adams? What were those pleas?
The cultural framework of the society by the time was very patriarchal. The society regarded women as men’s subjects and the issue of recognizing women was not plausible. The pleas of Abigail were first shot down by his husband John Adams because he did not commit to incorporating the views of his wife. Thus, it is very likely that John Adams did not bring the subject for discussion with the other founding fathers. Secondly, the founding father's team only consisted of men. They had come together to brainstorm ideas of how to structure the government after winning the American revolutionary war. During the war, there were no notable women who contributed to the victory and they also considered women as weak hence they could not possibly find ‘suitable’ roles for them in the new nation.
Abigail Adams famously requested his husband ‘to remember the ladies’ CITATION AET09 \l 1033 (A&E Television Networks, 2009). In her letter, she does not explicitly define how she expected or wanted the system to be designed that ‘remembered the ladies’ but it gravitated towards equality. The tone of her letters insinuated an all-inclusive government that recognized half of its population and accord them a deserving recognition under the law.
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