All people were looking for freedoms, ones not ever having a chance of happening in Great Britain. Men, women, and African Americans were all seeking new and different types of freedoms than those provided in the land they had left or been forced to leave. The colonists had the goals of gaining their rights and freedoms in waging the Revolutionary War they were aiming for a republican political system and leaving behind monarchy systems as they had planned when first coming to the United States. England had called themselves a republic, but the king had so much control it did not fall under the category of a republic. England was a monarchy just as well as France and Spain were and this is exactly what they wanted to avoid in the United States (Document 1). Thomas Jefferson was …show more content…
There were people known as Loyalists, who took side with the British during the Revolutionary War and Jefferson saw that they too should be rejected. Often times, Loyalists would be tormented and one of the most common ways of torment was stripping a Loyalist of his clothes and placing tar and feathers all over his body (Document 3). To prevent a monarchy from occurring in the United States, individuals and states were given rights, protections, and powers. A central government, Congress, was also given powers; Congress was made up of legislative, executive, and judicial officials. State governments were given every power not given to Congress and no individual man could have special privileges that were not granted to the general public or his own community (Document 7). Individuals’ rights included life, liberty property, and happiness, freedom of religion, the people having the power to make decisions and elect officials (Document 6). These rights and many more are included in the Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments. African Americans in this time were not only looking for the abolishment of slavery, but also felt that they should receive the same rights and