Women During The 1780's

"Her name is Louise Pierce. She was born in 1770. She is able to perform all tasks around the house. Louise will be sold as a single slave today and I start bidding at five dollars." That was the last thing Louise heard before my husband Thomas and I, Sarah bought her as our slave. Louise had no idea that she would be working a very low wage at all hours of the day. She was required to wake up at 6 am, prepare breakfast followed by doing the wash until lunch, which she prepared. After lunch, Louise was to clean the kitchen, run any errands of my choice and begin preparing dinner with myself. She usually stopped working around 9 pm, which is when Thomas and I would reside for the night. Although Louise was only 15, she was very smart and intuitive. She was able to sew, cook, clean, and manage our household very well for being so young. Louise had the potential to be a very smart young lady but unfortunately due to her skin color, she was not allowed to be educated.

My husband Thomas is a very old fashioned man who believed in whites holding all the power in our nation. He would never see it in any other light. I think most of his oppression comes from fighting in the revolutionary war. He clearly showed his views through his actions towards our slaves. He would physically abuse Louise if she were to speak when she wasn't spoken to or mess up on any sort of task. I never defended Louise but I felt her pain in my heart. I would not dare speak out against my husband. His views were my views and even If I felt different, I had no place saying it as nothing would come of it anyway. Thomas never wanted children. He is too selfish with his money. Our tobacco plantation is probably one of the best around our parts. Thomas isn't exactly subtle when it comes to being humble about our money either. We are very well known as Thomas is a member of many political and social groups. We both attend church every Sunday in our best outfits and host dinner parties annually.

Life wasn't as grand as it looked on the outside. Thomas and I had different views on life. He was for slavery and white supremacy and I believed in equal rights for all human beings. I found it degrading that my husband and our friends found their power through degrading others and strengthening our country in a negative way. Although our nation was prospering from the cheap labor of slaves, we were dehumanizing innocent human beings at the same time. I found it very hypocritical that we recently became free from being under Britain's control just over ten years ago and now felt the need to control others. The Declaration of Independence states that "all Men are created equal that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness." This was a lie to me and made me distrust our nation. It was ironic to me that the white men who wrote the Declaration did so in order to escape Britain's oppression, and now oppress people in a similar way. The problem with this document was that it was far too flexible and could be interpreted in so many different ways. For this particular reason, I couldn't blame my husband for his beliefs. He took it as slavery being fair where as I looked at it being unjust. Something else was needed to ensure fairness in our society. Our nation was split up into a north and south and each had their own set of beliefs. Due to the lack of a centralized government, a national order of rules and restrictions against slavery were not yet set.

It was July fourth, 1791 and we held our annual party at our estate. We invited about 100 and had a lavish dinner outside. As usual, after dinner was served, the men parted ways to smoke cigars while we women gossiped. On this particular occasion, one of the women named Mary Sue mentioned how amazing it felt to live in this country and to be free from Britain. I agreed with her and then asked her what she thought about the inequality that existed among blacks and whites. She thought nothing of my question, took no longer than three seconds to answer my question with a condescending look on her face saying she was all for it. "Why wouldn't the whites control the blacks. What good do blacks serve in this country? They aren't educated and most of all, they are black." Her ignorance disgusted me. I couldn't believe what I had just heard. "Mary Sue, you realize they aren't allowed to be educated and just like the black people, we women face discrimination as well. We are not allowed to vote, meaning we have no say in what goes on in our country. Doesn't that upset you knowing you will never be able to voice your opinion or stand up for what you believe in?" I yelled back at her in my reply, by accident. Mary Sue took a step back and replied by telling me "we don't have to speak out because our husbands do for us. They have our best interest in mind." My jaw dropped to the ground. This is where I knew my ideas were extremely radical. I didn't know what else to say except that I felt sorry for Mary Sue and her lack of independent thinking. It almost seemed as though Mary Sue's responses was programmed into her head to think and respond that way when she answered me. I could sense the hesitation in her voice when she told me that our husbands have the best interest for us. On more than one occasion, Mary Sue has come crying to me when her husband lashes out on her for being nice to the slaves. If only she had the self-confidence I did, we could do something about this together. I apologized to her for making her feel uncomfortable and realized not everyone is going to have the same views as me. I also realized I needed to be more careful with my words and who I say them to.

I began to loose hope that my dreams and aspirations for a better nation would ever make a difference in anyone's life. I can remember just three to four years ago when the constitutional convention took place, Thomas was so upset to think that the anti-federalists were going to win at the constitutional convention. He strongly opposed a central government. God forbid that our nation became united as one and abided by the same rules and laws and believed in the same ideas. Thomas believed in the federalists' argument of states governing themselves, as opposed to a centralized government because he didn't want slavery to be abolished. I remember mentioning to Thomas that I think it might be a good idea for our nation to be under one organized centralized government, and he told me I had no idea what I was talking about because I was a woman.

I realized that my input towards political views were insignificant. I needed to focus my ideas somewhere else where it would make a difference. That's where Louise plays a roll. After the fourth of July