The History of feminism in the USA

Feminism is a movement which seeks to gain equal political, social, economic and cultural equality for women. Historically from ancient Greece to the modern world there has been a fight for equality by women and feminism has been shaped by these ideals. In the USA feminism can been divided in to three phases-first wave feminism which deals with property rights and the right to vote, second wave feminism with its focus on equality and anti-discrimination and the Third wave of feminism  beginning in the 1990s in opposition to the perceived domination of white, straight women.

In ancient Greece the Greek philosopher Plato was the first advocate of women’s rights and he held that they should be given the right to govern a state. However, Plato’s advocacy of women’s rights was not accepted in those times. In the Roman empire women’s rights were also restricted. This continued in the Middle Ages in Europe when women protested  against misogyny and their submissive roles. It was during the Enlightenment writers and philosophers like Margaret Cavendish argued for greater equality for women.

When America got its independence on 4^th July 1776 from Britain the cause for women’s equality had begun. In the 19^th century after the abolition of slavery in the American Civil war various women’s groups started pushing for greater participation of women in the public sphere. It was at this point that the first wave of feminism had begun in America. At the 1848 Seneca Falls convention abolitionists like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott demanded the right to vote.

The First wave of feminism which demanded property rights and suffrage dominated the feminist thought for several decades. However, it was the 19^th amendment which marked a turning point in the lives of American women, and it was due to this amendment that they finally got the right to vote. Women began to enter the workplace in large numbers following the Great depression of 1930 as many male breadwinners lost their jobs forcing women to work in low paying jobs.In the Second World war women played an important role in the military and found work in industries which were previously only reserved for men. The Civil Rights movement of the 1960s also led to women demanding greater participation in the workforce with equal pay for equal work. Eventually the Equal Pay Act of 1963 signed by President John Kennedy helped in eradicating gender discrimination at workplace.

The Second wave of feminism which began in the 1970s started the debate on sexuality, reproductive rights, domestic violence and marital rape.Betty Friedan and Simone de Beauvoir were the prominent figures in this wave of feminism. It was in the Second wave of feminism that abortion became legalised in USA and marital rape was outlawed. The Second wave of feminism had its impact on other countries like Spain, Sweden, Netherlands, Israel, Turkey and Britain. The Second wave feminists viewed US popular culture as sexist and created their own pop culture to counter this.

The Third wave of feminism in the USA started in the early 1990s and advocated individualism and diversity and saw the emergence of new feminist theories such as sex positivity, vegetarian ecofeminism, transfeminism and postmodern feminism. A feminist subculture started in many American cities and it culminated with the sexual liberation of women in many countries around the world. Slutwalks were also the high points of this wave of feminism.

It can be said that the history of feminism in USA which started in the 19^th century and continues to this day has been one in which women have been able to achieve their rights. However, gender discrimination and the victimization of women continues in other parts of the world.

The Rise of Modern Europe

Modern Europe is characterized by the beginning of the decline and eventual disappearance of feudalism and growth of mercantilism, capitalism, Industrial revolution and the formation of nation states in Europe. Historians have marked the common features of modern Europe such as the Renaissance, The Protestant Reformation and the European colonization of the Americas, Asia and Africa. The beginning of scientific revolution, Enlightenment and the secularization of politics were also the main factors in the beginning of Modern Europe.

The Middle Ages in Europe witnessed the absolute authority of the Roman Catholic Church and the Pope. But by the late 15^th century and the early 16^th century its power began to be challenged. The Church was criticized for its corruption which subsequently led to the Protestant Reformation in Europe and the establishment of new Protestant Churches. In ideas the Renaissance saw a renewed interest in the writings of ancient Greece and Rome and the use of observation as the means of knowledge. These ideas further led to discoveries in the field of science by Galileo, Newton and Copernicus. They proposed the Heliocentric model of the universe which further revolutionized science. The invention of printing by Johannes Gutenberg was a milestone in the field of printing.

By the late middle Ages there was a decline in feudalism and serfdom as the number of people who held land under the feudal system declined. In the Middle Ages the nobles held the land in lieu of military service to the king and the farmers paid a part of their produce to the nobles. But this changed with the beginning of the early modern period. Farmers directly paid rent in goods and money. This was the beginning of Capitalism. Around the same time, Britain, France, Spain and Portugal discovered the New World and Christopher Columbus made his first voyage to the Americas.

In religion the early modern period led to an end to the Wars of Religion in Europe and the rise of constitutional and liberal democracies in Britain, France and the unification of Italy and Germany in the 19^th century. The rise of capitalism and mercantilism is also associated with the modern period as the dominant economic theories. Capitalism believes in the private ownership of property and free trade. The origins of capitalism in modern Europe began when the feudal economy of medieval Europe began to shift substantially in 16^th century England as the manorial system had broken down and land came in the hands of fewer landlords with large estates. The serfdom system in feudalism eventually gave way to capitalism as the serfs who were previously bonded to the land in the feudal structure could directly pay a part of their produce in goods and money.

The economic theory of mercantilism became dominant in Europe from the Renaissance to the early modern period. Mercantilism implied an excess of exports over imports and that trade balances should be favourable. The colonial countries served as export markets and supplied raw materials to the mother country. Mercantilism was profitable to the mother country and not to the colonies. For example Britain ruled over India and its economy was so designed so as to maximize the exports of Britain while India became a source of raw material and imports for the British.

In the technological field the Industrial revolution which originated in England in the mid 18^TH century was marked by a gradual change in the methods of production. The invention of the steam power, water frame and the power loom mechanized production in England. Prior to the Industrial Revolution England was a largely agrarian and rural society but the industrial revolution transformed England and subsequently Europe in to an industrialized and urbanized economy. More efficient and mechanized methods of production allowed for greater production of textiles in Britain. The industrial revolution also had an impact on the transportation networks in Britain as road and railway networks became more efficient. George Stephenson invented the steam engine in Britain and the beginning of rail network started in Britain.

The Glorious Revolution of 1688 in Britain and the French Revolution of 1789 in France saw the rise of constitutional and democratic institutions in Europe. The Glorious revolution was preceded by the English Civil war in 1642 which proclaimed a constitutional monarchy in Britain while the French Revolution of 1789 in France saw the overthrow of Louis XVI and the eventual establishment of people’s sovereignty in France. During the 19^th century Europe experienced the rise of nationalism inspired by the ideals of the French revolution. Though initially suppressed by the monarchs and rulers of Europe nationalism  found its expression in the liberation of people from foreign rule like the Greek War of Independence, The Italian war of Independence and the  unification of Germany after the defeat of France in the Franco Prussian war by Germany .

By the latter half of the 19^th century Britain and Germany rivaled each other in naval supremacy. Secret pacts and treaties were signed by the various European powers which ultimately set the stage for the First World War. The immediate trigger for the First World War was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand by a Serbian nationalist. The war caused immense losses in men and material.

It was fought between the Allies (Britain, USA, France, Japan, Italy and Russia) and the Central powers (Germany, Austria, Hungary and Turkey). After the war the Allies emerged victorious and forced Germany to sign the Treaty of Versailles.

The League of Nations was formed to establish peace after the First World War. But Germany being forced to sign the Treaty of Versailles and accept humiliating terms after the First World War saw the rise of dictatorship under Adolf Hitler. Italy also saw the rise of Fascism under Benito Mussolini and Japan also followed an aggressive policy in Asia which eventually led to the Second World war. Meanwhile the Russian revolution of 1917 brought the Bolsheviks to power in Russia and the overthrow of Tsar Nicholas II and the establishment of the Soviet Union.

It can be concluded that Europe from being a feudal and religious society in the Middle Ages saw revolutions and ideas which ultimately signalled the beginning of democracy and scientific thinking among the masses. The beginning of constitutional democracy in Britain and the Ideas of liberty and equality became an inspiration for the American Revolution and the subsequent decolonization of Africa and Asia. Modern Europe owes its democratic institutions largely to these ideals.

The Cold war and American foreign policy

The Second World War had led to the allied powers join forces with the Soviet Union and USA in their fight against the fascist regimes of Italy and Germany in Europe and Japanese expansionism in Asia. But by 1945 major fighting in the European theater and Pacific theater began to come to an end. World War II in Europe ended with the defeat of Nazi Germany by the Allied powers in May 1945.In August 1945 with the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan by USA the Second World War finally came to an end. In the final stages of the Second World War relations between the USA and the Soviet Union began to fall apart.

The Yalta conference and the Potsdam conference took place in the final stages of WW II.The Yalta conference was a major event in the Cold War. It was attended by Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union, Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill. Neither side trusted the other and Stalin was of the belief that Britain and USA delayed the Normandy invasion and Allied invasion of Italy to cause the Soviet army to struggle alone against Nazi Germany.

The Potsdam conference of 1945 was attended by Harry Truman, Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin. Truman had just replaced Roosevelt as President of the United States. The purpose of the conference was to discuss the post war reorganization of Europe and peace treaty issues. It was at the Potsdam conference that Truman made Stalin aware of the atomic bomb program (Manhattan project) and that the Americans had developed the world’s first atomic bomb. Both Truman and Stalin were suspicious of each other’s intentions and it was at the Potsdam conference that the Cold War started.

The nuclear arms race between the USA and the Soviet Union and the ideological incompatibility were the main features   of the Cold war. The USA had stockpiled a large arsenal of nuclear weapons and it was the only nation in the world to have used nuclear weapons in warfare. In response to this the Soviet Union conducted its first nuclear test in August 1949 which further led to rivalry, distrust and suspicion between the two nations. By the 1950s both countries had developed enough nuclear weapons to destroy the other. Their rivalry also extended to the space race when in 1957 the Soviet Union successfully launched its first satellite Sputnik and sent the first human to space in 1961.In a similar move America made its first landing on the moon in July 1969.

Ideological incompatibility was another feature of the Cold war. The USA had a capitalist economy and the Soviet Union had a communist economy. The Russian revolution of 1917 had transformed Russia in to a communist nation while the United States was a modern liberal democracy based on the principles of individualism. Capitalism believes in the private ownership of property and free trade while communism advocates the control of state over the means of production.

American foreign policy during the Cold War wanted to contain the spread of communism and its spread by the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union had already expanded its sphere of communism in Korea, China, Vietnam and Eastern Europe. In 1948 America started the Marshall plan to help the countries of Western Europe in their economic recovery following the destruction of Second World War.President Harry Truman approved the Marshall plan  in 1948 and aid was given to Britain,France,Belgium and other West European countries.

On the military front the United States signed the NATO pact in 1949 with the countries of Western Europe .to provide them military aid in the case of a Soviet attack. To counter this the Soviet Union signed the Warsaw Pact with the countries of Eastern Europe in 1955.The high points of the Cold War were the Cuban Missile crisis of 1962, the 1950-53 Korean war, the 1956 Suez crisis, the Vietnam War, the Berlin blockade of 1948-49 and the Berlin crisis of 1961.The Soviet Union and the US also competed for influence in Latin America and the Middle East

By the early 1970s the USSR and US entered a period of détente (French word for easing of relations) when relations between the USSR and the US began to improve. However things took a turn with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 which again led to a strain in relations. By the early 1980s Mikhail Gorbachev emerged as a prominent figure in the USSR. He withdrew from the Soviet Afghan war and both Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev agreed to reduce their nuclear weapons and end the Cold War.Domestically, he embarked on a policy of Glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring).

The various Eastern bloc nations broke away from the Soviet Union in 1991 and this finally led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the end of Cold War. The fall of Berlin wall in 1989 led to the reunification of Germany.Following the end of Cold War the United States emerged as the sole superpower in the world.The United States had to intervene militarily in the 1991 Kuwait war when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait. A coalition of American and British forces defeated Iraq in the 1991 Gulf war. America launched an invasion of Iraq in 2003 and ousted Saddam Hussein from power. A new threat has emerged in the form of terrorism and America has been fighting this menace in the present times.

Slavery in the British Empire

The British Empire was the largest empire in history and for over a century the foremost global power in the world. Its influence extended in the political, cultural, legal and linguistic domain. The Age of Discovery led to the European exploration of the globe and in the process the establishment of large overseas colonies.

At the end of the 14^th century Europeans began to take people from Africa against their will. In 1672 Charles II gave the Royal African Company (RAC) the monopoly to supply African slaves to the British colonies. These slaves were mainly transported to the Carribean and American colonies to work as indentured labourers. At times the slaves resisted and there were frequent rebellions by slaves against their masters. The slaves lived in inhuman conditions and many of them died of disease, starvation and misery. The white colonists claimed racial superiority over the enslaved black Africans. Between 1698 and 1797, 75,000 slaves were transported from Africa to the Carribeans through the Atlantic slave trade. It was estimated in 1796 that every year about 72,000 slaves were transported from Africa to the West Indies.

Over the next 20 years the Royal African Company (RAC) carried over 90,000 slaves to the Americas. In the beginning of the 18^th century the RAC lost its monopoly to supply slaves to the British colonies. Between the 16^th and the 19^th centuries up to 15 million Africans were carried as slaves to the Americas. The Church of England encouraged the British slave trade and owned a large number of slaves. However, many church members condemned slavery and opposed it. Two of them, Granville Sharp and Thomas Clarkson established the society for the abolition of the slave trade in 1787. In the beginning of the 19^th century there were various efforts made for the abolition of slavery in the British Empire. The British Parliament finally abolished slavery in 1833 but it was not until 1838 that slavery was officially abolished in the British Empire. After the abolition of the slave trade new societies emerged in America and many Africans were displaced from their homelands. Britain used racial superiority to justify the enslavement of Africans.

Thus, it can be said that the slave trade in the British Empire was an outcome of the European colonization of the Americas, Africa and Asia. It was a profit for the slave owners to own slaves and engage in the enslavement of Africans. However, in the present context with the advancement of human rights and democracy slavery no longer exists since all nations of the world have recognized the natural rights of human beings.

The Church in Medieval Europe

Image Source: historyhit.com

 Medieval Europe refers to the period in European history beginning with the fall of Western Roman Empire (476 AD) in the 5th century till the end of the 15th century. In the middle ages the Catholic Church had a profound influence over the lives of the people. The Pope held the supreme authority in the middle ages. The Church was the dominant institution in medieval Europe. Its influence was both in matters religious and political. It was the church who upholded the Christian values and propagated the Christian doctrine. Its power also extended to the appointment of kings and monarchs.

 After the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century successor and independent kingdoms arose in Europe. The Germanic peoples had swept through Britain, France and Germany which led to a breakdown in the central authority of the Roman Empire. The last Roman emperor was Romulus Augustulus who was deposed in 476 AD.The Huns, Vandals, Ostrogoths, Anglo Saxons, Goths and the Slavs occupied the eastern, western and central parts of Europe. This led to profound social, political and cultural changes in Europe. A characteristic feature of this period was the increase in urbanization in the cities of Europe. 

By the year 800 AD, The Frankish Empire was ruling over France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany. The Anglo Saxons ruled over Britain and various city states existed in Europe. Each of these kingdoms converted to Christianity and as such the Church played a dominant role in Medieval Europe. The Catholic Church claimed to represent all European Christians and had a say in the day to day affairs of the state. Even a poorest peasant had to pay 1/10th of his earnings as tithe to the church. The Church did not pay any taxes and had a right to depose the Catholic kings of Western Europe. Over a period of time the church became an institution which accumulated wealth through sale of indulgences which led to corruption in the Church. 

Efforts were made to curb the growing power of the Catholic Church. In England, the Magna Carta signed in the year 1215 advocated the separation of the Church and state. It was signed by King John of England though it was annulled later by his barons. It was not till the beginning of the 16th century that the authority of the Roman Catholic Church came to be seriously challenged. 

The Protestant Reformation initiated by Martin Luther began to attack the church for its corruption and traditional dogma. He advocated that people read the Bible themselves and that it was the sole source of all spiritual authority. Martin Luther published his 95 theses. For this the Pope excommunicated Martin Luther. The Reformation subsequently spread to other parts of Europe. Kings and rulers broke away from the authority of the Catholic Church in Europe. 

The Church was the supreme religious and political authority in medieval Europe. But this began to change with the advent of early modern period. With the secularization of Europe in Early modern period people began to view reason and science over religion which led to a decline in the power and authority of the church.