During the colonial and Civil War time period, America was not truly free. Many people suffered from unequal pay, no representation and being treated like animals. Three of these groups are the slaves, Chinese Immigrants and women. All three of these groups were treated unfairly and were not truly free. Slaves were treated as animals, Chinese immigrants were harassed and women had unequal rights and no representation. If America had truly been free and believed that all men are created equal, then all minorities would have the same rights as wealthy, white, landowning Americans.

Slaves were never free during the time period. Slaves were owned by white plantation owners and worked long hours with little to no compensation. Whippings occurred during long work hours when slaves would start to lag. To get the slaves, they were auctioned off like animals. One former slave said, “…we were slaves. We belonged to people. They’d sell us like they sell horses and cows and hogs and all like that”. No one can be free when they have no control over their lives. To top it …show more content…
Women did not have equal rights. For example, husbands and fathers controlled any money or property women had and women could not vote or hold office. Also, if women were free, they would have control over their own property and money. Angelina Grimke said, “What then can women do for the slave, when she herself is under the feet of man and shamed into silence?” When it became obvious that slavery was bad, women tried to help abolish it, but could do nothing since they had no representation. Lucy Stone said, “Women suffer taxation and yet have no representation.” When the colonies were still part of Britain, James Otis said the famous line, “No taxation without representation.” During that time, America wanted to be free the same as women wanted to be free. Stone refused to pay taxes since women had no