After fighting for their rights in the American Revolution many colonists had hoped for a political system that granted equal rights for everyone. However, in a society dominated by rich white males equal rights were only for the privileged, women, slaves, and the poor were excluded. The American political system was hanging by a thread, due to a weak central government and conflicting interests among the states looking to serve their own purposes. With a weak central government, conflicting interests, and with the privileged serving their own purposes, the time was not progressive and little changes were made. Many saw these weaknesses in the system and called for a stronger central government to help keep the nation they had created from falling apart. Then in 1787 the Constitution of the United States was passed creating a stronger central government to help the newly formed nation from collapsing. .
Civil.
In 1776 the Virginia Bill of Rights was passed granting rights that all men are born with and these rights that each individual possess can't be deprived of. This created the foundation for the bill of rights that was later implemented into the constitution. The rights granted were very limited at the time and only belonged to the select few, rich white males and men who owned property. Women had lesser rights than men, but because of the duties women took over for men during the revolution, it gave them the opportunity to rid themselves of some of the oppressive features men withheld on them, primarily domestic concerns and restrictive divorce laws. The revolution had a more immediate impact on the lives of African Americans allowing the growth of many free African American communities. These changes came forth because of the growing belief in personal freedom and liberty. Since the ideology of freedom was so dominate in America most northern states ended slavery through 1777-1784, many free black men still faced white prejudice.
