The Cost of Freedom - What the American Revolution Meant for Native Peoples, Enslaved Africans, and Women

We’re told the American Revolution was a fight for freedom—but for many, it was just the beginning of betrayal. In this episode of Before Slavery, Dr. Rose breaks down what liberty really looked like in 1776—for Native nations whose land was stolen, for Africans still enslaved, and for women expected to sacrifice everything while receiving nothing in return.

Through truth-telling, ancestor-style commentary, and just the right amount of shade, we dig into the myth of freedom—and the cost paid by the forgotten.

🎧 Chapters include:

• The Declaration Wasn’t for Everyone
• Indigenous Dispossession
• Freedom for Whom?
• The Women Left Behind
• Who Paid for Independence
• The Price of Selective Freedom

✊🏽 This is Burden of History. Let’s talk about who was left out—and who never stopped fighting to be seen. 

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction - Opening quote + setup + question: “Who paid the price?”
• 2:18 Chapter 1: The Declaration Wasn’t for Everyone
• 6:08 Chapter 2: Indigenous Dispossession
• 7:48 Chapter 3: Freedom for Whom?
• 9:20 Chapter 4: The Women Left Behind
• 13:57 Chapter 5: Who Paid for Independence?
• 19:08 Chapter 6: The Price of Selective Freedom

Transcript

Episode 4: 0:00

The Cost of FreedomWhat the American Revolution Meant for Native Peoples, Enslaved Africans, and Women“The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind.”—Thomas Paine, Common Sense (1776)

That sounds noble, doesn’t it?But here’s the truth: 0:20

the cause of America was never truly the cause of all mankind. Not if you were Indigenous. Not if you were enslaved. Not if you were a woman.Welcome back to Burden of History—and if you're new here, welcome. This podcast is where we bring truth to the surface, even when history tried to bury it. I’m your host, Dr. Rose—and today, we’re going to talk about freedom—the kind that gets celebrated with fireworks, flags, and parades.But beneath the red, white, and blue, there’s a lot of black, brown, and blood.We ended Episode 3 with colonists on the verge of revolution. Tired of British rule, tired of taxes, tired of tyranny. So they rose up.

And the world cheered.But while they were shouting liberty with one breath… they were stealing land, owning people, and silencing women with the next.So in this episode, we’re asking a hard but necessary question: What did the American Revolution really cost—and who paid the price? "We’ll unpack: 1:16

" The hypocrisy of a Declaration that excluded most of the populationThe betrayal of Native nations who fought to keep their landThe exploitation of Africans forced to fight for a freedom they’d never receiveThe erasure of women who worked, sacrificed, and were forgottenThis is the truth they skip over when teaching about “freedom.” Because America wasn’t founded on liberty for all. It was founded on liberty for some—and loss for everyone else.Let’s begin.

Chapter 1: 2:18

The Declaration Wasn’t for Everyone “All men are created equal…”That’s what the Declaration said—but the reality was much narrower. It excluded Indigenous people, Black people, and all women. Jefferson’s pen may have written liberty, but his hands still held chains.

Native Americans were called “merciless Indian savages” in the document. Enslaved Africans were still property—even while they fought in the war. Women? They didn’t even make the footnotes.That wasn’t just name-calling—it was a policy preview. The moment the Declaration labeled Native peoples “merciless,” it gave the new government and settlers a moral excuse to treat them as threats instead of nations.Cherokee leader, Dragging Canoe - warned his people: 2:42

“The Americans have deceived you. They do not seek peace, but your land.”And he was right.This new freedom wasn’t just about breaking from Britain—it was about breaking treaties, breaking promises, and breaking into Indigenous land that had been protected—at least in theory—under British rule. In Jefferson’s original draft, he actually included a scathing paragraph condemning slavery—blaming King George III for allowing the trade to flourish in the colonies. But Southern delegates weren’t having it. They insisted the line be removed. Why? Because condemning slavery would mean confronting their own wealth and power.So, what happened? They deleted it.The most “revolutionary” document in American history chose silence over justice. A silence that echoed in every plantation field from Virginia to Georgia. This founding document wasn’t for everyone—and those it excluded knew it. They resisted. They remembered. They rewrote their own future.Because the paper was signed—but not everyone was free.

Women weren’t just excluded—they were dismissed.Take Abigail Adams. She wrote to her husband John Adams during the Continental Congress, urging him: 4:37

“Remember the ladies, and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors.”His reply? He joked that if women were given rights, they’d revolt against men.So while the founders talked revolution, they laughed at the idea of equality for half the population.And still, women didn’t stay silent. They raised crops and children. They melted metal into bullets. They wrote essays under male pen names.But once the war was won, they were expected to return quietly to their “place.”They weren’t remembered—but they never forgot. The Declaration said “all men are created equal,” but it was the excluded—the enslaved, the silenced, the displaced—who carried the burden of making those words real.They weren’t invited to the table, but they built it.The founders wrote liberty on parchment. But the people they left behind wrote it in sweat, in protest, in blood, and in hope.Because when your name isn’t in the document, you learn to write your own.And that’s exactly what they did.

🌾 Chapter 2: 6:07

Indigenous DispossessionHow the American Revolution Paved the Way for More Land Theft and BetrayalBefore the Revolution, British policies at least pretended to protect Native land. The war erased those lines—literally.The 1763 Royal Proclamation had established a boundary—colonists were told not to settle west of the Appalachians. It wasn’t enforced well, but it was a formal attempt to avoid further conflict with Native nations.When revolution began, that agreement disappeared. Freedom from Britain became freedom to expand—and nothing was going to stop it. Tribes that sided with the British were punished. Tribes that stayed neutral were attacked. And tribes that allied with the colonists? Also betrayed.The Oneida Nation, for example, supported the American cause. They sent warriors to fight alongside Washington’s troops and even supplied food during the brutal winter at Valley Forge.Their reward? The loss of over 5 million acres of ancestral land.And they were the lucky ones—because at least the government acknowledged they had fought.Even Washington called Native resistance “savage” and saw land as the prize for American victory. Broken treaties became standard policy. Dispossession became destiny.For Native peoples, the Revolution didn’t bring liberty—it brought loss.

⛓️ Chapter 3: 7:48

Freedom for Whom?The Paradox of Liberty & SlaveryWhile colonists fought for freedom, over 500,000 Black people remained enslaved.In fact, some colonies had more enslaved people than free citizens. In South Carolina and Virginia, slavery wasn’t a contradiction—it was the foundation of economic life.So when colonists cried, “Give me liberty or give me death,” many enslaved Africans were probably thinking, “You first.” Some fought—hoping for emancipation. Some fled—believing British promises of freedom. And those promises were written down. In 1775, Lord Dunmore, the Royal Governor of Virginia, issued a proclamation offering freedom to any enslaved person who joined the British Army.Thousands took that risk. Some left families behind. Some didn’t survive. But for many, it was the first time freedom felt like an actual offer—even if it came from a different empire.Most were betrayed.The founders knew the contradiction—and kept it anyway. The economy ran on slavery. The Constitution was drafted around it. And “freedom” became a word that depended on your skin.The Revolution didn’t end slavery—it institutionalized it.

🎙️ Chapter 4: The Women Left BehindThe Revolution Needed Them—Then Ignored Them (Sound familiar? Come on now—tell me that doesn’t hit a little too close to home under the current government...)Let’s be real: 9:19

the American Revolution wouldn’t have survived without women. They cooked. They nursed. They spied. They sewed uniforms, smuggled letters, and melted down their pewter to make bullets—while getting zero say in the future they were helping to build.In some cases, they even disguised themselves as men to join the fight.Take Deborah Sampson—she cut her hair, wrapped her chest, and enlisted under the name “Robert Shurtliff.” She served for over a year before being discovered.After the war, she had to petition Congress for her veteran’s pension like she was asking for a favor instead of demanding what she earned.America was willing to use her strength—but not honor it. They kept farms running while husbands went to war. They wrote pamphlets and organized protests. They raised children in wartime chaos and buried their dead in silence.And what did they get for it?No vote. No legal identity. No voice. The Revolution treated women like the help—essential but invisible. You could hold up the whole household, but not your own name in court. You could birth the next generation of “patriots,” but not inherit property. You could die in childbirth, but not demand a say in how this new country would be run.Even white women—the ones with class and status—were second-class citizens. And for Black women and Native women? Third-class, if that.

Let’s talk about a name you probably didn’t learn in school: 11:20

Deborah Sampson.She disguised herself as a man and fought in the Continental Army.Literally risked her life for a country that wouldn’t even mention her in its founding story.And honestly? With the way people are being deported and dismissed today, her story doesn’t sound that far off.I mean—do you really think the orange man’s mama would’ve suited up for a revolution? Please.Some folks inherited freedom. Others had to fake their name just to fight for it.After the war, she had to petition Congress for years to get the pension she earned.Because in the new America, heroism didn’t count if it came with hips.

Even Abigail Adams tried to warn him.She wrote to her husband—John Adams, or as I like to call him, “His Revolutionary Roundness”—and said: 12:09

“Remember the ladies, and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors.”And what did he do?He laughed.Told her if women got rights, they’d start demanding freedom from men altogether.Imagine fighting a whole empire just to turn around and say, “Whoa now, let’s not get carried away with all this liberty.”That’s John for you—brave enough to defy a king, but terrified of a woman with an opinion.Women were told their role was in the home. Their virtue was their voice. And if they stepped out of line? They were ridiculed, silenced, or erased.Even women who supported the Revolution found themselves trapped in a system that hadn’t changed. Independence didn’t make them free. It made their silence more permanent.

And yet—they didn’t quit.They formed literary societies. They circulated petitions. They wrote under pen names. They taught daughters to dream. They sowed the seeds of future rebellions—from suffrage to civil rights to - MeToo.So when we talk about the American Revolution, let’s tell the truth: 13:19

It wasn’t just the men marching or fighting. It was the women holding everything together—quietly, forcefully, and without reward.They were the backbone of independence. But history barely gave them a spine.

🎙️ Chapter 5: Who Paid for Independence?The Hidden Costs Behind America’s FreedomThey say freedom isn’t free. But let’s be specific: 13:57

it was paid for—just not by the men who wrote the checks.While wealthy colonists debated liberty in powdered wigs and paneled rooms, others were out there bleeding, starving, dying. Not just soldiers, but servants. Not just patriots, but prisoners. Not just founders, but the forgotten.Many of those who fought were indentured servants promised land or wages that never came.Some were prisoners—released only to be sacrificed in battle.Others were immigrants—Irish, German, and African—lured by promises of freedom or citizenship that were later denied. America said, “Come fight for liberty!” Then after the war, it said, “Who are you again?”If that sounds familiar, it's because we're still pulling the same stunt today—only now we just change the locks and pretend no one was home.Let’s start with the money. The American Revolution cost over 150 million dollars—in 18th-century value. Who bore that cost? Not the signers of the Declaration. Most of them came out richer, more powerful, and politically untouchable.Some even profited directly from the war. Contracts were handed out to political allies. Slavery expanded to fuel wartime industries.Even in revolution, the rich got richer—and everyone else just got tired.

The real cost fell on: 15:47

The poor filled the ranks of militias while the elite paid others to fight in their place.Because why risk your own neck when you can just write a check—or claim your ankles are too fragile for freedom?I mean, let’s be honest… we’ve seen this movie. Some folks yell “patriot” from the podium, but can’t make it past basic training because of imaginary bone spurs and a bad tanning appointment.Meanwhile, the working class is out here fighting wars they didn’t vote for.

Enslaved Africans, whose bodies fueled the economy that bankrolled the war.Native peoples, whose lands were the currency of expansion.Women, who sacrificed security, identity, and family, only to be locked out of power once peace arrived.When the dust settled, what did “freedom” look like?For white, land-owning men: New land, new laws, new titles.For everyone else: 16:26

The same struggle, now wrapped in a new flag.Even veterans—Black and white—were often left unpaid, landless, and forgotten. Many died poor. Some went west in search of land that had already been stolen from Native tribes.

Imagine fighting for your country, being promised land as a reward—and then receiving a parcel of stolen Indigenous territory.The government didn’t just break its promises to Native people. It weaponized those broken promises as payment to the poor.A cruel cycle: 17:15

one man’s reward was another’s removal.We don’t talk about that on the Fourth of July.But we’ll throw on a flag tank top, burn some hot dogs, and pretend the founding fathers personally handed us freedom—with a plate of ribs and some questionable potato salad.And half the folks at the party don’t even know who the war was against—but they’ll tell you real fast who they think “doesn’t belong here.”

We don’t talk about the women who sold their last possessions to keep farms running. Or the enslaved men who died in uniform and were buried without names. Or the Indigenous children who watched homes burn in the name of a freedom they never asked for.We love to say America was born in revolution. But it was also born in debt. A moral debt we still haven’t paid.It’s a debt visible in every underfunded school on tribal land. In every Black veteran denied a G.I. Bill benefit. In every woman erased from a history book that pretends she didn’t bleed, labor, or lead.Because you can rewrite documents—but not what it cost to write them the first time.So when someone says, “Our Founders sacrificed everything,” ask: 18:02

Everything? Or did someone else foot the bill?Because the ink may have been theirs. But the blood? That belonged to someone else.

Chapter 6: 19:07

The Price of Selective FreedomAmerica was founded on selective freedom—and selective memory.We love to talk about the “birth of a nation.” But birth for whom? Because for many, 1776 didn’t feel like a beginning. It felt like a betrayal Let’s take a step back.The Declaration excluded them. The Constitution ignored them. And the revolution left them behind.Yet somehow, the people most excluded from America’s promise—Native peoples, enslaved Africans, and women—were the ones who believed in freedom the most.They believed in it enough to fight for it… even when it wasn’t meant for them. Native nations defended their land and sovereignty through treaties, resistance, and negotiation. They were fighting for futures not yet recognized by a government that saw them as obstacles.Enslaved Africans saw their own humanity even when a society refused to. Many took unimaginable risks—running toward British lines, joining militias, or secretly organizing among themselves—all in pursuit of liberty they had never tasted.Women kept the country running while the men were off chasing ideals. They managed homes, farms, businesses—and yet, they weren’t trusted with even a single vote. And still… they endured.They taught themselves to read when the law forbade it. They published under fake names. They learned how to protest with quiet fury—planting the seeds for future movements they would never live to see bloom.

This episode has told the story of who was left out—but this chapter is about who refused to stay out.In 1776, most Americans weren’t free. But by 1848, women were organizing in Seneca Falls. By the early 1800s, Black abolitionists were publishing essays, leading churches, and holding the country accountable.Take Lemuel Haynes, a free Black minister and Revolutionary War veteran. In the exact year the Declaration was signed, he wrote: 21:06

“In every human Breast, God has implanted a Principle, which we call Love of Freedom.”

He saw through the hypocrisy. But he still had hope.He wasn’t alone.Phillis Wheatley, the first published African American poet, wrote: 21:48

“In every human Breast, God has implanted a Principle, which we call Love of Freedom; it is impatient of Oppression, and pants for Deliverance.”And she wrote that while still enslaved.These weren’t the voices in the history books. But they were the conscience of the Revolution. They were the ones who tried to finish the sentence the founders started—“All men are created equal”—and make it true.

Ok folks, Let’s be clear: America was not born perfect. It was born exclusive.But the people who were left out kept showing up. Not as side notes—but as moral anchors.They took the myth of liberty and insisted it be rewritten—page by page, generation by generation.And that’s the burden of history: 22:29

Not just to remember what happened, but to ask who it happened to—and who was left holding the cost.Because freedom never comes free. And the people who paid for it with their silence, their labor, and their lives deserve more than a footnote.They deserve the truth.

Author’s NoteThe Freedom They Declared vs. The Freedom We’re Still DemandingThe American Revolution gave birth to a country. But it also buried the truth about who paid for it.We’re taught that the Revolution was a story of liberty. But it was also a story of loss—for Native peoples whose land was taken, for Africans kept in bondage while fighting for a “free” country, and for women who were essential, but expendable.They weren’t just forgotten. They were excluded on purpose.But here’s the thing about the people history tries to erase: 23:13

They write themselves back in.Indigenous nations never stopped fighting for sovereignty. Black Americans never stopped demanding the liberty they were promised. And women? We’ve been resisting since before resistance had a hashtag.America declared freedom in 1776—but it was a selective freedom. And every generation since has had to fight to make that promise real. Closing – Burden of HistoryAs a healthcare professional, I’ve spent my life advocating for systems that respect human dignity. As a historian, I’ve committed myself to unearthing truths that never made it into our textbooks.This podcast is both a love letter to truth—and a quiet protest against the erasure of people who mattered.If this episode made you pause, question, or reflect—that’s the work. That’s the burden… and the beauty… of history.

If you found value in today’s episode, here’s how you can support the mission: 24:58

📣 Share it with someone who needs to hear the full story.🎧 Follow Burden of History on your favorite podcast platform.⭐ Leave a review—it helps more people find this truth.📺 Subscribe to our YouTube channel, Burden of History, where we go even deeper through visuals and storytelling you won’t find anywhere else.💬 If you subscribe, send us a note—we love hearing from listeners like you.Help us bring truth to more people—because silence protects no one.💥 And come back next week as we dig deeper into what happened after the colonists declared independence… and who paid the price for that freedom.You’ve been listening to Burden of History. I’m Dr. Rose.Until next time—listen deeply, learn bravely, and never