Soon after the 13 colonies that formed the first states of the United States of America received their freedom from Great Britain, the political rhetoric of the new nation was liberty and freedom. Many Americans fought the British colonizers to gain freedom. However, once freedom was achieved, several groups saw an opportunity to take personal advantage. There were few groups of people who certainly enjoyed their newfound freedom and freedom. But many American citizens still faced oppression similar to that which they had so hard fought under British rule. It is necessary to reconcile the idea that not all people enjoyed the freedoms they fought for with the rhetoric of the American Revolution and foundational documents such as the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. It is important to understand that America was still very young and still struggling to understand what equality fully meant. Americans believed that equality meant being able to govern yourself in your own way using your own ideas. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get Original Essay After gaining independence from colonization, Americans thought equality meant self-government. They expected that once they became independent and achieved self-government, it would lead to the achievement of equality. “The French imperialists, abusing our standards of liberty, equality and fraternity, have violated our homeland and oppressed our fellow citizens.” From the detailed information contained in the Declaration of Independence document, Americans believed that freedom meant moving away from the oppression they had suffered at the hands of their masters. Therefore, equality for them meant that breaking the chains of oppression by the English was the key to freedom. The people believed that, when left to their own devices, they would gain freedom from the oppression they had suffered. Because the country was so young, the citizens of the colonies were happy just to get their freedom. Additionally, Americans saw equality as installing democracy over the dictatorship used by the colonizers. The young leadership of the United States of America wanted to be different from the colonial British. To further demonstrate the fact that the United States was still new to self-government, there were questions about how to regulate democracy. The people wanted to have a democratic government where democracy was embraced in all spheres of government. The Capitalism and Freedom document states that “the country is a collection of individuals who compose it, not something above them”. There have been calls for the government not to regulate the economy or individual behavior. Americans wanted the government to allow free trade. There were to be no large corporations taking over the government. What people meant by equality was that everyone should be given the right to express themselves and also to do business with whoever they wanted. The appropriate approach to implementing democracy was still a challenge. Many compromises that were made to keep the thirteen states together saw the continued oppression of several aspects of American society at the time. The most affected group was the African slaves. The Articles of Confederation had created a weekly union of the thirteen states, with each state doing what it wanted with its people. A meeting called in Philadelphia in May 1787 attempted to change this by writing a new document, the Constitution. The question of representation isturned out to be a burning issue, especially since the population was supposed to play an important role in representation. Some states had large slave populations, and it was unclear whether slaveholders would be counted among the states' populations or whether only free citizens would be counted. Most states had stopped importing white slaves, but Massachusetts had stopped slavery within its borders. Slavery was a challenging issue since the most prominent people, who had also participated in the fight for freedom from colonization and also supported human freedoms such as George Washington and James Madison, owned slaves. Nobody was ready to insult them. Slavery also affected taxes. However, the roots of the continued oppression of blacks were laid as some of those present claimed that slaves were property and could not be considered people. Some recognized that slavery would cause the impoverishment of the affected populations. While British colonialism had prohibited the freeing of slaveholders, the founding fathers also prohibited any freedom for slaveholders, thus keeping the institution alive for economic reasons. Regardless, everyone knew that they would have to write a constitution that condoned slavery if they wanted to keep the United States. The word slavery was never included in the Constitution, but it was applied to all other people. The constitution allowed oppression and economic exploitation to continue for the sake of unity. With such a constitution, equality for all Americans would remain a dream for over two centuries. The group that seemed to enjoy equality, freedom and rights were the whites. When America gained independence, whites thought they were superior to blacks and natives and were put in charge of forming the government. In the two centuries that followed the independence of the United States, racial segregation was still a common practice throughout the United States of America. Slavery still existed and the white man continued to rule over the black person. Whites had all the best facilities, including schools, social services, and housing. Whites seemed to have had equality skewed in their favor, which stemmed from the fact that they held more powerful positions in government than blacks. In fact, the fact that slavery was still going on meant that there was no equality. Blacks were far from enjoying equal footing with their white counterparts. Lyndon B. Johnson at the Howard University Commencement in 1965 urged that “blacks should not only have legal equity but human capabilities. Black poverty is different from white poverty because of the oppression and injustice of the past.” The statement emphasizes that whites enjoyed much more freedom in the new United States of America. The groups that did not enjoy freedom and equality were blacks and marginalized communities. During the first two centuries America was dominated by whites. Whites were bringing forward different ideas about equality among themselves, such as human rights and public policy. In most cases, the ideas appeared to favor whites while disparaging blacks and other marginalized groups. The people who suffered the most were people of color. Apart from slavery, that persisted after independence; African Americans also faced many forms of injustice. People of color did not have much say in issues of development and equality. Black people lived as if they didn't have their rights to defend. Slavery allowed black trafficking to continue as families were separated when their members were sold like sheep.