The Unconventional American Revolution

The American Revolution, the conflict by which the American colonists won their independence from Great Britain and created the United States of America, was an upheaval of profound significance in world history. It occurred in the second half of the 18th century, in an "Age of Democratic Revolution" when philosophers and political theorists in Europe were critically examining the institutions of their own societies and the notions that lay behind them. Yet the American Revolution first put to the test ideas and theories that had seldom if ever been worked out in practice in the Old World--separation of church and state, sovereignty of the people, written constitutions, and effective checks and balances in government

The American Revolution as we know it was not a conventional revolution. There was no change in social hierarchy as in Russia when the Czar was overthrown, or mass killings of the aristocracy as in France’s revolution. Given, there were the occasional mob torching of a wealthy tory’s home, but on the whole, it was very little like any other revolution in previous history.

In this way, the American Revolution was unique unto itself. It was utterly different than the conventional revolution. It could almost be called an intellectual uprising. The fact that “The true revolution lies in the hearts and minds of all Americans.'; (John Adams) is the key to understanding why the American Revolution may not necessarily seem to be a revolution in terms of guns and death, but in terms of enlightenment, and the thirst for freedom, there has been no more fervent war fought.

One such example of devotion to the American cause is that of Long Bill Scott. Looking over his accomplishments, one cannot help but see the heroism, and the sacrifice that this one man made for his country. He leaves his children and wife in order to risk his life in a war that would protect, and further the ideals that he held dear, those of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

This zeal may seem confined to the very radical revolutionaries, but upon looking at the child-rearing practices of the time, one can see that children were engrained with American ideology at a very young age by their mother in a process called “republican motherhood';. Witness John Adam’s brother; at the age of eight sneak out of the house and march with revolutionary soldiers. This is not merely young energy, it is the passionate devotion to further those precepts that were taught to him by his mother.