American Revolution Dbq

Driving Question:
What significant outcomes of the American Revolution help shape our ideas or principles of government?

The struggle to gain Independence resulted in the formation of the government by the people to manage their welfare and well being politically, socially and economically.

The initial struggle to free themselves from the control of the British, ranging from the concept of overthrowing them and being independent to final achievement of independence the colonists were cohesive in their mindframe due to the goal being objective - free from the British. The cohesive nature of the colonists prevailed throughout the struggle for independence due to all having similar sufferings under the British. Reaching independence being in

a mode of self-governance led to the realization of many intricate structures that should prevail to sustain a bona fide government. The mind set prevalent in the spree of gaining independence was focussed on freedom and the post-independence formation of a self-government turned out to be an experimental fiasco due to the uncontrollable limits of freedom the colonists preferred.

To empathize the pre-independence scenario the Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense” approach cannot be overlooked.

He was the key individual to instigate the movement for independence in an aggressive manner. His incendiary work that was effective and convinced the colonists to wage war against England. He argued that it was imperative to declare independence towards their despotic leader, King George III, to prosper. He strongly supported republicanism. Another principal motivator to aggravate the urge for independence was Patrick Henry. He was deemed to be a radical colonist. His motto was “give me liberty or give me death”. This resonated amongst his colleagues in the quest for independence. One of the famously recorded attributes of his speech was the advocation of rebellious acts. He’d rather die fighting for his liberty than to live in slavery and oppression and impels loyalists to join in on this train of mind. There was no possibility of dialogue or negotiation, but wage war. Above all, the struggle being profoundly difficult to initiate the independence revolution in terms of motivation and standing up against the British that culminated in a war was no easy

path.

The achievement of independence resulted in the arduous task for the colonists to form a government to be sustainable in terms of social and economic stability. The Articles of Confederation was formulated and it turned out to be contradictory for effective governance. The first and foremost being bias towards freedom, the idea of executive authority was basically eradicated. This was mainly due to the stigma of the adversities of Kings and Queens. The colonists were also mindful not to enforce states to adhere to strict rules. There was freedom to choose payment of taxes, joining the army, lack of court systems, the states were at freedom whether to pay federal taxes and the congress had no control over resolving disputes amongst states. These situations being under the so called umbrella of freedom that was the pre-independence doctrine did not enable the colonists to retain an effective governmental system. The ineffective nature of the self-government was improved into perhaps the most effective democratic system in the world via the establishment of the constitution or the law of the land.

The struggle for independence in pursuit of freedom and formation of a government system to create a self-governing nation has been trying for the colonist.

The initial articles of confederation being an exhibition of extreme freedom for all was short lived due to its lack of effective sustainability. It turned out to be a failure in all areas of the intricate governance machinery. The Remedy of this problem was rectified through the formation of the constitution. The constitution established distinct governmental divisions in the form of congress, executive branch, and judiciary.Such an establishment did not alleviate from the control of all these divisions from the citizens. All authorities prevalent in all the three branches roots down to the citizens who either directly or indirectly appoints the members. It is evident that the importance of the value of citizens did not erode but are reined in the democratic system of appointing the members of all the branches of the government. “We the People” being the beginning of our constitution signifies the importance of the freedom and rights of the citizens. These cannot exist if we are not independent. The achievement of freedom had been a struggle in history. The leaders of the crusade for independence diligently focussed on the outcomes being freedom. Freedom without guidelines of control could be chaotic. To maintain orderly freedom or pursuit of happiness for all citizens and to motivate them to collectively fulfill for

independence the Declaration of Independence was laid. Hence, it remains: “we the people.”