The American Revolution plays a prevalent role in the development of United States history. It is fundamental to the progression of the united nation’s advancement, in emerging as an independent estate. Generally speaking, the American Revolution was essentially the war waged against Great Britain by the Colonials residing within the Thirteen Colonies. Their purpose: To break away from the motherland and authoritatively become a self-governed society parted from Great Britain. Although the Revolutionary War solitarily is a pivotal matter in the evolution of United States history, the events leading up to the revolution play a significant role in further enhancing the comprehension of American history. With this in mind, the British were …show more content…
They were called minutemen because they could be ready to defend Massachusetts in a moment’s notice. There were a total of 104 men and offices within the militia unit, composed of a great majority of farmers. The minutemen were a special militia unit because they resembled a fraternity, being said that most of these men closely grew up with each other. “The little group that Captain Parker mustered on Lexington Common before daybreak on April nineteenth, 1775, had some of the characteristics of a family reunion.” Among them were there were a dozen father-son combinations. There was also a slave by the name of Prince Estabrook who was serving to win his freedom. Every man in Massachusetts ages sixteen through sixty was required to carry a firearm in order to be able to defend themselves against British in case of attack. However, not everyone was part of the minutemen. Of the 117 men in Lexington, the men were given a job under one of the three categories: alarm list, militia and minutemen. The alarm list consisted of the younger men, elder men, and the less agile. Their responsibilities were to be watchmen and were assigned specific tasks at the sound of an alarm. The rest of the men were part of the militia. Among the militia, a more innovative group of men formed the minutemen which were composed of the more active men. The militia itself was more of a reserve force. Due to little gunpowder, musket practice was out of the question . Additionally, among the states there were no difficulties brought up by manpower and organization, but by the scarcity of gun powder. Since General Gage (the British commander-in-chief) had relocated most of the powder stores from Cambridge to Boston. This made gunpowder inaccessible to many colonists. “What the several towns had already drawn from the stores before Gage got around to their removal was pitifully small in amount, but
According to Carl N. Degler, the entire Revolution should be viewed as a conservative change. In “A New Kind of Revolution,” Degler talked about how the new actions taken place by the English had help structure and shape the colonial government. Not only did the colonies lack the affection of their motherland, Britain, they were also taxed unfairly. On the other hand, “The Radicalism of the American Revolution,” by Gordon S. Wood talks about how the American Revolution was a radical movement. His thesis covered how the country was transitioning from monarchy to republic, and now, democracy. The framers wanted to create a free nation where no single person rule. As well as, the people of the nation having the ultimate say so.
When one explains his or her ingenious yet, enterprising interpretation, one views the nature of history from a single standpoint: motivation. In The American Revolution: A History, Gordon Wood, the author, explains the complexities and motivations of the people who partook in the American Revolution, and he shows the significance of numerous themes, that emerge during the American Revolution, such as democracy, discontent, tyranny, and independence. Wood’s interpretation, throughout his literary work, shows that the true nature of the American Revolution leads to the development of United State’s current government: a federal republic. Wood, the author, views the treatment of the American Revolution in the early twentieth century as scholastic yet, innovative and views the American Revolution’s true nature as
Gordon Wood’s Radicalism of the American Revolution is a book that extensively covers the origin and ideas preceding the American Revolution. Wood’s account of the Revolution goes beyond the history and timeline of the war and offers a new encompassing look inside the social ideology and economic forces of the war. Wood explains in his book that America went through a two-stage progression to break away from the Monarchical rule of the English. He believes the pioneering revolutionaries were rooted in the belief of an American Republic. However, it was the radical acceptance of democracy that was the final step toward independence. The transformation between becoming a Republic, to ultimately becoming a democracy, is where Wood’s evaluation of the revolution differs from other historians. He contributes such a transformation to the social and economic factors that faced the colonists. While Gordon Wood creates a persuasive argument in his book, he does however neglect to consider other contributing factors of the revolution. It is these neglected factors that provide opportunity for criticism of his book.
In the 1770’s the British army was well known for its monetary wealth and professional well trained militia. American colonists were slowly getting more and more fed up with the inequality and taxation under British rule so they took a stand. Americans known as Rebels or Patriots fought in the Revolutionary War to gain independence from Britain. Some colonists also known as loyalists, thought that the Patriots had no chance against the professional militia so they stayed loyal to the crown. Although improbable at the start of the American Revolution, the colonists were able to defeat the British army and formally gain independence because they had great leadership from George Washington, similar goals that created high morale, and aided from
“Is there a single trait of resemblance between those few towns and a great and growing people spread over a vast quarter of the globe, separated by a mighty ocean?” This question posed by Edmund Burke was in the hearts of nearly every colonist before the colonies gained their independence from Britain. The colonists’ heritage was largely British, as was their outlook on a great array of subjects; however, the position and prejudices they held concerning their independence were comprised entirely from American ingenuity. This identity crisis of these “British Americans” played an enormous role in the colonists’ battle for independence, and paved the road to revolution.
The American Revolution: A Global War begins with a discussion of the international nature of the Seven Years' War, highlighting the harsh peace that the British imposed on France and Spain as well as the tensions in Europe in the inter-war period. The focus of this shifts back to America with a summation of growing tensions between Britain and the thirteen American colonies that led to violence an...
The American Revolution was sparked by a myriad of causes. These causes in themselves could not have sparked such a massive rebellion in the nation, but as the problems of the colonies cumulated, their collective impact spilt over and the American Revolution ensued. Many say that this war could have been easily avoided and was poorly handled by both sides, British and American; but as one will see, the frame of thought of the colonists was poorly suited to accept British measures which sought to “overstep” it’s power in the Americas. Because of this mindset, colonists developed a deep resentment of British rule and policies; and as events culminated, there was no means to avoid revolution and no way to turn back.
The American Revolution was a conflict that arose from growing tensions between Great Britain and the Thirteen North American colonies. It was a long bloody war and one of the most well-known, and because of that it has many interpretations, and these interpretations have made it a challenge to be able to come to a single understanding of the war. In this week’s readings, two different views on the same war are given. The American Yawp describes the American colonies point of view on the revolution while the History Lesson discusses how British wanted to control America but instead drove them to rebel and fight for their independence. The colonists saw the war for their independence as a revolution, but through British eyes, events and people were, not surprisingly, seen quite differently.
The American revolution is outcome of disagreement and injustices. Before, the American Revolution, Great Britain and the American colonies, were already brewing a lot of disputes. Although, Great Britain was thousand of miles away, Great Britain still enforced and create acts that were expected to be follow by the American colonists. Nevertheless the disagreement and injustices in the American colonies led the colonist to protested against the ruling of Great Britain.
The American Revolution (1775-1783) was a revolution was based on British implemented high taxes, which lead to the American revolting against the British authority. The reason why the American Colonialist revolted because they wanted representation in Parliament, which is the reason why many primary documents during this time emphasize “no taxation without representation”. With the events such as Stamp Act, the Boston Tea Party and the first shots fired upon of the revolutionary war at the battle of Lexington and Concord led the American Colonialist to sign the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. At the end of the revolution in 1783, Britain had lost significant land to the newly formed United States of America. However, during the American Revolution there was a different narrative that was unaccounted for; Colin Callaway’s book The American Revolution in Indian Country: Crisis and Diversity in Native American Communities explores the unaccounted stories of indigenous people and nations during the American Revolution.
As proclaimed in the “Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms,” we agreed that the British government had left the people with only two options, “unconditional submission to the tyranny of irritated ministers or resistance by force.” Thus, in the early months of the dreadfully long year of 1775, we began our resistance. As the war progressed, the Americans, the underdogs, shockingly began winning battles against the greatly superior mother country of England. Actually, as seen in the battle of Bunker Hill, not only were they winning, they were annihilating hundreds of their resilient opponents. Countless questions arose before and during the War of Independence. Problems like: social equality, slavery, women’s rights, and the struggle of land claims against Native Americans were suddenly being presented in new and influencing ways to our pristine leaders. Some historians believe that while the Revolutionary War was crucial for our independence, these causes were not affected; thus, the war was not truly a revolution. Still, being specified in the Background Essay, several see the war as more radical, claiming it produced major changes above and beyond our independence.
George Washington once said, “Only virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become more corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.” England took advantage of its colonies and tried to enforce unfair policies. In 1775, the political mistreatment needed to end and the United States needed to separate from Britain to develop successfully as a country. The American Revolution changed the history of the world. To understand it’s the importance of the American Revolution it necessary to understand pre-war America, the cause of war, Britain’s mindset, United States’ mindset, the economy, significant events, and how the war ended.
The histories that are ascribed to the American Revolution are essentially enveloped around the chief American founding fathers. The primary focus is placed about the valiant men who went ahead and initialed the declaration of independence, engaged in fierce combat with the British, and those who outlined founding of the constitution. Yet there are trivial personalities who buoyed, heartened, extended advice to these pedestaled founding fathers.
From the 1770s to the 1780s, the American Revolution was extremely influential in developing the United States as a country, and creating the Constitution. This political upheaval was the colonists’ initial rebellious demonstration against the British, and heavily elaborated on the ideas of freedom from a dominating power, which reflected among all social divisions nationwide. From gender relations to the social hierarchy of the persecuted racial groups, every group was by some means affected by the American Revolution and the consequences that followed. The repercussions from the revolt were not entirely positive, despite the country’s newly-developed democracy and the citizens’ increase of political influence. The Revolutionary War had a
When the First Continental Congress asked the colonies to form militias, Massachusetts quickly formed a part-time militia called the minutemen. They were called the minutemen because they were always ready to fight even at a minute’s