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The significance of the American revolution
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Surname 1 Student’s Name Professor’s Name Course Date Was the American Revolution Radical or Conservative? The American revolutionaries played a critical role in fighting for the liberty of the American people. They were interested in protecting the rights of the people by implementing the high-law principles that govern the people’s natural rights. The radicalism in the country’s revolution was tempered by the failure of the founders to extend the political rights to that naturally deserved the rights. On the other hand, the British were vigilant in protecting their system by safeguarding their customs and traditions as stipulated in the British law. Americans were agitated to fight for their rights. This paper aims at assessing whether …show more content…
the American Revolution was radical or conservative (Jensen 174). The paper will argue its position based on available evidence. A radical revolution is a form of revolution aiming at bringing about bringing extreme changes to the current government. On the other hand, a conservative revolution is a form of revolution that seeks to preserve a country’s status quo or the important aspects of the country’s status quo. The American Revolution aimed at removing a government that was considered abusive to the rights of the people. The American people had been for a long time subjected to a leadership that did not honor or respect the rights of the people. It was about time that the people took the chance to stand up for themselves and protecting the rights of the weak. The American Revolution is considered radical because the American revolutionaries are standing up to reject the monarchy government and create a public system that respects the rights of the people defined it. The British implemented the monarchy system of government in the United States. The system was dictatorial and worked against the American people by denying them the opportunity to exercise their rights as citizens of America. The revolutionaries were rebelling against the British ruling that displayed a lot of arrogant triumphalism towards the American people. The British were forcefully subjecting the American people to their will, institutions, religion, and bureaucracy, a position that did not go well with the Americans. The British ruling was subjecting the American people against their own values forcing the Americans to live their lives with no freedom. The American people were subjected to the British taxation. The British government was taxing the Americans, which was against the high-law principles and contradicted with the British system. Efforts by the Americans and other revolutionaries took a blind ear to the British who continues to assert the right through their Declaratory Act to do as they please. The British were taking advantage of the Parliament’s supremacy (Jensen 1775). They abused the powers of parliament to introduce laws and principles were against the American people. The American Revolution was considered radical because the revolutionaries were fighting against a system that was already rooted in malicious acts and laws that infringed the American people (Bailyn). The American Revolution was a sense of reaction against oppression.
The people took a radical move as part of their response to the long train of abuses that persuaded the mass of people and revolutionaries to liberate the American people. The American people are believed to have always been intractable, rebellious, and impatient to acts of oppression. The revolution was, in fact, proof of the American people’s ability to rise against the legitimate government and their efforts towards ensuring that this government was thrown off and the American people are liberated (Shalhope 347). The success of this initiative demanded the American people must be radical and commit their efforts towards ensuring that this project of liberating the country was a success. Fanatics who were not willing to compromise and allow the American people adjust to the system led the radical revolution. This was a people’s war, and therefore it was important for the Americans to come together if they had a chance of winning against the highly trained and organized British army (Bailyn). The American people implemented the use of tactics of harassment, mobility, and cutting down supplies that were successful in the encirclement of their enemy. The Americans were able to achieve their vision by confrontation and being …show more content…
radical. The American Revolution was radical in the sense that it was organized as a civil war that resulted in the expulsion of 100,000 Tories. They were hunted, persecuted, killed, and their property confiscated. This war was more radical than the French Revolution. The kind of struggle the Tories were subjected to proves the extent at which the revolution was radical. The American radicalism was only directed against the Great Britain with the country maintaining close networks with the other western countries (Shalhope 339). The radicalism was pushed by the country’s need to achieve national liberation. America needed to be radical to boost its chances of being liberated from the hands of the oppressive British administration. The American Revolution was considered radicalized judging from the number of people that participated in the movement.
Most Americans were tired of the regime that subjected them to a lot of sufferings and therefore when the time came for the people to unite and fight against this regime, they were willing to work together and play an active role. The revolutionaries knew that they only had one shot in trying to liberate the country from the British (Jensen 1775). They, therefore, had to invest their efforts into ensuring that they are successful with the first trial. If they had been unsuccessful, they would have been tried for treason. Under the British law, the punishment for breaking such a law was
death. The American Revolution was more radical than conservative because it was working towards removing a rotten system and replacing it with a republic. The American people were tired of the monarchy system of governance, and therefore it was about time that the country put their efforts together, be radical, and work towards exiting this leadership and introducing a system that values the American people. The radical movement was able to remove a repressive government replacing it with a representative form of government that secured the liberties and rights of the people (Bailyn). The Americans wanted to introduce a system that respects their freedom of speech, religion and elects their representatives. Leadership was supposed to be people-centered, and therefore citizens needed to exercise their rights to elect a person of their choice. The revolution needed to be radical to broaden the base of the people who would be able to enjoy the civil liberties the American people needed to introduce in the country. The American needed to introduce a system of governance that did not discriminate against people based on race, religion or social classes. The Americans were able to achieve their objectives by radicalizing their revolution. Works Cited Bailyn, Bernard. The ideological origins of the American Revolution. Harvard University Press, 2017. Jensen, Merrill. The Articles of Confederation: An Interpretation of the Social-Constitutional History of the American Revolution, 1774-1781. Univ of Wisconsin Press, 1940. Shalhope, Robert E. "Republicanism and early American historiography." The William and Mary Quarterly: A Magazine of Early American History and (1982): 334-356.
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.
In his essay “The American Revolution as a Response to British Corruption”, historian Bernard Bailyn makes the argument that the American Revolution was inherently conservative because its main goal was to preserve what Americans believed to be their traditional rights as English citizens. He argues that the minor infringements on traditional liberties, like the Stamp Act and the royal ban on lifetime tenure of colonial judges (even though Parliament ruled that judges in England should exercise this right), made the Americans fear that they would set a precedent for future greater infringements on their English liberties. To prove this argument, Baliyan quotes famous primary sources, like John Dickinson, Sam Adams, and various colonial rulings.
Nash’s argument regarding to how the American Revolution portrayed “radicalism” throughout the American Revolution has been supported from the previous pieces of evidence. Moreover, the pieces of evidence listed to support Gary B. Nash’s argument are supported in embodying the true manner on how the American colonists fought to let go of their submission with the British and try to throw down Parliaments Policies. The evidence presented illustrate how the radical-lower class politics erupted to other citizens that favored British policies and caused riots that led to the account for the Revolution itself. The issues regarding to how these radical-lower class demanded British favorites demonstrated how far reaching the people would go to demolish but historically demonstrate their pride and purpose in freeing themselves from Parliament rule. These evidential claims help proclaim what argument Nash is making suggesting that radicalism was performed indeed to a very extreme point but rather to an effective point in which led to the creation of the American
During this entire period the British were starting to make attempts to intimidate the colonists in hopes to end the rebellions. It seemed that the more and more England tried to scare the people, the angrier they got. The tactics obviously didn't work, but instead pushed the colonists even further into standing up against Britain. The British soldiers in America were told not to entice violence, and especially not to kill anybody.
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.
The Revolutionary War was one of America’s earliest battles and one of many. Although, many came to America to gain independence from Great Britain many still had loyalty for the King and their laws. Others believed that America needs to be separated from Great Britain and control their own fate and government. I will analyze the arguments of Thomas Paine and James Chalmers. Should America be sustained by Great Britain or find their own passage?
The American Revolution, also known as the War for Independence began from 1785-1783. The primary cause for the war was because of a conflict between the 13 British colonies and England. The American Revolution resulted in a victory for the 13 British colonies who would declare themselves as the United States of America. However, there are many questions on whether or not the American Revolution was really revolutionary and if there were revolutionary changes being made to society. The American Revolution was not revolutionary because separation between African-Americans and Whites still existed, no change in women's representation or their voices being valued as high as men, and the Indians were promised the “Utmost Good Faith” but the result
“If we measure the radicalism of revolutions by the degree of social misery or economic deprivation suffered, or by the number of people killed or manor houses burned, then this conventional emphasis on the conservatism of the American Revolution becomes true enough. B...
During the American revolution, the revolution itself was radical for the merchants and other groups of people. Radical means that there is social, economic and political change. The American revolution gave new economic significant to groups of people such as thee merchants. The revolution was radical because many merchants economic opputonity before the French and Indian War the merchant were benefiting and after they having to deal with new taxation. Also after the revolution the merchant group face a time of economic problems until the US constitution was enacted. The revolution was radical for the merchant economically and politically.
In the essay written by Gary Nash, he argues that the reason for the American Revolution was not caused by the defense of constitutional rights and liberties, but that of “material conditions of life in America” were not very favorable and that social and economic factors should be considered as the driving factor that pushed many colonists to revolt. The popular ideology which can be defined as resonating “most strongly within the middle and lower strata of society and went far beyond constitutional rights to a discussion of the proper distribution of wealth and power in the social system” had a dynamic role in the decisions of many people to revolt. The masses ideas were not of constitutional rights, but the equal distribution of wealth in the colonies that many felt that the wealth was concentrated in a small percentage of the population in the colonies. The Whig ideology that was long established in English society had a main appeal towards the upper class citizens and “had little to say about changing social and economic conditions in America or the need for change in the future.” The popular ideologies consisted of new ways of changing the distribution of wealth. Nash in his essay continued to give good evidence to prove his point that the American Revolution was not caused by the defense of constitutional rights and liberties, but by improper distribution of wealth. During the pre-American Revolutionary times, the “top five percent of Boston’s taxpayers controlled 49 ...
The American revolution was a reaction to unfavorable tax policies from the King of England. When the King of England began to infringe on the colonists’ liberties, leaders inspired by the enlightenment grouped together to defend the rights of the American colonies. As Thomas Jefferson writes in the Declaration of Independence, “History of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries ad usurpations,
The start of the American Revolution, described by Edmund Morgan as, “the shot heard around the world,” was the “Americans’ search for principles” (Bender 63). Although the world’s colonies did not necessarily seek independence much like the Americans, the world’s colonies were nonetheless tired of the “administrative tyranny” being carried out by their colonizers (Bender 75). The American Revolution set a new standard in the colonies, proclaiming that the “rights of Englishmen” should and must be the “rights of man,” which established a new set foundation for the universal rights of man (Bender 63). This revolution spread new ideas of democracy for the colonized world, reshaping people’s expectations on how they should be governed. Bender emphasizes America as challenging “the old, imperial social forms and cultural values” and embracing modern individualism” (Bender 74). Bender shapes the American Revolution as a turning point for national governments. The American Revolution commenced a new trend of pushing out the old and introducing new self-reliant systems of government for the former
Many people have the misconception that the American Revolution occurred because British colonists did not want to be British citizens any longer. This may have been the case for a select few, but many British colonists desired to maintain their status as British colonists and citizens. The foremost reason that the colonists began protests, boycotts, and petitions against the British was because they believed their innate rights as British citizens were being violated. The American Revolution occurred due to a chain of events and a complex set of intertwined reasons.
The American Revolution marked the divorce of the British Empire and its one of the most valued colonies. Behind the independence that America had fought so hard for, there emerged a diverging society that was eager to embrace new doctrines. The ideals in the revolution that motivated the people to fight for freedom continued to influence American society well beyond the colonial period. For example, the ideas borrowed from John Locke about the natural rights of man was extended in an unsuccessful effort to include women and slaves. The creation of state governments and the search for a national government were the first steps that Americans took to experiment with their own system. Expansion, postwar depression as well as the new distribution of land were all evidence that pointed to the gradual maturing of the economic system. Although America was fast on its way to becoming a strong and powerful nation, the underlying issues brought about by the Revolution remained an important part in the social, political and economical developments that in some instances contradicted revolutionary principles in the period from 1775-1800.
These are just some of the reasons that Americans wanted the revolution; there are many more causes that could be justified for this major event. Americans did not want to be ruled by the British, who were thousands of miles away from them, they wanted to have control of their country and have their own laws.... ... middle of paper ... ...