American Revolution?

Was the American Revolution “revolutionary?”

Some persist in the argument that the American Revolution is not really a revolutionary movement. They argue that the American Revolution did not establish a new nation, because the new government was established by the same social elites that held power before the Revolution. They point to the French Revolution, a “real” revolution by anyone’s standards, and claim that because the American Revolution does not share some of the same drastic and immediate changes, it is not a real revolution. However, while both statements are arguably true, they miss the fact that there were undeniable changes in American society as a direct effect of the American Revolution. The new ideals for foundation of government, the abolition of slavery in the North, and the shifting of land-ownership to a broader, more middle-class base all carried far-reaching social and political effects. Thus these changes, brought upon by the American Revolution, define the American Revolution as undoubtedly “revolutionary.”

The American government that we know today is a product of the American Revolution. This is because the ideals brought to the surface in the American Revolution were the very ideals that our gove

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In Massachusetts, the process was slow and confusing, as opposing interpretations of the constitution and other slave related court cases clashed. However, this was not to say that discrimination against Catholics, Jews, Deists, and nonbelievers ceased, only that religious liberty for many citizens grew. First there was unprecedented migration west. The government we have today, the ideas we hold, and the way we live our lives are all products of the American Revolution, and moreover, the changes that took place during the American Revolution. Asked one English official, “How could Americans treat Negroes as a better kind of cattle…while they are bawling about the Rights of human nature?” (Foner 295). ”

The ideals of antistatism, egalitarianism, populism, and liberalism were not limited to the American Revolution.

In 1777, Vermont’s constitution declared that:

All men are born equally free and independent…. The practice of slavery, however, is in direct conflict with these ideals. ” This document, drafted by Thomas Jefferson in 1777 was passed in 1786 through the efforts of James Madison, George Mason, and John Taylor. How could the founding fathers establish the first real egalitarian government but establish it as a slave society? It was because slavery as a whole was too deeply rooted to be removed by the actions of the American Revolution, although some changes would take place. Slavery began to wither in this state until finally in 1788 the Massachusetts legislature passed “An Act to prevent the Slave-Trade. These factors made slavery seem less and less desirable, while the humanitarian ideals compounded with the recently ended fight over human rights attacked slavery’s fundamentals. These documents have in common the same ideas that all men carry certain natural and unalienable rights. The social change in the Revolution paved the way for democratic ideals to be laid in land policy. From Lord Fairfax and Sir John Johnson were confiscated 50,000 acres each.

Approximate Word count = 2707
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page double spaced)

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