Class Struggle During the Revolutionary War
According to Howard Zinn, during the Revolutionary war, aside from the struggle between the Loyalists and the Colonists, there was also a large class struggle between the rich and the poor, that both affected, and was affected by the war. In America during the 18th century, 90 percent of the population was poor, and only 10 percent was rich and had large land holdings. Also, there were laws in most states that required office holders to own a minimum amount of land, therefore the richest 10 percent of the population controlled the government. Poor people recognized the injustice that they
However, when the poor farmers obtained the land, they found themselves changing who they owed money to, instead of changing their financial situation. Although they now owed some land, they remained poor and in debt. were being served, and considering that they could not do anything to change the laws, they found the one thing that the rich needed them for, and attempted to use it to their advantage. Because the poor were, for the most part impartial to the war, the colonists tried to pull them to their side by offering them land that was confiscated from the Loyalists, in return for their assistance. Not only were they free from taxes imposed by the King, but a small amount of colonists had received large sums of land that had been confiscated from the Loyalists. However, 90 percent of the colonists population ultimately lost. When the war was over, and the federalists had won, rich colonists had defiantly succeeded in their goal. the rebellion against British rule allowed a certain group of colonial elite to replace those loyal to England, give some benefits to small landholders, and leave poor whit working people and tenant farmers in very much their old situation" (Zinn, 85). "The new freeholders found that they had stopped being tenants, but were now mortgagees, paying back loans from banks instead of rent to landlords" (Zinn, 85). "The southern lower classes resisted being mobilized for the Revolution they saw themselves under the rule of a political elite, win or lose against the British" (Zinn, 82). "The general mood was to take no part in a war that seemed to have nothing for them" (Zinn, 82).
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