Liberty, republicanism, and independence are powerful causes. The patriots tenaciously asserted American rights and brought the Revolution. The Revolution brought myriad consequences to the American social fabric. There was no Reign of Terror as in the French Revolution. There was no replacement of the ruling class by workers' groups as in revolutionary Russia. How then could the American Revolution be described as radical? Nearly every aspect of American life was somehow touched by the revolutionary spirit. From slavery to women's rights, from religious life to voting, American attitudes would be forever changed. Show
Some changes would be felt immediately. Slavery would not be abolished for another hundred years, but the Revolution saw the dawn of an organized abolitionist movement. English traditions such as land inheritance laws were swept away almost immediately. The Anglican Church in America could no longer survive. After all, the official head of the Church of England was the British monarch. States experimented with republican ideas when drafting their own constitutions during the war. All these major changes would be felt by Americans before the dawn of the nineteenth century. The American Revolution produced a new outlook among its people that would have ramifications long into the future. Groups excluded from immediate equality such as slaves and women would draw their later inspirations from revolutionary sentiments. Americans began to feel that their fight for liberty was a global fight. Future democracies would model their governments on ours. There are few events that would shake the world order like the success of the American patriotic cause. The American Revolution emerged out of the intellectual and political turmoil following Great Britain’s victory in the French and Indian War. Freed from the threat of hostile French and Indian forces, American colonists were emboldened to resist new British colonial policies that raised issues of inequalities of power, political rights, and individual freedoms. People such as John Adams and Mercy Otis Warren believed that the British policies stimulated the minds of Americans to demand independence and expanded individual rights. This revolution of the mind had physical consequences as Americans openly and sometimes violently opposed Great Britain’s new assertions of control. The right to representation, political independence, separation of church and state, nationalism, slavery, the closure of the Western frontier, increased taxation, commercial restrictions, use of the military in civil unrest, individual freedoms, and judicial review were some of the salient issues that boiled up in the revolutionary cauldron of Britain’s American colonies.
John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, August 24, 1815 American Revolution Transforms North AmericaBenjamin Franklin’s Idea for National ConfederationBenjamin Franklin. Plan of Proposed Union (Albany Plan), 1754. Manuscript. Hazard Papers in the Peter Force Collection, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (2.00.02) [Digital ID# us0002_2, us0002, us0002_1] Locke’s Influence on the American Ideas of Natural Rights“Pursuit of Happiness”Henry Home, Lord Kames. Essays on the Principles of Morality and Natural Religion, in Two Parts. Edinburgh, 1751. Thomas Jefferson Library Collection, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (4) [Digital ID# us0004] Radical British Writers Prepare the Way for RevolutionLondon Merchants Announce Repeal of Stamp ActLetter from London merchants to John Hancock, March 18, 1766. Manuscript. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (007.01.00) [Digital ID#us0007_01] English Missionaries Work to Convert Native AmericansLetter from John Brainerd to P.V.B. Livingston, November 20, 1752. Manuscript. Marian S. Carson Collection, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (7.03.00) [Digital ID# us0007_03] Protests Lead to Repeal of Stamp ActAn Act for Repeal [of] the Stamp Act, March 18, 1766, At the Parliament Begun and Holden at Westminster.… London: Mark Baskett, Printer to the King, 1766. Marian S. Carson Collection, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (8) [Digital ID# us0008_1] Discover! Mock Funeral Procession for the Stamp ActAmerican Opposition to Anglican BishopAmericans Protest the Stamp ActWilliam Samuel Johnson. “Declaration of Rights and Grievance,” October 19, 1765. Manuscript. Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (10.01.00) [Digital ID# us0010_01] Continental Congress Seeks to Resolve GrievancesCauses and Necessity for RebellionA Political Satire on French AllianceAnother Political Satire on French AllianceBloodied British Capture “Bunker’s Hill”British Parliament Passes a Tax on the ColonistsAn Act for Granting Certain Stamp Duties. London: 1765. Peter Force Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (007.04.00) [Digital ID# us0007_04] Franklin Claims Opposition to Stamp ActLetter from Benjamin Franklin to Charles Thomson, July 11, 1765. Manuscript. Charles Thomson Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (008.03.00) [Digital ID# us0008_03p1] Read the transcript Franklin Flip-Flops on Stamp ActLetter from Benjamin Franklin to Charles Thomson, September 27, 1766. Manuscript. Charles Thomson Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (008.02.00) [Digital ID# us0008_02] Read the transcript Philadelphia on the Eve of the RevolutionRepeal Celebrated in BostonRepeal of Stamp ActGlorious News. Boston, Friday 11 O’Clock, 16th May 1766. This instant arrived here the Brig Harrison, belonging to John Hancock. Boston: 1766. Broadside. Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (007.05.00) [Digital ID# us0007_05] What were the political and economic effects of the American Revolution?The Revolution also unleashed powerful political, social, and economic forces that would transform the post-Revolution politics and society, including increased participation in politics and governance, the legal institutionalization of religious toleration, and the growth and diffusion of the population.
Was the American Revolution political or economic?The American Revolution was a conservative movement intended to preserve the existing social, political, and economic order. As divided as historians are over the causes of the American Revolution (1775-1783), they are in even greater disagreement over its consequences.
What were the political effects of the American Revolution?Political participation grew as more people gained the right to vote, leading to greater importance being placed on representation within government. In addition, more common citizens (or “new men”) played increasingly important roles in local and state governance.
What were the political and economic causes of the American Revolution?The American Revolutionary War began largely over economic pressures, with colonists in the Thirteen Colonies upset over taxation without representation. Unfortunately, America's economic situation did not improve with the war or its immediate aftermath.
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