The American Revolution was one of the most prominent events of the 18th century. Much more than a revolt against British taxes and trade regulations, the American Revolutionary War marked the first time in history that a nation fought for their independence within the name of certain universal principles like the rule of law, constitutional rights, and widespread autonomy. However, the degree to which the American Revolution can truly be called “revolutionary” is debatable. The American Revolution denounced the existing format of society and advocated a then-radical grasp of equality, but these benefits of equality were unequally apportioned among Americans, and the exalted ideal was exclusive. the effects of the Revolution on large components of American society, including women, black slaves in the South, and the Indians, evidently demonstrate the Revolution as a fundamentally conservative movement. In the sense that pre-Revolutionary social roles, racial discrimination, and political privileges mostly prevailed in the immediate post-Revolutionary era.
After the French and Indian War ended, the British government issued the Proclamation of 1763, which forbade colonists from settling the land west of the Appalachian Divide.The proclamation also prohibited private citizens and colonial governments from buying land from natives or making agreements with them. It was also intended to keep the colonists near the coast. New settlements further inland would cost the government a lot of money on roads, protection, security, and local governments. Yet, Since the British government was already in heavy debt due to the cost of the war, it couldn’t afford to invest in new settlements. the colonists ultimately saw the proclamation as an attempt by the British government to put its own needs and interests first instead of serving the interests of its people, also the colonists believed they earned the western lands when they fought for the British government in the French and Indian War and saw this denial of their hard-earned reward as a betrayal. the colonists’ frustration with the oppressive British government planted the seeds of the American revolution.
The revolution brought about subversive views and changes in American society about egalitarianism, the doctrine that all people are equal and deserve equal rights and opportunities. The American Revolution also created the written constitution which was the first modern document to espouse ideals of egalitarianism and is the most enduring example of democracy in the world. The Revolutionary War gave birth to ideas about voting rights for more people and raised debates about the roles of women and slaves. however, A true social revolution destroys the institutional foundations of the old order and transfers power from a ruling elite to new social groups. Although there were challenges raised about white male authority, women, and slaves were not given any rights under the Constitution.
After the American Revolution, Americans, who were free of British control, started to reevaluate politics, the economy, and society. After breaking away from what they thought was a corrupt and evil government, Americans changed how they wanted to govern their society, ironically they ultimately reverted to a more centralized government similar to Britain. Two important socio-economic issues the founding fathers had to address were the rights of women and slavery. As depicted In the Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America they seemed to advocate strongly that all men are created equal. In the document, it states, “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.” They also state that along with all men being equal everyone has rights that are supposedly god given. “They are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights.” throughout history many have criticized American “equality”, referring to the introduction of the declaration. The Critics point to Jefferson’s contradictory message regarding equality in reference to slavery. Although Jefferson stated that all men are created equal and have the right to liberty, he ran a large plantation and was a slaveholder. Other critics point to the use of the word “men” as excluding women citizens. while the Declaration of Independence stating, “all men are created equal”, could have lead to a truly democratic society it became explicit that the statement solely referred to rich, white, land-owning adult males.
This extent of these limitations is evident in document 6 where a speech made by an African American student in 1819 depicted that he had trouble making it in the world because of his skin color. He had received a very good education and graduated top of his class yet there was nothing that he could do with his education. No one wanted to work with him and get could not get a job. In this document, he states “No one will employ me; white boys won’t work with me. Shall I be a merchant? No one will have me in his office; white clerks won’t associate with me,” This shows that even though the American revolution was supposed to have made it so that all men were to be treated as equals, this African American man was still being treated unfairly nearly 40 years after the end of the revolution.
likewise, although women’s roles increased greatly during the revolution, it can be argued that women wanted to further their domestic roles and play a larger role in society. Although women continued to read and write about political matters through the 19th century, they were not accorded the equal public space and chance for public participation. The revolution was supposed to be the notion that rectified this problem. In document 7 Abigail Adams says, “In the new code of laws which I suppose will be necessary for you to make I desire you remember the ladies and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands.” women, however, were not immediately granted the right to vote until many years later. Abigail Adams’s letter to her husband John Adams depicting her view on the enfranchisement of women was written in 1776 during a time when women’s ideas were simply ignored and unwanted so it wasn’t until 1920 that the 19th amendment stating “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex”, was written that gave all the right to vote despite their sex.
Concurrently, Native Americans were also extensively marginalized in the decades following the conclusion of the Revolutionary War. Not only were the Indian nations who retained their own culture and refused to assimilate into Euro-American civilization deemed inferior to white Americans, but even the “Civilized Nations” such as the Cherokee who adopted literacy, Christianity, and plantation agriculture were denied an equal footing with whites, as seen in the well-known forced removal of the Cherokee nation from their lands in the 1830s. The Letter from three Seneca Indians Leaders to the President of the United States, George Washington in (1790) illustrates their frustration with America taking over their land. The Seneca were part of the Six Nations, also called the Iroquois Confederacy and they occupied the western part of upstate New-York. The Americans forced the Seneca to give up large areas of land without being paid anything. The Indians assumed the Americans did this because they still harbored animosity toward the Seneca for allying with the British during the Revolution. In document 10, the Seneca leaders reference to Washington as “the Town-destroyer” which recalls a time during the American Revolution (1779) when he ordered the burning of the Seneca villages. They not only wanted to remind Washington that they understand that he is a powerful warrior and has defeated the Seneca in the past But they also wanted to highlight the Seneca’s suffering in the past. in addition, they go on to assert that the King of England had given the land to Americans from whom he had purchased it and they, in effect, own the land. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 directs that “the utmost good faith shall always be observed towards Indians; their land and property shall never be taken from them without their consent.” But The unwillingness of the U.S. government to deal with Indians as equals and seek compromises meant that hostilities would inevitably continue between Native America and Euro-America, and the persistence of the white American attitude towards Native Americans as unequal inferiors demonstrated another limit of the revolutionary idea of equality.
Furthermore, the practice of slavery was common during the American Revolution in the colonies and in Europe. At the time, it was the primary economic engine in the southern colonies. The American Revolution served as a springboard for national identity, the growth of the government, and the unity of economies; however, conflicts over Indian policies, slavery and the education of women also spurred from the Revolution. In the spectrum of government in an economy, the American revolution served as a Nagy point of growth and development by introducing ideas of a representative democracy as opposed to a monarchy, while in social terms it led to internal colonial conflict.
In the post-revolutionary era, racial limitations of equality naturally led one to question the degree to which the American Revolution brought any significant change for non-white men. When it comes to blacks, the most significant changes in their status happened in the north, where slavery gradually died out in the decades immediately following the Revolution. Overall, the total number of slaves in all states north of Maryland fell from 55,102 to 31,258 between 1777 and 1865. Objections to slavery existed in the early colonial period. But opposition to slavery did not develop into an organized effort until the Revolutionary War. As colonists demanded the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, they were forced to question and come to terms with the hypocrisy of slaveholding in their emergent free nation. In 1787, the Northwest Ordinance was passed, which outlawed slavery in the northwest territories. Many of the states abolished it at this point. Other states, however, waited until the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 outlawed slavery in the states rebelling against the union. But eventually, by 1804, all Northern states had voted to abolish the institution of slavery within their borders. In most of these states, however, abolition was not immediate. Instead, gradual emancipation laws set deadlines by which all slaves would be freed, releasing individuals as they reached a certain age or the end of a certain work period. However, it is important to keep in mind that the number of slaves in the North were quite small, to begin with when compared to the South, and nowhere in the North did slaves play an essential economic role analogous to their role in the Southern plantation economy. Ending Slavery in the south would destroy the Economy because Slavery was the most convenient way to run a plantation system; also Freeing slaves would mean a loss of valuable property which threatened the freedom of white Americans.
In this sense, it is questionable if we can even use the term “revolutionary” when describing the gradual decline of Northern slavery following the American Revolution. In the South, where slavery formed the foundation of the economy, hardly any progress was made in the post-Revolutionary period with regard to the rights of slaves. The external slave trade continued and during the two decades between the ratification of the Constitution and the American ban on slave imports, the South imported 240,000 black slaves, which is nearly equivalent to the number of slaves imported into all of British North America in the previous 150 years. Rather than being contained, slavery expanded into new states like Alabama as the American republic itself expanded into new lands.
Moreover, The Famous Revolutionary War vue d’optique print, by French artist chez basset depicts the Sons of Liberty tearing down a statue of King George III at Bowling Green. Basset meant to illustrate colonial unrest toward Great Britain to his French audience. the British had just defeated the French in a bitter war fought in Europe and North America, thus Great Britain’s troubles with its colonies cheered France, which ultimately invoked them to aid the young United States. The image was intended to display the events of July 10, 1776, following the first reading of the Declaration of Independence, when a group of inspired patriots tore down the statue of King George in Bowling Green. however, it demonstrated a misguided attempt by the artist to depict the destruction of an equestrian statue of King George III in New York City; this view showed what appeared to be mostly slaves attempting to pull over the statue which is a direct reiteration of the oppressive traditions of the British. This destruction was thought to be both a gesture of patriotic triumph and one of defiance, in a city politically divided and threatened with occupation but the print unintentionally emphasizes the irony that no true social change had come from the declaration of independence and people were still being oppressed due to their race.
In contrast to its effect on minorities, the revolution brought about significant ideals of equality for white men despite their economic status. As illustrated by Billiards in Hanover- Town (Virginia). (Benjamin Henry Latrobe, 1797), the American revolution brought upon changes in class differentiation contrary to monarchies where classes were distinct and the poor and wealthy did not interact. The photo clearly demonstrates these changes by showing people that are in different classes playing a game of pool despite their monetary status. However, what it failed to include was the women and those of other races. Another noteworthy advantage of the revolution on the poor whites was that the percentages of wealthy representatives greatly decreased during the democratization of the legislatures. Which made the legislative bodies more economically and socially diverse. Document 4 exhibits the economic status of the representatives in six colonial legislators. The charts represent the change in the percentage of the wealthy representatives from the beginning of the stamp act in 1765 to the land ordinance of 1785. In both charts (one has data for New Hampshire, New York, and New Jersey and the other has Maryland, Virginia, and South Carolina) the percentages of wealthy representatives greatly decreased by approximately 24% while that of the economically moderate representatives increased in the north and south by 45% and 18% respectively. Which consequently led to a more equal legislative body from an economic standpoint and allowed the general public to contribute to the implementation of laws.
In conclusion, the American Revolution can be said to have different effects on different groups of people, and the degree to which the American Revolution can truly be described as “revolutionary” varies depending on which particular group one focuses on. For poor whites, particularly in the South, the American Revolution can indeed be described as “revolutionary,” insofar as it promoted a then-radical sense of social equality and intra-racial solidarity that transcended class divisions. the Revolution also resulted in the manumission of many blacks in the northern states although the extent to which this was “revolutionary” is questionable given the marginal economic importance of slavery in the North. However, for groups such as black slaves in the South, women, and Indians, the American Revolution can hardly be described as “revolutionary.” In many cases, the ideals of the American Revolution served to perpetuate and even enhance the pre-Revolutionary sociopolitical order, which can be seen in the persistence of black slavery, traditional gender roles, and settler encroachment on Indian land in the post-Revolutionary era.