What Do We Mean By The Revolution Analysis

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“What Do We Mean by the Revolution?” A revolution, by definition, involves the destruction and overthrowing of some sort of institution or order. Social revolutions overthrow societal structure and often involve a transfer of power or a change in property relations; political revolutions overthrow governmental structure, replacing it with a new political philosophy or framework; intellectual revolutions overthrow traditional bases of thought and knowledge. The American Revolution arguably accomplishes none of this, nor does it aim to, instead aiming to hold onto an already existent political, social, and economic structure through rejecting British rule. There is no reinstitution that occurs after the Revolutionary War that would not have…show more content…
This identity formed as soon as the American colonies are established, as is required by a community aiming to become a city upon a hill – a role model for the rest of the world cannot be the same as them. By the time the American Revolution begins, it is already emerging as a fully formed identity. This is acknowledged as early as 1773, as John Penn, who marvels at English ignorance “with respect to our part of the world (for I consider myself more American than English),” and Henry Laurens, who states that the Boston Port Act damaged the liberty of “all Americans.” By then, the Americans “saw only a loose confederation of peoples in which there were Britons and Americans, neither on of whom could presume to dictate to the other. The colonials, in effect, now felt themselves Americans, not displaced, subordinate Englishmen.” And so, by the time war breaks out, the fight is between two essentially separate polities. The differences between them are irreconcilable on multiple levels. In this way, the Revolutionary War does not involve revolting against any institution within America – it is a war against a separate state. It centers on an effort to maintain the social, political, and economic status quo that made up the American identity, as opposed to enacting any change or…show more content…
Women were allowed a little more education, but their place in society was largely the same as before, mainly concerned with child rearing and housekeeping. They still had neither suffrage nor any meaningful job opportunities outside of the home, and possessed nothing with any semblance of equality with white men. Similarly, black men and women were still subject to slavery, an institution that continued long after the Revolution and flourished in the South. Their place in society remained very stationary throughout the Revolution up until the 19th century. There was no change in property distribution. Wealthy men and speculators remained the largest landholders, with small landholders and landless gaining no land through the Revolution. Government rule and positions of power were still largely restricted to white men of wealthy and privilege, and most that had possessed power before the Revolution were still in power after. For example, John Adams himself was a wealthy, privileged, white male in power in the years before the Revolution and its war, and who remained in that position at its conclusion and afterwards. The social structure remained the same, with white men at the top, followed by white women, men of colour, and women of colour. The Revolution paved the way for, at most, equality for white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant males, and enacted very little meaningful social
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