HISTORY ASSIGNMENT

Question: What were the revolutionary features of the American Revolution?

Discuss.

Name:Vijayratna Thapa

JGU ID:19030094

Date of Submission: 3rd October , 2019

Today we are living in the 21st century which is characterized by constant change and growth.
The world has been evolving rapidly since the beginning of the 20th century. The 20th century in
many ways laid the foundations for the future citizens. It was a century characterized by two
bloody wars, growth of nuclear power, rise of globalization and much more. But one very
interesting aspect of this century is the growth of nationalism. This escalation of nationalism
gave rise to a very important phenomenon- ‘revolution.’

But what is revolution? According to the Cambridge dictionary revolution means a change in the
way the country is governed, usually to a different political system and often using violence or
war. But the definition of revolution differs from people to people. According to Lenin
revolution is the transfer of power from one class to another. Similarly most philosophists and
political thinkers have their own views on revolution. Although everyone has their own views on
the meaning of revolution, they all in the end head towards the same tunnel. Revolution for me is
a social movement for progressive social change that can spread to global proportions. When
there is an injustice in the world, it is the people’s power in the belief and idea of revolution that
brings these issues to attention and gets them changed.

As of now many revolutions have taken place throughout the history of the world, some which
were unremarkable t some which have left behind huge legacies of their own, such as the French
revolution, American Revolution and the Bolshevik revolution. All of these revolutions have had
a staunch impact in their respective states or countries and have given an important lesson of
history to the world.

The American Revolution will be remembered as one of the most important events of the 18th
century. It was the first time ever a colony of the great British empire stood up to the British and
achieved independence. The revolution played a significant role in changing the idea of how
people saw their countries. The American Revolution also later became a model for many
European colonies who wished the rule of European imperialism imposed upon them. For many
states this revolution was a catalyst in promoting the ideas of liberty, equality and nation-state. It
also played an important role in making freedom and equality in important aspect in
governments around the world.
The American Revolution resulted in the creation of independent colonies, which were before
under British control, which then went on and formed the United States of America. The
American Revolution was a result of the growing alienation between the British and the people
of the American colonies. The revolution began with conflicts between the British troops and
the colonial militiamen in Lexington and Concord in April, 1775. By the following summer this
had resulted in full fledged war by the Americans for their independence. France too entered the
war on the side of the American colonist turning the civil war into an international conflict. The
French and the colonist finally got what they wanted in 1781 when they forced the British to
finally surrender in Yorktown, Virginia. Though the fighting did not formally end till 1783, by
that time the Americans had effectively won their independence by 1781.

The American Revolution had many revolutionary aspects embedded it. One of its biggest
revolutionary aspects was that it did not involve a regime change. Revolutions are more often
than not characterized by change of the ruling party. In fact the American Revolution gave birth
to an entirely new nation altogether. It gave rise to a new nation which adopted democracy as its
form of governance. The Americans wanted to adopt democracy as a system to oppose
monarchy. They did this as the British who had colonial control over them were a monarch and
they wanted to set up a system which would oppose it and which could challenge it in the form
of governance. The challenge to monarchy was another revolutionary aspect of the American
Revolution.

Another very important revolutionary aspect of the American Revolution was the idea of
equality. Before the American Revolution the American men were treated as inferiors by the
British officials. This created an inferiority complex among American men towards the British.
This idea of equality became a major force for the Americans to achieve independence. They no
longer wanted to believe they were an inferior race to the superior British who were ruling them.
Thus during the revolution too the idea of equality was interconnected with the idea of liberty for
the Americans. After the revolution was over this idea of equality was finally manifested by the
American people. For the first time in America religion was equalized before the state. Before
the revolution each state had its own established religion and this often lead to non-official
religion being persecuted. Another form of equality whose foundations were laid was that of
against black men. Blacks in America were treated as slaves for a long time, but this was soon to
change after the revolution. Though it did not happen directly after the revolution, the revolution
served as a basis for the establishment of equality among all men. This was evident in the
northern half of America where the number of slaves who were black began to fall drastically.
There were laws passed in the northern states against the banning of slavery. But in the southern
America it was a very different story altogether. Here there was no effort to draft some form of
equality against the blacks. Though in the south the blacks still faced persecution by the white
men, the banning of slavery in the north was an important steps towards equality and a another
very revolutionary aspect of the American revolution.

Also after the revolution a written constitution was created by the Americans. Directly after the
revolution was over the American congress adopted a weakened version of John Dickinsons
proposal for a national constitution and called it the Articles of Confederation. It then
immediately sent it to the other states for their ratification. This article provided for the
sovereignty, independence and freedom for every state. This was the first step of America
towards adopting a written constitution for its state. This creation of a written constitution too
was a revolutionary aspect of the American Revolution.

The American Revolution also laid the foundations for the feminist movement which happened
later in 1960s. During the revolution women were preoccupied with cooking, laundering and
nursing the wounded. Some women also disguised themselves as men to help in war. This period
saw a heightening of the public roles of women as it happened in all other wars. The American
women did not want to be left out during this time and wanted to do as much to help the cause.
An example of this being in 1779 when the continental army struggled to feed and clothe
themselves the women lead by Esther de Berdte Reed and Sally Franklin Bache organized a
campaign for the army amongst the Philadelphia women to raise money for the troops. Even
after the revolution had ended there was a brief period where there arose an opportunity for
granting women equality. This period saw some participation of women in politics and public
discourse and people started to realize women should be treated equally as men. But this never
materialized and there was counter revolutionary backlash in the 1820s that saw women
alienated more than ever before. Nevertheless this was an important period as this laid down the
foundations for the feminist movements in the future. This too was a revolutionary aspect of the
revolution.
All in all the American Revolution was a very successful revolution with many positives. It
impacted different groups and classes of people in different ways than one. It most importantly
got America the liberty which it had wanted and set about the foundations of democracy to the
world. It also had many revolutionary aspects conjoined within it which made a big impact on
the country as a whole.