World History: The American Revolution

When completing his history of the world in The Age of Extremes Eric Hobsbawm placed the Age of Revolution as starting in 1776 with that of the American Revolution, (although he originally placed it in 1789 due to his series starting as a history of Europe). The American Revolution was one of the key events in modern history with it leading to the creation of the USA and helped spawn ideas of liberty. The Revolution was a complex event leaving long-lasting and contradictory legacies which continues to influence the world today. In this post we'll look at the ideological origins of Revolution, the events which set the stage for Revolution, the War of Independence, its impact, results, and legacies. 

Origins

In 1764 the editor of the New-Hampshire Gazette wrote 'By this means the spirited Englishman, the mountainous Welshman, the brave Scotsman,and Irishman, and the loyal American, may be firmly united and mutually resolved to guard the glorious throne of Britannia.' How then, around a decade later, did the colonists of the Thirteen Colonies come to revolt against Britain? As with many events in history we have a series of reasons behind the origins of the Revolution. Last World History post we looked at the Seven Years' War which contributed to the origins of Revolution. The War pushed France out of North America opening former French lands to British settlement and into conflict with Native Americans. A mixture of encroachment into their land and 'pan-Indianism' from a Delaware religious prophet named Neolin, (these two points will become a recurring factor in American-Native American relations in the years to come), caused a war, called Pontiac's War, on May 7 1763 when British troops were attacked by Chippewa warriors at Lake St. Clair, near Detroit. The war would last until 1766 when more land was taken from Native Americans but in 1763 the king, George III, issued a proclamation creating new colonies and forbidding white settlement east of the Appalachian Mountains. The reason for this was because Britain was unwilling to be drawn into a series of border wars, but the American colonists and land speculators saw this as a personal attack. They wanted to settle, or buy, the land although in practice the 'Proclamation Line' was ignored. By 1771 over 10,000 colonists had settled in the Ohio Valley causing massacres of Native Americans, such as in Pennsylvania. In the 1730s and 1740s a Protestant religious revival called the Great Awakening swept over the colonies where even those sceptical of religion, like Benjamin Franklin, became enraptured by religious preachers. Not only did this lay the foundation of Revolution as it encouraged greater social participation and there were calls for the people to choose their ministers, but one particular act passed by Britain fed into this. When Britain took French colonies in Canada this brought into the empire more Catholics. To secure their allegiance in 1774 the Quebec Act expanded the colony of Quebec and emancipated Catholics. The revitalised Protestants saw this as a betrayal of their faith and London strengthening Catholics, and settlers were aggravated as the expanded Quebec ate into land which they could settle. 

A critique of the Stamp Act

The Seven Years' War was very expensive costing Britain around £161 million. Taxes were raised across the empire and especially in the American colonies as it was seen that as Britain had fought the war for them they should pay for it. As a result, a series of taxes were passed which aggravated colonists - we'll get to them soon so we'll discuss the ideology behind opposition to taxes now. A common misconception, which seems to largely be held by aspects of the political Right, was that the protests were over taxation; it is often overlooked that the actual phrase was 'No Taxation without Representation'. A prevailing thought among British politicians at the time was 'virtual representation' as opposed to 'direct representation'. With virtual representation it was believed that those who sat in parliament represented the entire empire; the merchants who sat in parliament therefore represented all merchants across the empire. This idea was highly contested in both Britain and elsewhere in the colonies; it is no lie to say how corrupt this could be, until 1832 Old Sarum with a population of 7 had equal representation in parliament as Newcastle-upon-Tyne. This also linked to ideas of liberty. Many of the leaders of the American Revolution were influenced by the British Enlightenment. When we say Enlightenment we should really say 'Enlightenments' as each region of Europe had their own specific Enlightenment. The British Enlightenment, (we can also say Scottish due to how many Scottish thinkers there were), focused on ideas of individual liberty, property rights and secularism. Of these included the 'Father of Capitalism' Adam Smith and humanists like David Hume. Enlightenment humanism, in contrast to Renaissance humanism, placed emphasis on secularism, the separation of religion and state, and emphasis on logic over superstition. The famous figures of the Revolution including Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin were deeply inspired by this branch of the Enlightenment. 

Thomas Paine

I want to focus on one particular part of the ideological origins of the American Revolution which inspired people across the US, Britain, and France. This was a short pamphlet written in simple English called Common Sense by Thomas Paine. Written in 1776 John Adams said 'Without the pen of the author of Common Sense, the sword of Washington would have been raised in vain.'  Originally from Norfolk in Britain Paine emigrated to Philadelphia in 1774 where he soon became embroiled in the radical politics of the city's artisans. Paine was deeply inspired by liberalism and individualism writing that 'For were the impulses of conscious clear, uniform and irresistibly obeyed, man would need no other lawgiver; but that not being the case, he finds it necessary to surrender up a part of his property to furnish means of protection of the rest.' For a long time the British constitution was seen as being the best granting liberty to people in a world gripped by despotism. Paine disagreed. He viewed the only free and republican aspect of Britain was the parliament which he saw as being corrupted by the monarchy. 'For all men being originally equals, no one by birth could have a right to set up his own family in perpetual preference to all others forever.' Paine argued that through the free market and an independent republic based on a broad franchise, annual assemblies, and a rotating presidency could people find liberty. Common Sense was immensely popular selling over 100,000 in 1776 alone and more people than that knew what was written inside; being written in vernacular English it could be read out in public for those unable to read it themselves. Paine would release future editions responding to critiques and his own views would later become more radical; he became a vocal deist and thanks to his critiques of Christianity only six individuals came to his funeral. Nevertheless, Paine offered the ideological backbone for what Gordon Wood would describe as 'The radicalism of the American Revolution'.

Lead up to Revolution

The Sons of Liberty tarring and feathering someone ignoring the boycott

In 1763 Britain had a deficit of £122 million which the new prime minister, George Grenville, opted to solve by taxing the colonies. If the Seven Years' War had been fought on behalf of the colonies why shouldn't they pay their dues? As this was happening we see the grievances over the Proclamation Line as well. Before 1764 the colonies had been lightly taxed: someone in Massachusetts on average paid a shilling in tax a year compared to a counterpart in Britain who paid twelve. In 1764 Grenville passed the first taxes but saw this as a way to formally establish authority over the lightly ruled colonies; a Royal Governor and local assembly governed each colony largely independent from Westminster. In March 1765 the Stamp Act was passed beginning the Stamp Act Crisis. This was a tax on anything with a stamp and this act also had anything published in the colonies to legally have a stamp on it. This covered everything from newspapers and legal documents to playing cards. Compared to the Sugar Tax from the year prior which regulated trade between the colonies and the rest of the empire it was seen as being illegal as it directly taxed the colonists. Although a light tax, the highest was £10 for attorney licenses, there was a fear acceptance of the Stamp Act would lead to heavy taxes and then entirely shifting the tax burden from Britain to the colonies. We also have the issue of 'No Taxation without Representation'. It was imposed by a body which the colonists had no say in despite Grenville saying they did through virtual representation. At the same time the Quartering Act was passed forcing colonists to house soldiers in their houses if needed which was seen as another tax. In 1765 the Sons of Liberty were formed among New York's labourers, sailors, and craftsmen, and soon similar groups emerged in Boston. In November 1765 a crowd made of sailors, youths, African-Americans, and labourers hurled stones at Fort George in Manhattan, and then destroyed the home of Major Thomas James, a British officer who threatened to force the stamps down the New Yorkers' throats. Virginia condemned the Act and in October 1765 27 delegates from nine colonies formed the Stamp Act Congress in New York to combat the Act. John Adams was seen as being the 'soul of the Congress'. They endorsed Virginia's position, agreed to act together, and vowed the boycott British goods. This was a breakthrough as the colonies started acting together instead of individually and none of the West Indian colonies turned up. As the Thirteen Colonies made up a third of British exports, enforcing the Stamp Act became difficult thanks to American protests, and the Stamp Act was unpopular in Britain as well in 1766 the new government started debating whether to repeal it. Benjamin Franklin even journeyed to London to criticise the Stamp Act. Parliament repealed the Stamp Act but as they did they passed the Declaratory Act; this act confirmed that what London said went. Despite the warning colonists celebrated and the road to Revolution was on its way. Backing down over the Stamp Act showed that British power could be challenged. 

Paul Revere's Boston Massacre engraving

In 1767 the new prime minister, Charles Townshend, created a series of custom duties, called the Townshend Acts, on goods including glass, tea, and paper in order to pay American governors and judges. This affected merchants the hardest and as many merchants were concentrated in Massachusetts that colony became the focal point for resistance to the Townshend Acts. Unlike the earlier Stamp Act boycott the boycotts against the Townshend Acts were less successful due to them being levied on everyday items. One of the key texts illustrating colonial views were the Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania by John Dickinson who published them in a Philadelphia newspaper between 1767 and 1768. Inspired by Enlightenment thought from figures like David Hume it called for Americans to hold the same rights as the British while reconciling with the mother country. Meanwhile, a grassroots and elite opposition to the Townshend Acts emerged where homemade goods were bought instead of British goods. The Sons of Liberty would tar-and-feather those who bought British goods and women got involved. The Daughters of Liberty organised social ostracising of those who continued to buy British goods and wove their own clothes to sell. The landowners and planters of the South, like George Washington, readily took up non-importation in order to pay off debts to British merchants (as well as encourage the sale of their own crops), and urban merchants were grateful for a drop in competition with British merchants. The heavy-handedness of the British in order to establish their authority aggravated the colonists. The navy seized a sloop called Liberty owned by Boston merchant John Hancock believing it was being used for smuggling. Hancock was well respected and riots broke out in 1768 causing soldiers to be stationed in Boston to enforce the law. Quickly Anglo-American relations soured. On March 5 1770 a protesting crowd, including a sailor of mixed Native American-black-white background called Crispus Attucks, started throwing snowballs at British troops. One was hit causing his weapon to discharge and, in turn, causing the other soldiers to fire into the crowd. Three were killed including Attucks who was later remembered as 'the first martyr of the American Revolution'. The commanding officer and eight soldiers were tried and defended strangely by John Adams who saw most of them acquitted. A local member of the Sons of Liberty, Paul Revere, stirred up opposition to the British by issuing a famous engraving print depicting the 'Boston Massacre' despite it being inaccurate. However, by 1770 the non-importation movement was declining as more and more of the elite couldn't do without British goods so a deal was drawn up: the boycott would end in return for removing troops from Boston and repealing all the taxes bar the one on tea. 

The Boston Tea Party

Throughout this time popular but radical journalist John Wilkes caused controversy in Britain and he gained popularity in America; the calls of 'Wilkes and Liberty' was a rallying cry across the Atlantic and for generations after people would name their children after him (including John Wilkes Booth). Meanwhile, the East India Company saw a dip in its stock so the government encouraged selling tea in America to reinvigorate it, and tea soon became widely drunk across all classes in Britain and America. Prime minister Lord North hoped to further reinvigorate sales by offering tax exemptions and rebates enabling it to dump cheap tea into America to undercut Dutch sales which ended up undercutting sales of established merchants and smugglers. Taxing the tea would then defray the costs of the colonial government threatening the assemblies' control over finance. Thus began the most famous protest of this period. On December 16 1773 a group of colonialists disguised as Native Americans boarded tea ships in Boston Harbor a threw 300 chests of tea costing £10,000 (£4 million in today's money). So popular was this that commemorative teapots were made! North was furious. The Coercive Acts, called the Intolerable Acts in the colonies, decided to punish Massachusetts including closing Boston Harbor; restricted town meetings; issued in another Quartering Act; replaced the local government with a military one under Thomas Gage; and Gage imposed martial law. Around this time the earlier mentioned Quebec Act was also passed. In Philadelphia on September 1774 the First Continental Congress saw twelve of the thirteen colonies (Georgia did not attend) represented by political leaders including John Adams and his more radical cousin Samuel for Massachusetts and George Washington and Richard Henry Lee from Virginia. Here the path to independence was laid out with Lee giving a speech stating that 'The distinctions between Virginians, Pennsylvanians, New Yorkers, and New Englanders are no more. I am not a Virginian, but an American.' He would later say a phrase now synonymous with the Revolution: Give me Liberty, or Give me Death! The Congress opted to lead a new boycott, prepare for a second Congress, transfer power to a new government in each colony, and send letters of invitation to the other colonies in North America. Instead on trying to base their rights on tradition they instead opted to base it on more abstract ideas based off of the Enlightenment. 

Creating Independence

In February 1775 Massachusetts was declared to be in a state of rebellion and troops were ordered to seize the arms of the local militias. This caused the now famous ride of Paul Revere warning the militia leading into the Battle of Lexington and Concord which Ralph Waldo Emmerson would later describe as 'the shot heard 'round the world'. This inspired other militias and armies to form and fight the British; May 1775 saw Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys joined with militia from Connecticut under Benedict Arnold to surround Fort Ticonderoga in New York as Henry Knox took some of the Ticonderoga cannon to help break the siege of Boston. On June 17 1775 the British fought the Americans at Breed's Hill but the battle has since been known as the Battle of Bunker Hill. Technically the British won with Sir William Howe even cutting down the original Liberty Tree but due to higher casualties and how it largely unaffected the colonists it was a hollow victory. Some have even suggested that it is more an American victory over a British one. As this was happening the Second Continental Congress convened with Georgia attending this time. However, a letter was sent to George III saying that they wanted reconciliation and blamed parliament, not him, for the division causing disdain from the radical Thomas Jefferson. Regardless the Congress raised an army and printed money to pay for it. John Adams got Washington to lead the army arguing that a southerner in charge would help bolster unity. Independence was not certain at this point but after debates and actions by the British (which we'll get to), and the publishing of Common Sense, it was decided that independence was their only choice.

The Continental Congress

On July 2 1776, not July 4, Congress formally declared independence and two days later the Declaration of Independence was issued. The Declaration remains a key focal point in the US to this day and is largely the child of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams - there were three other drafters including Franklin. The Declaration shows the radicalism of the Revolution and also its limits. Of course there is the most famous line: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. In a world when republics were rare and the ones in existence were more like monarchies the Declaration really was a radical document. Unlike the earlier Olive Branch Petition to George III the Declaration savages the monarch; as parliament was the democratic part of Britain they opted to not criticise parliament despite it issuing the hated taxes. However, it did have its limits. Jefferson was seen as getting too excited and added a criticism of slavery and the slave trade which the other drafters scrubbed out. In 1775 the royal governor of Virginia, Lord Dunmore, issued a proclamation offering freedom to slaves if they fled their rebellious masters which caused the southern states to favour independence. Regardless the Declaration would, and still does, remain a key document in the Revolution before the creation of the Constitution.

The War of Independence

The rebels had to win their independence. The War of Independence, despite the popular image of it, was a brutal civil war. Historians are divided on whether Britain could have won; Francis Cogliano believes that they could have capitalised on their early advantages but made mistakes confirming their defeat whereas Hugh Brogan disagrees arguing that the British never really had a chance. Personally, I side more with Cogliano although Brogan is not inaccurate. Early on John Adams lamented that a third of the population were Patriots, a third were Loyalists, and a third were neutral; in reality it was largely two-fifths were Patriots (of which half actively fought), two-fifths were neutral, and a fifth were Loyalists. You may be wondering why there were Loyalists judging by the events of the 1760s and 1770s? There are no concrete reasons and Loyalists came from all walks of life. Naturally Dunmore's Proclamation encouraged slaves to join the British although more just opted to flee instead - Jefferson lost 10% of his slaves! Some feared the possible lawlessness and unleashing of liberty of the Revolution and others, (lawyers, Anglican ministers, merchants and officials), needed close ties with Britain for work. Religious and ethnic minorities, like Highland Scots in South Carolina, feared majoritarian repression if the rebels won. It is no exaggeration to say that at times the War of Independence was more like a civil war than a regular independence one. Loyalism and Patriotism shifted as well. Benedict Arnold is the most famous example of someone switching sides but it happened regularly. One British officer in Virginia commented that the town which welcomed then would be the first ones to shoot at them when the Patriots came. Also, neutrals who opted out of fighting for various reasons could suffer reprisals. For example, Quakers and Mennonites remained pacifist so saw their lands confiscated.

A depiction of a Hessian

As I mentioned in the post on the Seven Years' War I'm not a military historian so I won't go into too much detail on battles and why they were won/lost. As mentioned earlier despite Washington's skill the rebels were not certain of victory. Benedict Arnold's invasion of Canada in the winter of 1775 failed spectacularly thanks to the British forces and a smallpox outbreak decimating his forces. Washington himself was incredibly skilled lifting the siege of Boston in March 1776 causing General William Howe to head to New York hoping that there would be more Loyalists there. A force of 30,000 managed to take New York and the British would hold it until 1783. Britain also hired mercenaries from Hesse-Cassel, Hesse-Hanau,Waldeck, and Brunswick, later referred to as 'Hessians', to fight for them. Throughout the war 30,000 Hessians fought for the British costing over £4.7 million. The British also built an alliance with Native Americans, largely the Iroquois, to fight for them as well. The rebel Continental Army faced defeat after defeat but Howe could never formally wipe out Washington's forces although he came close; initially Washington had 18,000 troops which dropped to 2,000 by winter. Underpaid, when paid at all, the rebels were further demoralised and the sheer amount of desertions caused Washington to have them publicly flogged. The rebels needed a victory or face the disintegration of their army. Washington's famous crossing the Delaware at night saved the remnants of the Continental Army  writing on December 18 'I think the game is pretty near up.' The heavy-handed treatment of Americans by the British and Hessians alienated the locals with plunder and rape happening regularly. Lord Rawdon wrote that 'A girl cannot step into the bushes to pluck a rose without running the most imminent risk of being ravished, and...of consequence we have the most entertaining court-martial every day.' On Christmas night Washington crossed the Delaware again attacking the Hessian garrison at Trenton capturing nearly 1,000 followed by the defeat of a garrison at Princeton on January 3 1777. These quick victories boosted Patriot moral.

In 1777 the British hoped to splinter in half the rebel cause as General John Burgoyne invaded New England from Canada. At the same time Howe utilised the navy by loading 13,000 troops with their horses and supplies on July 23 and landing them just outside of Philadelphia. Congress fled and Washington's counterattack failed in September. However, the rebels got a reprieve when Burgoyne was defeated. Bogged down by the wilderness they had little support which evaporated when his Iroquois allies attacked local farms. One publicised incident flamed race relations when two Iroquois killed Jane McCrea, a young woman engaged to a Loyalist. Continental general Horatio Gates repeatedly fought Burgoyne finally defeating him at the Battle of Saratoga in October 1777. This was an important turning point. Early on Benjamin Franklin was sent to Paris to enlist French support going as far as to dress as a Quaker to appear as a bumbling countryman based on the stereotype Europeans had of Americans. France and other powers had been sending weapons to the rebels but Saratoga showed Europe that the rebels had a chance of winning. Despite being bankrupt Louis XVI declared war on Britain and joined the rebels followed by Spain in 1779 and the Netherlands in 1780. Spain never allied themselves with the rebels, they feared that this would encourage their own colonies to rebel. Entry of other powers shifted British attention. In 1778 65% of the British army was in North America which dropped to 29% in 1780. The Caribbean and Europe replaced America as the main area for combat with Britain diverting its navy and army to the mainland in fear of a Franco-Spanish invasion. 

The famous painting of Cornwallis' surrender

Despite victories rebel victory was still no certain. The Continental Army was struggling with moral and paying troops, some of Washington's commanders were useless, and Arnold switched sides in 1780. The Patriots won back Philadelphia in 1778 following the Battle of Monmouth Court House but only because Washington overrode his subordinate, Charles Lee, who called for a retreat. With the loss of Philadelphia the British moved to the South believing that there would be Loyalists there. In December 1778 Savannah fell bringing the Georgian coastline under British rule and a second invasion in 1780 saw Charleston fall. There were few Loyalists and the Patriots resorted to guerrilla warfare which crippled the British army. Under Cornwallis the British continued fighting to no avail so he ordered a retreat to Yorktown, Virginia hoping to be picked up by the Royal Navy in 1781. However, the Battle of Chesapeake saw the French navy destroying the British navy and Cornwallis was soon trapped. In October Cornwallis surrendered ending the fighting despite the British still occupying New York, Savannah and Charleston. The 1783 Treaty of Paris would end the war and see the Americans finally become independent.

African-Americans and Revolution

A later painting of Crispus Attucks

Throughout the colonial period slavery was a big issue in the colonies where some states, like Georgia, slaves made up a greater part of the population than people who were free. Some colonists described the British taxes as reverting them to slavery despite the fact many owned slaves themselves; this was not lost on commentators, the creator of the dictionary Samuel Johnson wrote 'How is it that we hear the loudest yelps for liberty among the drivers of negroes?' The drive for revolution were entwined with slavery and freedom. Earlier we mentioned Dunmore's Proclamation which caused the South to support independence but this started earlier in 1772. In Britain a slave, James Somerset, managed to win his freedom when a judge ruled that slavery went against English Common Law. A conspiracy emerged that this would lead to the end of slavery. Many of the revolutionaries, including Jefferson and Washington, held slaves so it was hard to reconcile equality of men and property rights when men were property. Some colonies saw the hypocrisy and started gradual emancipation where in 1774 Rhode Island and Connecticut forbade the slave trade; 1776 the Quakers forbade slavery; 1777 the Vermont Constitution banned slavery; and 1780 Pennsylvania adopted gradual emancipation as some examples. African-Americans also utilised the Revolution to end slavery. Between 1773 and 1775 five petitions using the rhetoric of the Revolution were made by Freemen to the Massachusetts government demanding emancipation. A slave would be the one to end slavery in Massachusetts though. Elizabeth Freeman was hit by her mistress in 1780 with a burning shovel and she went to lawyer Theodore Sedgewick saying this went against the new Bill of Rights. The lawsuit ended up ending slavery in Massachusetts. Despite Washington barring African-Americans from being in the Continental Army several colonies in the North allowed them to enlist. Slavery would, however, persist in the South. In Virginia when Patriots were chanting 'Liberty' nearby slaves chanted it as well causing the local police to shoot them. Here we see both the radicalism and limits of the Revolution: it managed to grant liberty but not to all.

Native Americans and Revolution

The Revolution greatly affected Native Americans. Some tribes sided with the British (like the Iroquois), others sided with the Patriots (like the Passamaquoddy), and others were divided. The Cherokee faced a split as the young sided with the British and elders sided with the Patriots. However, most tribes ended up siding with the British seeing them the lesser of two evils. After all the Declaration of Independence directly attacked the British seeking alliance with Native Americans. War lasted longer than 1775 and 1783 with the Native Americans. Lord Dunmore himself had been at war with the Shawnee and Mingos in the Ohio Valley which involved massacres of innocent people at the Yellow Creek Massacre. Smallpox is even believed to be used as a biological weapon during this war. Throughout the Revolutionary War Native Americans could be targeted, such as how Washington ordered that the Iroquois should not only be 'merely overrun but destroyed' in retaliation for their alliance with the British resulting in a civil war among the Iroquois. The famous scene in The Patriot where the British burn down a church with people inside did happen except it was Patriots burning down a church with ten Christian Native Americans inside. Fighting didn't end after the war. After 1783 the Delawares, Shawnees, Miamis, Chippewas, Ottawas, and Potawatomis formed an alliance called the Western Confederacy, (covertly armed by the British), to do as Pontiac did two decades earlier and resist Euro-American settlement. This continued conflict went badly for the newly formed USA with the Confederacy destroying American armies along the present border of Ohio and Indiana in 1790 and 1791. A Miami war chief, Little Turtle, and Shawnee, Blue Jacket, managed to defeat Arthur St. Clair so thoroughly that he saw 632 of his men dead and 264 wounded while Little Turtle just lost 66. To put it into perspective St. Clair lost lost three times more men than Custer did at the Battle of Little Bighorn. In 1795 the Western Confederacy was defeated and they lost their land. When the British invaded during the War of 1812 another pan-Indian confederacy fought the Americans again. These conflicts would be repeated across US expansion over the rest of the continent which would tragically end in genocide. 

Women

Abigail Adams

As shown earlier women were integral in enforcing support for the boycotts and they remained important throughout the Revolution and after. Some women even did enlist and fight but this was exceedingly rare. It was more common for women to be camp followers where they would follow the Continental Army and act as nurses, cooks, and cleaners in order to support the Revolution. African-American women also took part in this seeing the Revolution as a way to get racial and gender emancipation. Women were also used in propaganda either being portrayed as martyrs, like Jane McCrea, or supporting their husbands, brothers and fathers fighting. A well known poem of the Revolution is by sixteen year old Ruth Bryant from Massachusetts who in The American Maid's Choice saying that her ideal man was a valiant Patriot. As you can probably tell women's roles were seen as being linked to servitude and domesticity. Despite Abigail Adams telling John to 'remember the Ladies' they were often sidelined or forced into the home. Following the Revolution the patriarchal society ideas of Republican Motherhood were stressed. This idea was that the new republic had to have a new generation be taught about the virtues of being republicans, and it was women's roles to teach this new generation. They had to keep their husbands on the straight and narrow, teach their children to read and have lots of children in order to benefit the future generations, (if you see a parallel with The Handmaid's Tale there is a reason why). Despite the reinforcing of traditional roles it did allow a reinforcement of educating women as well as men which would allow women to capitalise on this later. Women, just like African-Americans, used the language of the Revolution to critique their role in society and some even exploited a loophole in New Jersey. The 1776 Constitution was worded in a way which said that 'all inhabitants' who owned property could vote. Widowed and unmarried women used this to vote for but unfortunately by 1807 they had changed the law to exclude women. Nevertheless, the Revolution inspired women and it is no mistake that Susan B. Anthony would later use the language to critique sexism and slavery.

Constitution and Aftermath

The Treaty of Paris gave the colonies their independence, Florida to Spain, and land between the Appalachians and the Mississippi to the new republic. The reason for this was because Britain wanted to stop French expansion and they thought the new republic would collapse returning the land to them. The US was on a shaky start: bankrupt, no allies, little legitimacy, and the British still occupied forts until 1795 supplying the Western Confederacy. Debates over an American Constitution split the political elite. The people were also disappointed. John Adams in 1776 wrote: We have been told that our Struggle has loosened the bands of Government elsewhere. That Children and Apprentices were disobedient - that schools and colleges were growing turbulent - that Indians slighted their Guardians and Negroes grew insolent to their Masters... There will be no End of it. New Claims will arise. Women will demand a Vote. Lads from 12 to 21 will think their Rights not enough attended to...It tends to confound and destroy all Distinctions, and prostrate all Ranks, to one common Levell.' In 1786 farmers hit hard by debt under Daniel Shay rose up in Massachusetts demanding an end to their debts and a government elected directly. In response Boston raised an army putting down the rebellion. Washington supported the crushing of it while Jefferson sided with the rebels. The Constitutional Convention of 1787 tried to form a Constitution and as Washington took part this gave it legitimacy. There were conflicting debates over the Constitution and despite Washington's opposition to it partisanship emerged. On one side represented by figures like John Adams and Alexander Hamilton were the Federalists who supported a federal republic against the Anti-Federalists, (also called the Democrats, Republicans and Democratic-Republicans), who opposed this including Thomas Jefferson. In private Washington sided with the Federalists. The drafters of the Constitution wanted representation but not democracy seeing it as mob rule. Hence, why now the president decides the Supreme Court judges and the Electoral College exists - the College initially was meant to be made of people who knew politics so could decide if the public voted the right way. Slavery was also an issue. Slave states wanted slaves to be counted as it would give them greater representation while non-slave states opposed this. The 3/5 Compromise emerged as a result: three out of every five slaves would be counted in a state's representation. The ease the minds of Anti-Federalists a Bill of Rights was drafted which exists to this day. Eventually the Constitution was ratified and in 1789 Washington became the USA's first president.

Conclusion

The veneration of the Revolution: on Washington's death this was painted showing him being guided to Heaven by angels as Lady Liberty and a Native American woman weeps

The American Revolution has since been very influential with it continuing to shape the US to this day. However, the limitations of the new Constitution meant that it has since been amended various times, including abolishing slavery, banning alcohol and bringing it back, and granting women the right to vote. We have to think though: how radical was the Revolution? Gordon Wood has insisted that it is in fact radical - the ideas of equality, republicanism and property rights being legally protected in a state's constitution was radical for the time. Some thinkers even started advocating shared for communal property rights in a precursor to Marx. Although it did exclude African-Americans, women and other groups it did start a precedent for future emancipation. The secular aspects also allowed emancipation of all Christian denominations, and even Jews, which caused America to see a greater amount of Church goers than their European counterparts. However, it certainly was limited. Initially revolutions in France, Haiti, and Latin America were welcomed but they quickly soured (especially with Haiti). Thomas Paine was seen as a radical for his deism, increased calls for equality, and possible abolitionism but when he went to France he was seen as a moderate. Paine would become critical of Washington, (although that may be due to the president letting him rot in a French prison), abolitionists in the 1840s would condemn the Constitution for allowing slavery, and anarchists in the 1880s/90s would call themselves 'unrepentant Jeffersonians'. The legacy of the American Revolution really depends on whether you place ideas over actions or vice versa.

Thank you for reading. The next few World History posts will be looking at the 'Age of Revolution' and we'll be focusing next on the French Revolution. For other World History posts please see our list, and for future blog updates please see our Facebook or catch me on Twitter @LewisTwiby.

The sources I have used are as follows:

-Gordon Wood, The Radicalism of the American Revolution, (New York, NY, Alfred K. Knopf: 1992)

-Thomas Paine, Common Sense, (London, Penguin Books: 1776, Penguin edition 1986)

-The Declaration of Independence and US Constitution

-Lance Banning, 'Republican Ideology and the Triumph of the Constitution, 1789-1793', William and Mary Quarterly, 31:2, (1974), 167-88

-Colin Calloway, The American Revolution in Indian Country: Crisis and Diversity in Native American Communities, (New York, NY: 1995)

-Hugh Brogan, The Penguin History of the USA, Second Edition, (London, Penguin Books: 1999)

-Eric Foner, Give me Liberty! An American History, Fourth Edition, (New York, NY, W.W. Norton: 2014)

-Francis Cogliano, Revolutionary America, 1763-1815: A Political History, Second Edition, (New York, NY, Routledge: 2009)

-Alan Taylor, American Revolutions, (New York, NY, W.W. Norton: 2016)