Reform Or Revolution?
Something that changed our country isn't always a revolution as example many of our laws we have in place weren’t always there. They were put into place over time these changes in definition are reforms, small changes to a larger system. A revolution comparatively is a replacement to the former system like if we wanted to replace the constitution. The civil rights movement acted as a reform to the former system we had. The movement was one that took time and wasn’t placed and forced onto people it was one that slowly drifted into place. The movement fought for the rights that the citizens were told to have in our country not something that needed to be taken. Lastly the movement for civil rights changed one thing at a
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The court was part of the old system changing this is smaller changes feeding into bigger ones. One of the biggest pushes this took was the supreme court review of the brown versus board where they decided that the south was wrong in their decision and that the former court case of plessy versus ferguson where they had said it can be separate but equal. So if this hasn’t changed the whole system then it can’t be a revolution.
The reform of the civil rights in america took way longer than if it had been a revolution. The rights are still being argued today between racial fairness and police brutality if it were a revolution then racism wouldn’t be argued today. The reforms that were made also wouldn’t be debated if it had been a revolution it would be set in place, but it would be pushed against for many years after.
In conclusion the evidence points to the civil rights movement to be a reform or a string of reforms rather than a revolution. It simply took too long to be one. The movement also wasn’t forced onto the south rather slowly took it in as people saw the old ways were wrong. Lastly the movement was changing instead of replacing for good. That’s why this was all a
The American Revolution was definitely revolutionary. The people broke free from Britain and gained independence. Only one third of the colonist enthusiastically supported the revolution. The colonist were unhappy and being treated terribly by their motherland and trouble started to brew.
During the mid 20th century most historians agreed with Daniel Boorstin when he stated that "the most obvious peculiarity of our American Revolution is that, in the modern European sense of the word, it was hardly a revolution at all"¦On the contrary, ours was one of the few conservative colonial rebellions of modern times." (Spillman, 2010) What Boorstin was referring to was the fact that there was not a great amount of overt political or social change as a result of the
In Document 4 in the, “How Revolutionary Was the American Revolution” DBQ packet it shows data tables that split the wealthy, well-to-do, moderate and poor people’s economic status in the representatives in six colonies. This shows that it wasn’t a revolution after all, because it did not show how, “men are all treated equal.” It shows how people are split up and not treated the same way. This also shows that wherever you are placed on, whether its wealthy, well-to-do, moderate, or poor, you aren’t being financially equal. While the wealthy live in prosperity, the poor live in poverty without any money or little money. In addition, document 6 shows the view of a young African-American in 1819. In his speech he describes how African-Americans are treated differently and have different rules compared to the white race. In other words, while the African-Americans aren’t allowed to work among white folks, the white men can thrive without the rules and discrimination. Finance and segregation is not revolutionary at
The American Revolution had a very intense fundamental change on American society between the years 1775 to 1800. The thirst for independence resulted in the revolution which caused many political, social, and economic changes. When the revolution began, the people were drowning in jingoism, and after the seven years of fighting for our independence, several changes had to be made. Although some political, social, and economic parts of society seem to have remained the same, America experienced drastic fundamental changes throughout these years and set the standards for even more changes to come.
Throughout history there have been many important revolutions that have help to shape society as it is today. There are different causes, from political to religious, economic to social. Any revolution affects those in society, and creates changes for the people in the society. There are three important revolutions that took place in the late 18th century that changed the world for the better. The French Revolution, the American Revolution, and the Industrial Revolution all took place in the late 1700s. Although each had a different purpose, they all lead to a better way of life for many. The French and American Revolutions are examples of some which are brought about and enforced solely by the people. Although they had different reasons
The american revolution was not revolutionary. The impact of the war was not the cause of change for some of the categories, but was further down the line during other times. the revolution was not revolutionary because it inflicted moderate change in the political and social categories and inflicted no change in the aspects of Slavery
I agree with Jefferson that the election of 1800 was indeed a revolution. The election of 1800 was a presidential election between Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, where each side thought a win by the other candidate would destroy the nation. This was the election where two parties were being formed, Federalists and Democratic-Republican, and the first time in the U.S. that there was a shift in power from one party to another. The Federalists lost power to the Democratic-Republicans in the election which came to be a bloodless revolution and proved that the constitution worked.
“A reform movement attempts to change limited aspects of a society but does not aim at drastically altering or replacing major social, economic, or political institutions… a revolutionary movement, in comparison, is a social movement in which participants are organized to alter drastically or replace totally an existing social, economic, or political institutions” (Defronzo 8).
The topic of revolution is extremely subjective. What may appear as an insurrection to some might not be as extreme to others. When talking about the American Revolutionary War, however, the answer is clear. While the War certainly brought about change within the United States, it wasn’t necessarily very revolutionary. The most important aspects of the colonies, such as ideas about government, various types of societal equality, slavery and freed blacks, and the rights of women remained for the most part, unaffected.
The American Revolution occurred due to the conflict between those living in the 13 colonies and the colonial government, which represented the British crown because of the high taxes they were ordered to pay to their homeland. By definition, a revolution means to forcible overthrow of a government or social order in favor of a new system. With the new colonies winning the war against Great Britain, yes, they did overthrow the ruling of the Queen and if not, the United States would still be considered colonies of England. But if one looks through the lens of social, political, and economic change occurring for all people, this was not a true revolution. The middle class did not grow. Slavery was still legal. There was no restructuring in terms of economics and the new America was run on a system of capitalism. Change only truly occurred in terms of politics, with the introduction of a democracy and the constitution. With these changes, only the white male elite were only able to benefit from these changes, gaining more power, ability to participate in politics and financial success. African Americans, white women, and poor men saw no changed in way of life after winning the war. What the war did was began a quest of reform and revolt from these groups who suffered from injustice.
A revolution is a dramatic and sudden change in an organization in the social order that is replaced by a new, more favorable system. When Historian Eric Foner called the Reconstruction period “America’s Second Revolution”, his characterization was correct. Reconstruction can be viewed as a revolution because the previous social order, slavery, was replaced suddenly by a more favorable one, freedom for African-Americans. There was a long period of politicization for incorporating free African-Americans into white society. Reconstruction also revolutionized the preconceived notion that the states had autonomous power.
Opposing historians argue that the American Revolution is classified as a contradiction to the true qualities of a revolution. Interpreted from the class lecture regarding the AR , a revolution consist of, but is not limited to the following: Complete social reorganization such that the bottom and top of society assume their opposing position, must enact the societal transformation, and the struggle of a revolution must be bloody, gruesome, and vicious. It is assumed that the abundance of the aforementioned qualities culminate to a Revolution. A revolution is synonymous to a mutiny, revolt, or uprising; historians further argue the AR lacks such revolutionary elements. Examples of a revival of this magnitude are those
The American Revolution is typically looked at as a conservative movement, but it seems most of the actions taken were very radical. They were fighting to defend their rights, governed and natural. The American Revolution was as radical as any other revolution, in a special 18th century way, and this seems to hold true while looking at the new waves of thinking. It involves the Whigs and Tories, and while they are at opposite sides of the spectrum, they consecutively agreed to not address and higher-law principles so they would not have to rework their entire system.. The Revolution worked against this, and the parties chose to pretend it was not a serious movement and act, as they believed it would not take any effect. More people got involved and all aspects of life began to be questioned and revolutionized. The Revolution seems to be radical in a more definitive way as it caused segregation of beliefs, the Declaration of independence, and
What is a revolution? By definition it means the overthrow of a government by those who are governed. That is exactly what the French and the Mexican revolutions were all about. The living conditions and overall treatment of the poor, pheasants, lower class, last man on the totem pole or what ever you want to call them, was a large factor in the coming of these revolutions. "Those who are governed" are exactly what the lower class people were. Also, liberty was one of the people's major concerns. They were ruled by men whose only desire was power and greed which is what led them into revolt.
During the 19th Century there were many reform movements that took place. Reform movements were movements that were organized to reform or change the certain way of things. Reform movements did not always work but the ones that did greatly changed the way our nation operates today. There were three major reform movements that have altered the nation; the abolitionist movement, the temperance movement and the women 's suffrage movement. Without these movements, and the great leaders involved, many common rights would not exist today.