The American Revolution

In American history everyone believes that the American Revolution would begin in 1775. But many would argue that the American Revolution had started even earlier than that. As the American Revolution would not spring up overnight, but throughout a series of events that would build tension caused by different views on government, and conflicting interests between the British and their colonies on the western hemisphere.

In regards to the American Revolution, the point that armed rebellion became inevitable arrived when after nearly five constant years of American colonist protesting. American 's had enough and needed to take a stand for the numerous inequalities they were forced to deal with. It was foreseeable that the American Revolution took place due to the unfair taxes that the British were giving Americans. Also, England was not allowing Americans their freedom, along with violence and the political dominance by the Parliament over the colonies by announcing the Stamp Act in 1765, which happened to nearly affect all Americans tremendously.

It was the first revolution to majorly succeed and change how people saw their countries, it was the American Revolution. The American Revolution was the first successful revolution against a European empire that provided a model for many other colonial peoples who realized that they too could break away and become self-governing nations (New world Encyclopedia, 1).The American Revolution was vital to history because ideas seen by other countries started a chain reaction. Many ideas were taken into account when the Americans revolted against Europe and all of these played important factors throughout history. Ideas about liberty, equality, representation, and natural rights were first seen as properly put into action to change old systems in the American Revolution. As the American Revolution was the first to succeed and earn freedom, it greatly affected countries all around the world on how they made freedom and equality a part of their government

Between 1770 and 1776, resistance to imperial change turned into a full-on revolution. The American Revolution, also known as the Revolutionary War, was a time of revolting and political uprising, in which the 13 colonies separated from the British Empire, forming the independent nation known as the United States of America. Though the American Revolution began because the colonies wanted independence from Britain, many important historical events and revolts also lead to the tensions and resistance to what resulted in freedom and independence for the colonies from British rule. Events such as the Stamp and Sugar Acts, the Boston Massacre, Boston Tea Party, Intolerable Acts, and the Continental Congress led to expanding tensions and soon to the outbreak of the American Revolution.

“The revolution was effected before the war commenced. The revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people.” - John Adams, 1818

When the American Revolution first broke out, many countries did not give the colonies more than a passing thought; most assumed that this rebellion would quickly be quelled by the world renowned British army and the colonies would once again be under their control. However, under the leadership of military officers and the guidance of laws and proclamations set forth by the Founding Fathers, America succeeded in their revolution against the control of Britain. Textbooks and teachers have praised America for years, stating that the revolution was a major turning point in world history, setting precedence for future revolutions, such as the French Revolution just a decade after the American Revolution ended. However, in later years, historians have begun to argue that the American Revolution was not the first of its kind, or unique in the way researchers previously stated. The Declaration of Independence, though groundbreaking in its own right, was influenced by documents and declarations in the English Civil War, such as the Petition of Rights and the English Bill of Rights. The Declaration of Independence, in turn, was a base for the authors and contributors of France’s Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen. Furthermore, for all the connections in the chain of antecedents for these documents and the documents themselves, such as philosophical and religious writings, they did not build off of each other in terms of giving rights to more and more people; women and other

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.

At the Annapolis Convention, Hamilton and Madison, along with others, realized that changes needed to be made to the Articles of Confederation and made plans to meet later in Philadelphia with representatives from each state. It was there that the Constitution was written after many long months of consideration and compromising. On December 7, 1787 Delaware unanimously voted to ratify, with most states following shortly after. It was ratified early in 1788. Although

The American Revolution was undeniably the most pivotal time period in respect to United States History, but who was really to blame for initiating the conflict? While both the British politicians and American colonists shared the blame for the kindling of the revolution, one party was certainly more at fault than the other: the British. Through short-term causes of taxation and incommodious trade acts, and long-term causes of salutary neglect and involvement in the burdensome French & Indian War, the British politicians proved to ultimately be the most responsible for igniting the Revolutionary War.

During this convention, George Washington became a major part of the construction of our present-day Constitution and what it entails. He was mainly on board for the general outline of it and approved of much of what it contained and was even unanimously elected to be the very first chief executive of our country. But this was not how it all began, in fact, George Washington had to be essentially persuaded to even attend the convention due to his very strict views on the government and fear of how easily they can gain too much power. Although

The American Revolutionary War was a long hard fought war that lasted about 8 years. Many Countries were involved in the war, such as The United States, France, Great Britain, Spain, and The Dutch Republic. Not all countries actually fought but they provided either side with weapons and supplies to help them have a greater chance of winning the war. More than 70,000 people were killed during the great American Revolutionary War. The Americans were tired of the loyalist British taking advantage of them. They were tired of the new taxes that kept being created by the British. The Americans were tired of being pushed around, so they decided to do something about it. High Tensions eventually got between the two countries and they began to start a war, which was known as The American Revolutionary War. Before the war began, a great man implied, “One of the most essential branches of English liberty is the freedoms of one’s house, a man’s house is his castle”, informing everyone that the colonies should be freed from British control (Otis). The American Revolutionary war was a war started, so the 13 colonies of America could gain there independence from Great Britain. Thousands of soldiers were killed while many others were severely wounded. The American Revolutionary war was one of the greatest wars in American history, because it had many great battles, was led by some of the greatest leaders, and got the 13 colonies independence from Great Britain.

As Document 1 states, legislative rule under the Articles lacked a national court system as well as the power to enforce treaties, raise an army and collect taxes (Doc 2). Stemming from post-war urgency, the Articles reflected the nation’s concern about executive power; however, the lack of an executive meant the lack of effective leadership. Congress had no authority to raise an army on its own and had to requisition troops from the states. Major policy issues required the approval of nine states. Secondly, the United States had accumulated an immense amount of debt that eventually led to a financial crisis. Of course, the country had not developed a centralized government strong enough to combat this obstacle. As a result, high taxes, debt collection as well as other financial strains ravaged the people of the United States, and had a monumental negative effect on lower classes. In Massachusetts, the government refused to print its own money to cover debts, choosing instead to heavily tax its citizens. Many uprisings occurred as a result, namely Shays’ Rebellion. Led by Daniel Shays in response to high taxes and stringent economic conditions, the rebellion was a crucial argument calling for the need for a more centralized government, and urged the question of whether the governments formed under the Articles of Confederation could

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

The Articles of Confederation helped establish a new nation, but it also had failed in plenty of ways. The main problem was that the states didn’t give the national government enough power to work correctly. National government didn’t have the ability to solve all of the issues mentioned in the previous paragraphs. As a result, in 1787, Congress asked the states to send delegates to a meeting in Philadelphia discussing what could be done to improve the national

On October 20, 1787 The Massachusetts Sentinel, published a newspaper article trying to get people to be in favor of the new constitution. The article reads, “Let us look and behold the distresses which prevail in every part of our country… the complaints of our farmers… the complaints of every class of the public creditors”(Doc 1). Basically the excerpt from the newspaper is saying that with a state government it is bad for the people because it is hard for all of the states to agree on one thing. All of these people complaining shows that the state government that is in place is just producing problems and that a central government would be more effective. Furthermore George Washington wrote a letter to John Jay on August 1, 1786 in the letter Washington agrees with Jay’s criticisms to the Articles of Confederation. Washington exclaims that, “We have probably had too good an opinion of human nature in forming our confederation”(Doc3). In other words Washington is saying that when the constitution was originally written Washington had a lot more trust and integrity in his people that they would do right. When Shays rebellion in 1786 took place things changed because this is what made Washington realise that a new constitution with more laws and amendments was