To What Extent Did the American Revolution Fundamentally Change American Society?

The American Revolution did a lot more than change the method of governance. After the war the spirit of equality weakened old habits of difference. The new political opportunities offered by the creation of state government led more

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

To what extent did the American Revolution fundamentally change American society? In your answer, be sure to address the political, social, and economic effects of the Revolution in the period from 1775 to 1800.

From the social viewpoint the war changed the lives and rights of women all across the United States. Many of the husbands left to fight in the Revolutionary war leaving countless women in charge of farms and businesses, roles which they were not accustomed to. Although the war did little to change women’s rights, in some states it did become possible for women to divorce and in new jersey women even obtained the right to vote which was way out of the ordinary in that time. Before the war both men and women viewed the wife as an obedient and serving spouse that raised the children and took care of the house. But the revolution encouraged people of both genders to reconsider the contribution of women to the family and society.

The American Revolution fundamentally changed American considerably politically because Americans rely on democracy rather than monarchy, socially because the roles of certain social groups experienced a nuance change, and economically because the Americans freed themselves from having to send their raw materials to England and started to manufacture their own products.

     The revolution also changes the status of women in the 15 years following the American Revolution. There was a push to allow for better women’s education. In 1789, Massachusetts passed a law insisting elementary schools be open to both girls and boys. Girls from rich families had the ability to receive a good education on subjects including math, history and geography. A large advocate of women’s education was Judith Sargent Murray, who argued men and women had equal intellectual abilities, but women’s lack of chances is what made them appear inferior. Abigail Adams, the wife of John Adams, also called for legal reform in order to prevent male tyranny over women. Some even went further and called for the right of women to vote. This was still denied to women, however, and it would not be over 100 years later until they were granted this right. Despite some small advances for women’s rights, there was still a notion of inferiority to men.

The American Revolution, from 1765 to 1783, was a great movement and major changing point for the colonists. The colonists were fed up with all the taxes and unnecessary mistreatment that had been placed on them. The colonists finally had revolted against the British and surprisingly had taken the victory. The colonists were considered underdogs against the very powerful Britain and with much devotion and heart, the colonists pulled out a victory. Taking the victory was a huge turning point because now the colonists were free from British power and were able to form a nation of their own. The wealthy had lots of power and it affected the society a lot. America had created a new government and society, but it led to many problems and protests.

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.

Many revolutions have taken place throughout history, ranging from the unremarkable to the truly memorable, such as the French Revolution, the Bolshevik Revolution and the American Revolution. Through an examination of the social, cultural, economic and political causes of the American Revolution, an exploration of key arguments both for and against the American Revolution, and an analysis of the social, cultural, economic and political changes brought about by the American Revolution it can be demonstrated unequivocally that the American Revolution was indeed truly revolutionary.

The American Revolution set the ground work for a major change in the New England colonies. It was a time of significant governmental changes on political and social levels, and a growing ideology on the obedience of a women and the dissolution of slavery.

Primarily, the Declaration was the main source of inspiration for social change towards women. The very structure of the Declaration and the very language of it saying that “all men are created equal” led to future movements for women's rights. For example, although 50 years out of the given time period, the Seneca Falls Convention was the first major event in US history where women’s rights were presented and stood up for by using the Declaration for a basis of argument (those at the convention rewrote the Declaration but wherever the word “men” was they replaced it with “men and women”). Arguments for the basis of women’s rights also came from within the given time period as shown by the drawing of a Patriot Woman holding a musket standing outside of a fort that has the English flag waving on it signifying the belief that women can fight for their country just as well as men can [Doc. A]. In addition, women of the time period expressed their displeasure at their lack of rights as Molly Wallace says “what then must my situation be, when my sex, my youth and inexperience all conspire to make tremble at the task at which I have undertaken?” in reference to women’s inability to gain an education. Therefore by the arguments presented, one can see that the American Revolution era was the starting point in which ideas for social change, especially towards women’s equality, was the inspiration for future events and changes in American

Majority of the economy stayed the same this time period. Similar to the state before the war, America’s main source for income was agriculture. In fact, agriculture was such an important trait to America that people were rewarded to promote it (Document F). Before the Revolution, there was conflict between elites and farmers. Similarly, Shay’s Rebellion, which occurred after the Revolution, took place because the farmers were fed up with the lack of “equal distribution of property” and a paper currency among the farmers and rich landowners (Document

The American Revolution, which happened during the last half of the eighteenth century, reshaped many aspects of life in America. The desire of the Founding Fathers to make America a republic played a very significant part in changing the role of women after the Revolution. The role of women as wives became more important as an emphasis on virtue was established; women were encouraged to find virtuous husbands and utilize their seductive nature to keep men virtuous. The roles of women as mothers also became more important in the republic, as patriarchy loosened and mothers were depended on to educate their children in the republican way. And finally, the role of women in politics was theoretically reduced due to the increasing demands of

The idea of this republic lead to mercantilism being dismantled, and the idea of capitalism being installed in its place. This allowed for a free market, fewer taxes, and most of all the formation and approval of the colonies to manufacture goods. These things created an opportunity for low-class citizens to climb the social pyramid. Even in this wake of new opportunity, the economic distribution of resources remained the same. Land, timber, food, rum, all became leading industries in America, but it was still lead by the people who were a rich prior

No one will argue that the American Revolution was one of the most significant events in shaping American ideology. The impact on the economy, sociological and ideological make-up of America are still seen in today's society. Many great minds have passed commentary on the causes and impacts of the American Revolution such as; Bernard Bailyn, Louis Hartz, Joyce Appleby, and Gordon Wood. This research examines why these experts believed what they did about the causes of the American Revolution and how we can correlate those causes to the economic and political crisis America is now facing in the 21st century as compared to the 18th century.