Was the American Revolutionary War Truly Revolutionary?

Historical Investigation

Background Essay

Revolution -- a sudden or significant change in the old ways of doing things -- can occur in many areas, such as government, technology, or art. In the political arena, for an event to be truly revolutionary there must be great change in governmental, social, and economic structures.

The broad outline of the American Revolutionary War is familiar to most of us. The American Revolution, also called the War for Independence, took place between 1775 and 1783. It was a fight waged by 13 British colonies against their mother country, England. At the time, England was one of the most powerful countries in the world. The war, rather surprisingly, was won by the colonists who named themselves the United States of America. With the signing of the Paris Peace Treaty in 1783, the United States gained what it had been fighting for, its independence.

The War for Independence is labeled a revolution, but did the conflict produce dramatic, long-lasing changes? Over the years historians have disagreed about this. Some historians, like Mary and Charles Beard and Howard Zinn, believe the revolutionary leaders tried to conserve many of the old ways. These historians admit the country became a free and independent nation, but there was no big economic or social change. In fact, they would argue that one group of wealthy white male leaders (Washington, Adams, Hamilton, and Jefferson) just replaced another group of wealthy white male leaders (King George III and the British Parliament). Other historians do not share this perspective. Historians including Gordon Wood and Alfred E. Young believe the war sparked a new way on how Americans thought and acted. Some Americans started to question the institution of slavery and the meaning of equality.

Before you examine the documents, caution is needed. When historians have tried to calculate the degree of change caused by the Revolution, they have run into at least two problems. Problem one is the trouble of adequate data. In order to measure change caused by the Revolution, you have to know what existed before and what existed after. The data is often missing or is very thin.

Problem two is the difficulty of proving cause and effect. Just because one thing occurs after something does not mean it was caused by the first event. Also, some of the results of the Revolution may not have occurred immediately. Should the Revolutionary War, which ended in 1783, get credit for ending the Atlantic slave trade in 1808? Should the Revolution in any way get credit for winning women the right to vote in 1920? In other words, is there a time limit on causation?

Amidst all of this disagreement, one thing seems clear: the debate over the American Revolution of 1776 carries into the 21st century. Examine the following documents and answer the question: Was the American Revolution truly revolutionary?

1 Historical Investigation

Document A

La Destruction de la Statue a Nouvelle Yorck

Document B

The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America

Document C

Last Seven States to Abolish Primogeniture

Note: Primogeniture means that when the father and owner of an estate dies, the landed property goes to the first-born son. This was done to keep family estates in one piece and keep the family powerful. State Date of Abolishment Georgia 1777 North Carolina 1784 Virginia 1785 Maryland and New York 1786 South Carolina 1791 Rhode Island 1798

Document D

Economic Status of the Representatives in Six Colonial/State Legislatures

Document E

The Abolition of Slavery: 1777-1865

Document F

1819 Speech

The following is an excerpt from a speech made by a young African American in 1819, valedictorian of his New York free school:

Why should I strive hard and acquire all the constituents of a man if the prevailing genius of the land admit me not as such, or but in an inferior degree! Pardon me if I feel insignificant and weak . . . . Where are my prospects? To what shall I turn my hand? Shall I be a mechanic? No one will employ me; white boys won’t work with me. Shall I be a merchant? No one will have me in his office; white clerks won’t associate with me. Drudgery and servitude, then,, are my prospective portion. Can you be surprised at my discouragement?

Note: President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The most sweeping civil rights legislation since Reconstruction, the Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination of all kinds based on race, color, religion, or national origin. The law also provides the federal government with the powers to enforce desegregation.

Source: Andrews, History of the New York African Free-Schools. Reprinted in Leon Litwack, North of Slavery, 1961.

Document G

A Letter from Abigail Adams to John Adams

The following excerpt is from a letter from Abigail Adams to John Adams, March 31, 1776:

. . . And, by the way, in the new code of laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make, I desire you would remember the ladies and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the husbands. Remember, all men would be tyrants if they could. If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment [promote] a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation.

Source: The Book of Abigail and John: Selected Letters of the Adams Family, 1762-1784. Document H

19th Amendment to the United States Constitution

Document I

Clause from the Northwest Ordinance

Document J

A Letter to George Washington

The Seneca, a part of the Six Nations League of the Iroquois, had allied with the British during the American Revolutionary War. As part of westward expansion, and possibly as retribution [retaliation], much of their land was taken after the war. The following letter, by three Seneca chiefs -- Big Tree, Corn-Planter, and Half-Town, implores the great father, George Washington, to return their land to them.

The following is an excerpt from Big Tree, Corn- Planter, and Half-Town to President Washington written in 1791:

Father: The voice of the Seneca nations speaks to you; the great counsellor, in whose heart the wise men of all the thirteen fires [13 states] have placed their wisdom. It may be very small in your ears, and we, therefore, entreat [implore] you to hearken [hear] with attention; for we are able to speak of things which are to us very great.

When your army entered the country of the Six Nations, we called you the town destroyer; to this day, when your name is heard, our women look behind them and turn pale, and our children cling close to the necks of their mothers. . . .

Father: when we saw that we had been deceived, and heard the invitation which you gave us to draw near to the fire you had kindled, and talk with you concerning peace, we made haste towards it. You told us you could crush us to nothing; and you demanded from us a great country, as the price of that peace which you had offered to us: as if our want of strength had destroyed our rights. Our chiefs had felt your power, and were unable to contend against you, and they therefore gave up that country. What they agreed to has bound our nation, but your anger against us must by this time be cooled, and although our strength is not increased, nor your power become less, we ask you to consider calmly - Were the terms dictated to us by your commissioners reasonable and just? . . .

All the land we have been speaking of belonged to the Six Nations. No part of it ever belonged to the king of England, and he could not give it to you.

Hear us once more. At Fort Stanwix we agreed to deliver up those of our people who should do you any wrong, and that you might try them and punish them according to your law. We delivered up two men accordingly. But instead of trying them according to your law, the lowest of your people took them from your magistrate [a civil officer charged with the administration of the law], and put them immediately to death. It is just to punish the murder with death; but the Senecas will not deliver up their people to men who disregard the treaties of their own nation.

Source: Samuel Gardner Drake, Biography and History of the Indians of North America (Boston: O.L. Perkins, 1834).