Enlightenment Ideals in the American Revolution

American Revolution

The American Revolution was a war for independence from England: the Founding Fathers had political, social and philosophical motivations. Philosophically, they were rooted in the Enlightenment, with men like Thomas Paine advocating for freedom and equality in his treatise The Rights of Man. Politically, the revolutionaries wanted independence so that they could govern themselves without any influence from abroad. As Holton (1999) explains, many of them wanted to be in control of the expansion of American territory and they did not like the fact that the English Crown was preventing them from doing so by signing treaties with the natives. Socially, the American Revolution was caused by a new American culture that was fostered by fierce independence, religious freedom, and a pioneer spirit. However, while the philosophical motives for the Declaration of Independence are very much set in the philosophy of Thomas Paine, the founding of America failed to fully incorporate these Enlightenment ideals, as equality was not really a bedrock of the Constitution. The fact is that the American colonists who wielded great power and influence in the colonies were most interested in expanding their land holdings and business operations, which they could only do by overthrowing England’s claim over them.

In Virginia, the issue of land was especially troublesome. The Cherokee were afraid of losing their valuable hunting ground to the colonists, so they signed a treaty with England that promised no more expansion of the colonies. As far as the colonials were concerned, this was a treaty signed between the Cherokee and the English Crown; it had nothing to do with them, and they were not inclined to honor it. That is why the Virginia House of Burgesses refused to honor the treaty and instead looked to take more land in Kentucky and deep in the Ohio River Valley (Holton, 1999). This of course upset the Cherokee, and the colonists desired to defend themselves in their own manner rather than rely upon the English soldiers.

Then there was the debt problem of colonists. The Virginia House of Burgesses wanted to erase colonists’ debt; the English wanted those debts repaid. By throwing over the English Crown through war, the colonists could free themselves from the debts that the English insisted they pay (Holton, 1999). The same idea applied in the area of taxation and slave-trading: the colonists wanted England out of the picture.

The Founding Fathers were able to “sell” the war on these grounds, but they justified it in the Declaration of Independence by appealing to the Enlightenment philosophy that was popular at the time. The Declaration cited ideals and rights regarding freedom, autonomy, and equality—similar to what would be promoted in the French Revolution a few years later. However, this was to some extent simply lip service to popular philosophical ideals. The American Revolution did not lead to liberty for all (slavery still existed and would for another hundred years); women did not have any rights when it came to voting; and the propertied-class—i.e., the aristocracy—essentially reserved all power for itself. It was a very unequal and unfree society, top to bottom, in spite of the high-sounding principles voiced in the Declaration.