Nature of American Revolution Over the Period

Nature of American Revolution

Over the period of time, there has been a continuous debate over the nature of American revolution. Historians and scholars of every time have seen the entire movement with their own perspectives and labelled it according to their own thinking. The revolution has been considered social, radical, conservative or simply an independence movement from British Rule due to discontent amongst the masses which was led by thirteen independent states. Hence the question arises at many occasions that the American Revolution was indeed, revolutionary in nature or not? If it was a real and true revolution by all means, then up to what extent? And if it is not, what prevented it from being a revolutionary movement and how much were the social impacts? To answer these questions in appropriate way, lets have a brief look at the entire scenario of the movement so that it becomes easy to understand the causes and consequences of the revolution.

Since the start of second half of the 18th century, the american colonies were greatly under the impression of being a fruitful land for the Britian, as the regime was in dept itself. They were of the view that the government is trying to get more money out of them as they were more prosperous and progressive than their rulers. There were no signs of democracy and those who spoke about it were considered rebellious to the regime. Also, Americans were more enlighten than the Europeans in literature, arts, science, philosophy and other social aspects of life. Hence they considered themselves different from the British and wanted representation in the parliament. But when they demanded of their rights and identity, the British tried to dissuade them by means of force. This led towards an independence movement by thirteen unified states which started in 1763 and eventually they got their rights in the form of United States Declaration of Independence in 1776 and finally by Treaty of Paris in 1783, which clearly stated the withdrawal of British rule from American land (Overview of the American Revolution 2012).

Hence overall, there were several intellectual transformations and modifications within the American society that led towards the revolution movement. The British lagged behind them in every mode, even in intellect and philosophies of politics and ruling methods and this was the reason the American rejected their rule and wanted their own recognition as a separate nation and country. They were strongly opposed of the tyrannical and empirical system that was cast in Europe in those times and developed the modernized methods of governing as democracy and republicanism. They were of the view of self-governing and wanted complete control of their own land, people, resources and money; so that they can utilize these in their own ways for the betterment of their society (Aptheker 1960). These were the key concepts behind the revolution method and by considering these, it can be said that the American Revolution was a true revolution in nature. It was not just a war against unwanted rulers; it was the matter of identification, dignity and solidarity which was achieved by unified struggle by the people of thirteen states, which were completely different from each other in culture and demographics. Such unification and reconstruction has never been seen in the entire world history (Medvedev 2012). According to Gordon Wood, it was not a simple physical revolution but a wave of social radicalism which formed the foundation of the American nation and achieved a landmark of first ever republic constitution. He explained that it was not just the discontent from the ruling dynasty; rather it was social and intellectual difference amongst the two nations (Wood 1992). Also, the movement contained an essential element of revolution; violence. Without any violent activity, it is impossible to attain the desired results of the revolution movement. Hence in these terms too, the American Revolution can be regarded as a true revolution in itself (Medvedev 2012).