Gordon S. Wood's The American Revolution: A Book Review

Introduction: Competing Interpretations of the American Revolution

Over the past few years, a number of historians have written about the first years of the American experience. In most cases, they either celebrate the actions of the patriots — arguing that this was unlike any other time in world history, when standing against oppression becomes a necessity — or they take a much more negative view, contending that the whole event should not be blown out of proportion and that it simply happened to be the right time and place. From this critical perspective, one need only look at what did not happen: slavery, sexism, and imperialism all continued, just under another guise.

In The American Revolution, written in 2002, Gordon S. Wood, one of the most knowledgeable scholars on this period, takes a far more realistic and pragmatic approach. Unlike so many who write about America's past, he has no hidden agenda or political leaning. He has no desire to be among those historians who emphasize only the failures of this era. Wood notes with disappointment that "some historians today are more apt to stress the failures of the Revolution" than to believe that anything substantially progressive came out of this historical event. One scholar he cites argued that the Revolution "failed to free the slaves, failed to offer full political equality to women, … failed to grant citizenship to Indians, failed to create an economic world in which all could compete on equal terms."

Wood's Argument and Approach

Wood would rather argue that "the Revolution, like the whole of American history, is not a simple morality play; it is a complicated and often ironic story that needs to be explained and understood, not celebrated or condemned." This statement serves as the guiding thesis of the book and distinguishes Wood's approach from that of both partisan defenders and ideological critics of the revolutionary period.

Structure and Content of the Book

In less than 200 pages — 166 to be exact — Wood tells precisely that kind of story. He reviews the events of the American revolt and provides his unique interpretation of what occurred. The American Revolution is divided into seven parts: "Origins," "American Resistance," "Revolution," "Constitution-making and War," "Republicanism," "Republican Society," and "The Federal Constitution."

Wood first describes what led up to the Declaration of Independence in 1776, focusing on the increasing estrangement between the British and the independent colonists. John Adams explained that "the Revolution was affected before the war commenced" — it was a change "in the minds and hearts of the people." The power of British authority was gradually weakened by the settlers' decentralization. Although most colonists once lived along the coast, they began moving further into the interior of the continent. At the same time, prices soared for exports of colonial agriculture and manufactured goods. The Stamp Act's taxation in 1765, despite its short shelf life, soured the relationship between Britain and the colonies, and the Tea Act made a bad situation even worse.

Conclusion

Wood's The American Revolution succeeds because it resists the temptation to deliver a tidy verdict. The American Revolution was neither an unqualified triumph nor a moral failure — it was a messy, contingent process shaped by competing interests and unforeseen consequences. If it is indeed true that one can learn from history, the moral of the story is that perhaps no one knows the moral until the story is already written.

Reference Cited

Wood, Gordon. The American Revolution. New York: Modern Library, 2002.