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What Was Revolutionary About the American Revolution?

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Everyone knows the basics of the American Revolution: thirteen North American colonies revolted against British rule and won their independence. But there’s much more to the story: the American Revolution, of all revolutions, was a game-changer for the entire world. How so? And most importantly, why? Renowned historian Allen Guelzo explains.

To view the script, sources, quiz, visit https://www.prageru.com/video/what-was-revolutionary-about-the-american-revolution

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Script:

“The birthday of a new world is at hand.”

That was what Thomas Paine, the fiery pamphleteer, wrote in 1776, as thirteen of Great Britain’s North American colonies rose in revolt against British rule and declared themselves a newly-independent nation.

The American Revolution was something the world had never seen—politically…economically…and diplomatically. Let’s look at all three.

First, the politics.

Revolutions themselves were not new, of course. Britain put itself through not one, but two revolutions in the 17th century. Other countries in Europe endured similar upheavals.

These rebellions shared one of two goals: replace the current monarch with another one or extort new protections and privileges from the existing regime.

In stark contrast, the Americans did not propose merely overthrowing a monarchy. They proposed ending the very idea of monarchy as a worthwhile form of government.

In America, the citizen—not the government or the king—would hold the keys to power. With this overturning of the old way of doing things, the rebels made the political systems of Europe look as antiquated and irrational as fully as Newton’s laws had made medieval physics look antiquated and irrational.

As it was with politics, so it was with economics.

Tearing up the old order meant more than just refusing to take political orders from kings, dukes and princes. It meant taking no economic orders from them, either. In a society of free and equal citizens, Americans would follow their own economic initiative. They would be as free economically as they were politically.

This small-government model meant the state was to interfere as little as possible in the citizen’s life. Americans founded the only country ever to be based on the principle of restraining the government. And that unleashed such dynamic economic growth, it took America from a fledgling state to a world power in just fifty years.

A child born in 1776 could live to see canal systems link waterways from New York to New Orleans, see the electrical telegraph leap across unheard-of distances in communications, and the steamboat and railroad move passengers and freight at fractions of the cost imposed by horse and wagon.
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The sheer novelty of the revolution’s first two legs—the political and the economic—was so great that many Americans, such as Yale president Timothy Dwight, expressed a desire not merely to remake the North American continent, but the rest of world as well. America, Dwight wrote in a popular poem of the time, was destined to “Hush the tumult of war, and give peace to the world.”

But the Founders rejected this view. Far from any desire to share America’s redemptive culture, the Founders tendency was to regard the rest of the world as a potential threat—eager to strangle the American experiment, either by the re-imposition of empire or by association with more unstable attempts at revolution, as in France.

The American position regarding foreign interventions was articulated by then-Secretary of State John Quincy Adams in 1821: “Wherever the standard of freedom and independence has been . . . unfurled, there will [America’s] heart, her benedictions, and her prayers be. . . . But she goes not abroad in search of monsters to destroy.”

Of course, the United States has not always lived by this attitude. America has allowed itself to be pulled into foreign adventures, of which the Founders would have disapproved. Nor has the United States always lived up to its best ideals. It has, at various times, seen unfettered commerce turn into monopoly and corruption. And we’ve had to deal with the terrible shame of slavery and its long aftermath.

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33 Comments

  1. America had no choice but for a Revolution. Same as Oliver Cromwell did against King Charles.
    King Charles was going to shut Parliament down, which is the people’s elected house. The Civil War started and Cromwell won, and beheaded Charles.
    America had to go through the same with King George.

  7. There are some uncomfortable truths about the revolution.

    Many of those who fought did so for money.

    George was not a military genius since he had more defeats than victories.

    1/3 of the colonists supported the revolution. The other 2/3 was either neutral or loyalist.

  8. As someone from India, here is my opinion about the American Revolution:

    First of all, I don't think the revolution was justified enough. The mother country, Britain, had given the colonists the privilege of settling and living in the New World, and building colonies for Britain. As far as I know, the colonists had the option of simply moving back to England and living there (please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong). In fact, the so-called "liberty promoting" colonists were themselves racist. They attacked the Native Americans and captured their territories to build their own colonies. On top of that, they practised slavery, too. In fact, one of the Founding Fathers, Thomas Jefferson, had over 600 slaves. In the end, after committing so many atrocities that were definitely against freedom, they decide to betray their own Motherland, England, by breaking away. And the saddest thing is that they did it in the name of liberty. I mean, imagine if somehow, one of the states of the USA broke away in the name of liberty. And when such a thing happened in the 1800s, didn't the union declare war on the confederacy? How is the breaking away of the confederate states from the union unjustified, while the breaking away of the colonies from Britain is justified (when clearly, the colonists did promote slavery, perhaps even more than the confederate states did)? I mean, the colonists were themselves racist and practised slavery. I feel the American Revolution was just a betrayal towards England. Without England, neither the colonists nor the USA would have ever been born.

    The colonists betrayed the very country (Britain) that had given them the privilege to live in the New World. And according to me, the taxes were justified because of two reasons:

    1. Britain had spent a lot of money on the seven years war, protecting the colonies. Now it had the right to collect the taxes.

    2. And even if it wasn't so, after all, the colonies were a part of Britain, so the king had all the right to collect taxes from the colonists.

    And lastly, how can you say that you are fighting a war against the British, when you yourselves are the British?

    Again, this is just my opinion, please correct me if I am wrong.

  11. You were Englishmen so you had the right to do what is right for you.But ! Please don't continue the lie about it's was about freedom from oppression because it wasn't,. You Americans had started the seven years war and when it was over the French had no colony's that were a threat to the Americans.And you also knew that the British honoured their treaty commitments so there would be no expansion westward and as your country was founded on the right to persecute other people you had to get rid of the British.You proved yourselves to be a venal nation only in it for the money.

  13. Y’all know that you’re just fulfilling Daniel‘s prophecy about the great image with the feet of iron mixed with clay? Especially in today’s time because it talks about a government mixed with the people, that does not stick together one to the other. Your government is about to be smashed by the kingdom of God, the rock not cut with hands thrown against the image to destroy it. You are not a holy government, you are not blessed by God. Daniel 2:44

  17. Slavery has existed everywhere…Where does the word slave come from? Slavic (white people) African pirates actually traveled the cost lines off Africa and Europe for that very reason. Also tribes in Africa sold slaves to the Middle East as they did to America. Im not condoning any of this. Maybe focus more on the CURRENT SLAVES in China and India and everywhere else where SLAVERY EXISTS TODAY.