Historiography is the study of how history is written and the different perspectives of the past provided by different historians. Revolutions and wars are main events that historians love to pick apart due to so many different point of views or conclusions that they can assume. The Loyalists position on the revolution was, “...more sympathetic to Britain and more antagonistic to those responsible for the revolution” (American Revolution Historiography). Whig historians on the other hand, saw the revolution as a journey of progress and advancement. The Progressives, a new breed of historians, said that the revolution was based by economic factors and self interest. Along with the Progressives, was the Imperial School, who said the American …show more content…
The Whigs, or Patriots, saw the revolution as an advancement in subjects such as idealism, nationalism, and progress. “...Rockingham Whigs has done much to assist this development” (Paul Langford, Old Whigs, p. 106). There was a struggle between two important factors, the forces of liberty and modernity which was in American, and then “the regressive, corrupt and morally bankrupt Old World (Britain)” (American Revolution Historiography). The Whigs saw the American Revolution as a big help to the Colonies, or the United States. This revolution was seen as a very important event in human history. To create advancement in the United States, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights were written. These were able to give more rights to the colonists which led them to become more independent and help advance as a country. A well-known Whig and writer, Thomas Paine, put the first Amendment to good use , by convincing the Americans to break away from the chains of Britain ( The other political party that I agree with is the New Left. This group believes that class, economic conditions, race, gender, and ‘unheard voices’ had a big effect on the revolution. All of the focuses were a barrier between the Colonists, which paused unity. The ‘unheard voices’, mostly farmers and lower-class, started to loose trust in the fundamental of authority, generally the high-class
Elena Contreras Mrs. Polatty AP US. History/4B 20 September 2016 DBQ #1 WC: Scattered across the timeline of the period that includes the 17th and 18th centuries, the English colonies managed to construct an uncommon government system filled with revolutionary ideas that only pertained to their specific group. They created a unique government that permitted each individual person to have a say in the decisions about the country. The whole general idea of political rights created a well-known status that was unique to America alone.
The Revolutionary war was revolutionary, especially for the colonies. This statement was supported by how much land was available to them, and even the prices of each everyday item differed. If the colonists didn’t win the revolution, or if the revolution didn’t take place, things would have turned out differently. Along with that, they were now independent, and not following their home country, England. Other lower class colonists felt more equal to rich and upper class colonists, as shown in Document 3, where the lower class colonists were shown enjoying a game with more upper class men, and most likely richer people.
5) During the Revolutionary War, some Colonists wanted to remain loyal to the King while others did not. Give reasons for this. During the American Revolution people were often either Patriots or Loyalists. Patriots were people who wanted the American Colonies to be independence from Britain.
Hence Federalists came up with the Bill of Rights as a way to get the Constitution ratified and for people to really see a needed change. The Bill Of Rights which lists specific prohibitions on governmental power, lead the Anti-Federalists to be less fearful of the new Constitution . This guaranteed that the people would still remain to have rights, but the strong central government that the country needed would have to be approved. The 1804 Map of the nation shows that even after the ratification of the United States Constitution there still continued to be “commotion” and dispute in the country.(Document 8) George Washington stated that the people should have a say in the nation and government and everything should not be left to the government to decide.(Document 3) Although George Washington was a Federalist many believed he showed a point of view that seemed to be Anti-Federalists. Many believed that The Bill of Rights needed to be changed and modified and a new document’s time to come into place.
During the revolutionary war time period many speeches were wrote based on a political stance. This was a time in American history where things could have turned out very different. Most of the speeches were used as propaganda to sway the public in either direction for or against, to go to war with the British. The Revolutionary War was for a good cause and it pivotal in making America what it is today. The founding fathers of our country all put in their opinion on what should do, whether we should go to war with the British or stay under the Kings arm and continue to pay the taxes.
When looking at the social and political changes that took place during the early American colonies you can see a steady progression towards ideologies that would lead to the Revolution. When you have different levels of government being put in place by the states depending upon their needs, where rural areas had different court systems than more urban areas, you see a level of independence for governance that the colonists began to see the benefit of having, separate from the rule of the Crown. To counter this increase in independence. the Crown implemented ever changing political positions that could be assigned to those who were loyal to the Crown and the social hierarchy that was prevalent in Britain at the time. These actions of corruption
really wanted to gain independence from Great Britain. There were some people in the U.S. called loyalist that wanted to live under the tyranny of Great Britain and had no problems with the raising of taxes to support their country. The Patriots on the other hand were very much against all that the British stood for. The battle of Lexington and Concord, the battle of Trenton, and the battle of Yorktown were three key battles won by the U.S. that pushed the outcome of the war in the favor of the United States. The battle of Yorktown was the most significant it was the last major battle on land and with the surrender of Lord Charles Cornwallis it was very pivotal in the defeat of the British.
American Revolution began in 1775. There were lots of events, which led to the America revolution. Till 1763, everything was going in favor of England. Majority of the Americas were in favor of British rule, and they were big supporter. They use to treat parliament and queen of England with full respect.
All people were looking for freedoms, ones not ever having a chance of happening in Great Britain. Men, women, and African Americans were all seeking new and different types of freedoms than those provided in the land they had left or been forced to leave. The colonists had the goals of gaining their rights and freedoms in waging the Revolutionary War they were aiming for a republican political system and leaving behind monarchy systems as they had planned when first coming to the United States. England had called themselves a republic, but the king had so much control it did not fall under the category of a republic. England was a monarchy just as well as France and Spain were and this is exactly what they wanted to avoid in the United States (Document 1).
The American Revolution is arguably the turning point of American history as it resulted in somewhat of a significant, positive change in politics, economics, and society as a whole. However, from 1775 to 1800, the effects of the revolution on the American society were subtle as most principles glorified by revolutionists contradicted the examples set forth by colonial reality. Perhaps most alike to revolutionary beliefs was the American economy and how it participated in free trade or encouraged the independence of hard labor. Politically, the states did apply Enlightenment and republican ideas as promised, but more often than not, the benefits of such ideas were limited to rich, land-owning, protestant, white men. This glorification of
Before I really knew anything about the American Revolution, I believed that there was only one overarching reason that sparked the American Revolution; colonists just decided one day to become independent. As I have learned more about the Revolution, I discovered I was completely wrong. There are, in fact, two main viewpoints that commenced the Revolution: British loyalists and conservatives against the radicals. The loyalist and more conservative side was supportive of any of the rules, laws, taxes, or anything of that sort that British Parliament or monarchy put in place. In contrast, the radical’s craved for independence from the British government since they deemed their laws as useless and confining.
Liberty was an idea that America was founded upon. When the Constitution was being written, Benjamin Franklin gave a speech explaining why the delegates should sign the Constitution. Franklin admitted to the delegates that the document was not written to the best of its ability, and how he himself had doubts involving some parts. Overall, Franklin believed that this document would be something to protect the liberties of the people and would secure the people 's rights. Government preserves the liberty of citizens by their equality which leads to socialism.
There were many disagreements and because of those, many events were the cause of the American Revolution. These events included bloodshed by others, peoples rights weren’t enforced, individuals didn’t receive freedom, and our country was just not yet whole. Despite of the causes of why the road to Revolution took place there were effects afterwards. When American Revolution was over with the The Declaration of Independence came into place, treaties were signed, and the Bill of Rights. Now these effects/events were amazing, it helped our country tremendously.
The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and simple protests paint the picture of the struggle endured and well-deserved rights that people gained for each other. The suppression and abuse felt by the upper hand before 1776 instigated a sense of rebellion among the people – bringing them together despite their status or beliefs. This diverse set of individuals led to the making of The Declaration of Independence, or in other words “a national symbol of unity” (Stockdale). America was born in hopes of changing lives for the better and offering opportunity after opportunity to anyone without discriminating. Although there was a long fight for freedom and equality, the Constitution was drafted to outline the inalienable rights that all
In conclusion, the Enlightenment was vital to the American Revolution and the creation of American Government. The Enlightenment beliefs that influenced the American Revolution were natural rights, the social contract, and the right to overthrow the government if the social contract was violated. The Enlightenment beliefs that aided to the creation of the American government were separation of powers, checks and balances, and limited government. As stated before, without the Enlightenment there would not have been a revolution, resulting in no American Government. The Enlightenment’s influence on the creation of America is irrefutable.