How Did The American Revolution Change Society

While the American Revolution does not have the notoriety of being as bloody or chaotic as the French, Russian, or Chinese Revolutions, it did have tremendously radical social affects. In The Radicalism of the American Revolution, Gordon Woods analyzes just how crucial social change was during the Revolution, and how it helped develop American society, politics, and economics. The most drastic social change that came out of the revolution was the creation of an independent, republican society. As the people began to change, social constructs began to break down—which opened up new avenues for American development. At the same time, the revolution altered the relationships between people, unifying the nation, which changed how people viewed

Because the ideals of the revolution—equality, liberty, freedom—many people began to question the social hierarchy and the role it played in society. This idea became more powerful than intended, by presenting Americans with modern, liberal ideas that helped prompt the development of the anti-slavery and women’s rights movements (21). Although the conflict with Great Britain did divide the colonists into two sides—patriots and loyalists—social change weakened the influence of the ancien régime and unified the patriots significantly more (25). Additionally, the barrier around politics began to crumble as the European hierarchy that viewed wealth so specially fell. Instead of wealth granting someone authority and power, more and more people began to value and participate in politics. In fact, many Americans believed that they were “capable of ordering their own reality” in this new country (22). Earlier, during the 1760s, “kin and patronage” were the predominant ways someone gained any political power. But according to a British official, these elites had “been long in a gradual decay” by 1776, and the rise of political factionalism led to more political participation (22). Thus, by bringing down the social constructs of pre-1776, the colonists became more unified and politically

According to Wood, the revolution was a “full-scale assault on dependency” (26). While independence might seem to undermine unity, in America it allowed for the mass majority of the nation to become independent from the limitations of the ancien régime (27). It also made the idea of slavery—where a person was fully dependent on another—significant and more disdained. In fact, John Adams reported that “there are but two sorts of men in the world, freemen and slaves” (27). Moreover, instead of kin and patronage forcing dependency between people, republicanism was unifying them. These republican ideas, which focused on equality and liberty, led to changes in the power of family and hereditary privilege (29). Women and children, and especially servants, gained some respect in society, and soon the patriarchy was in “disarray.” The relationships between workers and masters, and between businesses and clients, became looser and friendlier, and workers became more mobile (31). Because of these societal changes, the government sought to use its power in new ways—especially in public works and services (32). Thus, as the relationships between people changed, society, politics, and economics became more linked as the nation became more