How Revolutionary Was The American Revolution

Revolutionary can be defined as revolts that support political revolution across the board, or pertaining to everyone. What began our nation was known as the American Revolution, although how revolutionary was it? The American Revolution was a war fought between the American colonies, who wanted independence, and Great Britain, who owned and were superior to the American colonies. After the war, the underdog colonies won their independence and began to plan how their government would be run. It is true that America altered from political, social, and economic standpoints, such as transforming into citizens, slaves becoming a fraction of a free person, and economic instability arising, but some of their ideals didn 't apply to everyone.

Once America gained its independence, the freedom was not so ubiquitous, or spread out. For example, when the revolution was sparking excitement in the American people, women wanted to test the idea that only men could participate in politics (Women Seek a Public Voice). According to Eliza Wilkinson, "most women did not insist on civic equality with men; many sought only an end to restrictive customs and laws," like owning property. However, many men disregarded the women 's plea, and let it not faze them as they continued with their patriarchal traditions they have grown accustomed to before and after the war. The women of America still lived in the shadows of the white men who relished in full citizenship. Women were not the only ones who did not gain freedom as a result of the war; slaves also didn 't get to enjoy citizenship. The slaves were not set free because "for southern slaveholders, the Revolution was fought to protect property rights," meaning slaves. This was beneficial in the south later on when they basically dominated the national government. They accomplished this by demanding that slaves be counted as full citizens in the census in order to strengthen their representation (Negotiations Over Slavery). The delegates rather counted each slave as three fifths of a free person so that they would still be deemed as

Wars and battles are not fought without each side facing consequences, no matter who is victorious. Countless lives are lost, towns demolished, and what hit America the hardest were the financial issues. In order to fund the war, and to keep the states at ease, wealthy citizens were issued bonds by officials to obtain their precious metals (Financial Crisis). Unfortunately these funds were not limitless, and states then had to use paper money to finance the war. This, however, did not work out for America in the long run. All together the states issued about $260 million dollars to finance the war, which got inflated and lost its value. If this wasn 't bad enough already, at this time America was in what is known as war economy, which is an economy system for war product manufacturing only (The Perils of War). For example, "in 1776, Connecticut officials asked the citizens of Hartford to provide 1,000 coats and 1,600 shirts," for the soldiers. Even though the Americans faced economic instability after the war, a major shift assisted in their economic development. Loyalist property was seized by the Patriot and either dispersed to the less fortunate Americans or auctioned off. In doing so, on the economic ladder, the Loyalists, who were at the top, were replaced by Patriot merchants (The War 's Losers: Loyalists, Native Americans, and Slaves). The War 's Losers section also states that "the Revolution did not result in widespread property redistribution,"