September 26

Blog #40 – Was the American Revolution conservative or radical by its nature?

One of the primary themes that I’ve wanted you to consider over this unit on the American Revolution was the concept of whether or not it was a conservative revolution (people trying to keep powers that they already have been exercising for years) or whether it was truly a radical revolution (people striking out on their own by overthrowing an existing political or social order and creating a new one).   American historical scholars have been debating its very nature of the American Revolution soon after it ended.

As we read over and study chapter 7 in our textbook, many of you are asking questions about the use of my analogy of the American colonies as the spoiled child / teen overeeacting to limits being placed on the adolescent by previously indulgent parent (Britain / Parliament) who now realizes that their child has grown up and needs to take some responsibility.  My attitudes about the Revolution have changed over the past three years since I’ve started teaching APUSH and have become more nuanced.  What I mean by that is that I used to believe what most of you have probably been taught – we were right and the British were tyrants, and it was just a matter of time that we asserted our unalienable rights by breaking away from the British empire to become the greatest nation in the history of the world.

The more I study the Revolution, the more I see numbers like the taxation issue (Brits were taxed 26 shillings to the colonists’ 1 shilling), and I wonder what the big deal was.  Parliament wasn’t asking the colonies to pay the debt of 140 million pounds sterling that the empire had accrued during the French and Indian War – just 1/3 of the 100,000 pounds that it cost for the soldiers to be there to protect the Indians on the other side of the Proclamation Line of 1763.

Bancroft 

The pre-Civil War era (1840-1870) was filled with historians who saw the Revolution as a quest for liberty, and the most important scholar was George Bancroft who wrote a ten-volume History of the United States.  Bancroft felt that the Revolution was a “struggle between liberty and tyranny… represent[ing] one phase of a master plan by God for the march of all mankind toward a golden age of greater human freedom” (Bancroft 13).   Bancroft represented a national historian who told America’s epic story  in an ultra-patriotic way.  After the Civil War, however, historians wanted to reassess the Revolution in light of the country’s amazing industrial growth.

Imperial and Progressive Schools 

The Imperial School believed that political and constitutional issues brought on the Revolution.  Britain’s colonial policies were not as unjust as Bancroft had said.  There were benefits and burdens with the Navigation Acts, and the colonists benefited under Salutary Neglect too.  Also, Imperial School historians felt that the British were justified in taxing the Americans b/c it was British blood and treasure spent during the Great War for Empire 1754-63.  American colonies were moving in the direction of more home rule which, in essence, was revolutionary, by nature.

The Progressive School emphasized that it was the economic split caused by the competition between the colonies and the mother country.  Not only that, but the Progressives placed a great emphasis on class conflict, so this Revolution was actually two – external against Britain and internal between social classes (which class would rule America after the British left).  Historian Arthur Schlesinger noted that usually conservative merchants played a key role in kick starting the Revolution b/c they feared what would happen to their positions if the lower classes won the internal Revolution.

Consensus Movement

Historians in the 1950s, the consensus school of history, feel that there wasn’t class conflict during this time period, but that a “shared commitment to certain fundamental political principles of self-government” was what bound the colonists together (Bailey 140).  It was these ideas – liberty, voting, representative government, trial by jury, habeas corpus – that bound Americans together.  The leading historian of this movement was one of my favorites, Daniel Boorstin.  It was these grand, shared ideas that bound the varied colonial interests together and minimized the social and economic conflicts that could have torn the colonies apart.

After the 1950s, historian Bernard Bailyn focused on ideological and psychological factors that drove the RevolutioFront Covern.  He had read hundreds and hundreds of pamphlets from the Revolutionary era and discovered that not only were the colonists extremely literate, they were very knowledgeable in political theory.  These American writers also grew suspicious (some say too sensitive) of conspiracies, and this hypersensitivity led the colonists to begin armed revolt in 1775 at Lexington and Concord.

New Left (1960s, 70s)

Another one of my favorite historians, Gary Nash, has examined the social and economic forces that moved the Revolution along.  He pointed out the increasing gap between the social classes and lack of social mobility before the Revolution, especially among the people who lived in the countryside.  Attacks by the poor (the Paxton Boys in PA and the Regulators in N.C.) on the wealthy before the Revolution are prime examples of the frustration and resentment that laborers felt at being left out of the rapid economic change.  Unlike the Progressive historians, the New Left historians like Nash don’t pin all of the conflict upon economic conflict but include social changes as well.

Not only have you gotten a lesson in historiography (the history of the history – of the Revolution in this case), you can see that history is not a static thing and changes over time.  The history usually reflects the political and social conditions of the writers / historians living at that time.

Using what you’ve read here and in chapters 7 and 8, provide with me some insight into what you think our American Revolution was – a conservative revolution or truly radical one in nature.  Also, please provide some rationale for your answer. 

Due Monday, October 1 by class time.  Minimum of 250 words.  

Sources:

Bailey, Thomas Andrew, David M. Kennedy, and Lizabeth Cohen. The American Pageant. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1998. Print.

Wood, Gordon S. “Rhetoric and Reality in the American Revolution.” The Idea of America: Reflections on the Birth of the United States. London: Penguin, 2011. 25-55. Print

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Posted September 26, 2012 by geoffwickersham in category Blogs

74 thoughts on “Blog #40 – Was the American Revolution conservative or radical by its nature?

  1. Cooper Peters-Wood

    The American Revolution was not the radical revolution that we are used to hearing about, but a conservative revolution where the greedy and self benefiting colonists rose up against Britain. The colonists began to feel deprived of their rights first as Britain drew the proclamation line of 1763. They felt it as unfair that they were being deprived of the land they had fought for, and expansion was within their rights. In reality, Britain drew the proclamation line to help aid their relations with Indian tribes, and to help prevent uprisings similar to that of Pontiac’s. The colonists also felt that they were being taxed against unfairly to pay off Britain’s war debt. This is where we have all wrongly learned that Britain taxed the colonies too heavily and unfairly. The reality of the situation though is that the colonists were still British subjects, and were expected to aid the mother country. They were only paying one shilling to every twenty six shillings a person living in England was taxed. The colonists hated paying for taxes and protested against it. Another right that the colonists felt needed to be preserved was free trade. When Britain passed the navigation act in an attempt to preserve the mercantile system, the colonies threw a fit. The system failed before it was even instituted as a law. The American Revolution was a conservative revolution because the colonists were trying to preserve rights they believed they were losing. The taxes and laws on trade were never instituted harshly before the war and the colonists had become accustomed to it for almost 150 years. So when the taxes and laws came along after the French and Indian war, which would normally be deemed as acceptable, the colonists were angered and went on to try to preserve the rights that they believed they already had.

  2. Gabriel Mann

    By all means the revolution was definitely conservative and not a radical revolution that involves in my opinion complete overthrow of the government/establishment and its exiling or death of its leaders. Though there were many battles during the american revolution they were fighting for for their freedom not to murder King George or topple the English government but to rid their presence on the american continent and too be recognized as an independent nation. Before the revolution colonists thought they were being unfairly taxed and restricted in some cases this was true in others it wasn’t for instance with the Navigation Acts which permitted trade only with Britain and the Sugar Acts which compared to what the average British citizen was paying was very reasonable, these acts angered the colonists and made them protest until parliament repealed them. Not too mention compared to other revolutions the American Revolution in which a radical set of people would disagree with status quo and rebel sometimes very violently like the French Revolution which led to a totally new form of government. In the case of the American Revolution Britain altered the status quo and created the Proclamation of 1763 an imaginary line on the appalachian crest in response to Pontiac’s Rebellion saying that indians must remain west of the line and colonists east this angered colonists because they thought the british were supposed to protect them not the indians and that the line limited westward expansion. The American Revolution was in the end very conservative compared to the many radical revolutions that would follow it.

  3. Tamia W

    I without a doubt believe the revolution was more a radical movement, but I also believe the revolution had its conservative moments. The American colonies were most definitely growing apart from Englanders. The society of Englanders was more of culture and modification. The individuals of England accepted the position of dependence because they had been deprived of many opportunities. They believed in complete obedience to their rulers as their way of life. In America however, things were utterly dissimilar. Americans way of life revolved around self-government, independence, various opportunities. The two societies could not have less in common. Their viewpoints on that way the society should be run initially had everything to do with the radical movement. With the alterations in social and economic structure, America begin to crave liberation. The taxes that were imposed ultimately played a huge part in the revolution. Laws such as the Stamp Act, and the Townshend Acts created complications with the Americans. They thought the acts were unfair, that they were not being properly being represented by the Parliament, and that they should consequently not be taxed. Britons on the other hand felt they took care of the interests in the entire empire, including the colonists, so they should thus have the right to tax whomever they pleased. This triggered many uprisings. With all the unfairness that was taking place, the Americans now, more than ever were pushing for independence. The war that took place in order to receive the independence they desired thus is a radical deed. American colonies revolted against British authority on their own with intentions of creating their own social order. They were no longer what Mr. Wickersham would call children, but instead mature independent adults.

  4. Kate Voigt

    The American Revolution was not a radical revolution as our middle and elementary school teachers beat into our heads. It is in fact, a more conservative revolution. A radical revolution is a violently fought struggle for rights that didn’t exist before the revolutionary point. A conservative revolution is one in which the rights are there, but are in need of protection from possible government removal. Since early colonists had freedom of speech, were pretty much geographically independent from Great Britain and each individual colony had its own government and purpose. The colonies did feel threatened though. The sudden surge in taxes on things of high importance as stamps, glass, paint and sugar, brought up deeply planted tension into the colonies. They began to feel as if England was watching them more and more, sort of like the way a teenager feels around a hovering parent. The quartering act, in which colonists were commanded to house British soldiers, which only caused this feeling to elevate even more still, and made the colonists get more and more fed up with “mother England”. The tipping point, in the colonist’s eyes was the Boston Massacre. A mass shooting of colonists occurred in front of British barracks one day, and this sent the colonies into a tizzy. These soldiers, who were sent in to not only protect the Native Americans from the colonists, are now shooting at us? This cannot happen. America was destined for war. The introduction of minute-men militia is another reason for the conservative revolution. Since we were fighting in defense for our rights, we needed an always ready military. A radical revolution would have called for a more prepared force, like the British military.

  5. Alayna Brasch

    From everything I have read, it almost seems like the American Revolution was both a conservative and radical one. But for specific reasons, I’d have to say that overall, the American Revolution was a conservative revolution.
    After the colonists helped fight in the war against the French and Indians, Britain won much of the French’s land in North America. Colonists were excited and ready to move into the land they had just fought for. But the British then created the proclamation of 1763, stating that the colonists were not allowed to settle on this new land. This angered many colonists. Also after the war, the British decided that they were going to send an army from Britain to help defend the colonists. The British also decided that the colonists should pay for this army because after all, the army would be defending them. But the colonists disagreed with this. Why did they need (and have to pay for) an army to defend them, when there was no one to defend them from. They had already defeated the French and Indians, so there was definitely no need for them to have to pay for an army.
    There were also many unwanted taxes being placed by the British, like the taxes on tea. Tea was a very popular and enjoyable drink in the colonies, and when their precious crates of tea came with taxes tacked on them, the colonists were not happy. Even when the taxed tea was the cheapest tea to get, just the thought of having to pay the British taxes was unbearable. The colonists never sought to restructure the society like the British were pushing them to do. That’s why the American Revolution was a conservative one.

  6. Carley Salerno

    I really think the American Revolution was both conservative and radical by nature. When the colonists were ignored for over 140 years, they had grown used to taking care of themselves and even supported the idea of autonomy. And by the time the British became interactive again, the colonists had gradually started seeing themselves as Americans, and had begun to recognize the differences between themselves and the British. And the only thing that the British did then was add taxes to the Americans to pay for things that they didn’t even deal with. But they still feared for their own safety, so they made the Declaration of Rights in 1765. It was a conservative move because of its assurance that the Americans were “sincerely devoted with the warmest sentiments… to His Majesty’s person and Government… “(Declaration of Rights). But the colonists also felt the need to have their own representatives to tax them for their own needs. This implies a new system of government, which is a radical move. Eventually, the Revolution’s outcome would prove to be radical because of the establishment of a completely new government and nearly complete rejection of the old way of life and rule. But in some ways, the colonists didn’t have a choice. All the gold and silver was leaving the country to Britain, leaving the Americans deprived of cash. They weren’t allowed to print their own money, and so many colonists ended up very poor and struggling to make ends meet. And when the Townshend Acts and other acts began, it simply pushed the Americans over the edge with annoyance. Overall, I believe that the Revolution was somewhat radical no matter how you look at it. The Americans’ values were conservative, though, especially when it came to their freedom and rights.

  7. Marie Suehrer

    I have never given much thought the American Revolution before. I mostly remember just that our middle school teachers told about how America had to fight for everything, because they didn’t have it before the Revolution. Normally you would think that you can believe your teachers to be true, because they are your teachers. Now that I am being asked to think about it in my own opinion I much more think that the Revolution of the American Colonists was much more conservative than radical.
    “Americans” as the colonists had been calling themselves more often, did not live, for the vast majority, in a country without any rights and were protected by the bill of rights. Still, if they were totally happy then they would not have needed a revolution after all. Indeed there was some things here and there that added up and could only be solved if the colonists stepped up for themselves and revolted.
    The slogan of ” No taxation without representation” was the major cause of the Revolution. Colonist felt unfairly treated, by the fact that they lacked in representation of the British Parliament, but had heavy taxes imposed on them. Also acts like the Sugar Acts or repressive acts. As many other of these acts were established over and limited the colonists, they feared that slowly nut surely many more of their well deserved rights would be taken away and Britain will gain more control over them. They did not want to live in fear or fear to live in fear soon, and they decided to “fight” against Britain and the Parliament.
    The Americans had before not lived without rights, and were-through the Revolution-only trying to preserve these rights they had and remain in their independence. This shows that the revolution was not radical, radical would mean they did not have anything and wanted everything. It was a conservative revolution, because of they very fact that I had mentioned before. They were trying to keep rights that had already existed and refrain from loosing anymore.

  8. Elizabeth Lohr

    I believe the American Revolution was a conservative revolution. The British was particularly fond of America because of the mercantile theory that they lived by; the goal of a country should be to export more than it imported because wealth meant power. The colonies gave the British an advantage because when your country is in possession of colonies in the new world; you can obtain raw materials from them and also have a market for your exports. The mercantile theory was supported through the Navigation Acts which allowed trade only to happen on English vessels. Also, European goods shipped to America had to travel to England first, where they collected a tax on the good. Some goods were to be shipped only to England, specifically tobacco. At home, the colonists were not allowed to produce beaver hats or woolen cloth because it might compete with the English industry. The Navigation Acts lead to money shortages, especially since there were no banks existing in the colonies. People of the colonies were buying more from the English than selling which lead to imbalance. Americans tried to print paper money, but Parliament restricted them from printing it and also from bankruptcy laws, both of which seemed to deceive the British merchants. After that, the British kept close watch on the Americans laws, and were allowed to veto them if they conflicted with their policy. This veto was not used many times but the colonists were still outraged with the idea. Many colonists decided to smuggle around the Navigation Acts and used the mercantilist theory as their benefit (ships parts were especially valuable and the English paid good money for them). The Americans also were fond of their full rights of Englishmen, self-government and not having taxes to support an army. The Americans were usually more economically stable than the English. All in all, life seemed pretty good for the Americans. However, mercantilism did not allow Americans to sell or buy from countries that would benefit them the most economically. Then, at the end of the Seven Years War in 1763, the British asked the Americans to help pay off 1/3 of the money needed to pay the redcoats in America, who were there specifically for American protection. Then Prime Minister George Grenville ordered the British navy to enforce the Navigation Laws. Soon after, he passed the Sugar Act of 1764 and the Quartering Act of 1765. If that was not enough, Grenville then impaled the Americans with the Stamp Act in 1765 (stamps were needed for an overabundance of items, which lead it to be so burdensome). Grenville’s actions actually were fair, seeing that the taxes were only imposed because the Americans needed to pay off a share of their own defense. The Americans could not stand any of these new acts and protested against them. This was showing off the conservative side of the revolution, since all the Americans really wanted was for things to be restored back to their normal condition, before all the extra taxes. Parliament was fed up the Americans complaining and in 1776, they revoked the stamp tax. Then, in 1767, Champagne Charlie passed the Townshend Acts; import tax on glass, white lead, paper, paint, and most importantly, tea. The colonists rebelled against this tax and found ways to smuggle tea and started nonimportation agreements. Lord North persuaded Parliament to rid of the Townshend Act, but the tea tax was kept. The remaining tea tax lead to various tea parties including the infamous Boston tea party. These tea parties included dumping the crates of tea into the water and at the Boston one, dressing up as Indians. In 1774, Repressive Acts were passed, which closed the Boston harbor until all the damages were paid for. One of the acts, called the Quebec Act, expanded the French’s boundaries to the Ohio River, which angered colonists hoping to settle there. Considering the Americans outrage to all the acts bestowed upon them, all they wanted was for their society to be returned back to its normal state, without the English taxes incessantly nagging them. Therefore, it was a conservative revolution, rather than a radical one.

  9. Becky Simonov

    Revolutions, be it social, economical, political, or cultural, have been occurring throughout human history. It has been accepted that it is impossible for everyone to agree on everything, and in an ever-changing world, revolution is almost inherent. But what differentiates between something as “radical” as the Bolshevik Russian Revolution and the [American] celebrated American Revolution? What made the ensuing Communist government in the newly established Soviet Russia seen as a threat while the competing world power of America was generally looked to as a leader? When the colonies declared their independence from England, they were not looking to create a new form of government, but rather build a new nation founded by self-elected representatives. One might argue that by breaking away from the monarchy of England, the Americans were making a radical change from their colonial days, but it is important to note that the King of England had very little power at the time of the Revolution, and that it was Parliament that held true power. Changing the label from Parliament to Congress does not constitute a change in the overall establishment of society. Americans did not want to start something completely new per se, rather they sought to protect their rights from what they saw as a threat, and the most efficient way of doing that was gaining independence from England. The American Revolution didn’t change the English Parliament, nor did the pre-established government that was already in America change much as far as ideology. The Bolshevik revolution, on the other hand, destroyed the monarchy that was present in almost every other European country. Communism was an idea that came out of hatred for the established social structure, and Russia under the Bolsheviks became an entirely different country. The rest of the European continent was functioning under very similar principles as the past Imperial Russia, so the theory behind the Communist revolution could only be viewed as a radical threat. Contrarily, the newly established United States of America maintain a moral code very similar to England and the rest of Europe, so it was only natural that they were not looked to as an immediate enemy.
    Conservative ideology is exactly what it implies, a conservative viewpoint on how life should go about. To conservative people, the traditional way of going about life is proper, as seeing as people generally thing of change as something frightening and potentially dangerous, it is no wonder that a revolution that had relatively conservative values would not be viewed as an immediate threat. What is threatening to an established society are ideas that are drastically different from the status quo. Communism isn’t inherently evil as many would think, but the years of fear of a communist taking over the established European social order has led to a negative connotation with that particular political ideology. The communist theory was radically different from the already existing government systems known in Europe, but the American system of government shared similar values to Europe. In the context of history, the American Revolution demonstrates a conservative revolution, as there was simply not enough change to constitute any form of radicalism.

  10. Jenna Weed

    The American Revolution was not so much a radical revolution, but more so a conservative one. A radical revolution is considered to be one where a political head or social structure is overthrown and a new one is created, while a conservative revolution is one in which a group of people are trying to keep the powers they already possess from being taken away from them. The American Revolution is best described as a conservative one because the colonists were only trying to preserve the rights Britain had originally given them that had been in effect for 150 years.
    The Americans were not trying to overthrow the king or Parliament. They wanted to remain loyal to the king and as British subjects. Through salutary neglect, the colonists were able to develop their own governing systems and legislatures, create stable economies, earn a better lifestyle than the average Briton, have a better chance of getting an education or get more land, and not having to worry about British military presence over the course of 150 years. However, after the French and Indian War, Parliament began passing many laws that angered the colonists because they conflicted with the colonists’ rights. Parliament passed many laws, such as the Navigation Acts, that restricted trade only with Britain, the short lived Stamp Act, which set a tax on most paper goods, the Tea tax, a tax put on imported tea, and the Repressive “Intolerable” Acts, which were pointed at Massachusetts as a result of the many tea parties. These acts were passed because Britain needed money to pay off the French and Indian War debt and realized they weren’t utilizing the colonies to the greatest degree and could benefit greater in the mercantile economy. However, the colonists couldn’t help pay off the debt because they had no money due to the trade system instituted by Britain.
    John Grenville, the Prime Minister of Britain, claimed that the colonies were virtually represented in Parliament. However, this wasn’t true because these laws were passed by Parliament that were not what was best for the colonies, only what was best for Britain. Britain was fundamentally different from the American colonists, and therefore had no right to make laws that would affect America. The angered colonies united and rebelled together to preserve the existing rights and structure of society they had in the conservative American Revolution.

  11. Oliver Hartzell

    To tell if the American Revolution was conservative or radical, you must first find the definitions for each. A conservative revolution is a revolution where the rebel movement wants to keep their same rights that are feared to be taken away. A radical revolution is one where the rebel movement wants to make a new government and completely change everything, like an extremist movement. I believe that the American revolution was a conservative one because the colonists at first didn’t want to break away from England, they wanted to repeal tax laws from Parliament, and they still supported the King at first. It wasn’t until much later into the revolutionary war that the colonies wanted their independence. In the beginning, they just wanted Parliament to repeal their tax acts and mercantilist ideals.
    At the end of the French and Indian War, Britain was in huge debt. They saw the colonies as a means of gaining back their wealth through taxes. They thought that since the colonies had proven themselves and were under taxed compared to the brits (26 shillings per brit to 1 shilling per colonist). The problem with these assumptions was that americans had to pay for goods in gold or silver and were cash-starved when the trade deficit was built with Britain. The colonists also found ways around trading with the brits, and the colonists were restricted with the goods they could make at home. This made colonists angry because they could make no good profit and the southern colonies were favored because of their ability to produce non-english products. On top of this, Parliament began creating different acts such as the Quartering Act, which required certain colonies to provide food and shelter for british soldiers, and the Stamp Act, which was a tax that mandated stamps on any type of paper. The colonists see these acts as a conspiracy, so you see why they want to repeal taxes and acts. The idea of independence didn’t come until the publishing of Common Sense by Thomas Paine. In his book he says that it’s common sense to want to break away from England for all the wrong it’s done. It was then that the declaration of Independence was made. After the war, Americans made a government that was a democratic republic, which means that the people had the power to choose their government and the actions it made. This is why the revolution was a conservative one.

  12. Matt Gallo

    I believe that the American Revolution was infact a Conservative Revolution. I mean, I understand why people would side with Radical but I believe that the Americans were trying to keep the rules that had been going on for years. The British cut off trade routes so the Americans can only trade with them and not the cheaper Spaniards. The British had pushed the taxation without represination; and reached the breaking point when the tea tax joined the party. Even though we were all tought that the British were taxing the Americans because they were jurks with accents. They only did it because Americans were paying one shiling and English citizens were paying 26 shilings for taxes. But it was a growing conflict. In my mind it started with the Proclamtion line of 1763. But, Manifest Destiny was creeping up on the Americans. Plus, they believed that they fought and lost lives for this land, but now they can’t have it! The Americans drove out the French so they should be given the land. The Americans were getting sick of the new taxes and laws being put together by the British. On the eve of March 5th, 1770 Colonists gathered and protested in front of some British Barracks. The protests escaladed and the British soldiers fired on the Americans killing five and wounding eleven. This was another turning point for the Americans. They felt that the British were tightening their grip on the Colonies more than needed. And the Colonies were sick of it.

  13. Anne Kozak

    The American Revolution was conservative by nature rather than radical. The fact that Britain let the Americans reign over land so far away from Britain for so long affected this nature greatly. This is because the colonists began looking for something different than Britain in the first place: they wanted to be freer in their religious beliefs, or to make their own businesses, or to have a new start away from poverty. They were allowed to grow and change further as time passed, which is seen through their fights with the Indians, their histories in the creating of each colony, and the patriotism many felt by the time the Revolution began. As they were not heavily under control of the British during the first one and a half centuries of their existence, Americans were allowed to develop their own ideas of what rights they should have. By the time Britain decided to exert its control over its colonies—through the taxes on them they set, restrictions on trade, and the Proclamation Line of 1763, it was too late. The Americans were too used to the lower taxes and the free reign of the continent. Regardless of the measures taken by the British, it was inevitable that the Americans would want to break free of its grasp—when the British began to use the colonists to pay their debts, the colonists took this as a forewarning of what might be to come. While Britain’s actions were mostly well-meant—taxes were much lower than taxpayers in Britain, and were only meant to help pay for the soldiers guarding the Proclamation Line; the Line was enforced to help improve relations with the natives—Americans cared only for their freedoms, and they panicked when they thought they might be slowly taken away. In all, there was little provocation on Britain’s side, but from early on Americans wanted to be self-governed and Britain was very lenient in its rule. This rule was just beginning to change, and Americans really wanted to just keep doing what they had been for the past century and a half; thus making the Revolution a conservative one.

  14. Daniel Oleynik

    The American Revolution was a turning point in our country’s history; it began with a slow rise in tensions between Americans and the British. It was instigated by Samuel Adams and other radicals, as a result of the revolution, the colonies established a new government and a new constitution making the American Revolution a radical event
    Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, and their comrades had a great part in starting the revolution. Not only did these radicals spread propaganda against the British, they also formed a group called the Sons of Liberty which can be viewed as a domestic terrorist group. One of the key things Sam Adams did in commencing this radical revolution is his involvement in the Boston Tea Party and the Boston Massacre.
    Sam Adams was spreading false propaganda about British soldiers killing a child. That angered the colonists and led them to riot. Dealing with the crowds, British prematurely opened fire, killing 8 colonists; an incident now referred to as the Boston Massacre. It played a key role in beginning the revolution and overthrowing the monarchist government.
    Also, the definition of a radical revolution is “people striking out on their own by overthrowing an existing political or social order and creating a new one.” This surely describes the American Revolution. The American Revolution had people, including radical movements, striking out on their own to overthrow a monarchist political presence in the colonies. In its place, the people would put a democratic government and give power to the people, not to the king.
    The American Revolution was truly radical in its movement to overthrow the royalist presence in the colonies. Even though Sam Adams played a huge part in kicking off the revolution, it could not have been done without the support of the American people.

  15. Zach Van Faussien

    I believe that the American Revolution was a conservative one. The American colonists were trying to keep the rights that were greedily being taken away from them. However, I understand why some people would think that it was a radical revolution. On the conservative side, if you look at the Intolerable Acts that were passed by British parliament, these acts took rights away from the colonists. For example, the Sugar Act; the sugar act increased the tax on sugar from the West Indies. The reason this act (and many other acts) were made was to try and pay off the debt from the Seven Years War. Acts like this one angered many colonists because they felt that they were being cheated by their government. “Taxation without representation” was a popular phrase used by colonists who disagreed with the Intolerable Acts. “Taxation without representation” means that the British parliament was taxing the colonies, but there wasn’t anyone representing the colonies in parliament. This is an example of a right that was being taken away from the colonists. Another reason I think the colonists were upset is because they were getting tired of the mercantile government. This form of government restricted the colonies from trading with any countries other than Britain. Now, I can understand why people would call the American Revolution a radical one because if you look at events like the Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party, it would seem as if the colonists were trying to overthrow the government. In the case of the Boston Tea Party, I think that the Sons of Liberty were trying jumpstart a rebellious attitude in the colonies and they didn’t like the monopoly on tea that Britain had over them. So, there were some shades of a radical revolution but it all started with their rights being taken away.

  16. Anna Daugherty

    I believe that the American Revolution was definitely a radical revolution. Why did most of these people travel to the new world in the first place? Many were looking for individual freedom, to be independent. In England, people were all for being obedient and supporting the monarchy, but in America the people were all about new opportunities, self-government, and being an independent country. Both of these views were so different, and more and more the colonies seemed to be growing apart from England. Paying taxes to a place across the ocean, were there beliefs were quite different, just doesn’t sound reasonable. Yes, Parliament only asked the colonists to pay 1 shilling, and the people in England had to pay 26 shillings, but I don’t think it was money that would cause the stir. The taxes represented a loyalty to Britain that many of the colonists did not feel. The colonists wanted to be independent. Laws like the Townsend Acts, Navigation Acts, and the Stamp Act were holding America back from its true potential. It’s potential to make its own identity in the world. If these laws caused such an uprising then why would the people try to keep the powers they had? As more of these acts and laws were being established, the colonists were been restricted even more, and the fact that they were loosing control scared them. Times were changing, the war happened because the colonists wanted to create a new political and social order. For this to happen, it had to be a radical revolution.

  17. J'Laan Pittman

    America is often compared to a spoiled child. The spoiled child throws a fit and wishes for more than it is already getting. The colonists wanted Great Britain to give them more freedoms, but still retain the ones they had. These actions showed them as greedy. They wished for no taxes on there everyday items, when at the same time in Great Britain, the people had to pay triple what the colonists paid. The ironic twist being that they were paying for the colonists to be protected from Indians, many Englishmen were confused to why the colonists would not pay for their own protection. Parliament was actually very generous with the amount of money they asked the colonists to pay. The colonists had gotten used to keeping, generally, to their own devices. This new sudden change startled the colonists who felt they owed nothing to Great Britain. Throughout the pre-revolution frenzy, many of the actions of the colonists can’t be justified. Tarring and feathering a man because of this unlucky choice in jobs, is completely uncalled for. The colonists were almost asking for war. The Boston Tea Party was almost like a giant neon sign shouting, “Here we are, ready for war!” The colonists should have had some recollection of their actions and had to know that with such extreme measures could come extreme consciousness. At least one of them had to think,” What if they come and take all of our rights away, what then?” Then again, pride probably blinded the colonists from having such revelations. But maybe it is for the best that they didn’t, because America would probably be a very different place.

  18. Shashank R.

    My personal opinion on the idea of the American Revolution being radical or conservative is against what most people think. Most of my classmates would say that this was a conservative revolution based on the fact that we were fighting for rights that were trying to be taken away from us. I would think that it is a radical revolution because the rights that were eventually granted through this revolution is radical in the aspect of the status quo at the time. The revolution was a radical movement because of the mindset included. The mindset of the colonists was radical. The thought of being radical or radicalism can be defined as “Favoring drastic political, economic, or social reforms.” Under these standards of this interpretation the American Revolution was very much so a radical revolution. The American Revolution meets not one, but all of these standards so it would be so. It meets the interpretation of political, economic and social in a very specific way. Through this revolution, the economic reform was done throughout the fact that the process of the mercantilist policy which Brittan had controlled was booted as their power in the “Americas” had depleted after this. Also the revolution meets the standard of a political reform because originally the concept of unity and formal public government was very vague and controlled virtually nothing in the grand scheme of things and after the revolution we had somewhat set up a foundation or basis of government and how it was going to be done through the learning of wrong doings of the British imperials on the colonists. The standard of social reform was carried out with our accomplished though the revolution because the concept of federalistic and patriotic views started to come into play in all of the colonies because the concept of unity needed to be and was evident during the revolution as the majority of the colonists were finding common ground between colonies and trying to work it out. Just because of these main reasons of the interpretation of a Radical Revolution, is why I think that the American Revolution was radical rather than Conservative.

  19. Maggie Hammond

    The American Revolution, although consisting of brutal war and punishments, should be considered a conservative revolution. For the many years the colonists were separate from England, and very distant to them, they gained new rights that England did not allow. The colonists and England were so far from each other, the colonists had to create separate governments to maintain order to the New World. These new governments gained different systems then the old-school England, and represented the idea of a republic and supported the idea of representation. Different colonies had different governments, some containing that church and state together, and other giving large religious freedom. New governments of the New World stated rights that include: the freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom of religion (in some areas), and the freedom of assembly. These freedoms would soon be put on the Bill of Rights, stating the rights for all United States of America citizens. These colonists were trying to keep these rights, and were fed up by the grievances of a monarchy government. As Thomas Paine stated in Common Sense, monarchy is unjust in the sense that all men are equal, and no king should have the upper hand. All colonists of this time were considered equal, and they had the right to have a representative government. The colonists wanted to keep these rights, and also felt threatened when the British went so far as to burn some of the villages and kill colonists to avoid war. It was then that the colonists called the congregation congress, and that independence was needed to keep the rights they worked so hard to achieve.

  20. Maggie Davis

    Although there were aspects of both a radical and conservative revolution , I think that the American revolution was definitely a conservative one. Although the colonists in America had never had the ability to govern ourselves, they were not trying to overthrow the government of England. All they wanted was too branch away from their mother country, which they saw as oppressive, and become one separate country instead of a group of colonies. I can see the point of English people as well, however. Britain sent over groups of people to start a new life in the colonies, helped pay for their wars, and expected them to be loyal in return. It is understandable for the English to expect them to pay taxes for a war that only helped the colonists, as they were only paying a fraction of what the citizens of their mother country were. However, the colonists felt that this was extremely unfair, and they wanted to abolish the idea of an anarchy, and govern themselves. The relationship with Britain and the Colonies can be compared to parents and a child quite easily. The parents help the child grow and get on it’s feet, but the child will not be expected to follow the direction of the parents when it reaches adulthood. This is the same with Britain and America. The English helped their “child” have the tools to become independent, and they should have given them the right to be an independent colony. This is what pushed the Americans to revolt, although they did not push for the overthrow of British government. All they wanted was to be an independent country, instead of staying in England’s shadow.

  21. Julia Berthel

    I believe that the American Revolution was a conservative revolution with radical aspects. Although it was described to us as an extremely radical revolution when we were kids, further inspection into the motives behind the revolution would show otherwise. We were told that the British were extremely oppressive and that the American Patriots were the ultimate heroes of the story. However, the British were not being unreasonable. After the Seven Years War, or the French and Indian War, Britain was left with tremendous debt. Britain wanted to tax the colonists for only a third of the military cost, which amounted to only a third of 100,000 pounds. Parliament was not asking the colonist to pay the total 140 million pounds of British debt, nor were they taxing the colonists very much at all (26 shillings in England for every 1 shilling in the colonies). The colonist knew what they wanted for their government, and they were only trying to retain the power that they felt they already had. The physical conflict was most likely due to the fact that some colonists were becoming too paranoid about retaining their rights, and so they felt they had to fight to defend them. I would say that this revolution was entirely conservative, however, Britain technically had power over the colonies during the eve of the revolution. Therefore, it would be incorrect to say that this revolution did not change political order, even if some colonists felt that they were only fighting to keep the order they thought was already present. The distant appearance of the American Revolution would be a shift in power, and therefore a radical revolution, however, a closer look would show the motives behind the American Revolution to be conservative.

  22. Carolyn Dimitry

    The American Revolution was conservative with a radical overtone. We were fighting to keep what we believed was ours, rights like choosing who taxes us and who leads us, but to keep said freedoms, we had to overthrow the existing regime of the region. The primary cause of this dual nature is Britain left Americans to their own devices for years on end. Our country had gotten used to running itself, and was happy with the way things worked. Britain tried to come in after we had solidified our place on the continent, trying to impose some of its society on to us. While the British were not tyrants some Americans make them out to be, they were threatening the American way of life. The Americans had settled on a way they wanted to run the land, and British simply dumped their culture onto our land. They had valid reasons, but they could have implemented them in a more politically aware manner. The British could have foreseen that the Americans had an independent streak and asking, rather than ordering, additional taxes to be levied would have worked much better. If the Americans could have chosen, perhaps, what exactly was to be taxed to pay off Britain’s war debts, the idea might have been better accepted. The Americans were primarily protesting the strict control the British had put on their trade, and so, looking towards their own best interest, having the freedom to choose where they were putting their money might have slowed, if not halted, the drive for independence.

  23. Nick Berry

    I believe that the revolution was a conservative one. To be a radical revolution, the colonists would have had to be fighting to gain rights they had not previously possessed. The colonists would have also had to attempt an overthrow of the English government. Since no overthrow was attempted and they were fighting to keep the rights, and regain a few, that they already had and had been exercising for years, the revolution could not have been a radical one. There were a few things in the revolution that were radical. One of the aspects of the revolution that was radical was the change of government. With certain acts passed there were some rights taken away from the colonists. When the admiralty courts began, the right to have a jury and be innocent until proven guilty was stripped from the tried colonists. This was a right given the Englishmen and a right that had been exercised in the colonies for years. In England each area of the country had representatives in Parliament. However, the English government believed that they could tax whatever they wanted to in the colonies and put whatever restrictions on the colonists that they wanted to. The colonies did overreact to most of the acts passed in Parliament. To be unwilling to pay for the army and war that protected you is absurd. However, it was reasonable to not want to pay for the soldiers when they were in the colonies to maintain the proclamation line and protect the Native Americans. They were still being taxed much less than the English citizens. The colonists felt they there way of life was being changed and that they were beginning to lose some of the rights they had been previously exercising; so when the revolution happened it was conservative.

  24. Amanda Burcroff

    In contrast to what we Americans usually hear about the Revolution, it was in many ways conservative rather than radical. Throughout almost the entire war the colonists were desperately clinging to a conservative approach and only when this was no longer an option did they reluctantly take a radical turn. The American colonies thrived under the principle of salutary neglect, where they created their own legislature and managed their own affairs. This all changed around the time of the French and Indian war, when the motherland, Britain, began to restrict and demand things from the colonists. Taxes were put in place, and rather reasonable ones at that, but the colonies refused to pay them because they did not believe virtual representation was fair and were against taxation without representation. They wrote many appeals to England asking to return to their old relationship including salutary neglect, but England needed money and only slackened a few of the rules. When the Patriots and British began to fight and the Continental Congresses were held, the colonists still expressed no intentions of gaining independence and focused most of their energy on regaining the rights they had in the past. Even after the Battle of Bunker Hill, when the British army was badly wounded, the Americans still pleaded for bygones to be bygones, but it was King George III who denied them. Up until when the Declaration of Independence was drafted, the conservative colonists gave their all to be England’s subordinate. It was only when they were reluctantly forced to split ties with England that the outcome of the revolution appeared to be radical.

  25. NOAH M. TURNER

    Overall I feel the American Revolution was more so conservative. And I understand it can be argued both ways. But the reason I do believe it is mostly conservative is because Americans kind of already had their own thing going and the British came in taxing them without representing in Parliament which the American felt they ought to be. They were fighting to protect their rights, they were not just trying to defeat the British and overthrow them. They just wanted to be separate, independent. But you have to think, if the British had given the American what they wanted, and never passed any of the taxing acts, would the revolution still possibly occur. At the time people were feeling a bit apart from England and did seem to feel like Americans, and if American were fighting the British just get rid of Britain power in the colonies then the revolution would seem more radical. And I do believe some of that is true and there was somewhat radical. But I still believe it was for the most part conservative and that it started for a conservative point not from a radical one. But then again the colonies were a part of Britain and the British weren’t trying to, say, hurt the American colonies. So the way the Americans reacted may seem radical, maybe even an overreaction to some things, such as the taxes they had were much lighter than Britain’s. Then I continue to come back to the big picture of the American Revolution and it does seem conservative, not a hundred parent but still conservative, we wanted to keep the powers we have been practicing for years.

  26. Seth Rosen

    A radical revolution is when a whole government is overthrown, and a new government is put into power. An example would be the French revolution. A conservative revolution is when you’re fighting to keep your rights you’ve already had. The American Revolution was conservative because the colonists were fighting for the rights they already had. The complaining began when the British drew the Proclamation Line of 1763. Even though the British made the line to protect the colonists from the Native Americans, the colonists had the right to move out onto lands they had won. The colonists also wanted their right to free trade. Great Britain had the colonies under a mercantile rule, which includes that the colonies can only trade with Great Britain. Mercantile rule also included that American goods were suppose to complement, not compete with, British goods. In previous American History lessons we have learned that the British were taxing the colonists like crazy. In reality, the Americans were only paying one shilling compared to the twenty six shilling tax people in England were paying. The colonists believed that only their elected representatives should be allowed to make taxes. The American Revolution was a conservative revolution because the colonists were trying to protect rights they already had. They were not trying to overthrow a previous government. The American Revolution, however, was not the same as the American War for Independence. The war only lasted eight years, while the revolution lasted roughly over a century and a half.

  27. Melissa Hall

    Although we may have been taught throughout our years that the American Revolution was a radical one, if you truly look past the basics you learn that it has more reasons of being a conservative revolution. In order to understand this, you first must understand the definition of the two. A radical revolution is one in which we overthrew—even violently an existing regime or government. A conservative revolution is one in which we fought to keep the same rights we had already had for years and feared that they would be taken away. Colonists were most definitely fighting for rights they already had, but were just scared and felt threatened that they were being taken away. For example Americans already had the right to trade, but when Mercantilism came into play with Britain, some of the laws threatened this right. Mercantile laws restricted American trade to just trading with Brits, restricted with what could be made at home, and they had to pay for goods in gold and silver. Although mercantilism was hitting the colonists hard, they additionally fared well in other fields. They enjoyed the undiluted rights of Englishmen, as well as unusually opportunities for self-government. But because of the costly Seven Years’ War, the colonists needed to be taxed and Britain believed the colonists should help pay for the 10,000 soldiers stationed in the colonies who enforced the Proclamation Line. This led to new and different types of acts for taxing. The Sugar Act was the first law passed for raising money in the colonies. It increased taxes on molasses, and foreign sugar from the West Indies. Next, the Quartering Act required certain colonies to provide food and shelter to British soldiers stationed in those areas. Then in the same year, 1765, Grenville imposed the most odious measure of all: a stamp tax, to raise revenues to support the new military force. It mandated stamps on legal papers, newspapers, bills of sale, and other documents including marriage license, playing cards, pamphlets, etc. Grenville thought these laws were all reasonable and just, but obviously the colonists did not feel the same way. The Colonists showed their anger and frustration by protesting. The Parliament became annoyed of the colonists protesting and decided to revoke the stamp act. This led to new acts called the Townshend Acts. These taxes thought to be less confrontational so they taxed paint, glass, lead, paper and tea. The colonists still saw them as full-fledged taxes and so they repealed all of them except the tea tax, which let to more problems (Boston Tea Party). The protests the colonists had against the Acts and taxes shows the conservative side of the revolution because the Parliament was trying to take away rights they had already had for years. The colonists wanted to go back to how they used to live and were fed up with the Parliament threatening them, taxing them, and restricting them.

  28. Jeremy Ellis

    In my opinion I believe that the American Revolution was not just radical but extremely radical. The American colonies were not just another Country; they were a baby to the British. The British raised us as their own, but we grew up and wanted to be on our own and not be ruled by them. Their were different ways that this could have been handled without going to war. Britain needed us more than we needed them. We should have taken that into consideration. We had resources that they needed so we could have made a agreement for our own government and no taxes to them if we give up some of the resources they need and treat each other as equals. Before war broke out, there were a number of laws and harsh taxes enforced down on the colonies. If you disrespect your mother, there will be consequences. In this case, there were many consequences. Britain had to enforce taxes on the colonist only because of the money they were in debt of because the French and Indian War. With these taxes in place, the colonists were extremely unhappy. Thomas Paine wrote a book basically trash talking the King and the Parliament, which made the colonist, believe in themselves. With the confidence that the Colonist had they were able to begin a rebellion. The Brits took away the colonist’s natural rights, which are never ok, but in my opinion there were other ways to handle this instead of going to war. If you look at the number of deaths and the amount we were in debt was ridiculous. Once we were independent from the British we were like a kid graduating from college living on his own, completely clueless on how to run a nation. There were a few ways to look at the revolution. It can either be the Colonists wanted to expand land, or they truly wanted independence, but that will never know. That is why I think it is a radical revolution.

  29. Ben Kue

    “What is in a name? That which we call a rose. By any other name would smell as sweet.”, and so would Romeo. Roses, the timeless emblem bearing the hue with an eerie resemblance to that which courses through our veins. Roses of red, synonymous with love, without love is life really worth living? Although, that which shares the same color of roses, that being blood, is one thing we cannot live without. Both so similar, both imbuing us with life and allow us to live, yet, a distinguishing factor is undoubtedly obvious. They are two faces of the same coin; the one representing a driving force, desires, a reason to live, a “warm fuzzy feeling” if you will, that is love. The other being a supporting factor, necessity, the reason for life, a carrier of oxygen, this is blood. The stigma driving the notion of those who act on several factors, those being: greed, jealousy, insecurities and so forth, is fallacious to say the least. We, as people act on only two basic principles: that of desires, love; and that of necessity, blood. The words spoken ever so casually by the young girl unaware of the boy hiding in the bushes reveal a hidden truth, we may call the peach a catalyst of all the world’s sins and wrong-doings, but it will remain a peach.
    Everything is either done through desires and necessity. You may call a woman stealing fruit from an elderly man a criminal, a robber, an outlaw, any of the above may suffice, but feel free to come up with your own if it is to your liking. The woman will be labeled as a thief, not as a struggling mother, not as someone who cannot feed her children since their father passed, not even as an equal. An act of necessity, an act of thievery and evil, changing a name does not change what it is. And so we are forced to ask ourselves, was it for the rose, or for blood? What was the war of freedom, The Revolutionary War, fought for? For only reasons that hardly every respected, obligatory, sanctioned Englishman knows.
    The war was inevitable. Historians and revolutionaries alike sang these words as if it was the hymn of quintessential unambiguous alibies. Tracing the causes of the war is no more difficult than tracing the causes of an angry mother scolding her child; a dirty sock is all that it takes. Cause and effect; that is the nature of the world we live in. The Stamp Act is drafted; the colonists dispute it before it is even enforced. Townshend Acts passed; tea smugglers rejoice unaffected. Drunk and unpredictable Redcoats are provoked during a colonial protest; RIP Crispus Attucks. We can continue to follow these sequences of events but to do so would be quite lengthy, unnecessary and frivolous to say the least. From a glance at history, not only can a reasonably knowledgeable point can be solidified, but the visage of me being much more intellectual and perceptive than in actuality as well. The Green Party, Al Gore and American Revolutionaries all have one thing in common, and it’s not that they all look terribly dapper in a three piece suit.
    After the revolution, when looking through a pair of metaphorical societal and political bifocals, not much has changed. There may be new furniture, maybe a new rug over here, or some a new chandelier over there, but the house remains the same, right down to the leaky faucets and the creaky floor boards. Radicals like The French Revolution, The Panem Revolution and Evil Knievel aren’t what come to mind when someone mentions “The Revolutionary War”. The Americans ended up fighting for things they already had, minus the British. There was no need to rebel, but it was what they desired. So how do I see the Revolution? Rigid; arrogant; static; self-righteous, uptight, fanatical, self-proclaimed “eco warrior” with a tree fetish; feel free to pick any of the above, although don’t be discouraged to come up with your own, if it’s your liking, but no matter what you call it, the meaning stays the same, conservative.

  30. Sofia Capito

    The revolution was by all means a conservative and not a radical revolution where the selfish colonists rose up against the British because they began to feel that their rights were being infringed on. The revolution began when the colonists first stepped foot on the new continent because in a sense, to emigrate was also to rebel. This was when the colonists first became accustomed to no taxes, independence and the new way of life. It stayed that way for about 150 years and didn’t change until the Proclamation line of 1763. This drew an imaginary line down the Appalachian Mountains and made the colonists stay east of it as to avoid conflict with the Indians. The colonists started to feel their rights being taken from them. They believed that since they fought for the land west of the mountains, they had the right to expand westward, and they felt that the British troops were protecting the Indians rather than them. In reality, The British were helping them to have good relations with the Indians and keeping them from future uprisings. Later things began to change even more and the British began to create acts that both taxed the colonists and made them feel deprived of their rights. The British created the Navigation acts which greatly restricted the American trading rights, which caused many problems for the colonists causing anger in the colonies. It restricted trading to just trading with the British and it also restricted what the colonists could make at home. Not only did it restrict what the colonists could do, but it also caused them to be cash-starved. It limited the rights of the Americans and since they were not used to having so many restrictions placed on them. Britain also thought that the colonists should pay off 1/3 of the war debt and the soldiers stationed in the colonies and so they began to create more and more acts that taxed the colonists. This was a reasonable reaction to the French and Indian war; however the colonists did not think so. They had been ignored by Britain for almost 150 years and had never been asked for money like that. They had never paid taxes, but still considered themselves English citizens. All the citizens on the other side of the ocean however were paying taxes. Britain created the Sugar Act which increased tax on molasses and foreign sugar, the quartering act which required certain colonies to house British soldiers, the stamp act which mandated stamps on legal papers, newspapers, and other documents, the declaratory act, and the Townshend acts. The colonist thought that all of these especially the stamp act and the Townshend acts infringed their rights. They began to protest against them, and caused parliament to back down. The Stamp Act failed before it even started. The colonists could be compared to a spoiled teenager since they all of a sudden had laws put on them and they refused to have them. All their protests were to keep rights that they believed to be losing. They originally did not mean to start a war they only wanted things to go back to how they used to be. The results were not the goal of the protests, and therefore I believe that it was in fact a conservative revolution.

  31. Kayla Sara Kapen

    I do remember learning specifically in my fifth grade social studies class that the British were the ones who were the beasts who taxed the Americans and that the Americans were right for everything that they have done. My opinion hasn’t really changed since that time. The analogy that America acted like a spoiled teenager makes more sense to me now because they did want more than they were getting. Now the answer to my opinion if the American Revolution is considered to be radical or conservative is, that it was radical. Yes, America was trying to keep their rights that they had earned but the colonists had more of a radical mind. The colonists wanted things to change politically, economically, and socially. Back when most of the people came to the New World, their main goal was to gain independence and be free from where they were coming from. That is exactly what the colonists wanted to do, be free from the British. From my understanding, money was a pretty big controversy. The British were asking the colonists to pay one shilling compared to the British paying twenty-six shillings in taxes. It doesn’t make sense for a nation to have to pay shillings to a nation that is across an ocean. This also makes sense for the teenager analogy because the parents are doing all of the hard work and the teenager doesn’t have to do nearly as much as them but yet, the teenager is still complaining. The shillings were for taxes and the taxed represented the loyalty towards the British, which many colonists did not feel. Many of the acts that the British passed, including the tea act, were holding the Americans back from what they could accomplish. As more acts and laws were passed over time, the colonies were being restricted and losing control of what they could do. Times were changing and they wanted to be different and make a difference in the world. The American Revolution must have been radical because of the fight and difference that was to be made.

  32. Maddie George

    In my opinion, the revolution was most definitely a radical one and not conservative. People came to the colonies in search for freedom in several aspects and to live in their own societies independent from Britain. In England, the citizens were very supportive of the governmental system, including parliament and the monarchy set up, and followed the system. In America it became more of a chance to go by the colonists’ set of rules and becoming separate from Englanders and their ways of life and government. The perspectives of the American colonies and Britain were drastically different so this naturally forced Britain and the colonies to drift away from each other in the terms of freedoms. This lead to Britain wanting the control they had over the colonists back. The fact that Britain had to tax the colonies to hold some sort of superiority was very unappealing to colonists for two reasons. One, the colonists did not appreciate being taxed 1 shilling, although Britain paid 26 shillings. Secondly, the colonists did not want themselves and/or the colonies being associated with England. The colonists felt as if the taxes represented some kind of loyalty to Britain and this was not appealing to them. Among the things holding the colonies back from independence from Britain were the Townsend Acts, Navigation acts, and the stamp act. Britain caused more desire from the colonists for freedom by trying to enforce these laws that came off as a commitment America was supposed to make to England. The colonies were evolving as the times were too and the pressure of England proved to be too much and this caused the war. The colonists strived for a new government that was even more independent from England than before and had to make a big change, and this meant having to start a radical revolution.

  33. Zach Resnick

    In my opinion, the revolution was a conservative one and not a radical one. The revolution was based on the depression and unhappiness of the colonists. The depression of the colonists caused an overthrow of the government and many battles which in some case, would make people believe that it was a radical revolution. The lawyer came out in me and in my eyes yes, there were battles but the colonists were not trying to murder the King or completely wipe out the government. They just felt that they were being mistreated when it was their own land, they didn’t have enough rights, not enough freedom, and they were taxed way too much. In all, they wanted to become independent as their own proud nation. They had the urge to do this because of reasons like the Navigation acts that only allowed them to trade with Britain and the Proclamation in 1763. The American revolution was not as violent or radical as other revolutions. In most there is many bloody wars or an assassination of a leader/dictator. If I had to give an example for each definition of revolutions I would use the American revolution as the conservative revolution and the Nazi propaganda in Germany as the radical revolution. At first the Nazis started off strategically and not bloody but then, it turned the corner and became outrageously violent. In the American Revolution there was no mass destruction or complete dominance which made it a conservative revolution.

  34. Monique Hakam

    I think that the American Revolution was mostly radical. Although it didn’t happen overnight, I think that as years went by, some Americans were restless and got power-hungry. There were governors in America, powerful people. Some might have even thought they were better than people in Britain.
    The thing is, the Revolution was mostly radical. But the Americans just didn’t get the idea to overthrow the British government and began their own nation overnight. No, they had to have had ringleaders, people telling them what to do, or else every act and war would’ve happened randomly without any organization.
    And who were these ringleaders? Well, this was the conservative part of the Revolution. The ringleaders were people that had already been exercising their powers, and grew used to the idea of governing their own state, province, etc. They liked their laws and their laws only. After the war, the British government tried to make their own laws and taxes, and this only reminded the conservatives that no, they actually didn’t rule the country/state, the British did.
    They got mad and decided that they wanted the country for their own. And just the way a forest catches fire very quickly, the anger and new ideas spread throughout the country pretty fast. It was just a matter of time before the people of the colonies got very angry. Anything the British would’ve done, they would’ve gone against. Perhaps even if the British had paid them money they would’ve been angered as to the reason why the British gave them money. Even the smallest of things would set them off.
    That smallest of things turned out to be the tea taxation. Since the Americans liked tea so much, the tax on tea was both irritating and costly, even though the British in Britain were paying more taxes. They began to wonder why the British had so much power over them anyway, and why they were just letting the British impose taxes and laws on them without their consent. So, the colonists resented the British ruling over them. They were already bitter because of the cost of the war, and other things Britain had done. But the tea taxation was the last straw. They began rebelling in every way they could, and they even resorted to dumping all the tea in the Boston Harbor.
    So what began as a conservative revolution turned into a radical revolution. If everyone in the colonies hadn’t been so power-hungry, maybe the Revolution wouldn’t have occurred. The British, by not imposing harsher laws on them, gave them ideas that maybe they could overthrow the British, because they knew they were weak from the war. Britain should have kept a tighter hold on America if they had learned anything from history at all: Eventually all empires separated, such as the Greek and Roman empires. They never last long. There will always be a new country/land that will revolutionize, and then start and empire itself, maybe. And then the cycle goes on.

  35. Kelsey Nowak

    The American Revolution was not just a simple, the British were mean and the Americans were right, like many of our elementary teachers had taught us when we were younger. The American Revolution was in fact a very conservative revolution my opinion. America was fighting for the rights they already had, and we were trying to keep them. America was not necessarily very violent at all. We were appalled however at the fact that the British would even tax us, because America as a nation had become accustomed to Britain’s salutary neglect. The only thing that broke this salutary neglect was the fact that Britain was broke and needed a way to pay for debts from the French and Indian War(or the Great War for Empire as the Brits called it). In fact, the British people were paying 26 shillings to the Americans 1. Britain’s parliament thought it only fair that the American colonies help pay off at least a third of their debt and that they help pay for the British soldiers they had stationed there to protect the Native Americans from the colonists. In order to put this plan into action, the British made the Sugar Act of 1764 which the Americans were more shocked than anything by the tax and protests eventually made Parliament take it down. Then the Quartering Act was passed and that really got the Americans going, but what really set the ball rolling down the road of a conservative revolution was the Stamp Act in the same year of 1765. Prime minister, George Grenville, thought these acts were right and that it was time for the colonists to pay their fair share. However the colonists just thought this was unfair, even though they were really just reacting to the idea of even being taxed and they also saw conspiracy in the British. The Americans felt that the British were planning to take away all of their rights. In conclusion, this revolution was not radical by any means. It was just the idea of American rights being possibly taken away that made the colonists fight for their rights which leans more to a conservative revolution.

  36. Eleni Kondak

    Unlike the opinions we’ve all seen for years, I think the American Revolution was a conservative revolution. It wasn’t that the colonists wanted to completely overthrow the British, they just didn’t like some English laws and felt that they should have more say in their lives and government.
    The colonies weren’t interested in starting a whole new government. The efforts of the Stamp Act Congress made it clear that they really wanted to make it work with England. The proposals made were really asking the English to meet them halfway with the taxing, but because the colonists were really getting a tax “deal” by comparison, the argument didn’t hold up. They had been left alone for so long that the acts and taxes seemed like a sudden encroachment on their rights and territory, even if the taxes weren’t outrageous – especially when compared to what the average Brits were paying.
    Americans seemed to like life as it was under Britain’s rule, but they didn’t like the power over them. Parliament had full rule over the colonies, and could make any rule that they thought was right without any opinion given from the Americans. Even though the situation wasn’t tyrannical, the colonies felt oppressed by the sudden taxes with no representatives in England to say otherwise for on behalf of the colonies.
    To the colonies, England seemed like it was trying to control America – and it was, really, because is viewed the colonials as subjects of Britain. The American need to control themselves was overpowering the fact that they were, in fact, still under British rule. They didn’t want a whole new system, they wanted to govern themselves how they saw fit.

  37. Safia Sayed

    The American Revolution had both conservative and radical aspects, but as a whole, was a conservative movement. Before, throughout, and after the revolution, the American colonies saw little change in their government. Since no “radical” changes were made in the colonies, the revolution could not have been “radical.” Before the revolution, Britain was utilizing a policy of salutary neglect. The colonies were technically under British rule, but in reality, many of the colonies had their own representative governments. Laws, including those concerning taxation, came from colonial assemblies, not from Parliament. Colonists even had the power to control the government in proprietary and royal colonies. Colonists held the salaries of governors appointed by the king in order to improve the way these governors ran their colonies. When salutary neglect ended and Britain became more involved in colonial legislature, the colonies protested. They did not want any change; they simply wanted to return to their previous systems of representative government. After the revolution, few changes were made in the colonial government. Technically, the existing British government was thrown off and replaced by a new one. But the actual government that the colonists responded to did not change. Finally, Americans did not even want a revolution. They were cautious and extremely conservative about how to gain back the rights they had under salutary neglect. Months before the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the colonies still claimed their allegiance to the king. They didn’t want any extreme change. All petitions sent to the king were polite and respectful. The colonies didn’t want a radical revolution; they just wanted to live they way they were used to living for generations.

  38. Laine Boitos

    I most definitely feel that the American Revolution was of the conservative nature. A conservative revolution is one in which the individuals are fighting for rights that they have already possessed. They are not trying to overthrow the government, but are struggling to retain rights that they feel are being taken away. The colonists first became worried after Britain had drawn the Proclamation Line of 1763. They felt that the land that they fought for should be theirs to keep. However, what the colonists didn’t realize, was that England agreed to this in order to gain trust with the Indians and have trading benefits. I don’ t believe the British people ever did anything especially wrong to the colonists at all. These people were on British soil, and although they viewed themselves as a separate people, they were still under Britain’s control. Therefore, the mother country was able to place any tax or law upon the colonists, and there should have been no complaints. It was a privilege for these people to have gotten the permission to come to the New World, and without the British that would not have been possible. The only explanation for this revolution was the fear of losing control. There was absolutely no reason to complain, because all of the colonists lived such a good life. Almost every act that was passed by the British benefitted the colonies in some way. The Navigation Acts were helpful because it gave the colonists an opportunity to build a shipping market. Salutary Neglect was especially beneficial because the colonists were essentially independent, and extremely under taxed. The colonists were scared of Britain taking away all control after the Stamp Act was passed, and that threw them over the edge. One thing led to another, and the revolution began. It was most definitely a gruesome, warlike revolution, but I believe it had innocent intentions. The colonists only wanted to preserve the rights that they had always been privileged to.

  39. Maria Roma

    I believe that in its nature, the American Revolution was a conservative revolution. A conservative revolution is a revolution in which the people are revolting to keep rights that they feel they already have, but that they feel are being taken away. A radical revolution is when the rebels are violently overthrowing their government in order to establish a new government. The American Revolution has some characteristics that could fit into either category, but I believe that it fits the description for conservative revolution much better. The colonists just wanted to keep the rights that they felt that they had, like the right to be represented in the government, the right to a proper trial, the right to import whatever tea they pleased, the right to settle where they wanted, etc. They saw that the British were beginning to impede on these rights that they felt entitled to. Their original motivation was not to violently overthrow the monarchy. The “Declaration of Rights and Grievances” that was written up at the Stamp Act Congress shows how in the beginning, the colonists just wanted to negotiate with the king. In the end, though, no amount of negotiation would fix the issues that had arisen, and revolution was the end result.

  40. Sarah Fried

    The American Revolution was more of a conservative revolution than a radical revolution. A radical revolution is one where a social structure is overthrown and a new one is created usually using violence, while a conservative revolution is one when a group of people try to keep the powers that they already have from being taken away from them. I consider the American Revolution to be a conservative one because the colonists were only trying to preserve the rights Britain had originally given them that had been part of their society for more than a century.
The Americans were not trying to overthrow the king or Parliament. They wanted to remain loyal to the king and as British subjects. The King had ignored the colonists, and, through salutary neglect, the colonists were able to develop their own governing systems and assemblies, create firm economies, produce a better lifestyle than the average Britain, and have a better chance of getting an education or get more land. The Americans didn’t want to have to worry about the British government looking over their shoulder at all times. However, after the French and Indian War, Parliament began passing several laws that aggravated the colonists because they clashed with the colonists’ rights. A few of the passed laws were the Navigation Acts, that restricted trade only with Britain, the Stamp Act, which set a tax on most paper goods, the Tea tax, a tax put on imported tea, and the Repressive/”Intolerable” Acts, which were directed at Massachusetts as a result of the tea parties that angered the British. The British realized that they could use the colonists more to pay off their French and Indian war debt and that’s why they began to create these acts. The American colonists rebelled against these new laws and fought the preserve the former laws and social structure. With this preservation, it was a conservative American Revolution.

  41. Alex.V

    I believe that the American revolution was a conservative one. There are also parts of the revolution that are a bit radical too (i.e. Boston tea party). Around the end of the revolution it started to look like a radical revolution, but for most of it it looked like a conservative revolution. A main point of the revolution that were conservative were, how the Americans just had to defend their land because it just made it so they could play defensive and have more people on the ready to defend from the British. It was also a radical one because, the riots that were started again. Another reason it was a conservative revolution was they would great generals using who they already had like George Washington. The Americans also went to France and asked them for help in trying to defeat the British, which involved taking what they needed which was a bit radical, but it helped them a lot in the war. One of the most radical acts was the Boston tea party, this had involved assaulting the tea ships and dumping the tea in to the port, this had made Britain crack down on the Colonies adding fire to the revolution. I’m going to have to admit that there are a lot more reasons that the American revolution was more radical than conservative. The Americans had played safe until they knew it was a good time to strike back at the British, which the British gave them a ample amount of times to do it. After learning about the American Revolution I now see that this was a radical revolution.

    -Alex Van.

  42. Connor P.

    I believe that the American Revolution was a radical revolution. I believe it is a radical revolution because they were fighting for more and more rights from the brits. At first it may have started off conservative in their eyes and they asked for rights that were never really given to them but they thought they were given. I believe that even though you believe that those rights may be yours like taxation without representation, I believe they are not really yours. You cannot claim that you became independent from British taxes after they just helped you in a war. Imagine if Britain decided not to go to war with France then what would happen? They would lose the war and lose the Ohio territory where people wished to settle. I also believe that after time passed the Americans demands grew greater and greater. It started with some problems with paying for the war efforts and ended up with problems with Britain in general with all the soldiers living in American homes and with rebellions like the Boston tea party. It is true most of these issues had to do with taxes but nevertheless the Americans demands grew more and more. I believe that the American colonists viewed these rights as rights they already had but to be honest just because you jumped across the ocean doesn’t make you void from British rule and taxation. This is why I agree with the teachers view about the Americans being like bratty kids. And that is why I believe that the American Revolution was a radical revolution.

  43. Ethan Carrick

    Most of the time we are taught that many revolutions are radical ones. There has always been an argument on if the American Revolution is radical or conservative, but I think it is a conservative revolution. First because the American colonists wanted to keep some of the rights they already had but they wanted a government of their own. Some of those rights included free speech, voting, personal government, etc. We all know how much the colonists hated being taxed but we usually think it’s because of high taxes, but the truth is they were being under-taxed (26 shillings for Brits/1 shilling for colonists). They hated the taxes because they only wanted to be taxed by their own government and that it was a tax to pay for the British military, and the reason Britain was in America was to protect the Indians from the colonists. I don’t know about you but I wouldn’t want to pay a tax to protect someone form me; I would want to be protected. Second, the colonists hated mercantilism. Mercantilist laws restricted American trade to just trading with Britain, but the Americans quickly tried to get around these laws to trade with other Caribbean nations (Dutch, French). Mercantilism also restricted what Americans could make at home, for instance, woolen cloth and beaver hats. This made American goods compliment, not compete with British goods. Lastly, mercantilism caused currency to become an issue because Americans had to pay for their goods in gold and silver and we were cash-stored when we built up on trade deficit with the British. Although state legislatures tried printing paper Parliament restricted their ability to do this because they thought the colonial legislatures would defraud British merchants. Basically the American colonist suffered from mercantilism while the British benefited. The colonists were not really receiving benefits for all they had done, they wanted a new government with their own legislature, and revised and new rights. Therefore the American Revolution was conservative.

  44. Becca Wegner

    I think that the American Revolution was a radical revolution. The British government was in a lot of debt because of the French and Indian war, which they fought basically for the Americans. The Americans were acting like spoiled brats who did not want to thank their mother country for what they did for them. If it weren’t for the Americans, the British would not have been in as much debt. It’s like a child goes off to college and puts their parents in debt, then after they graduate and get a better paying job than their parents and refusing to help pay off their debt. The child wouldn’t be where they are without their parents; just like the Americans wouldn’t be anywhere without the British. The Americans had to pay 1 shilling per 26 shillings that the British citizens were paying. The Americans were not completely ready to be off on their own and they still needed the British to be their mothering country. The Americans thought that they were ready to be independent but they weren’t. They would not have been able to win the French and Indian war all by themselves. The Americans may have felt that they would have been able to win the war but they were not even a country yet. They at least owe paying off part of the debt to Britain. The British were not even asking that much of the Americans, just to pay a small piece of the debt. The Americans were perfectly able to help pay off the debt so therefore it was a radical revolution.

  45. Antonio Delgado

    I believe the American Revolution was a mostly conservative overreaction by the American people. Due to propaganda, the British have been portrayed as evil tyrants. However, the British were only asking America to help pay for debts the British people were paying much more for. The average tax on a British person was twenty-six shillings, as opposed to America’s one. When the taxes were raised on Americans, they overreacted even though their taxes were nothing compared to Britain’s. Another misconception is that the British were forcing the Americans to pay off all 140,000,000 pounds of war debt instead of the smaller 33,000 pounds of the cost it took to protect the colonies. The Americans weren’t even required to pay off their protection debt, but just a meager one third of the total protection cost, which totaled around 100,000 pounds. The rebelling against the British tax acts was an overreaction as well. For instance, the Quartering act was how the Americans could repay the British for sending troops to protect them. However, the Americans rebelled against this act, using the rationale that the Quartering Act infringed on their rights. This was the rationale used over and over by the Americans to rebel against and veto the British Acts. The Revolution was conservative because rather than overthrowing the King and taking control of his territories, the colonists were trying to protect their given rights of not being taxed and having a free market. However, the Americans were trying to protect rights they didn’t actually have. Even today, all of America and its territories have to contribute to America. This is the same idea the British had in the 16th century, but Americans and their overly conservative ideas did not believe this belief was fair.

  46. Isabella Gutierrez

    The American Revolution was classified both as a radical and a conservative Revolution. However I personally think it was more of a conservative one. I believe the leaders of the revolution and the men in the congress never wanted to reconstruct a new society. Although the government did change, its traditional principles never did. After the french and indian war, the colonists obtained land. They wanted to live on this land but were unable to because of the the proclamation of 1763. The British established this law stating that the land belonged to them for trade and settlement. This later caused tension with the british and the colonies. More tensions rose when the british had sent armies to help defend the colonies and a huge fund arose. However the colonies refused to pay for it because they believed there was no reason for the armies to be there. After this was when the british first started taxing the colonies to start paying them back for their army debt. Starting with the Sugar Act of 1764. More acts were established including the Quartering Act of 1765, and the Stamp act. These acts (especially the stamp act) outraged the colonists. But the british thought they should pay taxes because it was their fair share of costs for their own defense. Soon thereafter the Stamp act was repealed because of the harsh uproar from the colonies. But the british did not let up. Not much later they imposed the Tea Act. Tea was wanted by many colonist and was in high demand so when tea started to cost so much extra this upset the colonists. This later brought upon the British the Boston tea party which made tensions unbearable between the colonists and the British. The Colonists and their government was never reconstructed and the British and the colonies never solved their disputes or disagreements. The revolution ended up being very conservative indeed.

  47. Chris Coburn

    It’s hard to place the American Revolution as either a conservative act or a truly radical one, though I think it’s more of a radical revolution. The Colonists were fighting for rights they already had, like trials with a jury and the presumption of reasonable doubt, but they were also fighting for new rights, like representation in Parliament. The British Parliament also made radical moves like using their ability to moderately tax the colonies, something they had never done. The colonists pressured Britain to repeal the Stamp Act, but Britain would eventually respond with more taxes. These Townshend Acts would all be repealed except for the tax on tea. The colonies responded with the Boston Tea Party, a radical gathering that was one of the first major boycott’s on Britain’s mercantile philosophies. Later, the colonists would make further radical efforts like The Association, a ban on all of Britain’s goods. This represents a new economic idea of independence from the British mercantile theory. While the colonies had been trading with other Countries since the formation of the Navigation Acts, violating Britain’s mercantile idea of using the colonies as economic partners faithful only to them, this was never as radical as The Association.
    Later, Thomas Paine’s idea of Republicanism was a new political idea that the colonists had never had before. Paine’s idea was that a government should be a democratic republic where power and representation came from the people. This differed from Britain’s idea that government should be a monarchy lead by powerful aristocrats. Other political differences that made was the separation of church and state. America’s colonial government didn’t separate church and state, as did Britains. One colony, Connecticut, separated church and state to keep the government from corrupting the church. America’s government would make a radical step by separating church and state for two reasons. One was because most of America and all of Britain hadn’t separated church and state. The second, and more radical reason, was because they separated them to keep the church from corrupting the government.

  48. Meredith Hawkins

    I believe that the American revolution could be considered a conservative revolution rather than a radical one. Britain had essentially neglected America up until 1763 when they owed 140 million sterling pounds due to the French and Indian War. Britain then thought the colonists should pay at least 1/3 of that amount plus the payment for 10,000 British soldiers who were stationed in America to enforce the Proclamation Act. America was just trying to protect the rights that it had because Britain started to interfer with the Sugar Act, Quartering Act, and Stamp Act. The Americans felt that only their own elected representatives should be allowed to tax them. America was considered part of Britain but because Britain ignored America for so long the people of the New World had to create their own governments. These new governments that made up America gave people certain rights which were challenged while America was under British rule. WHen America was governing itself people could enjoy a much better lifestyle then those across the Atlantic. There was a more stable economy, a better chance at an education or gaining land, and they didn’t have to worry about the constant British military presence. Britain was restricting America from expanding their land and their trade. The proclamtion Act of 1763 was inforced to stop people from expanding west while Britain’s mercantile government stoped Americans from trading with any other country. Although there were signs of a radical revolution such as bloody battles and deaths, the colonists were only trying to seek seperation from Britain.

  49. Gideon Bush

    I believe that the American Revolution was a conservative change. I believe that it was conservative because they Colonists were not fighting for new rights, but for rights they previously had. I don’t believe they were trying to leave and break off from Britain, but wanted more freedom. Although I believe that Britain had every right to tax the Colonies, they were not used to being taxed, even if they paid far less taxes than most Englishmen. After the French-Indian War and the British made the Proclamation line of 1763, the Colonists were angered because they had fought for that land, and wanted to be able to expand westward. They were not trying to dethrone the king and British Empire, but were not used to the laws that were being passed, even though they were fair, it was unjust and new to the Colonists who never had to deal with the involvement of British affairs to much. They laws were fair and just, but proposed to late in the growth of the colonies and to abruptly, instead of the laws being eased in or put into place long ago(190). The Navigation acts are however a set of unjust laws, prohibiting trade with other countries, and making the price for sugar go way up for colonists, while Englishmen would be able to buy sugar regularly priced. Parliament did repeal the acts due to the large protests and anger from the colonists. These are the reasons I believe the Revolution was conservative, and sparked a separation from Britain.

  50. Sam

    After studying the Revolution, considering the events, political climate, and the results of it, I would have to characterize it as a radical one. First, how historian often determine if a revolution falls into the category of “radical” or “conservative” is by discovering if a new government was created or simply a new leader took over a reigning government. Since the colonies were directly connected to the British parliament, who created rules and regulations that the Americans were forced to follow. However, preceding the revolution the colonies struggled (yet managed) to create a Continental Congress, separate from England. This was a complete shift in not only power but in the form of government. Second, the events leading up to the “real” start of the revolution, were acts of violence from the colonies. For example, the Stamp Act, months before it was put into place, angered citizens tar and feathered tax collectors to “scare” them into not promoting the law. Another example are events such as the Boston Massacre, when once again concerned citizens destroyed British goods to get the Kings attention of their cause. I believe that it is equally important to evaluate the events that lead up to (resulted) in the revolution, than the events that took place during it as well. Lastly, I believe that the ideas that the founding fathers held support the statement that the revolution was radical. For example, when Samuel Adams left Massachusetts and traveled to the Philadelphia Congress, many patriots advised him not to speak about separating from England. This idea was foreign and scary to other colonies; John Adam’s said “independence is as unpopular in the Middle and South as the Stamp Act itself.”(Firebrand of the Revolution, 106) However it was the very idea of these “radicals” who pushed us a step towards the revolution. I believe that the revolution can be characterized as radical because of the new government formed, violent acts before/during it, and the masterminds behind it.

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