What Was Radical And What Was Conservative About The American Revolution, The American Constitution, And The Republican Nation It Created.

Carlton Sillah

Name of the Instructor

History and Anthropology

1 February 2020.

What was radical and what was conservative about the American Revolution, the American Constitution, and the Republican Nation it created?

There are different views concerning the American Revolution, however, the most prevailing intellect about the revolution is that it was moderate, conservative, and was dedicated for preserving the institutional mechanism, from British embellishment. Different to the French revolution of that time, and other European revolutions, the American Revolution was not able to achieve anything. This aspect suggests that it was not radical at all. The period of the American Revolution may or may not have taken the path it intended in the first place. In the start, Revolution was a minority opinion. Some of them were of the view to press the rights of Englishmen, whereas, few wanted to really modify the form of government. For example, Carl L Becker, who has worked over compiling the facts and myths related to American Revolution argues that a little general sense about the revolution has prevailed, which continues to linger a strong demand that the mythos surrounding the Revolution be maintained. Like him, many others believe that it was actually as much of a Civil War as a War of Revolution, where loyalists and the rebels fought one another with incredible ferocity, learned in the previous century.

Mary Smith comments on politics are related to the conditions the political parties were going through ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"jUzPLB7G","properties":{"formattedCitation":"({\\i{}Mary Smith Cranch Comments on Politics, 1786-87 | The American Yawp Reader})","plainCitation":"(Mary Smith Cranch Comments on Politics, 1786-87 | The American Yawp Reader)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":645,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/8reWiRZH/items/2CV769T3"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/8reWiRZH/items/2CV769T3"],"itemData":{"id":645,"type":"post-weblog","language":"en-US","title":"Mary Smith Cranch comments on politics, 1786-87 | The American Yawp Reader","URL":"https://www.americanyawp.com/reader/a-new-nation/mary-smith-cranch-comments-on-politics-1786-87/","accessed":{"date-parts":[["2020",2,1]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Mary Smith Cranch Comments on Politics, 1786-87 | The American Yawp Reader). She believed that intraparty rivalries might lead to worsening conditions in the future. Her comments are suggestive of the fact that political parties in the US enjoyed no concession, and therefore, they find no leverage in standing against the Englishmen. The letter of the Negro, also entailed that Negros were afraid of the political turmoil, which will make a space for them to rejoin their Masters ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"vHenTEzf","properties":{"formattedCitation":"({\\i{}Primary Source: Letter of Cato and Petition by Freed Slaves, 1781 | United States History I})","plainCitation":"(Primary Source: Letter of Cato and Petition by Freed Slaves, 1781 | United States History I)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":647,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/8reWiRZH/items/8YZJB6UY"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/8reWiRZH/items/8YZJB6UY"],"itemData":{"id":647,"type":"webpage","title":"Primary Source: Letter of Cato and Petition by Freed Slaves, 1781 | United States History I","URL":"https://courses.lumenlearning.com/ushistory1os/chapter/primary-source-letter-of-cato-and-petition-by-freed-slaves-1781/","accessed":{"date-parts":[["2020",2,1]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Primary Source: Letter of Cato and Petition by Freed Slaves, 1781 | United States History I). For the reason of this danger, he suggested that Negros or slave population must be sentenced to death. The farewell address delivered by George Washington is also important to analyze a conservative approach, the people of America believed in, during those times ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"Dc1S224b","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Deconde)","plainCitation":"(Deconde)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":649,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/8reWiRZH/items/ACCRQYBJ"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/8reWiRZH/items/ACCRQYBJ"],"itemData":{"id":649,"type":"article-journal","container-title":"The Mississippi Valley Historical Review","issue":"4","page":"641–658","source":"Google Scholar","title":"Washington's Farewell, the French Alliance, and the Election of 1796","volume":"43","author":[{"family":"Deconde","given":"Alexander"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["1957"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Deconde). Washington remarks were related to beholding the people of America against political entanglement since he believed that if people developed political interests, it will then become difficult to urge them to fight against the external threat.

George R. T. Hewes, account on the Boston Tea Party suggest that after 1773, there was huge disproportion in keeping the people attached for a similar cause ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"rfv0yshJ","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Hawkes)","plainCitation":"(Hawkes)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":651,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/8reWiRZH/items/UMU4AJHN"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/8reWiRZH/items/UMU4AJHN"],"itemData":{"id":651,"type":"book","publisher":"SS Bliss, printer","source":"Google Scholar","title":"A Retrospect of the Boston Tea-party: With a Memoir of George RT Hewes, a Survivor of the Little Band of Patriots who Drowned the Tea in Boston Harbour in 1773","title-short":"A Retrospect of the Boston Tea-party","author":[{"family":"Hawkes","given":"James"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["1834"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Hawkes). He believed that during this incident of the Boston Tea Party, though, American depicted a resolve against the foreign oppression, but there was something really missing. This missing element was actually a pro-autonomy motto, which should have been a part and parcel of the campaign. Thomas Paine’s call for independence is also reflective of the fact that Americans really needed to stand against the limited monarchy in England ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"AinULbuq","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Paine)","plainCitation":"(Paine)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":652,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/8reWiRZH/items/823IH888"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/8reWiRZH/items/823IH888"],"itemData":{"id":652,"type":"book","publisher":"Simon and Schuster","source":"Google Scholar","title":"The Thomas Paine Reader","author":[{"family":"Paine","given":"Thomas"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2013"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Paine). Paine believed that those believe that Britain had a more robust Parliamentary system, must work to develop that in America. These sentiments are also visible in Abigail Adam’s excerpts, about the women rights ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"B3jSJKHU","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Ellis)","plainCitation":"(Ellis)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":653,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/8reWiRZH/items/USGGFU87"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/8reWiRZH/items/USGGFU87"],"itemData":{"id":653,"type":"book","publisher":"Vintage","source":"Google Scholar","title":"First Family: Abigail and John Adams","title-short":"First Family","author":[{"family":"Ellis","given":"Joseph J."}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2010"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Ellis).

These letters and excerpts from the past suggest that the American Revolution was not radical in any manner. Those involved in the political activities, and those concerned about the American future had the idea that radicalism was not about making the American values strong, rather, they were of the view that it might lead to creating a dark future of America. These conservative form of changes had helped develop the system of democracy, which the people of America enjoy today.

Works Cited:

ADDIN ZOTERO_BIBL {"uncited":[],"omitted":[],"custom":[]} CSL_BIBLIOGRAPHY Deconde, Alexander. “Washington’s Farewell, the French Alliance, and the Election of 1796.” The Mississippi Valley Historical Review, vol. 43, no. 4, 1957, pp. 641–658.

Ellis, Joseph J. First Family: Abigail and John Adams. Vintage, 2010.

Hawkes, James. A Retrospect of the Boston Tea-Party: With a Memoir of George RT Hewes, a Survivor of the Little Band of Patriots Who Drowned the Tea in Boston Harbour in 1773. SS Bliss, printer, 1834.

Mary Smith Cranch Comments on Politics, 1786-87 | The American Yawp Reader. https://www.americanyawp.com/reader/a-new-nation/mary-smith-cranch-comments-on-politics-1786-87/. Accessed 1 Feb. 2020.

Paine, Thomas. The Thomas Paine Reader. Simon and Schuster, 2013.

Primary Source: Letter of Cato and Petition by Freed Slaves, 1781 | United States History I. https://courses.lumenlearning.com/ushistory1os/chapter/primary-source-letter-of-cato-and-petition-by-freed-slaves-1781/. Accessed 1 Feb. 2020.