The Radicalism of the American Revolution

Review of the Book Radicalism in American Revolution ' by Gordon S Wood

Radicalism in American Revolution ' by Gordon S . Wood is a book that stands apart from most of the research studies about Revolutionary war Wood tries to turn away from classical view of Revolution as struggle for democracy and reveals other tendencies of the time such as monarchism . Now revolutionary values seem to be rather conservative , but at that time they were as radical , as communist ideas may seem to us . So for the people of late XVIII century Revolution in

America was a complete upheaval of traditional values and a radical step forward to progress

Dramatic consequences of the revolution are usually measured by numbers of the dead and destructions . Considering this American revolution is far less revolutionary , than , for example , French revolution . But in fact in case we consider social consequences and compare American society in 1775 and in 1785 , we can see , that it turned out to be unlike any that had ever existed anywhere in the world . [4]

Wood 's book opens by of American pre-revolutionary colonial life , concentrating on social , hierarchical and political issues . He describes the existing , governmental and administrative institutions and authorities of the Thirteen Colonies . His conclusion is that this society was pretty conservative and even archaic , for it has not stood far from Medieval Europe

British king was an absolute sovereign for those people and they could hardly think of a moment when there is no king . Usually researchers attempt to demonstrate differences in life of Britain and the Colonies but Wood believes that we have often overlooked how dominantly British and traditional the colonists ' culture still was indeed , in some respects colonial society was more traditional than that of the mother country ' [45] The ruling class of nobility has been grouped around monarch 's figure . Although Wood sees almost no difference between colonial society and traditional British society , it is hard to agree with this thesis . From the very beginning colonists lived in different conditions and had much more freedom then their continental coevals Their spirit of enterprise and initiative has been determined exactly by necessity to survive in the New World , and many typical American features originate from this

Wood explains , that American colonies were far from civilization centers of Europe and colonists were usual rural population - traditional religious , uncouth and a little rude . Life of people has been to a great extent determined by their place in the society . For example , noblemen could make business , but they almost always tried to hide their personality . Professions such as lawyer or doctor were signs of low status . Family relations were patriarchal may even have been stronger in America than in England precisely because of the weakness in the colonies of other institutions , such as guilds ' [49] Personal relations prevailed over economic and political ones and the world still seemed small and intimate enough that the mutual relationships that began with the family could be extended outward into...