Was the Revolutionary War actually revolutionary?

american revolution

2004

We shall speak about American Revolution , which had incredibly great influence on the processes of development both economical and social life of the United States . The process of creation of the country had a revolutionary character : struggle with outside force -mother country was combined with drastic internal changes . America became the first democratic republic of new time its structure embodied political ideals of the Age of Enlightenment . Something was left from its colonial past - institution of slavery and institutions of local governing . Bernhard Knollenberg considers that

a major cause of colonial discontent was the series of judgments and decisions made by British policy-makers of the period (John C . Wahlke ,

.50 . Still , there weren 't any sign of that old system , which was the subject of struggle for European revolutionaries . Old system had never existed in America , and decisive condition of internal changes was winning of independence . Taking into account all these ideas , we can suppose that American Revolution wasn 't actually revolutionary in direct sense of this word . Let 's examine the main peculiarities of American Revolution in order to see the differences in comparison with other famous revolutions

What is Revolution ? Revolution (Latin `Revolutio ' - overturn ) - is a radical qualitative change , drastic uneven conversion from one qualitative condition to the other , from old to the new one

American Revolution had several peculiar features , setting it apart from revolutions in common sense of the word (taking into account preceding English Bourgeois revolution and the Great French Bourgeois revolution which happened a little bit later . The first peculiar feature of American Revolution was that it happened at the territory , which tactically didn 't recognize feudalism as social and economic formation Definitely , this circumstance allowed Engels to make conclusion that history of the United States of America began at more favorable grounds . where weren 't any signs of obstructing medieval ruins . with elements of modern bourgeois society of XVII century ' The fact , that colonists belonged to bourgeois elements in their majority , also played considerable role . American society of revolutionary period didn 't know hereditary aristocracy , landowners and serfs , governmental bureaucracy (except of alien ideology of British administration , workshops , guilds privileged clergy and other feudal attributes of Europe . This society had democratic spirit by their positions and state of public opinion Social contradictions were not so critical , as they were in continental Europe

The second peculiarity of American Revolution is that it pursued national liberation aims . This revolution started as struggle - initially peaceful , later armed - with British colonial oppression

The revolution began as national liberation movement , growing into independence war . Still , social and class contradictions became more important during the process of development : independence war at the same time became a civil war as a result of increasing split in American society . Loyalists ' movement , supporting the British crown and opposing revolted nation , became good illustration . A number of representatives of exploiter classes , joined national liberation movement , renounced it because they understood that independence and democracy march together

The...