The American Revolution as a conservative movement.
The American Revolution , while it may have been the first war that was started to
actually put into practice some ideas that previously had only been talked about,
did not have any ideas that were new. Nothing really changed as far as the
average man was concerned, after the revolution. Slaves were still enslaved, Indians
were still considered savages, women were not given equal rights and the governments
were still basically the same, except now there were no royal govenors.
Most of the main ideals expressed in the Declaration of Independence were
borrowed from John Locke, a famous english philosopher. He believed that
if the "ruling body if it offends against natural law must be deposed." Locke saw it as a
right and sometimes an obligation of subjects to overthrow their government, if
it became oppressive. The Americans fully embraced this idea. They did not make up
their own ideas.
The most radical idea of the revolution was the idea that the COMMON people
should have the right to govern themselves. In a world where monarchies
were the status quo, and people believed that monarchs ruled by divine right, the idea THAT
the average joe even had the ability to rule himself was mind-boggling.
While the Americans preached this idea and made it the backbone of their excuse for
breaking away from Britian, in truth they didn 't really practice it. All of those at
the Continental Congress were upper class white men who owned land and held
important places in their respective states. After the revolution was over, the upper
class still ruled. There was not some earth-shattering, sudden and over-whelming clamor
for national equality. Things mostly remained the same and the upper class
made most of the laws.
One problem with naming the revolution as ANY kind of movement is that it depends
on whose side you were on and what year you are talking about.
Those things determine what the definition of conservative and radical is at the time. The
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actually put into practice some ideas that previously had only been talked about,
did not have any ideas that were new. Nothing really changed as far as the
average man was concerned, after the revolution. Slaves were still enslaved, Indians
were still considered savages, women were not given equal rights and the governments
were still basically the same, except now there were no royal govenors.
Most of the main ideals expressed in the Declaration of Independence were
borrowed from John Locke, a famous english philosopher. He believed that
if the "ruling body if it offends against natural law must be deposed." Locke saw it as a
right and sometimes an obligation of subjects to overthrow their government, if
it became oppressive. The Americans fully embraced this idea. They did not make up
their own ideas.
The most radical idea of the revolution was the idea that the COMMON people
should have the right to govern themselves. In a world where monarchies
were the status quo, and people believed that monarchs ruled by divine right, the idea THAT
the average joe even had the ability to rule himself was mind-boggling.
While the Americans preached this idea and made it the backbone of their excuse for
breaking away from Britian, in truth they didn 't really practice it. All of those at
the Continental Congress were upper class white men who owned land and held
important places in their respective states. After the revolution was over, the upper
class still ruled. There was not some earth-shattering, sudden and over-whelming clamor
for national equality. Things mostly remained the same and the upper class
made most of the laws.
One problem with naming the revolution as ANY kind of movement is that it depends
on whose side you were on and what year you are talking about.
Those things determine what the definition of conservative and radical is at the time. The
Articles