Meritocracies In The 16th Century

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The 16th century in general was composed of radical religious ideas and movements starting during the Enlightenment in the 1730’s and 40’s. When the colonists declared their independence in 1776 the Anglican Church was driven out of the colonies because of their strong ties with England. The French Catholics were also a presence. The Quakers were persecuted during the street displays of anger because of their rooted pacifism. For the first time there was a separation between church and state. Degler states, “The doctrine repudiates any connection between the State and the Church” (Degler, 123). The Declaration of Independence makes no mention to a specific religion. This helped to unite the colonists but at the same…show more content…
The idea of meritocracy was appealing to many and this lead to hard working people. Wood argues that this was one of the reasons that people rallied for the war efforts saying, “[B]ecause equality and prosperity was so unusual in the Western world, they could not be taken for granted. The idea of labor, of hard work, leading to increased productivity was so novel, so radical in the overall span of Western history” (Wood, 111). These ideals had social and political effects. There were many merchants and traders. When the British closed off the harbor during the war efforts, they found other trading routes and this ended up helping them in the years to come. America also paid for the war using international loans, a very essential component in the unlikely victory. They won the French approval after the battle of Saratoga and this lead to the support from Spain and the Netherlands (Brinkley, 126). They were able to financially manipulate the French against the English but they also made them believe in victory. This helped America to fund the war and it gave them lasting…show more content…
Wealth was accumulated and distributed. People respected the value of money and they were very protective of their economy because of the novel idea of meritocracy. Women started their struggle for equality. The collapse of the Anglican Church along with the Great Awakening spurred the resistance. Americans convinced other countries to join the Revolution which helped secure the victory. The Revolution was completely radical and this movement shaped America into what it is

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