The Radicalism Of The American Revolution

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2/9/2010 Paper #1 In the book by Gordon Wood, The Radicalism of the American Revolution, three types of governance are spoken of in the American colonies; monarchy, which took place during the 1740s, republicanism, which began after the Revolutionary war, and democracy, which took place during the 1800s. Each of these different political systems governed how the people of the Americas lived. A monarchy is very patriarchal, and hierarchy is important to the community. Republicanism was the beginning of the monetary movement and start of equality of the people. Lastly, democracy took over some republicanism ideals such as unity and more freedom of the people. These three different ideals help choose which would be the best fit for Martin Guerre, the character in the book The Return of Martin Guerre. The story of “Martin Guerre” is a tale of a man who demonstrates complete disrespect of the traditional patriarchal society. He leaves his family and travels the world and comes back to a man who has stolen his identity and who deceived his entire family including his wife-Bertrande, son- Sanxi, and four sisters and brother, Pierre. Martin was a man who enjoyed moving around and not staying in one place, he did not believe in the traditional beliefs of patriarchy and hierocracy, he enjoyed activities such as sword fighting, acrobatics, he was also said to have a spell cast on him that he that made him impotent. After many years of cruel torture from the other children making fun of him, Martin finally gave up and left. If Martin Guerre fell into a well after his return and magically came out in the American colonies in the 1740s as Gordon Wood described in his book, he would not have fit in. The 1740s was the start of a monarchal society, which was the complete opposite of what Guerre believed. Martin would have sided with the democratic group because he believed
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