William Lloyd Garrison, Thomas Paine, Patrick Henry, Ida B. Wells, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Upton Sinclair are just some of the many journalists, writers and novelists who contributed toward the same cause, the progress of a growing nation. "The American Crisis" and "Common Sense" by Thomas Paine were influential during the colonies break from Britain. "Common Sense" was intended to gather support for a revolution against Britain and finally achieve independence. It was the first work to openly ask for independence from Britain.
John Locke, an Enlightenment thinker, highly influenced the Declaration of Independence. He mentioned that he believed there were natural rights that all people had life, liberty and property. The Founding Fathers added that in the Declaration of Independence (Life, Liberty, and Pursuit of Happiness). Another idea Locke had was that if a ruler was oppressing his people, the people had the right to rebel. For Jefferson to write the Declaration it was considered treason, but he wrote in the
Common Sense. By Thomas Paine. iBooks Public Domain Edition (1776; Salt Lake City: Project Gutenberg) Thomas Paine’s forty-eight page pamphlet provided a radical argument for American independence from the crown. His main goal was to convey that the colonies would receive no additional benefit if the association with England was not severed. He composed his pamphlet utilizing vernacular and simple ideas, targeting the common man.
After England passed the Habeas Corpus Act of 1679, other nations, including the United States, incorporated habeas corpus into their founding documents and constitutions. In the U.S. Constitution, the right to challenge unlawful detention is listed specifically in Article I, section 9. According to an article published by Rutherford Institute, it has been stated that “The right of habeas corpus was important to the Framers of the Constitution because they knew from personal experience what it was like to be labeled enemy combatants, imprisoned indefinitely and not given the opportunity to
He argued that social development studies showed changes in their social behaviors and their interactions once in their new environment. Thus, he concluded that the new society was uniquely America. He has a very valid argument, but I believe he could have maintained the strength of his argument while also including the fact that the American people coming from British roots, the Puritans, the Royalist elites, the North Midlanders of England and the North British and Irish were still unique as a sub-culture melded together by the choice for religious and economic freedom. The pursuit to own land and accumulate wealth, and not be under the rule of the crown was first and foremost in the early colonists minds. Fisher rests his entire point of view based on the roots of the four British folkways that separated the settlers in America.
America`s role as world policeman Since the United States of America gained the right to form their own nation, as a result to winning the war of independence, they considered themselves as the protector of freedom and democracy. Those beliefs grew stronger and later became the main reason as to why they started meddling into the rest of the worlds business after a long period of isolating themselves from European conflicts. During the 1800’s the US tried to isolated themselves from being involved with the European imperialistic politics. However, it was inevitable since their interests clashed as they grew bigger. In 1898 the Spanish- American war began when America decided to liberate the Spanish colonies Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines.
According to this it is viable to expect a clear ideological influence all over the first three years of Revolution. The Enlightenment also has strongly affected the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen. Also, the obvious relationships between Enlightenment and the French Revolution can be seen through the philosophic ideals respecting to religion, education, women and slavery, and for sure the revolutionary’s approach to these areas. Nevertheless, it is very difficult to describe the Enlightenment’s influence in general because of the aspects of the French Revolution mentioned above.
The American Revolution was inevitable. The social, political, and economic oppression of the colonists made Americans maintain the spirit of revolution. The Tea Act and the Stamp Act made the Americans improve their beliefs of the revolution. Additionally, the proclamation by King George III disappointed Americans after their fight in the French-India War. The paper describes the events of the American Revolution that support the statement that the revolution was inevitable.
The American Revolution was more radical and had much more significance than the French Revolution because the American Revolution was a catalyst for real, historic and permanent change. The American Revolution created a new egalitarian government that was truly based on the ideals of the philosophes of the Enlightenment and would have a lasting impact on Western Civilization. The Declaration of Independence states that its citizens would fight for their “inalienable rights” of “life, liberty and pursuit of happiness” and “it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish” a government that deprives them of these rights and “institute a new Government”. This was radical for its time because the Founding Fathers took principles and ideas and put them into a declaration of action against the state. “Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” were far more than conceptual ideas during the period leading up to the American Revolution as well.
This conflict is embodied in one of the rallying cries of the American Revolution: “No Taxation Without Representation.” And similar to such a cry, is the statement, “The demand for no taxation without representation was the primary force motivating the American Revolutionary movement, and for many it became a symbol of democracy;” ultimately saying that the American Revolution, as well as the colonist’s rage towards Britain, grew out of increasing, continuous restrictions placed upon the colonies by the British. The British had full power over the thirteen colonies until 1776, when the colonists formally declared their independence. But until then, the colonists felt that they were being taken advantage of economically, as well as politically. Despite the protection and opportunity that Great Britain provided, the colonists felt they were abusing their powers by creating unfair tax laws and regulations. Great Britain had one of the most powerful empires in the world.