The American Revolution did not satisfy the colonial goals for civil, political, social, and economic rights; however the Constitution did. All the American Revolution did was drive the British out of America. With the British gone the Americans had the ability to strive for civil, political, social, and economic rights, but the Articles of Confederation became an obstacle in their path to their rightful goals. During the American Revolution the American people wrote a lot about what they wanted to accomplish and attain. In Document A, the Declaration of the Causes and Necessities of Taking Up Arms, it is written that the American people feel they have been wronged by England because their rights are restricted and wish for these basic rights to happiness and such.
Colonists found these acts as unjust and petitioned against Parliament creating a resistance movement and establishing groups and associations to help spread the word of resistance. Colonists believed in “No taxation without representation”. Both the British and Americans shared the desire for representation, though they had different forms of representation they both wanted to represent the colonies to benefit themselves. British and American concepts of representative government are considered a major contribution to the American Revolution. King George III took the British throne in 1760 and appointed a new prime minister, George Grenville, in 1763.
Under the control of England, the colonists experienced their fair share of ups and downs from the year 1750 until 1776. Oppression from the British was an important issue that the colonists felt needed to be addressed with action. By the eve of the Revolution, the colonists had established their own identity which led to them uniting in opposition to the British. It was important that the colonists established an identity for themselves because it set them apart from the controlling Britons. In his notes for speech in parliament on February 3, 1766, Edmund Burke elaborated on how the colonies were too different from the country of Great Britain and that they could not blend in with the mass.
In short, this essay will examine both Burke and Paine’s views of human nature, natural rights, and the rights of man to overthrow their government. Burke and Paine came from two opposite ends of the political spectrum. Burke was an archetypal conservative, valuing history, tradition, and the status quo. Paine was a firebrand of the left, advocating revolution and popular democracy. Ironically, Edmund Burke sympathized with the colonists in North America during the period of turmoil there, but he did not support the complete social revolution which took place in France during the last years of the 1700s.
In this document, Jefferson exemplified the colonies need to declare independence by first stating what a true government’s purpose was, then by giving specific examples of how British rule was unsatisfactory. In the beginning passage to the King, Jefferson defines the purpose of government. “Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed” A country cannot be a nation when the government does not fulfill its purpose. The country will be spilt because of the objections with the government. Jefferson also uses multiple literary techniques throughout the Declaration to unify the colonies under a
Both the American Revolution and French Revolution were started in order to fight against their respective political leaders in order to end monarchial rule and start republican governments. The need to set up a stable and balanced government that protected the natural rights of its citizens was the basis of these wars. Following the end of the American Revolution and the failure of the Articles of Confederation, the Americans wrote the modern Constitution of the United States, heavily based off of Montesquieu’s idea of a divided government. The French Revolution began similarly in that some members of its government believed that they were not equally represented. After the French Revolution though, the republic slowly began shifting to a totalitarian regime, first under the Committee of Public Safety and then completely under Napoleon Bonaparte .The facts show that the American Revolution was more successful in establishing a stable and long-lasting republican government that started a precedent for Europe, while the French Revolution’s republic failed to last, being turned into a totalitarian regime.
In Common Sense, Thomas Paine makes a strong case against not only the English monarchy, but all monarchical forms of government in general. Why do you think he pursues this line of reasoning and why might it be important or particularly effective in convincing American colonists to seek independence in 1776? Thomas Paine’s reasoning behind seeking independence is particularly geared towards his denouncement of monarchial government because he believes that the symbolic king and ruler of this type of government is the root of all things evil and unholy under God. Paine devotes an entire chapter of his influential pamphlet Common Sense to the idea that a government under a monarchy is diseased with idolatry – the people under monarchial rule are being brainwashed, living out their lives for their mortal ruler rather than for each other or for God. This idea is very important and effective in persuading the American colonists against the British Crown in that it proves to the colonists through accurate definition of a monarchy and concise reference to logic, history and biblical scripture that running a country of their own opposite the British is the change the colonies need.
Analysis of Declaration of Independence The author, Thomas Jefferson claims that the British colonies in America should be independent. The article opens by explaining why they have this formal declaration, overthrowing government and their wanting an independent nation. According to Jefferson, “All men are created equal” and “they are endowed with certain unalienable rights that governments should never violate. These rights include the right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”. These are the reasons that government is instituted.
The paper describes the events of the American Revolution that support the statement that the revolution was inevitable. The efforts of the British government to create a true empire in United States never worked well with Americans as they were unwilling to accept colonization. They started fighting for their autonomy. By the mid-19th century, the North America would have gained independence in the same way as the Jamaicans, Australia, and Canada, who were under the British colony. However, the nature of the American Revolution was inevitable (Kennedy and Bailey 213).
Thomas Paine exposes the monarchy for the sham that it really is, explains why people seek refuge in the New World from the tyranny and persecution of the Old World, and lays the groundwork and expresses ideas of what the Continental congress should be, and how this kind of government, by the people, for the people, will keep America from breaking out in civil war. The topic of the document itself is reveling, what the document has to say changes the course of history, putting into words what many colonists are thinking and believing at the time, and the world Thomas Paine lived in at the time influenced his writing to reflect these key Revolutionary ideas. Common Sense is important to the revolutionary era of American History in the fact that it fueled the fire that the colonists felt deep in their hearts. They wanted liberty, equality, freedom, and separation from the tyrannical England. Many of the colonists were maybe four or five generations removed