Social Changes During the Age of Revolutions

Social Changes During the Age of Revolutions

The late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries witnessed a number of significant revolutionary movements that were staged on both sides of the Atlantic. The British North American Revolution was on the forefront of this Age of Revolutions, sparking a cascade of subsequent revolutionary movement. First, the old monarchy of France fell, quickly followed by the first ever-successful slave rebellion in Saint-Domingue, and soon after, Spanish American Wars of Independence occurred in Latin America. This flow of independence movements shaped the lives of revolutionary leaders, loyalists, and slaves in the Atlantic World. In this essay, I will provide a thorough examination of what revolution promised and what it delivered to these various groups of people.

The British North American Revolution was a political upheaval that occurred from 1775 to 1783, in which colonies worked together to break ties with the British. The British Empire took advantage of the colonies by imposing harsh taxes known as the Stamp Act and Townshend Acts and adopting the policy that colonies should contribute more to the territories rather than expanding its powers into western Indian Territory. These newly imposed policies, in correlation with a lack of colonial input in Parliamentary actions, resulted in the increase in tension between Imperial Britain and Colonial America. Colonist believed their rights were being violated and revolt started to become more and more of a certainty. On July 4th, 1776 the Declaration of Independence announced the independence of the thirteen colonies from the British Empire. The author, Thomas Jefferson stated in the document, “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” (Jefferson, 325.) This belief laid the foundation for the newly imagined United States of America, which was later realized when the political, social, and militaristic rebellion against Imperial Britain proved successful.

The American Revolution brought about both positive and negative changes to the diverse group of people in the United States. One group affected were the leaders of independence movements. One of the major champions of the American Revolution was Thomas Paine. Thomas Paine set the American precedent of successful struggle for self-determination, liberty, equality, and freedom with his 1776 pamphlet, Common Sense. Pain stated in his pamphlet, “It is the true interest of America to steer clear of European contentions, which she can never do, while by her dependence on Britain, she is made the make-weight in the scale of British politics” (Paine, 324). Thomas Paine was the first to openly suggest independence from Britain and would be acknowledged as having a major influence on Thomas Jefferson in the writing of his Declaration of Independence.

Another class affected by the American Revolution was those devoted to the British rule. After declaring independence, colonists turned on and forced loyalists to live in harsh conditions and even threatened them with consequences such as tarring and feathering. Many states banned loyalists and forced loyalists to take an oath of allegiance. As a result, most people who supported Britain kept their opinions and voices silent. A loyalist in New York, John Stuart explains the difficult lifestyle he was forced to live in during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Stuart was made prisoner for incurring the penalty of high treason by the newfound laws of the American government. Stuart made the statement in response to his treatment, “Upon this, I was admitted to Parole, and confined to the Limits of the Town of Schenectady, in which Situation I remained for upwards of three years” (Stuart, 328). Even after being given parole, his house had been broken into, his farms and property had been plundered numerous times. Stuart and his family had no choice but to leave the country and seek refuge in Canada. Loyalists fled to multiple places including the West Indies, Europe, and North of the American border. John Stuart’s letter shows how the American Revolution did not benefit the loyalists in any circumstance whatsoever.

The majority of the slave population in the United States received neither a positive nor a negative result from the Revolution. The profound commitment to human equality expressed in the Declaration of Independence had no inclusion of equality for slaves. The Second Continental Congress was more focused on the independence of the colonies rather than on the rights of slaves. After July 4th, 1776, slave populations still worked strenuously for their masters. Even though most slave populations were still put to work after American independence, some slaves were able to start a new life in Nova Scotia and Sierra Leone. Britain promised loyalists and slaves; land, supplies, and new living if they were to migrate north. In The Memoir of Boston King, a freed slave explains his escape from Charles-town and travel to Birch Town located in Nova Scotia (Boston King, 329). The former slave stated in his memoir, “Every family had a lot of land, and we exerted all our strength in order to build comfortable huts before the cold weather could set in” (Boston King, 330). The Memoir of Boston King is evidence of a positively affected slave in the early eighteenth century. While the American Revolution did provide improvement to the lives of the few slaves able to move out of the country, there was very little net impact on the majority of the slave population in the United States.

The American Revolution and its ideals of independence, liberty and equality spread quickly across the transatlantic world. After the Seven Years’ War and the revolutionary movement in the western world, France underwent an economic crisis. The common people of France were furious at their King, Louis XVI and his aristocratic ideals. As a result, King Louis XVI called for the Estates General, consisting of three estates that included the French republic, clergymen, and the nobility. Soon after, the third estate declared itself the sovereign national assembly, and over time the other two estates switched allegiances to this new assembly. The first action of the new assembly was aimed towards the abolition of monarchy and the declaration of France as a peoples’ republic. In the mean time, hundreds of thousands of French royalists including clergymen fled France and escaped into other parts of Europe to seek refuge. After many reforms, and enlightened ideas, the third estate had gotten