An important question asked during the analysis of the American Revolution is exactly how revolutionary it was. Many aspects of society changed throughout this pivotal period in America’s history. For example, social equality in the colonies grew. People’s viewpoint of other shifted to see each other on a more equal front than before. Additionally, many more and economically diverse people were given opportunities that were non-existent before the revolution. These people were able to gain more wealth and economic satisfaction. Possibly the largest change from pre to post revolution was the fact that America was now self-governed. No more were they being controlled by a foreign regime. The people of the colonies were on their own. However,
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Pre-revolution, there was hardly any equally within the colonies. White, rich, land-owning males were given all social opportunities. A complete transformation of this would be complete social equality and for everyone to be on the same level. However, this was not fully accomplished. Certain social norms were reformed, but many were kept fairly the same. For example, the rich families who owned large estates and supported the British during the war, like the Phillips family, were punished by having their estate split up and sold to others. In Document E, statistics of how a Tory estate was broken up shows that the majority of the land was not given to the upper class, but to farmers and other middle to low class people. Over 231 people out of the 287 people given parts of the Phillips family were farmers. This illustrates some change in the social system, but the government still supported and protected the rich, upper class. Just because they were not given the majority of the land from this estate, the government continued to look out for the rich This fact was fairly noticeable to the American people and many wrote about this. For example, Beatrice G. Reubens states, “...It might have been interesting to wonder what would have happened if the patriot manor lords had been Tories and their tenants had gained the pre-emption right during the revolution” (Doc.F). Although the Tory estates were sold against the owner’s will, the government did not touch the manors that belonged to rich patriots. They continued to protect their elite, like before, and let them continue their
Pre-revolution, there was hardly any equally within the colonies. White, rich, land-owning males were given all social opportunities. A complete transformation of this would be complete social equality and for everyone to be on the same level. However, this was not fully accomplished. Certain social norms were reformed, but many were kept fairly the same. For example, the rich families who owned large estates and supported the British during the war, like the Phillips family, were punished by having their estate split up and sold to others. In Document E, statistics of how a Tory estate was broken up shows that the majority of the land was not given to the upper class, but to farmers and other middle to low class people. Over 231 people out of the 287 people given parts of the Phillips family were farmers. This illustrates some change in the social system, but the government still supported and protected the rich, upper class. Just because they were not given the majority of the land from this estate, the government continued to look out for the rich This fact was fairly noticeable to the American people and many wrote about this. For example, Beatrice G. Reubens states, “...It might have been interesting to wonder what would have happened if the patriot manor lords had been Tories and their tenants had gained the pre-emption right during the revolution” (Doc.F). Although the Tory estates were sold against the owner’s will, the government did not touch the manors that belonged to rich patriots. They continued to protect their elite, like before, and let them continue their