To What Extent Was The American Revolution: Radical Or Revolutionary?

Throughout history, historians have written about the various wars, conflicts, and revolutions that have taken place. However, these writings and publications were undoubtedly influenced by their individual views as well as what was thought of as the popular opinion at that time. The American Revolution was not an exception to this rule. It is important to note that in this historical period that a large number of the people truly believed that it was about the fight for liberty and against the tyranny of the British Empire. While some scholars agree with this school of thought, there have been many others who suggest otherwise. To elaborate, there are some who argue that the American Revolution was not a necessary conflict, as most of the Americans were ruled by a democratic government. The subject of American Revolution has been widely discussed and historians often have different viewpoints on this topic including those presented by George Bancroft, Andrew Hacker, Merill Jensen, Robert Brown, and Bernard Bailyn. However, in order to truly answer the question as to whether the American Revolution was radical or indeed revolutionary, one does not need to look further than to inspect the opinions of Gorge Bancroft, Andrew …show more content…
According to Jensen, the American Revolution was “of brief duration, but while it lasted an attempt was made to write democratic ideals and theories of government into the laws and constitutions of the American states” (Historians and American Revolution 59). Moreover, by analyzing the long-term effects of the American Revolution, one can conclude that it was a radical act to those who had fought and died for the cause. However, it was not all that revolutionary for those who lived after, as not much changed. People still lived in order to trade, work, sleep, and