The Revolutionaries themselves, mindful of their role as founders of the nation, helped create this common narrative as well as symbols to represent national ideals and aspirations. American national identity has been expanded and enriched by the shared experiences of two centuries of national life, but those experiences were shaped by the legacy of the Revolution and are mostly incomprehensible without reference to the Revolution.
The unprecedented movement of people, money and information in the modern world has created a global marketplace of goods, services, and ideas that has diluted the hold of national identity on many people, but no global identity has yet emerged to replace it, nor does this seem likely to happen any time in the foreseeable future.
Fourth, the American Revolution committed the new nation to ideals of liberty, equality, natural and civil rights, and responsible citizenship and made them the basis of a new political order. None of these ideals was new or originated with Americans. They were all rooted in the philosophy of ancient Greece and Rome, and had been discussed, debated and enlarged by creative political thinkers beginning with the Renaissance. The political writers and philosophers of the eighteenth-century Enlightenment disagreed about many things, but all of them imagined that a just political order would be based on these ideals.
What those writers and philosophers imagined, the American Revolution created—a nation in which ideals of liberty, equality, natural and civil rights, and responsible citizenship are the basis of law and the foundation of a free society.
The revolutionary generation did not complete the work of creating a truly free society, which requires overcoming layers of social injustice, exploitation, and other forms of institutionalized oppression that have accumulated over many centuries, as well as eliminating the ignorance, bigotry, and greed that support them. One of the fundamental challenges of a political order based on principles of universal right is that it empowers ignorant, bigoted, callous, selfish, and greedy people in the same way it empowers the wise and virtuous.
For this reason, political progress in free societies can be painfully, frustratingly slow, with periods of energetic change interspersed with periods of inaction or even retreat. A seemingly small consequence was how George Washington was denied becoming a British officer — his dream. Despite all the characteristics that made him a perfect match, the British army ignored him since he lacked the connections in court. Another big consequence was the costs of war.
Learn more about The American experiment. The British were happy to defeat the French and push away their threat to their colonies. However, the war had costs, and Great Britain called upon the colonists to share the costs of victory and the empire. Britain wanted profit from its colonies, not costs. Hence, in , Parliament imposed the Stamp Act, which was a new tax on the American colonies.
It seems strange and wrong to us today that the men at Halifax could talk about personal freedom and a better government while holding African Americans in slavery and denying voting and other rights to women and to men without property. But the dramatic fight for constitutional rights in the s was staged by an all-white, all-male cast. However much we may question the ideas of some of the founders, we must acknowledge the importance of what they achieved.
They adopted the United States Constitution, which created a government based on written principles with the possibility of amendments. Thus, they established a method to achieve fundamental changes in the future, such as the abolition of slavery and the expansion of the right to vote. North Carolina Civic Education Consortium. Flickr user: Visit Hillsborough. Josiah Martin Photograph no. Resources in libraries [via WorldCat].
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Skip to main content. Is anything in this article factually incorrect? Please submit a comment. Reasons behind the Revolutionary War by William S. North Carolina and the Continental Congress In June , the Massachusetts legislature issued a call for all of the colonies to meet at Philadelphia to consider these problems. Halifax Resolves While soldiers fought the war on the field, North Carolina's public leaders fought for independence, too.
Tories and Whigs But North Carolinians were greatly divided. A New Government In the midst of war, and with a divided population, North Carolina began trying to create a new government.
If the Continental army could hang on, and outlast the British, maybe the British government would lose its appetite for war, and accept American independence. One of the most unrecognized aspects of the American Revolution is that it truly was a world war that encompassed several European nations at once. Meanwhile, the Continental Congress desperately sought the support of France and Holland.
Among the foreign combatants who assisted the Americans, perhaps no one gave more than Gilbert du Montier, the Marquis de Lafayette. And we cannot forget Friedrich von Steuben , the Prussian officer who would successfully train and whip the Continental army into shape during the winter at Valley Forge in At a time before the term celebrity had any real meaning, there was one American who wore it with his charismatic personality and infectious wit.
A successful printer, who went on to dabble in electricity and other scientific inquiries, Franklin served over a decade in London as chief diplomat to the colonies. When his bid to strike a truce with Parliament disintegrated into being publicly ridiculed, Franklin returned to Philadelphia as a staunch Patriot.
It is true that many stayed home and ran the household. This was appropriate for the eighteenth century. So they followed them. Yes, women, and even their children, were among the American and British army encampments throughout the war. Wives lobbied to cook and wash clothes for soldiers.
Other women served as concubines and prostitutes. Others even took up arms as soldiers. Deborah Sampson disguised herself as a man, and served in the 4th Massachusetts Regiment.
Though it was illegal for women to serve in military units, some were on the battlefields in the middle of fighting, offering medical and other assistance where necessary. The stories of Margaret Corbin and Mary Hays speak of this.
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