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Richard Price: The American Revolution

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Richard Price, a British Unitarian minister, called the American Revolution the most important event in the history of the world since the birth of Christ. At first glance, this seems like a gross overstatement.
The American Revolution was not a great social revolution like the ones that occurred in France in 1789 or in Russia in 1917 or in China in 1949. A true social revolution destroys the institutional foundations of the old order and transfers power from a ruling elite to new social groups.

Nevertheless, the Revolution had momentous consequences. It created the United States. It transformed a monarchical society, in which the colonists were subjects of the Crown, into a republic, in which they were citizens and participants in the political process. The Revolution also gave a new political significance to the middling elements of society-- artisans, merchants, farmers, and traders--and made it impossible for elites to openly disparage ordinary people.

During the colonial era, the percentage of white men who voted or participated in politics was low. There were no organized political parties, and adult white men tended to defer to gentlemen. Established merchants, wealthy lawyers, and large planters held the major political offices. But in the years leading up to the Revolution, popular …show more content…
It led to demands that the vote be extended to a larger proportion of the population and that public offices be elected by the people. During and after the Revolution, smaller farmers, artisans, and laborers began increasingly to participate in state legislative elections, and men claiming to represent their interests began to win office and wield power. Leaders in the new state governments were less wealthy, more mobile, and less likely to be connected by marriage and kinship than those before the Revolution. For the first time, state assemblies erected galleries to allow the public to watch legislative

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