Question

Do you see the American Revolution as “Revolutionary” or “Conservative”? Explain your answer. Terms you must use are Stamp Act, Common Sense, Shay’s Rebellion, Sons of Liberty, and Boston Tea Party.

Answer 1

The American Revolution was a conservative movement intended to preserve the existing social, political, and economic order.

From the standpoint of the colonial economy the Revolution had a noticeably disruptive impact. The
dynamic, capitalistic spirit, so evident in the United States after the war, antedated the conflict whether in
fishing, whaling, shipping, and small manufacturing in New England; finance and shipping in the middle
region; or commercial agricultural operations in the South.

All states, however, suffered from wartime
military incursions, the loss of British markets and protectionism, and the attempt to reorganize the
economy at home and develop new avenues of trade abroad. Especially hard hit was the export sector that
probably accounted for the preponderance of economic growth and expansion of the colonies and the states.
As a result of the Revolution, per capita income in the United States declined drastically and might not have
reached prewar levels until the beginning of the nineteenth century.

We can thus say that the American Revolution evolved as a colonial war of liberation and the Circumstances forced the Americans to seek self-determination. The congeries of English colonies by definition constituted an unstable society,
subject to external intervention and often negative interference, largely for the benefit of the mother
country, as might be expected in a mercantilist empire.

Highlights of American revolution according to the question-

1. In the face of widespread opposition in the American colonies, Parliament enacts the stamp act 1765 , a taxation measure designed to raise revenue for British military operations in America.

2. The Sons of Liberty were orchestrated effective resistance movements against British rule in colonial America on the eve of the Revolution 1773 primarily against what they perceived as unfair taxation and financial limitations imposed upon them. They were also responsible for boston tea party fueled the tension between Britain and America that ultimately led to the Revolutionary War, which started in 1775 and led to America winning its independence from Britain.

[Note -The Boston Tea Party was a political protest that occurred on December 16, 1773, at Griffin's Wharf in Boston, Massachusetts. American colonists, frustrated and angry at Britain for imposing “taxation without representation,” dumped 342 chests of tea, imported by the British East India Company into the harbor.]

3. Comman sense pamphlet written earlier by Thomas Paine in 1775–1776 advocating independence from Great Britain to people in the Thirteen Colonies. Writing in clear and persuasive prose, Paine marshaled moral and political arguments to encourage common people in the Colonies to fight for egalitarian government.

4. Moreover American Revolutionary War veteran Daniel Shays led four thousand rebels (called Shaysites) in a protest against economic and civil rights injustices .Shays' Rebellion was an uprising carried out by farmers in Massachusetts in 1786 and 1787. The main effect that it had on our country was that it caused the calling of the Constitutional Convention.

Conclusion

The American Revolution resulted in changes, of course. Principal among them was independence, but
overall the tenor was restrained. Institutional life required no basic alterations. Colonials sought to retain
their English legal rights, which explains the current attachment in the United States to British traditions
such as trial by jury, due process, right of petition, and narrow definition of treason. The product of
circumstances and limited objectives, the American Revolution, so initially successful, failed to lead to a
revolutionary tradition as in France. Although they became "symbols of a world revolution, the Americans
were not in truth world revolutionaries," claimed historian Louis Hartz.
So yes we can say that The American Revolution was a
conservative revolution with the viewpoint that American revolution had no revolutionary impact on American lives