To what extent did the American Revolution fundamentally change America In your answer be sure to address the political social and economic effects of the Revolution in the period 1775-1800?

Answer 1

Yes its a US AP History that I'm taking as a Sophmore, the ways can be found here http://wiki.theplaz.com/American_Revolutions_Changes_DBQ_Essay

It gives a complete overview

It was not a revolution, it was a civil war - a war for independence. The goal was not to overthrow and replace the existing British government. The goal was to separate from that government. The war simply does not, by any rational use of language and logic, meet the criteria of a revolution.

One thing the war did not achieve is the creation of a single new and independent nation in North America. When independence was finally attained, by the grant of it by Great Britain via the Treaty of Paris in 1783, thirteen independent nations were created. Those nations then allied together in a confederation called the United States of America. In context, both of history and in the minds of the Founding Fathers, 'states' is correctly translated as 'nations' or 'nation-states' and the confederation was an alliance of states united, not a single nation. Failure to understand that simple, basic fact necessarily leads to the failure to understand the true causes of the war which occurred in 1861-65. That war was not a civil war (or a revolution). It was a war of aggression by those nations who had remained in the alliance against those nations who had exercised their rights to opt out and reassert the full autonomy, independence and sovereignty that they never surrendered.

Changes from 1775 to 1783 are fairly simply. During that period, the 1/3 of the colonists in 13 colonies who supported the cause of separation and independence (1/3 remained loyal, 1/3 never chose sides and stayed on the sidelines) dragged the entire continent into a war. Canada, having flatly refused to join the insurrection, became a target. From 1783 to 1787, the new nations fumbled and struggled to find a way to make uniform legislation which affected them all. In 1787, they agreed on a treaty of alliance called "The Constitution of the United States of America". Necessary accession to (not ratification of) the treaty was obtained in 1789 and the constitution was implemented. However, accession could only be won by the guarantee that personal rights and liberties were protected. Looking to the laws of their former "oppressors" the Founding Fathers borrowed heavily from British precedents like the English Declaration of Rights and Amended the constitution with the Bill of Rights.

After the war, life pretty much returned to they way it had been, except there was a mass exodus of those who had remained loyal. Some left voluntarily because they wanted no part of the new nations or their government or ruling elite. Others were driving out but the lovers of freedom, political expression and personal liberty that created the brave new world. However, the smuggling, violation of trade and commerce laws and general disobedience to the law in general that had been so rampant in the colonies and ignored during the period that Parliament had pursued the policy of Salutary Neglect was no longer necessary because those laws no longer applied.

The truth was given to the lie of the slogan "No Taxation Without Representation". The complaint was never about representation, it was about the taxes. Everyone at the time knew that in 1770 a Boston merchant have every bit as much representation in Parliament as did a London silversmith. Perhaps that is why no colony or colonial legislature had every asked that a colonial representative be appointed to Parliament. When the new central government passed tax laws every bit as reasonable and necessary and for the same valid reasons as Parliament had done since the founding of Jamestown, folks rebelled. First there was Daniel Shays and his group in 1787. Later, to put down the Whiskey Rebellion, George Washington led more troops in the field than he had ever done in the War for Independence.

By 1803, the draconian central government which the Farmers had so mightily striven to prevent had been spawned. The New England States threatened to secede. Things improved for a short time but then deteriorated to the point that the New England states threatened to secede again in 1812-14. In both instances, the southern statesmen convinced New England to remain in the alliance not because they couldn't leave it but because it was in their best interests to stay. Over the next several decades, the roles would reverse. By 1860 the southern states paid 75% of federal taxes, but 75% of federal revenues were spent in the north. Eleven states did secede, as was their right. New England forgot its own history and New York ignored the fact that it had joined the alliance only on the express condition that it could leave whenever it so chose, and those eleven states were invaded and destroyed.

The seeds of the War Between the States was neither a civil war nor was it about slavery. The seeds were sown in 1787 at the Philadelphia (Constitutional) Convention and the politics of the early years of the USA (recognizing that the USA was conceived in 1783 and born in 1789) were centered frequently around issues concerning the power and authority of the central government. The Shenanigans of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson almost tore the union apart. It took the constitutionally wrong, legally incorrect, unethical, corrupt, intellectually fraudulent decision of John Marshall in Marbury v Madison to bring the ruling elite to its senses and stop the foolishness. Of course, Marshall also made the biggest power grab in US constitutional history lied and said he had no authority to act. The "nation" was on the verge of "civil war" almost constantly in the early years.

For the common-folk, none saw too much change after the war, except, especially in the cities and villages, their personal security was diminished, their bankrolls were radically reduced and it was increasingly harder to earn a buck. Over time, that improved but times were truly hard immediately after the rebels had their way.

Answer 2

After the American Revolution, Americans, who were now free of British control, began to reevaluate the political, social, and economic effects of the Revolution. America made many changes to the it's government after the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation. They wanted a government as much as they could get from the British Monarch. Overall, America experienced a lot of economic, social, and political change in varying degrees.

The ratification of the Constitution in 1788 was a major political change. The political changes, plainly stated, were going from British rule and to a born republic.