Essay - American History the Radicalism of the American Revolution in the...

American History

The Radicalism of the American Revolution

In the Introduction to his book, The Radicalism of the American *****, Gordon S. Wood makes clear that the drive for independence in the young American nation "was as radical and social as any revolution in history" (4). Wood ***** this statement because some of the *****mes that have been passed down through history regard*****g the American Revolution have painted it as "an intellectual event," an "unusually conservative affair, concerned almost exclusively with politics *****d constitutional rights...[and indeed] hardly a revolution at all."

The ***** did not just elimin*****e monarchy...it actually...brought about an entirely new kind of popular politics," Wood explains (8). And in do*****g so, he explains, "it al***** released powerful ***** entrepreneurial and commercial energies that few realized existed."

*****ociety in England and ***** colonies leading up to and following the Revolution (as presented by Gordon W. Wood)

Meanwhile, what ***** it like living in ***** in the mid-18th Century - ***** country which colonial Americans had begun abandoning a hundred ye*****rs earlier? ***** (13-1*****) writes that though the English were "free from arbitrary arrest and punishment," had "no standing army," ***** "freedom of speech...and their right ***** trade and travel," few men ***** no women "could vote for representatives.",

And for the colonists, living under a monarchy that was an ocean away, royal authority in the colonies was "more deep rooted and ***** effective...then ever before." It is Wood's style to fashion narrative that builds up ***** the actual revolution slowly and deliberately with thoughtful and well-crafted descriptions ***** the comfort level of colonists; for example, he quotes Ben Frankl***** on page 38 (talking ***** how a gentleman would rat*****r let someone else do the grunt work): "Who is *****re that can be handsomely Supported in Affluence, Ease and Pleasure by another, ***** will chuse rather to earn his Bread ***** the Sweat ***** his own Brows?"

And referring ***** the fact that ***** King was r*****ed - even in the "most distant parts of his dominions" - on page 43, Wood quotes M*****tesquieu in an analogy to fa*****r-family relationships: "...***** nature having established paternal authority, the most natural government was that of a single person." ***** ***** a common thread throughout the early ***** mid-18th Century that people *****stood and accepted dependency; and in fact Wood writes on page 51 that "it has ***** estimated that *****e-half to two-thirds ***** all immigrants to ***** colonies came as *****dentured servants."

***** convicts (of course very dependent on ***** incarcerators) and "vagab*****ds" - an estimated 50,000 of them - were brought to the colonies "and bound over as servants for periods of s***** or fourteen years" (*****-52). And ***** because one was an indentured servant does not mean one held "an unrespectable status"; many such servants "***** skilled craftsmen" and "schoolmasters." So, again, Wood has painted a picture ***** shows dependency as a way of life (which explains why the king w***** in*****ially accepted but ***** that was changing) -