Why Is The American Revolution Conservative

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Many thought the American Revolution was radical ultimately it was conservative because nothing changed. All the political powers stayed the same, with the new form of government there was no substantial change to the economic, social, and political classes. The rich stayed rich, the poor stayed poor, the people who were in power stayed in their powerful positions and nothing changed, which means the American Revolution was conservative. The American Revolution grew from the tension between America and Britain. Americans were tired of being taxed for everything that was happening in Britain, while they were no longer living there they were being taxed without representation. The colonial legislature remained the same, many wealthy landowners who were wealthy stay wealthy, some even gained additional land, it was as if they were never affected by a Revolution. The elites are still staying as elites and there are no new people rising to power unless they had previous power. Degler states, “Under such circumstances, pecuniary motives, not democratic theories of society, determined the configuration distribution would take. And it is here that we begin to touch upon the fundamental reason why the confiscation of the royal, proprietary, and Loyalist land never assumed crucial social importance.” (Degler 127). He talks about how the confiscation of …show more content…

It is insignificant, for example, that no new social class came to power through the door of the American Revolution. Degler says, “ The men who engineered the revolt were largely members of the colonial ruling class. Peyton Randolph and Patrick Henry were well-to-do members of the Virginia Assembly; Washington, reputed to be the richest man in America, was an officer in the Virginia militia.” (Degler 125) This is showing how the social classes stayed the same and didn’t change because all the wealthy and popular people stayed wealthy and

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