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United States History

Gettysburg College

Section XI: The Revolutionary Wars, 1776-1815

Contemporary Civilization

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Xi. The Revolutionary Years, 1776-1815, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold L. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart Jan 1958

Xi. The Revolutionary Years, 1776-1815, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold L. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section XI: The Revolutionary Wars, 1776-1815

The intellectual ferment of the eighteenth century gave rise to a popular discontent with the status quo which culminated in two major revolutionary upheavals near the end of that century. We may fully understand the distinctive features of contemporary Western society only as we consider the transformations wrought by the American and French Revolutions. Discontent deep enough to produce widespread resistance to constituted authority is not an infrequent social phenomenon, but rarely has it resulted in movements which so profoundly rent the fabric of society as in the years between 1776 and 1815. A logical fulfillment of the intellectual unrest …


1. The American Revolution, 1776-1789, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold L. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart Jan 1958

1. The American Revolution, 1776-1789, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold L. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section XI: The Revolutionary Wars, 1776-1815

The long-range causes for the American Revolution may be found in the different social environment developing in England and America during previous decades. John Adams once wrote: "The Revolution was effected before the war commenced, in the minds and hearts of the people." For over a century and a half English colonists in North America had been transforming their Old World culture into something greatly different. The wilderness conditions of the new land generally promoted wider economic opportunity. England's colonial administration allowed extensive experience in self-government in her American possessions. Together these two developments introduced a high degree of social …