How Revolutionary Was The American Revolution Dbq

The American Revolution occurred when the American colonists wanted to be free from Britain. After the war, the colonies had won and became their own country, but was the American Revolution revolutionary? The Revolution was revolutionary because it was the beginning of ending slavery, made people think about women’s rights, and America was free from Britain. To start off, slavery had begun to die off after the American Revolution. According to Document 5, slavery got abolished almost immediately in some of the Northern states. Although some may argue that it took a lot longer for the states in the south to get rid of slavery, the revolution still made them begin to think about it. Without the revolution, the north probably wouldn’t have
abolished it, which would have meant that the south wouldn’t have either. It would take a lot longer to demolish it, and it might still be here today. Moving along to women’s rights. After the Revolution, people began thinking about women’s rights and how they might be important. Document 7 was a letter from Abigail Adams, that was addressed to her husband. In it, she spoke of how she wants men and women to have the same rights. This showed that people, such as Abigail, began to ponder the possibility of the equal rights for both men and women. Abigail Adams most likely would have expressed their opinions to other people, spreading the news around. In Document 8, it shows an amendment to the Constitution about women’s rights. One of the lines from it was, “Shall not be denied… on account of sex.” This means that the Constitution had granted equal rights to women in1920. Although that was long after the Revolution, it still means that people had taken into consideration what Abigail said. Without the Revolution to spark these events, it would have taken so much longer for women to begin getting some of the rights that men had. Finally, the American Revolution was revolutionary because America had separated from Britain.
This separation had given America the right to create their own government, one with equal representation. African Americans often did not have that many rights while Britain was in control, but after the Revolution, things began to change. A speech by an African American, located in Document 6, talks about how a man was unable to get a job. The man had a full education and graduated high school. Before the Revolution, it was not likely for an African American to get an educated, let alone graduate. This was a step up from how it was before the American Revolution. Document 2 includes an excerpt from the Declaration of Independence, stating that, “All men are created equal,” and are born with, “certain unalienable rights.” This means that the Revolution had triggered a series of events, which had led to the writing of those statements in the Declaration. Britain had kept the colonies from having their own representation, which means, without the Americans winning the Revolution, the statements listed in the Declaration would not matter. The British did not care for the colonists having equal rights and if America didn’t win, Americans would most likely not even have those
rights. Some may argue that the Revolution was not revolutionary because it took a long time for important issues such as slavery being completely gone in America and women to have rights. Although this may be true, the Revolution was one of the main events that caused these problems to be solved. Without it, these things would have taken a lot longer to happen, or may not even be here today. In the end, the American Revolution was revolutionary because slavery was getting abolished, women’s rights were starting to become something that people wanted, and America separated from