Was the Civil War actually a Civil War? Was the Revolution actually a Revolution?

The American Revolution and the American Civil War are two of the most monumental events in the history of the United States of America. However, their characterization as a “revolution” and a “civil war” has been argued for many years. It has been argued that the American Revolution was not a true revolution, but a civil war, and that the American Civil War was not a civil war but rather America’s time of revolution. Some aspects of the American Revolution support the argument that it was a revolution, while other aspects work in favor for saying that it was just a civil war. Similarly, some aspects of the American Civil War favor the idea that it actually was a civil war, while other aspects do the opposite. To ultimately decide which characteristics of the American Revolution make it a “true” revolution or just a civil war, one must first have knowledge of the definition of a “revolution.” A revolution is defined as “a drastic and far-reaching change in ways of thinking and behaving…a relatively sudden and absolutely drastic change...a process of change involving the mobilizing of a mass social movement in order to break the political status-quo and radically transform the society…a complete often violent, overthrow of an established government or political system.” Two of these definitions fit the American Revolution, one of them being that there was that a government (British) being overthrown due to the violence of war. It could be argued that there was not radical social changes, for slavery still existed, women still had very few rights, and only landowning white males could vote. However, society did radically change because as the loyalists fled to Canada after the war, political and social structures were opened up to new people. Slave emancipation also gave strength in the North. Also, a large mass of people mobilized for battle, as 1/3 of the colonists were patriots. The other two definitions do not fit the American Revolution. The