Conor Hardy Hist 11 Gordon Wood Paper Through Gordon Wood’s work‚ entitled The Radicalism of the American Revolution‚ I am convinced that the American Revolution was the most radical event that occurred in American history. In the face of the ways and basis of other revolutions that occurred in history‚ the American Revolution was unlike any other major rebellion of the past for it completely shaped our nation’s foundations for the future. The revolution sought drastically different ideologies
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In Gordon Wood’s analysis of the American Revolution‚ he takes a more radical view of the period in contrast with the view of other historians‚ who see this period as more conservative with no major social disruption‚ especially compared to the radical and brutal rebellions of the French Revolution just decades later. In the early days of colonization‚ those who settled in America had no wish to create their own identity that wasn’t British‚ but with time and lack of interest from the crown and Parliament
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democracy was the most significant consequence of the American Revolution. The origins of the Revolution necessarily lie deep in America’s past. A century and a half of dynamic development in the British continental colonies of the New World had fundamentally transformed inherited European institutions and customary patterns of life and had left many colonists believing that they were seriously deviating from the cultivated norms of European life. Americans Resistance turned into rebellion: but as the colonists
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The Radicalism of the American Revolution By Charlie Hwang History of the Americas I Dr. Drouin Word Count: Gordon S. Wood’s Radicalism of the American Revolution challenges historian’s views regarding the nature of the American Revolution. The Radicalism of the American Revolution is an academic monograph written in 1991 in the midst of age long belief that American Revolution was not radical. The Radicalism of the American Revolution reevaluates the American Revolution in a unique angle to
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In “The American Revolution: A History”‚ Gordon S. Wood takes readers through the significance of every event leading up to the American Revolution‚ a chapter on the war itself‚ and post-war events. Wood begins by describing the migration to North America‚ and the shift of main exports and imports‚ and British Reform. As the colonies begin to resist British Reform‚ Wood describes the reaction of Great Britain and the debate of imperialism. The fight for independence is discussed‚ as well as the
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The American Evolution Change is everywhere. Like a chameleon changing its skin color as it hides from a predator in the desert sand‚ we are naturally equipped to adapt to our surroundings as living beings in time of threat. This theory is no different in the realm of social history: humans are apt to change their actions‚ beliefs‚ and motives in transitional periods of sociological enlightenment or political progression; and with regard to the American Revolution‚ this process of social evolution
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In The Radicalism of the American Revolution (1991)‚ Gordon S. Wood argues there were three distinct periods of social ideology in early American society‚ monarchy‚ republicanism‚ and democracy. While each era progressed chronologically‚ they were in no way distinct‚ with considerable ideological overlap occurring between them. The monarchy‚ which dominated American culture during the colonial period‚ was a series of hierarchical relationships denoted by various levels of dependency through personal
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In Gordon S. Wood’s novel‚ The Radicalism of the American Revolution‚ Wood challenges an idea produced by many consensus historians over many years. That idea being the American Revolution was just a colonial fight for independence from our mother country. Instead‚ Wood believes the revolution as not that‚ but a genuine social transformation. While one class of people did not overthrow another‚ the social relationships of our country were permanently changed for the rest of time. One-way Wood support
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The American people have always looked upon their founders with constantly shifting perspectives. First‚ they are monuments of men – true American heroes. Then‚ they are people just like us‚ with flaws and emotions and contradictions just like us. Finally‚ they are dehumanized with claims of them being racist‚ sexist‚ elitist‚ and more. Today‚ these views are rather intermixed and at odds within the United States. It is reasonable to believe that the American people simply do not know what to think
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with lively debates and hopes for carrying on the republican spirit. With a deep-seated distrust in a powerful central government Americans placed great emphasis on the independence of their individual states. This suspicion was reflected in the states’ constitutions and in the power structure of state governments. Gordon S. Wood argues in his book The American Revolution: A History‚ that the constitutions of the states and the process of writing the US Constitution reflected a change in political
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