Major Problems in American History - Essay Example

Introduction American Revolution is considered as one of the significant events in the history of the world. Emerging out of the resentment for British excessiveness, this revolution resulted into the birth of a new country on the map of the world. United States of America emerged out of the social and political struggle which took place first to reduce the influence of Britain in the region and than between the civilians living in those colonies. This paper is divided into three different parts i.e. the making of rebellion discussing as to how the seven years war resulted into an strong sentiments against Britain, the second part discusses the revolution and how revolution failed to provide the desired result to all segments of the society and last section is about the political ideologies. This paper will discuss the historical events which took place since 1750s and how they reshaped the American history. Right from seven years war to the ideological conflicts between Hamiltonians and Jeffersonian regarding how the constitution of the country should be shaped, this paper will discuss as to how different factors resulted into the independence of United States. The Making of a Rebellion American Revolution is considered as one of the most significant events in history which radically changed everything. The involvement of different international players of that time has made the even as one of the significant events however, before the event can took place, there was a historical process which actually led America to the point of revolution. One of the key reasons for the expansion of colonies in the region was the systematic expulsion of Native Americans from the region. Further expansion also took place due to the disease, depopulation, war as well as the trade of Indian slaves. It is also important to understand that during 1750s and era before than, the region was critically controlled by three forces i.e. British, Spain and France and it was the continuous struggle between these powers which actually shaped the future course of history in the region. (Boyer, Clifford and Sandra) The overlapping interests of Spain, France and Britain therefore led to what is now called Seven years war. What is important to understand however, is the fact that this war actually redefined the relationships between different political entities within the region? Both, Britain as well as France sought the support of Native Americans. The initial efforts by Britain were overthrown by the French however, French were overpowered and Britain finally succeeded in gaining large part of the land mostly at the expense of France. It is also critical to understand however, that during that war, a friction started to emerge within the Colonial and British soldiers. Both the groups of soldiers complained about the overall conduct of each group during war and how they were treated. Colonial soldiers also went on to declare that they were treated a bit better than slaves. Friction also aroused between the British soldiers as well as the colonial civilians which further culminated into a full conflict when Pitt actually made a promise with colonies that they will be reimbursed for the expenses of the war. The critical factor behind this conflict was the financial burden which British Empire faced as a result of the war. Due to war, there was an overall increase in prosperity of the farmers and other economic classes within the region. The flourishing trade including illegal trade with the Spain also contributed towards the increase in the fortune of colonial civilians. Apart from this, there was also the issue of debt as British’s national debt soared during war time whereas colonial debt remained at very low level. As a result of this, there was a general consensus within Britain that colonies should pay for the war and a growing dissent started to emerge between the two. (Cobbs-Hoffman, Gjerde and Blum) In order to overcome the debt situation, Britain took certain measures to boost its revenue by charging the colonies and as a result of the series of measures, the conflict within the region started to emerge and soon the colonies and the Britain were at serious conflict with each other over the authority and political power in the region. Independence As a result of these wars, there was a general increase in the level of prosperity of the civilians in colonies however; revenue measures actually forced the civilians to go further into the debt. Thus there were already promising signs of a revolution despite the fact that there were no signs of social change or unrest. What is also important to understand that the new found freedom and liberty corroborated by the increase in prosperity of the individuals led to widespread social changes as people started to experience more and more freedom and had choice. Thus, civilians in colonies were relatively living in prosperous conditions however; the promise which revolution was making to bring more prosperity and freedom was one of the key reasons as to why people started to resist British power. (Cobbs-Hoffman, Gjerde and Blum) It is also important to understand that as the British hold over United States started to weaken, the new political forces started to emerge within the colonies. Some argue that there was a concrete effort to increase the personal and family influences under the disguise of Revolution and the American society was being driven towards the monarchy. It was exactly because of this reason that revolutionaries attempted to bring balance within the society by reducing the influence of such political clusters. Another important reason as to why the revolutionaries were successful in gaining the required support was the promise to more prosperity and freedom. Thus the war for revolution was fought with the promise that not only there will be independence from the British colonialism but from the personal influences. The Virginia constitution was based upon the promise of gaining independence from the personal influence of the landowners also. (Cobbs-Hoffman, Gjerde and Blum) As a result of the revolution, though, there was a greater social change within the society as society became more democratized however, the actual fruits of the revolution may not have been fully reaped by the civilians as well as the Native American. The overall distribution of wealth and income within the society remain largely unchanged because the new system which evolved as a result of revolution clearly favored wealthy and powerful. It was generally believed that the labor class of the society ultimately has to vote for the wealthy and that the overall level of wealth and family background were some of the key factors required having important public positions. (Boyer, Clifford and Sandra) It is also argued that the war was actually directed at the overthrowing of British hold over the colonies rather than making important changes within the structure of the American society. Those whites and Native Americans who did not possess any property were not able to achieve the benefits of the revolution. It is also important to note that these trends continued within the society as economic disparity and inequality widened. This was despite the fact that prosperity generally increased within American society after revolution however, the overall benefits were not technically trickled down to most of Americans as promised during revolution era. The Making of a Republic One of the key emphasizing points for the revolutionaries after independence was to ensure that liberty is guaranteed at the State level. As such there was an effort to reduce the executive power and subjecting it to the power of voters. The overall decentralization of the States however, later restructured as it was generally believed that the same may result into weakening of the States and may be a threat to the confederation. The initial political vision was to ensure the freedom and sovereignty of the States rather than the national government. (Cobbs-Hoffman, Gjerde and Blum) The initial idea was therefore to form a confederacy of states with each state having their own government. This political vision however, later on was relatively modified to increase the influence and role of Federal government into the overall affairs of the States. Most of the reservations came from those who were trading abroad and wanted to have more role of central government in the state to protect their rights outsides US. There was also conflict regarding the powers of large and small states and their overall role in shaping the policy making at the federal level. The formation of constitution of country also laid down the future course of political visions in the country. The new constitution of the country focused more upon on federalism by devising a system of shared power with checks and balances over the power held by different organs of the state. However, the ratification of constitution and what unfolded after reshaped the overall history of US as two different political visions clearly emerged as a result of this. Under the Federalist political philosophy, it was emphasized that the overall nature and purpose of constitution should be based upon protecting the rights of the minorities from the powerful majority and also restrict minority from hampering the steps taken in national interest. The Hamiltonians therefore focused upon ensuring that the constitution does not favor anyone and help maintaining a government which protects the equal rights of all while according no special powers and benefits to anyone. The republican approach and political philosophy however was opposing the Federalist approach because it was argued that this approach may restrict the personal liberty. There was also a natural opposition to the Federalists in areas where the overall benefits of their political philosophy were less. As such Republicans also started to gain support in terms of ensuring that the new structure of the government should be based upon ensuring liberty also. (Boyer, Clifford and Sandra) One of the policy differences between the political thoughts was based upon giving rights to the common citizen to interfere in the policy making. It has been therefore stressed that people should vote according to the personal character of the individual and those who have been voted should rule in the name of people. Republicans however, wanted to diffuse power inherent in the government and to distribute it among the white male property owners. Republicans therefore focused more on liberty and equality for all. Conclusion The rise of American republic has a long historical process right from the days of seven years war. This war has allowed the increase in sentiments for revolution and independence from British power. Though the revolution was fought on the promise of equality and economic freedom however, it could not bring much of economic benefits. After revolution there were also conflicts in setting up political ideology of the country. Bibliography Boyer, Paul S., et al. The Enduring Vision:A History of the American People: to 1877. New York: Cengage Learning, 2009. Cobbs-Hoffman, Elizabeth, Jon Gjerde and Edward J. Blum. Major Problems in American History. New York: Cengage Learning,, 2011. Read More