Political And Economic Changes example essay topic

From the moment the American Revolution began it was obvious that change was inevitable. The thirteen rag tag colonies united under one common goal, to rid themselves of English rule. This caused the transformation of the Thirteen Colonies into a totally new entity. From the year 1775 to 1803 the American Revolution specifically changed militarily, politically, and economically. By April of 1775 fighting had broke out all over England. But, these battles were not over some revolutionary cause.

In fact the thought had not even entered the men's minds. They were just trying to protect their farms and possessions. This did not change until January 5th of 1776 when Tomas Paine published the work "Common Sense". This sold 200,000 copies but not to officers. In fact it was ignored by almost everybody but the common soldier. They were the ones reading "Common Sense".

While General George Washington is busy losing battles he begins, to realize that this "revolutionary idea" is not far from correct. He sees that his men are starving and dying without even getting paid. To an outsider it would seem only a matter of time before they broke down and the British won. But, they were now fight for something far more than land; they were fighting for their freedom.

Just the idea of this became their payment and the first driving force of the revolution. As soon as Washington sees this he takes it to the Second Continental Congress and they finally adopt this idea themselves in July of 1776. But just the idea of freedom itself is not enough to win battles. Before the congress Washington does win one battle against General Howe. But only because Howe is too busy partying that he blunders badly and gives the high ground along with 200 cannons. But, this win is not much help to the Revolutionary Army because Washington doesn't change anything in his attacking style.

Therefore, fresh off this win he goes on to lose the battle of Brooklyn Heights. At this battle Washington in his early brilliance, decides to take on the British navy. This is obviously not a good idea. Since they were the most powerful navy in the world. After he returns from the congress he goes on to lose another battle, the battle of Long Island. This being another naval battle is self explanatory.

It was obvious that this needed to change or else the revolution would be a failure. This opened the door for Benedict Arnold. There were two hundred guns at Ticonderoga that Arnold rushes to take. But before he can leave he finds that Colonel Ethan Allen has also found out about his plans and wants to do it himself.

So, therefore Allen has Arnold arrested even though they were both the same rank. Luckily, Washington demands his release and Arnold still gets there first. He takes Ticonderoga and all the guns. In the process he nearly loses his life but strangely Allen still gets the credit.

Thus it is evident very early in the war that Arnold is not treated well. Aside from all of this back biting, this event is very important for revolutionary cause. Arnold had not only stopped the British advance on New England but wins the first battle that wasn't due to neglect by British Officers. But Arnold's fortune does not stop here he goes on to win an even more important battle, a naval battle. The British Army had been building a fleet on Lake Champlain since April of 1776. When Arnold arrives there in August he is already four months behind in production.

But, he knows he must stop the British Navy from, advancing up the Hudson before winter. Therefore he puts out five barely sea worthy ships in time for a battle. It is obviously not one of the greatest victories in the fact that the British fleet is completely destroyed. But, it is important because this victory shows that the American's have the power to stop even the strongest navy in the world from advancing. All this is very important for the army. For the first time it seemed as if America might have a chance in this war.

This moral boost provides for another battle that proved to change the tide of the war. In the second battle of Saratoga the Revolutionary army had been flanked by Burgoyne and they were in complete disarray. Seeing this Arnold decided to take command of 3 regiments even though he had been removed from command. He pulls the men together and mounts a counter attack on Burgoyne. It works and Burgoyne is forced to surrender his entire army of five thousand men. But, in the process Arnold leg is shattered and his life almost taken.

This battle is very important for a few key reasons. The first is that it was the first time the American's had actually captured a British force. But, not only a British force but a full army of five thousand men. The second being the fact that this battle allowed for the French Army to come into the war on our side.

Before this battle they were little hesitant on starting another war with England, especially on the side of a bunch of colonists. But, the capture of five thousand British soldiers was definitely enough to persuade them to join in the Revolutionary cause. The third and equally important change this battle brings is the end of Arnold's battle career. He is given little credit for his leadership in the Second Battle of Saratoga. It also leaves him with a severe limp but more important he is very bitter. He refuses a position offered by George Washington and later goes on to betray him.

The final key military change of the Revolutionary war was the complete defeat of the British army. By midsummer of 1881 General Cornwallis was hemmed in by Washington's forces plus two other French Armies (one command by a French General). He had retreated to Yorktown which is on an Peninsula in hopes that he would be saved by sea. But, the British were once again too busy partying that they allowed the American's to take the bay. There was a battle between British General De Gras and American Richard T. Graves but De Gras ends up crossing the Graves' fleet. Therefore the bay is retained and Cornwallis is hemmed in by land and sea.

Cornwallis does make one desperate charge to break out in which he does successfully but gets "cold feet" thinking Washington had more soldiers in reserve. In this act he also gives up the first line of breast works, leaving Washington a more advantageous position. He only has to do one thing, squeeze and Cornwallis surrenders. He surrenders his full force of 7300 men, ending any chance that the British had of winning the war.

One of the biggest military changes in the military after the war was the fact that there literally was none. The federalist papers had left the central government without any real military at all. So therefore there was no power to stop civil uprisings. In 1786 there was a rebellion in Western Massachusetts led by William Shays. They were kidnapping judges because of foreclosures on their land. Since there was no national military so there was no way to stop Shays and his men.

Luckily Shays was finally captured by some towns people and the rebellion ended. But this event showed that their needed to be a change to at least build some semblance of a national military. And, after the articles of Confederation are replaced with the Constitution the national government was allowed to tax and therefore build a military. It was tested with the Whiskey Rebellion in 1796 but by this time it was well built and therefore the rebellion was put down easily.

Thus taking showing how for the military had truly come. From a band of smugglers and trouble makers to farmers hired to be militia men to well a organized and funded military. But, along with these many military changes also came many political and economic changes. From the very beginning the Revolution was every shifting and changing. At the beginning of the war the real revolutionist were not doing it for ideas of grand freedom. But, rather because they were not making enough profit in their smuggling businesses.

The idea of freedom did not really get into the minds of the so called revolutionaries until Thomas Paine publishes "Common Sense". And still as said before politically it did not come to the minds of the elite until George Washington brought it to the minds of the politically elite. With this there is a definite uniting of ideas to fight one common goal, the British crown. By July, the declaration of Independence is written, marking the official breaking away by the thirteen colonies. One of the first major political changes occurring during the war was Arnold betraying the Revolutionary Cause for the British. All throughout the war politics did not treat Arnold very well.

He had many enemies within the congress and within the high ranking officers in the American Army. Thus he did not get much credit for the battles he had helped to win. And, he was even billed for the scuttling of a fleet he himself had built without any money from the congress. This left him very bitter with them. Therefore Arnold offers his services as a spy to the British army.

At first they turn him down but by September 1780 he was spying for them. He unsuccessfully tries to hand the British General Washington and also sells the blueprints to West Point. He is found out and is forced to leave America to England. This is quite a change from American hero to a traitor. Politically this leaves Washington baffled since Arnold was had been a friend of his.

Other than Arnold most of the American Politicians were United but after the war the division began to be shown. After the war had ended the first immediate order of business was to form the rules and regulations for the nation government. In 1781 the articles of Confederation are put into effect. But, this does little to improve the condition of the newly formed and fragile country. It, in fact, helps in creating more divisions in the country. Economically speaking the Articles of Confederation were failing the country.

Interstate trade was completely out of control. One state would tax another because they were doing damage to their roads and then in retaliation the other state would tax them back. Also every time someone would want to do business from state to state they would have to exchange their money (because every state had a different currency). People were not happy with this because some states money were worth a lot less than another. But when congress realized this they got rid of the articles of confederation and began using the federalist papers. This was one of the biggest changes since the end of the war.

Politically it began the first divisions between the two parties. The two groups were the Federalists - supporters of the federalist papers (people like John Adams and James Madison and the Anti-Federalists or the Republics who were people like Thomas Jefferson believing that the central government should be kept weak. This is a giant change because for one Jefferson and Adams were great friends before these events but afterwards they hated each other. Also it created an election where for the first time there was a true split in votes. This had not yet happened because Washington was almost unanimously elected. After he stepped down it was left open for the Federalists and Republicans to compete for it.

An enormous change occurred here. It was for the first time that political power completely changed hands without any blood shed in history. This probably one of the larges changes that showed American Democracy was working. But, of biggest changes that would be seen in the future coming out of this political split was the division between the North and the South. Thomas Jefferson made a statement that would echo all the way through the Civil War.

He said that the states had the right to nullify federal law thus paving for the argument of the states actually leaving the Union. Along with the changes the federalist papers bring, another big change economically during that period was the introduction of one centralized currency. In Wood's essay he says that most American's now had an eye for profit. So therefore to maximize those profits there needed to be one strong currency instead of 13 weak currencies floating around. Alexander Hammel ton introduced the idea to trade all the states their money for the new national currency at face value. This got a lot of grumbling because some states money was worth more than the others.

But, in the end it was a very effective change because it eliminated a great deal of the foreign and domestic debt. This change was probably one of the final economic changes of the revolutionary period. But politics had not quite been figured out yet. The second to last major political in this period was the definition of congress's powers and also the president's. There was really nothing that defined these two positions in government.

Therefore there was need to create someone thing that each branch of the government could keep an eye on the other. That is when the house of representatives and the senate are formed. This is done to balance political power between the big and small states. This provided for a more balanced form of governments.

Now at this time two out of the three branches were now defined. The only one left was the judicial branch of the government. Coming to the end of John Adam's presidency he tried to pack the courts and get as many judges of his party into their seats. But when Jefferson and Madison got into office Madison refused to walk the papers over to the senate. This caused one Judge to be, William Marbury, to sue Madison wanting the court to force him to give the papers to the Senate. This created a important case which changed and defined the judicial branch of the government.

In this case Chief Justice Marshall said that he could only review the actions of the president or congress and hold it to its constitutionality. This created "Judicial Review" and the final changed that completed the checks and balances of the three powers. During these 28 years of turmoil the military, the economics and the politics of the Thirteen Colonies now known as the United States of America underwent some very radical changes. It saw the loss of important heros and the creation of deep slits in politics. It saw a great development in economics and a great division between the two different economic bodies of America - the North and the South. But all of these changes thrust America head first into the modern world and helped solidify a once shaky government.

But, now one of the strongest the world knows.