- You should discuss whether the Revolutionary War was a revolution or evolution.
- You should define either revolution or evolution in your answer.
- Be sure to identify reasons and events we have studied in class.
- You have to post an original paragraph argument and respond to three other classmates.
10/19/2009
American Revolution "Revolution or Evolution?"
Was the American Revolutionary War revolutionary or evolutionary in design?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I believe that the American Revolution was revolutionary, hence the name, however, evolution, caused the revolution. The American Revolution was an evolutionary, the colonists’ attitudes gradually changing toward England. At the first stage, the colonists were on decent terms with their mother country. The role of the colonies was to basically supply England with raw materials such as lumber and iron, to England's factories. The colonists prospered independently under a policy of salutary neglect, and freely traded with various other European powers such as Spain, France and the Netherlands. The relationship began to alter for the worst, as the evolution began. As the colonists started to settle, the previous inhabitants, the Indians, protested. The colonists put up resistance, and had to defend themselves from the Indians, the English offering no help. However, seeing the flourishing colonies, England became jealous, and set up the Navigation Acts not long after the first American colony, Virginia, was established, in 1607. Britain then benefited greatly due to all of the colonies' goods being shipped to them. The next major event that furthered the colonists' attitudinal evolution was the French and Indian War. The colonists were forced to fight for the British, when it was not even their war, since the colonists did not want control of the Ohio Valley. The second stage of the evolution, was surfaced when the aftermath of the war left the colonists with a lost respect for the military, belief that they were not treated as equals, and storm of complaints from the English government, that they did not provide enough support for the long and costly war. The English government's attempt at unifying the colonies with the Albany Plan, in 1754 failed because they had been independent for so long. The third stage of the colonists' attitudinal evolution, was finally, protest. The British, after the French and Indian War seriously lacked money, and decided to utilize the colonies to gain some. They imposed taxes, through the Sugar, Quartering, Townshend, Tea, Stamp and Coercive Acts, all burdening the colonists heavily. The Stamp Act especially, caused a storm of furious protest, and the rebellion spread from the Northern to the Southern colonies, until it reached a breaking point, which lead to the American Revolution. So, as seen by the gradual changes the colonists made, from 1607, when the first American colony was established, to the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the first official battle of the American Revolution in 1775, the colonists completely evolved from obeying citizens, to fiery protestors. The American Revolution was really an evolution of the colonists' attitudes toward their mother country.
ReplyDeleteWell stated Colleen. Evolution seems to make sense in my mind. When one thinks of revolution you seem to see an event that ends the same way it began. Revolutions like the French revolution you learned last year showed how rebellion led to failure. The American Revolution was unique because the colonists were successful and the result of the war led to their independence; not a revolution that resulted in Britain maintaining its grips over the colonies. Good points reflecting both viewpoints.
ReplyDeleteThe American Revolution was more Revolutionary rather than it being Evolutionary. Revolutionary means that its more of a revolt whereas evolutionary means it was more of a change. The colonist did not change. They may have changed their views about British Parliament but they didn't change to better suit their environment or anything like that. What they did was they revolted, they were rebels, they started a war! In the arguments we read, one of them was the colonies would be united. that is exactly what happened in relation to the Stamp Act Congress, the Sons of Libery and/or the Continential Congress. Because of these things the colonies were one. Together they fought the British and followed their dreams. Another thing the articles argued was that British trade would not affect the colonies in anyway. The rebels knew that and at the time of the Boston Tea Party, they didn't care about British economy. They needed a way to start a revolution, to start a new life, to stand up for what they believed in and give other British colonies around the world hope that they would no longer be governed, but goverend by themselves. The cause the Patriots gave their life was was definately revolutionary.
ReplyDeleteThe American Revolutionary War was definitely revolutionary in design. The word revolution is described as overthrow of one government and a replacement of another (their own), which is what the colonists did. If the British never placed severe laws on the colonists such as the Intolerable Acts in 1774, we would still be conjoined with Great Britain. The word revolt comes from the word revolution, as in the name Revolutionary War. The colonists were immensely upset that they had no representation in the British government as in the quote “No taxation without Representation”, supported by James Otis and Thomas Paine. Colonists formed revolt groups and meetings with some severe actions, such as the Son's Of Liberty, the Stamp Act Congress, the First and Second Continental Congresses and The Boston Tea Party. Additionally, the refusal of the Olive Brach Petition by Dickinson pushed the colonists to limits, which lead to the drafting of the Declaration of Independence. This formal document, by Jefferson, was a revolt to be separated from Great Britain for their unnecessary and unfair laws put upon the colonists without consent. The colonists also strongly believed they could flourish themselves. Therefore a revolution is a revolt between two or more groups of disagreements, while an evolution is a change over a long period of time.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the American Revolution was a Revolution and not a revolution. The word evolution is defined as any process of formation or growth; development. In my mind, the word evolution means to evolve, but the colonies didnt really evolve, they just seperated into their own states. Now a Revolution (an overthrow or repudiation and the thorough replacement of an established government or political system by the people governed) would fit the definition much better because in the end of the Revolutionary war, the colonies did end up replacing their form of government (Parliament "Britain") and establishing a new kind of government within each seperate state. Take the Declaration of Independence for example, Thomas Jefferson wrote it to be sent to the king, asking to split up with their government (Britain). This written document has the definition of Revolution written right in it "The overthrow or changing of ones government".Another event that makes me convinced that this is a revolution is all the little wars or arguments like the "Stamp Act Congress, the Boston Massacre, and the Boston Tea Party" all these things did not cause a "good" change, it just caused more friction between Britain and the colonies. I do not think that this is considered an evolution because we did not change until the conclusion of the war, so maybe you could say that the revolution caused evolution but the revolution wasnt considered evolution. In conclusion i am certain that the American Revolution could be considered a "Revolution", hense the name "American Revolution", and i am convinced that it was not evolution.
ReplyDeleteSean, this is very convincing, but I have a few comments to make. A Revolution does mean an overthrow, but so can evolution, only at a slower pace. A Revolution and an Evolution both are a change, only one occurs slower than the other. Also, you mention the Stamp Act Congress, yet the Stamp Act congress did not just happen, it happened slowly, which would be better defined as a evolution.
ReplyDeleteWas the American Revolutionary War revolutionary or evolutionary in design? Its conspicuous that the American Revolutionary war is evolutionary. Whats it mean to be evolutionary? It means that something constantly changes over a long period of time. We must remember the auspicious arguments to as why American's wanted freedom. American's wanted justice to be served they wanted to either be treated as an English citizen or to be free. Thomas Paine argued much arguments like the distnace between Britain and America is to great, trade is being demoralized by wars between Britain and France, Americans get no say in government, as well as no reprensentation. These arguments that most of the colonists agreed on were the support beam for the uprise in rebellions and eventually the beginning of the American Revolutionary war. Fought from 1775 to 1783 with General Washington in charge of the Patriots and General Howe in charge of the British troops this war wasn't just something that passed by. Eight years of fighting on American soil may seem like a short period of time on paper, but was a treachourous amount of time for the Americans that were fighting and the British who were away from home all those years. Even more so the concepts and rights the Americans gained by winning the war weren't all completed and running a few months after the war ended. For example the creation of laws, this is an ongoing process even in todays world, that is everchanging. 234 years later laws aren't just set and stone they change due to advances in technology. Not only that but it took another six years after the American Revolutionary War to establish a running, working, and effective government, as well as making the decision of having a president that President being George Washington (elected in 1789). We mustn't forget the purpose of the question. The question was is the DESIGN of the American Revolutionary war revolutionary or evolutionary, not was the war itself? The Design of the war was to gain independence and make an effective country that runs well. We did this through signing documents like the Constitution (signed in 1786) and the Bill of Rights (signed in 1791). And as we all know these documents can be changed and have been changed with the right voting process so therefore the Design of the American Revolutionary War is always evolving and always will until the demise of the nation. In conclusion, the American Revolutionary War was evolutionary due to ongoing circumstances that still proceed to change upon us and our lives today.
ReplyDeleteThe American Revolution was more of an evolution than a revolution. Evolution means for something to pass through stages for a long time, or a development and a birth of something. But why was the American Revolution an evolution? This is because many things were developed during the Revolution, like American freedom, the American democracy, the Son’s of Liberty, and the Declaration of Independence. But without the Son’s of Liberty or the Declaration of Independence, or even King George’s decline of the Olive Branch Petition, the American Revolution may not have happened, and America may have never had freedom or it’s own democratic government. This is how the birth of something and developing caused more things to develop, like the American Revolution, and this is evolution.
ReplyDeleteOk, so I think half of us already did this assignment wrong, but this comment is to Mr. Feeley. Hello Mr.Feeley. You mention that the American Revolution was not an evolution because the colonies only changed into their own states. But they did evolve! Into free states after years of the American Revolution. Evolution can be an overflow that takes a long time.
ReplyDeleteI agree Connor. I like how you said what the colonists argued about, but it might be a good idea to say what laws or acts they protested and boycotted. Also, I like how you said how laws are still being changed, but I would explain why these changes are made due to advantages in technology. Great work.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with you, Sean. All of the Americans' attitudes toward the British changed long before the end of the war, and it was a gradual process. I understand your point, that the Americans did not change their government system until the end of the war, however, from the view of their attitudes, it was definitely an evolution that occurred over the course of the war. Therefore, I believe that it was more of an evolution.
ReplyDeleteI disagree once again, however, this time, with Andrew Lauzon (had to specify there are four of you). The colonists definitely changed. How else would have the obedient, neglected colonists, turn into the rebellious, concerned colonists? Their evolution, in this case, has nothing to do with the biology term of being better suited to their environment, but instead, a gradual change of their attitudes toward Britain, which caused the revolution. If it weren't for the evolution, no revolution would have happened. The American Revolution was definitely more evolutionary.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Dylan. The revolution was definitely more evolutionary! The only thing I have to add to your comment is the reason why the Americans had come to change their attitudes; mainly because of the taxes and various restrictions the British Parliament put on them. Evolutionary all the way!
ReplyDeleteI believe that the American Revolution was evolutionary in design. When looking up evolution in the dictionary, you will find, "any process of formation or growth; development." If you look up revolutionary, you'll find, "a radical and pervasive chnage." The American Revolution was evolutionary in design, due to the fact that the colonies did actually change, by becoming independent from Britain, causing them to grow more as a country. It was not a short process, or a revolution, however. It took the colonists many years, starting from the Sugar Act in 1764 to the end of the American Revolution in 1783, to get what they really desired: independence. From the start of the Sugar Act to when the American Revolution was started in 1775, colonists had been taxed unfairly and punished for acting out (such as the Intolerable or Coercive Acts after the Boston Tea Party), causing more and more tension between the colonies and their mother country, Britain. But taxing wasn't the only reason why tension arose, however. For example, the Quartering Act, allowed British soldiers into the homes of the colonists for shelter, which colonists did not like at all. But, even after all of this harsh treatment, many people, including John Dickinson, still wanted to be under British control. This led to the Olive Branch Petition (written by John Dickinson) to be written and passed to British Parliament. This document was considered a last resort in relation to avoid a war with Britain. But, however, this plea was rejected by the King, causing the colonists to 'rebel' and start the American Revolution. So, in the course of 19 years, America recieved its freedom, making this somewhat slow change evolutionary rather than revolutionary in design.
ReplyDeleteThe American Revolution was most definitely a revolution. The American people revolted against the tyranny under which they had been living since Drakes attempts to found Roanoke, and Smith salvage of Virginia. Firstly, the colonists were heavily taxed, without representation in British Parliament mind you, on every day items ranging from paper supplies to tea. Did the people living in Britain incur these taxes? No, because when the taxes were implemented they were able to rebut them through their local representatives in Parliament. The colonists however, who were promised the same ‘Rights of Englishmen’ in the charters establishing the colonies through their joint stock companies, were ‘virtually represented’ according to King George, in parliament in England. This representative however, was not elected by the colonists and did not vote in a way in which represented the thirteen colonies. Colonists saw this, and through many different attempts, beginning with peaceful option which eventually led to boycotts of British goods and British currency officials, most notably the one leading to the Boston Massacre, tried to assuage the situation, but nothing worked. So instead of sitting back and taking what the British were dealing the colonies, the colonists revolted against British rule.Secondly, American merchants and traders began to see that they could make more of a profit in other overseas markets, but through the Navigation Acts, they were forbidden to trade with any other nation besides England. This limited the colonists goods to only the British who could raise taxes and tariffs and the colonists had no other option but to buy from the British. They also could only sell to the British who set prices so low that the colonists often lost money through trade in British markets. So because of these two major reasons, virtually no representation in Parliament to protest the oppressive acts enacted by the monarch, and not being allowed to trade with other nations, the colonists revolted against the crown. They fought for the independence to make and live by their own laws as seen early on in the Mayflower Compact, the agreement that the Separatists and Puritans would remain together and establish their own laws that all would follow, and as demonstrated through the legislative assemble of The House of Burgesses in Virginia.
ReplyDeleteAndrew (Lauzon), I'm going to have to disagree with you. What about the Olive Branch Petition, where the colonists tried to reason with the King? They weren't all rebels. Also, the war itself was 8 years long, not even including the causes that led up to it. So, I believe that this was an evolution, not a revolution.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Dylan. The war was definitely evolutionary. The only thing that you could've added was just why the group 'Sons of Liberty' was founded, or what built up the tension that led to the war. Other than that, good points with the Olive Branch Petition, Sons of Liberty, and the Declaration of Independence.
ReplyDeleteThe American Revolution was a revolution, or rebellion, that happened in evolutionary time. Despite most "revolutions" being drastic changes where the government is overthrown in days, the American Revolution occurred in a time frame of hundreds of years. Throughout the entire road to Revolution time, events of rebellion were prevalent. From what started as local protests and riots against taxes, increased to greater actions including the Boston Tea Party. In this defiant act, colonists associated with an extremist group, the Sons of Liberty, boarded a British tea ship, smashing the crates and throwing them into the harbor. Other rebellious acts included defending Concord from British troops, and of course, the writing of the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration was probably the most rebellious contribution because it basically stated, in the words of Patrick Henry, "Give me Liberty or give me Death." The fact that the official American Revolution occurred much later than when original disgust with British rule began is why this could be considered evolutionary. An evolution is slow and gradual, from the original distrust of British power after the French Indian War to the first Sugar Act protests in 1764 to when all 56 delegates had signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776, these events took a while to come around. However, in a total span of history, this time is very short. Therefore, the American Revolution was a revolution because of its rebellious aspect, but it happened at an evolutionary speed.
ReplyDeleteWas the American Revolution sincerely a revolution or an evolution? Why not both? Indeed the word "Revolution" is in the title "American Revolution" but there is still outstanding evidence contributing to both sides of the argument. A revolution, as we all should know, is classified as an uprising, a rebellion, or a revolt against a government to replace it with another. Evolution is classified as any process of formation or both. Obviously many events took place that would indicate a revolt against the colonists’ government. Such events include the Boston Tea Party, The Battle of Lexington and Concord, and the formation of such groups as The Sons of Liberty, and the Stamp Act Congress. All of these groups had an objective to either organize rebellion among the colonists, or send the message to England that they were unhappy. The Sons of Liberty definitely expressed the meaning of revolution. They would organize revolts against British troops in the colonies such as the Boston Tea Party. Also, the war itself was a major piece of evidence. There is endless evidence that the American Revolution can be defined as a revolution. However, there is just as much evidence that it can be defined as an evolution. As I said before, evolution is any process of change or development, and i am certain we can all agree that major changes occurred during and after the American Revolution. The formation of the Declaration of Independence was the foundation and basis on which our constitution was drafted. This was a major change for the colonists. After the Revolutionary War, our founding fathers pieced together what is now our country. This is a major change from being under the control of Great Britain. Also, the colonists had to adjust and evolve to supporting themselves, and raising an army. These are severe changes that marked the American Revolution. In conclusion, there is no definite way to conclude wither the American Revolution was really a revolution or an evolution, so one logical conclusion is that it can indeed be defined as a revolution or an evolution.
ReplyDeleteI believe the American Revolutionary War an evolution. By definition, the word evolution means a gradual process in which something changes significantly. The war for America’s independence led to many changes on how people viewed human rights, and the rights of governments. Over the course of the war, the British colonists fought for one thing; their freedom. The colonists felt that their rights were being violated and that a change was needed. Colonists believed that they were being taken advantage of by the British, such as the many taxes that were enforced on them, like the Stamp Act. The colonists also argued that they did not receive the same rights as British citizens did; just because they weren’t living in England, doesn’t mean they don’t deserve the same rights as those who did. Many of the arguments against the British parliament were written by Thomas Paine in a pamphlet known as “Common Sense”. Finally, on July 4th, 1776, members of the Continental Congress signed a document that would revolutionize the world; the Declaration of Independence. This document described how the colonies are now the “United Colonies” and described the injustices of the king. This document helped revolutionize how people view government rule. Before this document, most people agreed that the government should be ruled by people in a higher authority. After the declaration, people slowly decided that citizens of a nation should have a say in their respected governments (democracy). Also during the war, ways of fighting were revolutionized. Before and during the war, Britain and Europe fought in a system of rows in a battlefield. The Continental Army used guerilla warfare and other tactics, fooling the British Army. Generals and members of other armies saw this tactic and would later adapt it and use it in other wars, thus evolving warfare. Due to these reasons, in my opinion, the American Revolutionary War was an evolution more than a revolution.
ReplyDeleteConnor, even though your point is well written and well thought out, i disagree with it. An evolution is a long span of time, but the American "Revolution" was not as long as you make it out to be. It may seem to be so if you focus in on every small detail,but looking at history itself, the revolution was a short period of time that altered the entire world. Historians put all your examples as one, instead of seprate examples. So therefor it would have been thought to be a revolt on the British making it the American Revolution.
ReplyDeleteAndrew Lauzon, though I see can see where you are coming from, I have to disagree with you. The colonists did change: the way they viewed the British was altered therefore their lives and purposes were altered. Since the colonies were created for the benefit of Britain everything that the colonists produced was sent to England to be manufactured and sent back to the colonies to gain profit. When the colonists saw Britain's real plan they evolved to become a better, more independent nation.
ReplyDeleteSean, I am totally with the revolution part, but personally, I think of the Boston Massacre as a British problem. Instead of the colonies rebelling against British rule, the British troops pretty much started that whole event.
ReplyDeleteStephanie, I agree with you 100%. Especially since in order for it to be a revolutionary change it has to be quick. For more support, you could have added that groups such as the Sons of Liberty and the First and Second Continental Congress made it their goal to change the harsh treatments that they were receiving from Britain.
ReplyDeleteI like how the most people agree with me, and we all know why.
ReplyDeleteKevin, I agree with everything that you are saying. However, I would consider the Declaration of Independence as a rebellious act because didn't it set the stage for the colonies declaring war on Britain?
ReplyDeleteThe American Revolution was an evolution in design rather than a revolution. Evolution is defined as a gradual process in which something changes into a different and usually more complex or better form. Revolution is defined as a sudden, complete or marked change in something. Although America did change, it changed through a slow and feeble process. It was not something that just came to them quickly. Working for their independence lasted from 1764, when the Sugar Act was passed, to the end of the American Revolution in 1783. But the Americans wanted their independence much longer than that, due to Britain's form of salutary neglect on the colonies. When the Sugar Act began, more and more colonists began to notice the injustice that has been placed upon them for several years. It was an indirect tax in which was used to pay off a massive war debt, and King George III believed that was the job of the colonies. Colonists responded by smuggling sugar and even bullying the tax collectors. But this was the time where groups were organized by the colonists to exploit forms of protest. It unified them even more. Following the Sugar Act was the Quartering Act of 1764, which provided soldiers with shelter and supplies from the colonists, and the Stamp Act of 1765, a direct tax placed on printed materials. Although the colonists accepted the Quartering Act, despite their disaggreements, they responded much differently to the Stamp Act. James Otis formed the Stamp Act Congress where the colonists united to protest and boycott goods and create petitions to the king. Even after all of this arguing, some colonists still wanted to be under British rule. This led to the Olive Branch Petition, written by John Dickinson. It was created as a plea to King George III requesting that he halt the fighting and give the British and the colonists equal rights. However, the king refused the petition, and more colonists began to realize they were completely on their own for freedom. Thomas Jefferson, one of the 56 delegates from the colonies, wrote the Declaration of Independence to set out America's rights. Although the colonists continued to "rebel" until they sought their independence, it was a very "gradual process." This makes the American Revolution a true evolution.
ReplyDeleteI guess we have to comment on three classmates so I will once again comment, but this time on Kevin W. Kevin, what you could do to get a better grade is only argue for only one choice, Evolution or Revolution, because it says discuss whether it is evolution or a revolution. But other than that, good points on it being a revolution because of the Boston Massacre and Tea Party!
ReplyDeleteSean, again, i can see how you would think that it was a revolution rather than an evolution but i must disagree. If an evolution is a process of formation or growth, I don't see how you can say that Americans did not do this during the war. You stated that the colonies "just separated into their own states". That they did, but they also unified themselves as a nation against Britain during the war, which directly relates to your definition of evoltuion as "formation or growth". The states, though "separated" physically, were fully united by the Declaration of Independence and the same government over the all states.
ReplyDeletelauzon, you said that a revolution was a revolution was a revolt, and i have to dissagree with that statement. A revolution can also be a sudden or complete change in something, were as evolution is a gradual change in something. During the events leading up to the war, colonists didnt just say we want to be our own country. No, at first the colonists were first asking for the rights they believed they had through the "Bill of Rights" as british citizens, then as they were continually denied their requests for representation in parliment, they began to want to break off of Britain and become independent.
ReplyDeleteAndrew (Lauzon), you make a good point but I disagree with it. Although the colonists had revolted to state their point, it still was a long operation. America did not find independence just through rebels and patriots, but also through loyalists (like John Dickinson). They helped the colonists discover that they had no choice but to go to war, and this was a very slow process.
ReplyDeleteWhen you think the American Revolution, most people think of it being revolutionary. Unlike most, I believe that the American Revolution did not happen all at once, like a revolution, but it was evolutionary, or happened over a long period of time. There are many examples of evolution during the American Revolution, including The Coercive or Intolerable Acts, The Declaration of Independence and even the formation of the Sons of Liberty. All of the models I have given formed over a period of time. Many colonists disliked the Coercive Acts, but did that change the course of history overnight? No. There were events leading up to this, such as The Son's of Liberty forming and the Olive Branch Petition declined by King George. The American Revolution was most definately created by evolution.
ReplyDeleteCasey, although you make a strong argument with the importance of the events and the effects, a revolution is a fast change. The American "Revolution" lasted for nineteen years, therefore, it wasn't quite fast.
ReplyDeletethe American Revolution was defenitly a revolution no question. there were many events during the war that support this idea such as the boston tea party, boston massacre, and the signing of the declaration of independance. all of these ideas and more suggest that the american revolution was a revolution not an evolution. the boston tea party was an event were the colonists planned a revolt against the tea act. the colinists were fed up with the high tax on tea in boston harbor, therefore one night during a town meeting the members dressed themselves as native americans and forced there way onto a british boat carrying tea and dumped the boxes of tea into the harbor. the boston massacre is known for the shooting colonists, but what is not comonly known is that the colonists started a mob in order to try to take a place were the british were keeping the money collected from the taxes. when the british soldiers saw the mob coming they were supposedly were forced to fire at the colonists. finally the last example of the time period being a revolution is the signing of the declaration of independence, the colonists were fed up with the colonists so they desided to ditch the british and their government and decided to sign a set of laws and rights which ment a new government. that is why the American Revolution is a revolution not an evolution.
ReplyDeleteErin, though my view is in opposition to yours, your argument really made me think. I agree with what you say about the rebellion happening at an evoltuionary pace. Your argument was supported with relevent and credible information. The way you portrayed the Declaration as an act of rebellion is interesting and, now that i think about it, very true. All in all, though you didn't completely persuade me to change my mind, your argument made me question my standpoint. Nicely done!
ReplyDeleteDear Michelle, although I agree with the evolution timing of the American Revolution, most of the acts during it could be considered revolts, and rebellious against what was happening within that time.
ReplyDeleteBrian, I agree with your point completely. I enjoyed reading what you wrote about Guerilla Warefare, and how you connected the whole point you were making to make your paragraph fluent. I, however do not think you should add 'in my opinion' to the end of the paragraph, it somehow sounds like you are unsure of the topic. Other than that, your responce was very well written.
ReplyDeletei disagree with dylan mussina because even though he does have some good points you have to think of what revolution means which is to revolt(route word) and the colonists definetly revolted
ReplyDeleteSean, your point makes a lot of sense but I disagree that it was a revolution. Although the colonies did seperate into their own states, they did evolve in a way. They created their own Declaration of Independence to state their believed rights and rules. If they did not evolve from Britain, than they would not have been as successful because they wouldn't have any independent guidelines to follow. When Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration, America was already evolving, not rebelling.
ReplyDeleteSean, i agree with your statement because you give some pretty good examples and facts that support your idea
ReplyDeleteMike, reguarding the topic of the American Revolution being revolutionary, I do not agree at all. The signing of the Declaration of Independence did not just happen one day. A meeting was not just held randomly by people shouting out windows exclaiming,"Come sign the Declaration that may make us free". I may be being a bit forward, but None of the events that you explained just came to be. They happened over a period of time, and some of the effects of the American Revolution are still happening today, such as what was written on the Declaration. All had meetings on which they discussed the matter at hand. I did enjoy reading your response, but I do disagree with it.
ReplyDeleteBrian, I agree with your point completely. But I would add that the "Common Sense" pamphlet helped the colonies evolve because it convinced many that America should be independent. It stated Britain's abuse on the colonies and why America should not be controlled by them. The "Common Sense" pamphlet contributed to the unification of the colonies for evolution.
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid I must disagree with Mr. Weldon on this one. How can something happen gradually and instantly? Sure certain events occured fast such as the Boston Tea Party but that was just one event out of many which gradually led to the American Revolution.
ReplyDeleteThis comment is for all bloggers. Everyone os doing well with commenting on each others posts and comments. You are doing an effective job with making good arguments and supportive comments to each other. You should all think outside the obvious. Think about Documents we studied in class and how the ideas within the documents were radical in nature, yet evolving in design. Keep it up!!!
ReplyDeleteAlso, A revolution is a revolt where swift, drastic change results from it. Its effective to argue that the events leading up to the Declaration of Independence was revolutionary, but the way change developed in the eyes and minds of the colonists was evolutionary. To say the ideas of revolution were not evolutionary is misleading. Good job everyone arguing both ideas
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion the American Revolution was without a doubt more of an evolution than a revolution. Evidence of this is obvious,first, the "Revolution" itself was already being thought about for more than a decade before it actually became legitimate. Second, tempers had been flaring up on both sides since just after the French and Indian War when the first taxes were passed by Grenville. Sure you could say that 10 and some odd years is a fairly short amount of time, but when you step back and look at all the little things like Stamp Act Congresses and rebel uprisings you really see how this event unfolded over time. In conclusion I leave you with this thought; The Declaration of Independance which began the war was passed about 10 years after the Stamp Act was passed does that really seem like a quick revolution to you?
ReplyDeleteSorry Weldon, but i agree with Ryan on this one... there is no way the two can be the same. Although if you had opted for one side as opposed to both, you have enough information to make one convincing.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe American revolution was more of an evolution than it was revolution, because of the lenght of time over which it took place. All the events leading up to the American Revolution happened gradually. After enjoying an independent period of salutary neglect, colonists found that Britain had taken an interest in their development (for economic reasons). Colonists found that they were being taxed on top of their previous duties, taxes like the Stamp act, and the Tea tax. Because of these taxes, things like the Stamp act Congress, and First & Second Continental Congresses were created, in order to have the Stamp act reapealed, and to make a direct appeal to the king. After the King denied a request for colonist representation in parliment, a call to arms was had among the colonies. An evolution is a gradual change over a period of time, while a revolution is a reletivly quick change over a short period of time. All events during the Revolution, led up to the war itself. For example the call to arms of the colonists led to the battles at Lexington and Concord, which was in essance the point of no return for the colonists declaring war on Britain after haveing a failed Olive Branch Petition.
ReplyDeleteThe American Revolution was more evolutionary than revolutionary. It is true that there was definitely rebellion and revolt by the colonists, directed at Britain, but the war had to do more with change as a whole. Evolution is defined as a process of gradual, progressive change or development which is exactly what happened in the Revolutionary War. This fact is inevitable, even for opposing view points to dispute, because the colonists changed and developed gradually to realize that they did not belong with Britain. The first time the idea of independence was contemplated by many Americans was when Britain began to change their policy of salutary neglect. They did this by imposing unfair taxes like the Sugar Act and the Stamp Act, the most familiar and controversial taxes. Americans then began to realize Britain's tyrannical ways and ideas of idependence and revolt began to circulate. This circulation was only possible because the coloinsts began to change their minds and evolve their theories to oppose Britain. By the time of the Boston Tea Party, the colonist's evolution of independent ideas was nearing completion because they were deciding to act out and attempt to change the things that they believed were unjust. Once the legitimate battles began, most colonists were for the split. The participation in the war could only have been done by the colonists who believed in the separation and had changed their views of Britain. The most famous symbol of evolution in the war was the Declaration of Independence because it marked the progress of evolutionary thinking by the colonists. This document showed the process of change of thought beginning when the colonists trusted Britain and then to the colonists' complaints to the king. As you can see, the Revolutionary War was undeniably revolutionary because of the rebellion of the colonists but the only way the revolution could have been sparked was by evolution. The colonists' thinking evolved drastically throughout the course of the war, therefore the war was mainly evolutionary in design.
ReplyDeleteBrian, I agree with your statement that says the war was an evolution and agree with your incorporation of human rights. This is because, as you said, they did change how rights were viewed and it really did lead to a slower evolution. Good points Brian.
ReplyDeleteAndrew Harkins, I agree with your statement. I like how you described the taxes that were enforced by parliament. I would add another example on how it was and evolution and I would add hte definiton of the word evolution. Nice work.
ReplyDeleteava, you said that the colonists were promised the same rights as the Englishman' by charters establishing the colonies, it was the "English Bill of Rights" document that promised colonists the rights of british citizens. Seeing as they still considered themselves British citizens in the early events prior to the Revolution its self, and charters fell more along the lines of "we'll do this for you, if you give us this". So im going to have to disagree with you.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, the American Revolutionary War was certainly a “revolution”. Though this war did not reach its concluding point for many years, the results were definitely very drastic and punctual. As this war progressed, changes were taking place, and America was grasping ever bit of independence and liberty they could. Unlike other events which have occurred throughout history, and did not last nearly as long as this war, The American Revolution had many instances in which taxes were applied and arguments had been brought up through unfair and unnatural judgment of the colonists. For example, the Stamp Act and the Sugar Act, which were applied by British Prime Minister George Grenville, each applied taxes to both British and American citizens, however within the period of time in which each of these acts took place, organizations such as the Stamp Act Congress, and soon more significant events such as the Boston Tea Party and the Boston Massacre would lead to the creation of the Son’s of Liberty, whom worked to support protest and disagreement with “the mother country”. Additionally, though it took more time than expected, the Colonists wanted a separation with Great Britain due to their knowledge of Britain fearing to lose the colonies only because of dependence for taxes and having them there for whenever they were needed to be dragged into British and European conflict. Conversely, this led to the Olive Brach Petition, which was a request intended for King George III, which he soon shot down. This petition was asking the king, whom still had the power over the assembling of the laws, to apply equal rights to both the Colonists and the British, because in truth, the Colonists were still British citizens, just remote when it came to distance. As you can see, although the results of the American Revolution were not finalized instantaneously, the results were applied almost immediately, leaving the Colonists with liberty and independence, making this war a “revolution” rather than an “evolution”.
ReplyDeleteRyan, though my opinion is in opposition to your statement, it makes a lot of sence that the American Revolution could also be an evolution. It obviously took a long time to have all of the laws passed by parliament, and of course the Declaration of Independence was not finalized right away, however although it took almost a decade leading up to the war, the results of the war came up very fast. At the end of the war, the British seemed to have "gotten the point" that independence was necissary, and soon practically disreguarded the Colonies until they needed them, in this case, to separate with them.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with you Erin, i also believe that the American Revolutionary War was a revolution, due to the circumstances of the acts committed by the Colonists in order to demand their independence. I also agree that when looking at the course of this war from a different perspective, it could perhaps have been actually both revolutionary and evolutionary.
ReplyDeleteAudrey, I agree with your statement. Events like the Sugar Act and Stamp Act gradually caused the American Revolution to come into being. The colonists wanted the protection Britain provided, but with each new restriction and regulation the colonists slowly came to realize that the only way they could have their rights was to separate from the tyrannical British government.
ReplyDeleteThe American Revolution was definitively an evolution of the times more than it was a revolution. I'm certainly not completely denying that it was a revolution, it was a radical overthrow of the British government by the people in America that were governed by said government. But, the American Revolution was different, and it represented something bigger than just a simple armed revolt. It was a further continuation of the thoughts of the Enlightenment thinkers like Locke and Montesquieu. Their ideas were that every human being had certain natural rights- Life, Liberty, and Property, and the purpose of a government was only to protect and ensure these rights for all. Britain's government had partially adopted these values, creating The English Bill of Rights and increasing the power of the democratically elected Parliament, but one thing still remained- the king. No matter what Parliament said, the king still had the power to overrule it. If the king wanted more taxes, he got more taxes. If he wanted to violate the bill of rights and change laws in order to do what he felt was necessary, he could. The Americans sought to eliminate the monarchy from the title “Constitutional Monarchy”, and evolve into nothing but a Democracy, where the nation is governed by the people, for the people, as the Enlightenment thinkers had thought. The American Revolution would be the first time anyone had successfully revolted against a European monarchy, and would start a chain reaction of worldwide democratic evolution that still continues today.
ReplyDeleteAndrew Harkins, I agree with you completely. You pointed out the clear, simple fact that a revolution is a quick affair. The length of the conflict and slow development of the ideas behind them mean that the only right possible answer is that the Revolution was evolutionary.
ReplyDeleteIn my mind, the American Revolution was an evolution. An evolution is a change over time, and that is what occured with the Thirteen Colonies. Just like if you seperate a portion of a species from its brethren, they will eventually change. We can see that an evolution occured with the colonies because of a few key factors, which consist of the change in allegiance to Britain, and the change in Government. Because of the numerous taxes that were laid upon Colonists, along with several other acts, Views on the British Empire slowly changed from positive to negative. This social change brought the idea of independence into the minds of the Colonists, which was a view that did not exist beforehand. As years progressed, Colonists began forming groups to protest these acts, and eventually, support independence. When the war began, the evolution of the Colonies was nearly complete. Fastforward a few years, and the Colonists gain independence. After the victory, they banish monarchy and adopt democracy, which is the end of the evolution. So, we can see that the war itself was really an evolution for the Colonies, for it caused a dramatic change in its government and allegiance to Britain.
ReplyDeleteAudrey, I agree with your statement. It is clear that the Colonists' political views changed over time due to taxes and acts which all began because of the end of salutary neglect. Because of this change, several more changes occured, which is an evolution.
ReplyDeleteMike "The Undertaker"... While your points make sense for the war to be revolutionary, They also can show evidence of evolution. Prior to the war, Colonists views on Britain were loyal and good, but that would soon change. Since their views changed, and they began to detest British rule, they came up with the idea of independence. This change in loyalty is most deffinitly seen as an evolution, for it changed over time, and the revolt is just a continuation of how the colonies changed.
ReplyDeleteNow that everyone had a chance to disagree with me My first sentence is supposed to say "I believe it is a revolution not an evolution"
ReplyDeleteComment on Brian Schindler: Brian i completley agree with you thinking that the American Revolution was an Evolution. You did a spectacular job of explaining your ideas thoroughly as well as making your sentences flow together. For example your description of guerrila warfair and how the Americans used it against the British. In conclusion, this is a true mark of a great writer!!
ReplyDeleteAva, i completley disagree with your theory that the American Revolution was actually Revolutionary. Maybe you didn't fully understand the question being ask, but the question didn't ask about the war itself but more so of the principles of the war. How can you say that The American Revolutionary war Design is only Revolutionary? It's clear that many of the principles of today that are changing like LAWS are not Revolutionary but Evolutionary because of the 234 year time spand that they have been changing around. DONT forget Ava that they are still changing today.
ReplyDeleteDylan, I really like your argument towards evolution and how you are explaining how the king has the right to overule laws and rights, and I also like the people that you included like montesque, there is only one thing that i noticed and it was that, in the beginning and end it seems like you are uncertain about wether is was evolution or revolution, other than that GREAT explanation.
ReplyDeleteMichelle, all though I told you that I was going to disagree with you, your statement made me realize how wrong my answer is, the War really was an evolution because of its length, you have many good arguments and I now agree with you!!
ReplyDeleteThe Undertaker, By the way im your biggest fan, I see what you mean about the war being revolutionary, but after reading some of the other posts, it left me thinking that the war was deffinetely evolution because of the length of it, so im going to have to go with DISAGREE, FINAL ANSWER.
ReplyDeleteAlthough the American Revolution is referred to as a revolution, upon closer examination of the events leading up to it, it is clear that it was more of an evolution. A revolution refers to a revolt where swift, drastic change results from it, while an evolution is a process of gradual, progressive change or development. The colonists were first frustrated by the Sugar Act placed on them in 1764. This was an indirect tax created to help Britain pay off war debt. The colonists were frustrated by both the facts that they now had to pay a high tax on an everyday item and that they were basically being blamed for Britain’s high war debts. After this first tax was passed several more followed. While the Sugar Act did not create very much of a stir within the colonies, the ones that followed soon after created great outrage within the colonies. Once a new unjust tax or law was passed by parliament, the colonists became outraged and would plan ways to get the tax or law repealed. The last few laws and taxes got the biggest reactions by colonists, some creating violent reactions such as the Boston Tea Party and the Boston Massacre. The final straw for the colonists was the coercive acts or to the colonists the “intolerable acts.” After these laws were passed, the colonists realized they needed to take action. Their response was to make the Olive Branch Petition in hopes that the king would listen, but he did not sign it. The colonist’s reaction to this was to draft the Declaration of Independence and declare America’s independence.
ReplyDeleteThe American Revolutionary war, was it evolutionary or revolutionary? While revolutionary is in its name, this was definitely an evolutionary act. Revolution is defined as a revolt with swift and drastic change, which the war was not. While the American Revolution was a revolt with swift and drastic change, it was not sudden. The ideas behind it and frustration between the Americans and British had been around for at least a decade before the actual fighting began. The war was indubitably an evolution, a slow gradual change, opposed to a revolution. Acts which first caused turmoil appeared around 1760, more specifically 1764 when the Stamp Act was passed by parliament. Disagreements had been developing since the French and Indian War when the British almost lost, to the Stamp Act Congress, to the Boston Tea Party. This turmoil began because the British abruptly stopped their salutary neglect of the American colonies when they needed money to pay for the French and Indian War. They didn’t just tax the colonists, they created unfair acts and laws and restrictions without the consent or representation of any colonies. While the actual fighting and some choice acts of protest can be seen as revolutionary, the entire cause to separate from Britain was evolutionary. That is what the war represents, the idea to separate from Britain which had been evolutionary, starting from discontent, to protest, to violence, and finally a war. This change occurred gradually, leaving the same argument that the American Revolution was an evolution.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the Revolutionary War was an evolutionary war. The tension that created the war was slow to rise but once it began it grew exponentially and could not be stopped. Because of this I believe the war evolutionary, or slow in coming. The colonist never really responded to the injustices of the British at first. It began with the end of the French and Indian war and the end of a period of Salutary neglect by the British The Proclamation of 1763 was the first law passed on the colonies, followed by the Sugar Act and Quartering Act. All three of these events angered the colonist but resulted in no serious protest or actions by the colonists. Then the Stamp Act was passed and created outrage among the colonies and resulted in the Stamp Act Congress. However after the Stamp Act was passed few colonist supported the idea of an independent 13 colonies and the colonies response was to organize boycotts and send petitions to the King. Then the Townshend Act were passed sparking the Boston Massacre, followed by the Tea Act, the Boston Tea party and the Intolerable Acts. As a result of these growing tensions the First Continental Congress convened and the result was to continue to attempt to resolve their dispute with Britain peacefully. Tensions remained and following the Battles of Lexington and Concord, and the refusal of The Olive Branch Petition, the colonist last attempt at of a peaceful resolution, the Declaration of Independence was drafted and The Revolutionary War had officially begun. The Colonist over the ten years preceding the war had attempted multiple times to resolve the problem peacefully, each time being denied by the British. Following each attempt at a peaceful resolution more acts and laws were passed further angering the colonist. Eventually this left the colonists with one choice, to go to war
ReplyDeleteI believe that the American Revolution was revolutionary not evolutionary. This is due to the face that evolution means “a process of gradual, peaceful, progressive change or development, as in social or economic structure or institutions”, and the American Revolution was not peaceful whatsoever. This is because there were many battles were both sides suffered heavy losses; such as the battle at Lexington and Concord, Bunker Hill and the Boston Massacre. Another thing that made the American Revolution non peaceful was the Sons of Liberty. The sons of liberty were a group of patriots throughout the colonies that were considered rebels and organized the protests and defiance’s against the British. They were also the group that organized the Boston Tea Party which definitely wasn’t a gradual or peaceful act. I also believe this because revolution means “a radical and pervasive change in society and the social structure”. The American Revolution is certainly described in just this one definition. This is because there were many radical acts done. Most of these acts were by the radical group, the Sons of Liberty. The last reason I believe the American Revolution was revolutionary instead of evolutionary is because it even has the word in its name! the American REVOLUTION!
ReplyDeleteErin;
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you. All of your ideas rang from the beginning of the revolution to the ending. This clearly shows that it was a revolution. :)
Mike, I disagree with what you say about the war being revolutionary. Although the I see your point, the colonist never intended for the Boston Tea Party and Boston Massacre to support the war and independence. These acts were simply radical ways to show their discontent with Parliament, and the King.
ReplyDeleteIs the American Revolution really a revolution or an evolution? I believe it is a revolutoin because of someof the violent acts that were commited. A revolution is a rebellion toward the government with the intention of over throwing it where as an evolution is process of any change of development. Now both of these can be associated with The American Revolution but a revolution fits better an is more specifc. they American colonist wanted to change their government which is the exact deffintion of a revolution. the americans did accomplish their separation of Great Britain by war. The war happened because of the revolts that took place before. Such as the Boston Tea Party which greatly angered Great Britain and forced them to send troops into New England to patrol. this lead to an arms race for the colonists that feared war. These revolts are just the start of a total revolutionary war. all of this explains why it is a revolution because of the uprisings in the colonies.
ReplyDeleteDylan Messina;
ReplyDeleteI disagree with you, although you make a good point on how the Revolution may have never happened, you mention the Sons of Liberty as causing the Revolution to be evolutionary meaning causing a slow change. Yet, the Sons of Liberty were a group of radical patriots who made things happen rapidly. Therefore, I believe you were contradicting yourself.
American Revolution “Revolution or Evolution?”
ReplyDeletePosted by Jordin D.Smith
I agree with the statement that revolution is usually derived from evolutionary actions. Revolution is an overthrow and replacement of the established government at the time by the people it governs. Evolution is a much slower development. The American Revolution or separation from Britain was named for what it was a revolution, however, the first steps taken were evolutionary. The American colonists had been left alone by the British for so long that when the British suddenly tried to impose taxes and gain a larger piece of profit from the colonies, they rebelled against these actions. Evolutionary actions were first taken in hopes of coming to a mutual agreement with the monarchy; petition and letters were written to the king stating the colonist’s discontent. However, many of these documents were ignored; evidently causing revolutionary actions from frustrated colonists. Acts from groups like the Sons of Liberty were considered radical, rapid and revolutionary. The Boston Tea Party was one very important revolutionary action made by the patriot group. This severe action taken because of the tea tax imposed; had its own serious repercussions. It is often the risk of radical actions that there will be serious consequences. Evolutionary actions often take more time to unfold. The Olive Branch Petition was a much less rash way of rebelling against the unfair treatment of colonists. The Petition was drawn up by John Dickinson and sent to King George. It was meant to insist and declare the rights that the colonies felt they were lacking compared to the British subjects in England. Despite this assertiveness, it also was drafted in the way that they remained loyal to the crown and its power over them. This petition was refused by the king which lead to the most revolutionary action of them all…a rebellion, also known as a revolution. Through this sequence of events it is easily seen that revolutionary actions spark from evolution. Therefore, the American Revolutionary War was not revolutionary or evolutionary in design, it was both!
Jake;
ReplyDeleteI couldn’t agree more with you. I thought the same thing, that the rebellions against the British in the American Revolution caused the A.R to be a revolution.
excuse me Mr. weldon i do think u are wrong. i dont believe you can have a revolution and an evolution because the deffinition of a revolution fits much better with the American revolution mostly because it is more specific than the deffinition of evolution because an evolution is just a gradual change were as a revolution is an uprising that is inttended to overthrough the government so therefore......YOUR WRONG
ReplyDeleteColleen, I completely agree with what you said. The colonist were pushed toward war by the British and all of the acts they passed placing restrictions on the colonies and their refusal to listen to the colonist complaints
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAndrew (Harkins),
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you that it was definitely more evolutionary than revolutionary. You make great points and examples, but you could have added acts such as the intolerable, or coercive act, or the quartering act to back up your statement even more.
Erin, I completely agree with you! You're response is very well written and you very clearly back up your opinion. The only things you could have added are the Intolerable Acts and the Boston Massacre.
ReplyDelete:D
<3
Jake i completley disagree with your evidence that explains why the American Revolution was Revolutionary partly because there is none. There is a difference to the words Revolution and Revolutionary Revolution deals with violence were as Revolutionary deals with a time period. I'd strongly consider revising your statements to meet the accomadations that the question has asked for.
ReplyDeleteBrendon, I completely agree with what you said. The underlying causes of the Revolution go all the way back to the French and Indian War and the reactions of the colonists to all the acts passed by Parliament were all committed to show their discontent with the acts put on them by Parliament.
ReplyDeleteJake Spinetto;
ReplyDeleteI agree with the majority of your statement. The Revolutionary War did seem to take more revolutionary action, hence its name! I also agree with the fact that both revolution and evolution can tie in with the war. Good explanation jake! I quite agree
BECCAAAA!!! I do not agree with you, however, you did back your opinion very well. You mainly talk about how the American Revolution was not peaceful like the definition of evolution suggests, but the American Revolution did not happen over night, as the word revolution suggests. You did make me have to think about changing my view though!
ReplyDeleteMelissa;
ReplyDeleteI must agree with your statement that although the revolution took much time to complete it contained many acts of rash rebellion. I dont agree with the creation of the Sons of Liberty however its a small detail in the correct influences that you pointed out to make the American Revolution revolutionary. I do agree with the fact that the Revolutionary War was more revolutionary.
I think that the American Revolution was definitely Evolutionary. Revolution means a sudden change while evolution means a gradual progress when something changes into a different and usually more complex form. The American Revolution in particular would make much more sense being described as evolutionary because of how long it took them to make the change. It was many years before they actually saw results and gained their independence. There were many struggles along the way that they had to deal with in order to get where they ended up, and all of those struggles put together took a very long time. Also, because of everything that they went through, their state of mind had been changed. Before they were happy with the way things were going, but when they had a taste of freedom during the period of salutary neglect, they saw how different things were when they were on their own. Therefore once Britain started to show interest in what they were doing in the colonies and tried to control them again and harness their resources for their financial gain, the Americans weren’t having it and many of them became patriots and strongly opposed retrogressing back to when they were under complete control Britain. Then Thomas Paine brought up the document Common Sense and he was able to change the views of many loyalists or tories with his idea of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. Gradually they were able to get enough colonists to support the ideas of independence and finally defeat the British. Once they gained the freedom that they wanted it took them a while to settle down and come up with ideas on how to form themselves so they could create order and control in the colonies. In some ways this made things more complicated, but in other ways it was less complicated because they were now self governed and didn’t need to worry about a king who was on the other side of the world giving them orders. They had room to grow and prosper as a country and bring us to where we are today, where we are still improving upon what the former Americans created.
ReplyDeleteAs I see it the American Revolution was most defiantly a evolution rather than a revolution because a evolution is defined as a gradual process in which something changes into a different and usually more complex or better form where as a revolution is a sudden or momentous change in a situation. The Revolution was defiantly not a revolution because it was not a quick change the colonists were treated poorly for many years with unfair taxes and being dragged in to unfair wars this lasted from 1764-1783. The colonists did revolt but it was not was quick and normally controlled in a matter of days or hours. The colonists were also revolting over the unjust taxes put on the colonies after the French and Indian War. Some of these taxes were the Stamp act and intolerable acts. I also see this as an evolution because the colonists had many meetings deciding and planning on how and when they were going to fight for there independence and how they would run their government, These meeting were the Stamp act congress which led to the writings of letters to King George III trying to get the stamp act repealed and also both of the Continental Congresses which helped plan the future of the colonies. So as I said in my eyes I see the American Revolution as a Evolution rather than an revolution because of the pace. The American revolution was a long and thought out process rather than a rapid process.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHaha Somerville I agree with your statement that the American Revolution was in fact evolutionary. Just as if a friend moves away from you, it’s possible for you to still be able to appreciate them even when you rarely hear from them anymore, but it’s also very likely that you will feel like they really aren’t there for you anymore because really, they aren’t there at all. This causes a change in the way of thinking and doing which is exactly what happened in the Americas at this time.
ReplyDeleteI believe the American Revolutionary War was revolutionary not evolutionary. The definition for evolution means to evolve or change over a period of time and the definition for revolution is to revolt and rebel toward something. The American Revolutionary War was for the Americans to break away from England and their form of government. All the Acts that were appointed laws by Parliament and the King created the Son’s of Liberty. The Son’s of Liberty planed riots and boycotts against the Acts that were created. The Boston Massacre only occurred, because the colonists were rebelling against the King of Britain. The British soldiers only opened fire because the colonists were starting to crowd around them. The Boston Tea party was a revolt against the King and his taxing of British tea, because the colonists went on the British ships and dumped the tea into the harbor. That was an act of rebellion against the King and Parliament. These are all reasons why Britain and America severed a bond. The Continental Congress signed a document that would start the war which could be considered treason. The colonists wanted to be united as one. They wanted to let America flourish on its own without the help from Britain. They didn’t want to be enemies with a country just because of something that happened between their mother country and their new enemy. The Patriots believed that Britain only wanted to protect their own assets not protect America for the colonists. The colonists didn’t start the Revolutionary War because they wanted change they just wanted to be independent from King George III.
ReplyDeleteKarly;
ReplyDeleteI agree with you one hundred percent about why the American Revolution was a evolution rather than a revolution. You backed up your argument with great detail and examples. But I thought that you could have added a conclusion sentence rather than leaving it with America became independent. Other than that it was great!!!!!!!
Becca,I agree with you. Somethings to add to your paragraph are some events that led the Revolutionary War to be revolutionary.
ReplyDeleteKarly, i dont agree with your viewpoint but you backed up your opinion well. You have a well developed introduction.
ReplyDeleteAndrew Lauzon,
ReplyDeleteEven though I do not agree with your argument that the American Revolution was a revolution, I do believe that you stated many examples that proved your argument. But I still do not believe that the American Revolution was a quick enough process to be a revolution, but good job!!!!
Kevin I originally had the same idea as you. I feel like the American Revolution was both revolutionary and evolutionary because of the fact that the colonists did evolve over time into their own, but their ideas changed rapidly and the complexity of these ideas increased as more and more thoughts were brought up, like a revolution. Although overall if you think of it, looking at the process as a whole it was more evolutionary because it took them years and years to get through the struggle to their goal, which was independence.
ReplyDeleteAva,
ReplyDeleteI do not agree with your argument I felt that even though there were many revolts during the American Revolution the were spread out over a long period of time proving that it would be a evolution rather than a revolution. Other than that I felt that your argument was backed up excellent by examples and you proved your point well.
Sean although I opposed your statement, I do agree that in a way the American Revolution was in fact a revolution. When I think of revolution, I think of revolve, which makes me think of resolve. The Americans were resolving what was broken between the colonies and the king back in Britain. They attempted to resolve the issues with the king quite a few times, but since he refused, the easiest way to make the fix was to completely separate themselves into their own states and their own form of government where the natural rights can be enforced and there would be more control over the colonies. You had a lot of good points in your statement that would cause contradicting thoughts to others.
ReplyDeleteThe American Revolution was definitely more of an evolution than it was a revolution. Even though the American Revolution was a rebellion against Great Britain, a series of events had to take place in order for the rebellion to take place, which would suggest that the Patriotic way of thinking developed, or evolved, slowly. An evolution is a change, and takes place at a slower pace than a revolution, which is a rebellion that happens over a short period of time. If it weren't for the specific events that took place prior to the Declaration of Independence, such as the Boston Massacre, and the decline of the Olive Branch Petition by King George III, many colonists would have remained loyalists and the Revolution would have never taken place. Since many colonists believed themselves to be Englishmen, whose rights were protected under the English Bill of Rights, the idea of separating from England would have been absurd in the earlier half of the 18th century. It was the buildup of injustices that were done unto the colonies that sparked the idea of separation. The chain of events began with the taxes implemented on the colonies by George Grenville. Since the colonists didn’t have representatives in Parliament, they also had no say in how or why they would be taxed. Grenville's taxes led to the Stamp Act Crisis, which led to the formation of the Stamp Act Congress, which was a group of colonial delegates that spoke out against the unjust taxation, and also to the formation of the Sons of Liberty who took a more radical approach to boycotting the taxes. Colonial protests resulted in the Boston Massacre, and the Boston Tea Party. Great Britain’s punitive action for the Tea Party was the Intolerable Acts, which were so unjust that it spurred the formation of the First Continental Congress, a group of patriots who warned colonies that they should start building up their militias. The creation of militias was an indirect cause of the Battle at Lexington and Concord which marked the start of the Revolutionary War. So, because the events leading up to the revolution were drawn out and gradual, it is more likely that the American Revolution was in fact an American Evolution.
ReplyDeleteThe American Revolution was revolutionary. The Colonists were upset with Britain so they “revolted”. Even though I believe the actual revolution was revolution, I believe that the events leading p to it were evolutionary. Evolutionary means change. When the Colonists decided to fight Britain they did not know what was going to happen in the far future. They were thinking of what was going to happen right then. They wanted to be free from Britain’s clutch on them, so they declared war. It really started when Britain put the Stamp Act on them. The made organizations like The Stamp Act and The Son’s of Liberty. These were the groups that made the colonies a whole, and made the decision to revolt. They were done with the British and their laws that they hung over them. They wanted life to be better right then and there. They did not care about what stake they had to take, as long as they got what they wanted, independence. This is why I believe that the American Revolution was revolutionary.
ReplyDeleteJordin;
ReplyDeleteI agree with your satement that the American Revolution was revolutionary. You have a very developed paragraph with many good exampes.
Becca;
ReplyDeleteI agree with you one hundred percent on that it is in fact, revolutionary. I like how you defined evolutionary to counteract it. Very nice paragraph and examples.
Was the Revolutionary War truly a “Revolution”, a radical and pervasive change in society and the social structure, one made suddenly and often accompanied by violence, or was it an evolution, a process of formation or growth. The war was obviously violent, but it did take about 8 years for the states to be formed. I think it was much more of an evolution rather than a revolution. At first the colonies ignored Britain, but then Britain imposed all these taxes on the colonies such as the Stamp Act and the Sugar Act. This made the colonists very upset. The colonists then rebelled the Townsend Act and this led to the Boston Massacre and the Tea act being rebelled with the Boston Tea Party. After this, the colonists tried to reason and make peace with Britain but fighting for their independence became their only option. As you probably already know, these and many other events went on in multiple years. This doesn’t sound like a revolution to me, it sounds like a slow evolution of government.
ReplyDeleteKyle, I completely agree with your statement. I like your exampeles of how the war was evolutionary. I also like how you mentioned how the coloists tried to end the war peacefully. Great job.
ReplyDeleteCaitlin,
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with what you said and I like how you backed up your opinion with plenty of examples in a well developed paragraph.
Meghan,
ReplyDeleteI can completely understand why you believe it was a revolution with all the revolts and the Sons of Liberty but all these events took place over a long period of time and not in an instant.
K-Pipes
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with you and how the events took place over a large period of time and how you said the Americans tried to make peace and were basically put into war by Britain. Nice paragraph.
Although the American Revolution has gone down in history as a revolution, it can still be argued by historians and Carver 10th grade students that it was an evolution of America. The evolution of the colonies started before the onset of the war. They started out as diverse territories with people of different ethnic, social, political and cultural backgrounds. Colonization brought about disorder and different types of struggles for the colonies. Many thought that independence would create a less than cohesive system of government. While these all presented obstacles of growth for the colonies when in war and fighting for a common purpose, they evolved into union. To convince people to go to war, they had to feel confident that a new system of government would evolve with their participation. Even evident in today’s sports, a football team is only as good as how the team evolves with its players. The American team had to first evolve in order to revolt and be victorious. The Constitution continued to uphold that evolutionary process and make America what it is today.
ReplyDeleteTyler, You make a good point that these events have happened over multiple years and this is how our government has evolved. I agree with your statement.
ReplyDeleteThe Undertaker, I disagree with your statement that the signing of the declaration of independece is an example of the war being a revolution. America declaring how it defined its independence in this document was an evolutionary concept.
ReplyDeleteDespite its name, the American Revolution was more of an evolution. Although the colonists did revolt against the British, these protestations were caused by a series of abuse by the British. The colonists were taxed unfairly both directly and indirectly to try and raise money for Parliament and pay off the expenses of the French and Indian war, which was a British conflict that was brought into the colonies, therefore not the fault of the colonists. Clearly the colonists felt as though their rights as British citizens were being compromised, because they had no representation in Parliament, and therefore no say in the taxes that were being put upon them, adopting the term “taxation without representation.” Through documents such as the Olive Branch Petition, the colonists tried to make peace with Britain, and when their ideas were denied by King George III, many colonists evolved their thinking to be more independence based, as opposed to supporting independence. The colonists didn’t just suddenly decide to rebel for independence, they came about this way of thinking over a long period of unfair British laws, taxes, and punishments.
ReplyDeleteConnor: I agree with your statement about the Revolutionary War being evolutionary, because the changes did occur over a long period of time.
ReplyDeleteAngelica: Although I agree that many of the acts in the American Revolution could support the idea of a revolution, it seems that the ideas of boycotting and protestations by the colonists were more evolutionary, because they didn't just decide to revolt one day, their patriotism towards Britain was changed when they began be taxed unfairly.
ReplyDeleteOlivia: I agree with your idea of evolutionary thinking. You had a lot of good exampes in your paragraph to support the idea that the Patriot way of thinking was developed slowly.
ReplyDeleteAngelica, i agree with you completely, the American Revoultion was simply a revolt and rebllion. The colonists also believed they could succed on their own without the harsh laws/taxes put on the colonists without their consent
ReplyDeleteshelly, you did an amazing job but I have to disagree with you. i know the event of the Revolutionary war was gradual, but the main point of the war was the colonists revolting against the British. Time doesnt seem to make a difference in this situation, the colonists were treated unfairly, which caused them to rebell, as in the Declaration Of Independence by Jefferson. Although, your paragraph is extremely convincing
ReplyDeleteJake,
ReplyDeleteI disagree with your theory that the American Revolution was a revolution. You say that this is more likely becuase a revolution is a rebellion against the central government in question, but the same can be truee for evolution. In fact, the only difference between the two that I can see is that an evolution is a more gradual change that happens over a period of time, and if you considered the length of time that the American Revolution occured I'm sure you could agree with me.
I believe that the American Revolution was an evoulution, not a revolution. Evolution is described as a process of gradual, progressive change or developement. The American Revolution was an evolution because it was not a rapid change it occurred over a period of eight years. In this period of eight years many things were developed, like the American Government, the natural rights of the citizens, and The Declaration of Independence. When The Declaration of Independence was drafted it was based on preventing many of the Acts the British had forced on the colonists and to prevent tyrrany from ruling over America again. Also if it wasnt for the King ignoring the colonists pleas like the Olive Branch Petition we would have never needed to form our own government to rule ourselves. This is how the American Revolution occurred, by America continuing to develop and evolve to what it needed to survive. That is why the American Revolution is an evolution not a revolution.
ReplyDeleteAndrew Lauzon,
ReplyDeleteYou made a good point but i have to disagree with you. You said that the colonists revolted and were rebels. However they only acted this way because they had no other choice. They had tried to reason with the king but all attempts failed so they were left with only one option.
Lexie,
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with what you said. I like how you proved that the colonists gradually came to the decision to declare independence.
The American Revolution was more evolutionary than revolutionary. Although the name contains the word ‘revolution’, it was not a sudden or swift change. The overall effect was not complete until many years later. The proof of evolution was that the colonies became independent from Britain as a result. This American Revolution lasted for nineteen years. To me, nineteen years isn’t quick. The revolution was evolutionary because the changes occurred over a somewhat long period of time. The colonists had to live with unfair treatment for many years before they had any representation in the government. This treatment began with the first direct tax, which was the Stamp Act in 1764. The colonists had to pay extra money just to create a legal document. There was no way to avoid it. Since the colonists were so outraged by the unfair treatment, they formed multiple groups including the Stamp Act Congress, Sons of Liberty and the First and Second Continental Congresses. The Stamp Act Congress made it their goal to repeal this unfair taxation. The Congress was only striving to make equal rights for all colonies-which wouldn’t be achieved until years later. The next step the colonists took was the First Continental Congress where the delegates planned to create armies and prepare for a war with Britain. For more preparation, the delegates met once again at the Second Continental Congress where they created the Olive Branch Petition as the last chance to reconcile with the king. The Olive Branch Petition was unsuccessful so the colonists had no choice but to write the Declaration of Independence. If the American Revolution were revolutionary, the colonists would have skipped forming the congresses and jumped straight to the Declaration.
ReplyDeleteCaity,
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with your theory that the American Revolution was really an evolution. It's undeniable that the whole process of separation from Great Britian was long enough to call it a gradual change.
The American Revolution was most definatly an evolution, rather than a revolution. Evolution is defined as a process of gradual or progressive change; while revolution is a sudden change. By the time the American Revolution took place, the colonists were already annoyed with the unfair direct and indirect taxes forced upon them and tired of British rule. The predominant reason the colonits began to rebel against England, was the taxation problem. The colonists had been taxed for quite some time to pay back Britain for the French and Indain war, which had been forced upon the colonists. The colonists did not revolt right away however, they formed groups such as the The Son's of Liberty and the Stamp Act Congress. Slowly but surely, the Americans were beginning to rebel against the British rule through act such as: The Boston Massacre, The Boston Tea Party, and through Independence brochures and news paper aritcles. One of these Independence brochures was 'Common Sense', written by Thomas Paine, which encouraged many more people to go against the British rule. Also the phrase 'no taxation without representation', by James Otis, slowly turned many people agaisnt the British. The American colonists had endured many unfair and uneccessary taxes from the British, after they had been through salutary neclect for a great deal of time. Once the taxes were placed on the colonists, they slowly began to revolt and create Independence groups. As you can see, the American revolution was not a revolution, but it was rather an evolution of the colonists realizing that they are better off without the British controlling them.
ReplyDeleteThe American Revolution and even that changed the history of our nation for good. Was it an evolution or a revolutionary event in history? Although the American Revolution had some very revolutionary events and actions take place, it was overall a change over time, or evolution. The Revolution or better yet evolution of America took place after a long sequence of events lead up to it. It all started with the salutary neglect that Britain showed to the colonies, which meant that the colonies were basically governing themselves with some loose ties back to the motherland. This made the colonies feel very self-sufficient and independent, but then that was taken away from them and Britain started putting mercantilist policies on the colonies in order to turn better profits for themselves. These policies were overall not to upsetting the colonists at first but overtime it would become clear that they hurt the colonies more than they helped them. The French and Indian War was another event that made the Americans start to realize that Britain may not be the best influence on their country. They watched as the British troops suffered in many battles against the French and Indians and fell in some pretty embarrassing defeats, only winning the war by sheer size and naval power. This greatly lessened the view the colonists had on Britain as a great military power. Also, after the war the British started implementing more and more policies onto the colonies to try and strengthen their hold over them and also to hold the colonies responsible for helping to pay a bulk of the war costs that the British procured while fighting in the French and Indian War. The British went about paying for the war by putting unfair taxes and policies into effect in the colonies. Policies like the proclamation line, limiting where the colonist can and cannot live, or the Quartering Act, stating that the colonists were responsible for supplying the British soldiers who weren’t supposed to be there by law of the British Bill of Rights, with food and shelter. Policies like these were what contributed to the evolution of the colonies to become independent from Britain. This evolution began to pick up speed when the acts of Britain became a bit bolder, and they started violating the rights of the colonists. The British created the Stamp act which was a tax on all printed and legal papers which everyone had to pay. It was the first direct tax on the colonists which really upset the radicals among them. Then as the icing on the cake, events such as the Boston Massacre and the Battles at Lexington and Concord pushed the colonists over the edge, leading to the climax of their evolution when they signed the Declaration of Independence and war on Britain. The American Revolution was an evolution, because the colonists gradually changed over time by a chain of events which lead up to them declaring their independence from Britain. Thomas Paine stated in his pamphlet Common Sense that America had gotten too big and powerful for the small island of Britain to still be governing it. in other words America had evolved to a point where it British intervention was no longer needed, therefore it was inevitable that the colonies declared independence due to evolution.
ReplyDeleteRevolution or evolution. . . Did the colonists really want to go to war against the Mother Country? Economically, they were prospering, politically they had stability and militarily they were protected from European powers from conquesting over their land. Socially, the colonists were still happy, yet a few men who wanted more individual power were protesting and acting out like spoiled children. The war was evolutionary, yet through revolutionary actions and behaviors. Good arguments everyone :)
ReplyDeleteMr.Spinetto I see your point but I must say that I disagree. You have a point saying that a revolution could be defined by the intent to overthrow a government, and by violent acts. But there was no government that was really overthrown in the revolution because as we know the British Parliament and Monarchy is still going strong even today. It was more of a separation than an attempt at taking over a government. You could better state your argument on how violence played a factor by giving and example of a violent even that led up to the revolution as opposed to the Boston Tea Party, where no blood was shed. But good job!
ReplyDeletePiepenbrink I agree with you completely. The Revolution was definitely a evolution. You had a very well developed description, and great references to groups such as the Continental Congress for specific examples. The only way you could make this better would be to expand on some of the British policies, though I doubt it is necessary to do so it's great the way it is. Good work!
ReplyDeleteLarracey, I completely agree with you. You explained why you believed the American Revolution was actually an evolution very well. You covered all the bases starting from Britain's salutary neglect to the battles at Lexington and Concord. You ended your argument very strongly too.
ReplyDeletep.s. i refuse to stop taking pictures wearing your helmet! (sorry Mr. Tresca but it had to be said...)
Amanda, i agree with your point completely. You clearly proved that the colonists did not initially declare war, but it gradually occured over time. Well said.
ReplyDeleteKyle, i also said the American Revolution was evolutionary. I agree with your statement that the events took place over a period of time and was not a sudden action. You had precise examples to support your ideas, great paragraph.
ReplyDeleteThe American Revolution I believe was a revolution hence the name, The American Revolution. A revolution is usually quick; it consists of rebels fighting for a cause through a series of revolts. Even though it is called a Revolution it is also an evolution the colonist relationship slowly digresses from good to war. The colonist believed there rights as British citizens have been violated through the oppressive power of the British. The sugar act was the first tax imposed on the colonists the colonist reacted by protesting and boycotting all British goods. The stamp act was the first direct tax on the colonies, the sons of liberty a group of rebel freedom fighters led by Samuel Adams violently and fiercely protested the act. The sons of liberty attacked the tax collectors and ransacked there houses. The sons of liberty were also responsible for two other rebel revolts, the Boston massacre and the Boston tea party. The Boston massacre happened when the sons of liberties were trying to get the tax collector and the British defended themselves and him and shot and killed 4 people. This angered the colonists greatly and almost permanently put and end to peace between Britain and its colonies. The Boston tea party was also the work of the sons of liberty and the last straw for Britain. After the Boston tea party they introduced the coercive acts this angered the colonist so much it led to violent conflicts at Lexington, concord and Bunker Hill. This was the colonist final straw after these battle the declaration of independence was mapped out and set in motion. The Revolutionary war was revolutionary because it caused change in the colonies and the changes that occurred were caused by a series of revolts that happened quickly and swiftly.
ReplyDeleteComment on 2larracey3. Andrew, Though I agree with you that the American Revolution happened slowly and over time, I believe that the revolutionary war was a revolution the way the battles occurred and the style of the battles were revolutionary. The events leading up to the declaration and eventually the war were evolutionary the war itself was a revolution.
ReplyDeleteAngelica,
ReplyDeleteI agree with your point, but i would add maybe something on "Common Sense", just stating reasons why the colonists did revolt instead of evolve.
Comment on Ryan Scalata. Ryan, you said that the American Revolution was evolutionary, I disagree I believe that the events leading up to the war were evolutionary events but the actual war itself was not. It was a series of battles that happened relatively quickly and all of the battles were fought fast they did not take a long time for the battles to develop the battles just happened, were fought, and were won.
ReplyDeleteJosh,
ReplyDeleteI liked your idea but there is one thing I wasn't sure about. You said it was both evolutionary and revolutionary, yes they may be part of both. But you should just stay on one side, which seems like revolutionary. But other then that I have nothing really to add. Goodjob.
Comment on Jake spinetto. Jake, I agree with you that the American Revolution was revolutionary but I don’t think they tried to overthrow the British government they tried to separate from Britain not to actually perform a coup on the govt. The colonist tried to free themselves from the oppressive rule of the British not try to take over the government in Britain because you have to remember that their government is in Britain 3000 miles away not in the colonies. Other than that I agree with your statement that the American revolution was revolutionary.
ReplyDeleteComment on Meghan. Meghan, I completely agree with what you said I believe that the events taking place before the war were evolutionary and that the war itself was a revolution. The king even said that the colonists were revolting against them. The war itself did not take a long time to evolve into battles, the battles just happened when the two sides disagreed. It wasn’t like the parliament put some other act in place and the colonists slowly boycotted it and then got so mad they started to violently fight. Well said I completely agree with your post.
ReplyDeleteSean Feeley, i agree with you that in fact the Revolutionary War was far more revolutionary than evolutionary. Although the American Revolution was a gradual change, the point of the war was becuase of rebellion which fits the situation.
ReplyDeleteCommenting Connor. Connor I completely disagree. Eight years is a very short time, nowhere near as much for an evolution. If you remember what we learned in the evolution part of biology, for something to evolve it took generations after generations. The war was just fought between one. I do understand what you’re trying to get at when you talk about the Right to Vote, that was over generations and I can see how you think that was an evolution. However, it was not part of the American Revolution. Therefore, I completely disagree with your statement.
ReplyDeleteCommenting Josh. Josh I back you up 100%. However, just suggesting that you add something relating to what we’ve learned in biology. That the definition of evolution that we learned talks about a change in a species (or in this case the colonists) over a period of generations. Remember that basically the colonists that fought were all the same generation. With this said it provides even more effect that it was indeed not an evolution because scientifically it was not a long enough period of time.
ReplyDeleteCommenting Caity. Caity I beg to differ with the statements you made. You said that their decision to revolt happened over a period of time but it really did not. The colonists tried to stay loyal to Britain but once Parliament placed the Stamp Act on them they completely had enough of it and decided to take action by forming the Sons of Liberty and the Stamp Act Congress.
ReplyDeleteMeghan;
ReplyDeleteI agree with your statment meghan! Well explained however it probably could have used more examples! Nonetheless i do agree :)
Andrew Larracey, I agree with your statement. I like how you showed how the war can be viewed as a revolution, and your examples on how the war is an evolution were very good. Nice work.
ReplyDeleteDylan Messina, I agree with your comment. I like how you gave a definition of evolution and you examples were very good. It could have used a few more sentences, but still, good job.
ReplyDeletedear erin,
ReplyDeleteYou say that the Revolutionary War took place in a time frame of one hundred years. That is were you are wrong. See the American Revolution took place from 1775-1783. Hardly a hundred years given the fact it wasnt even a decade. Evolution obviously doesnt take place in less than 10 years or at least thats what i've been told.
Andrew Lauzon, you make good agreements but need to think about it more. One fact that stood out to me was that the colonists did care about British economy, it was a reason they wanted to seperate. British relationships affected the colonies, and when the British economy was not good, they were taxed more. Stuff like that may make your argument a little more justifiable and believable.
ReplyDeleteMeghan, I agree with you and like how you chose both sides because that is how it seems, but to help your argument I recommend either lengthening it or develop one side more to support it more.
ReplyDeleteJake Spinetto, I agree with you that some of the acts and violent protests were revolutionary, but most of the event was evolutionary. For one thing, the British government was never "overthrown" by the Americans, they simply replaced it. The ideas behind the war and the causes were evolutionary. The Declaration was even influenced from enlightenment thinkers from almost 200 years ago. Also, the direct ideas of separation from Britain started during the French and Indian War almost 20 years before the declaration was signed. That is why I must disagree with your argument that the war was revolutionary.
ReplyDeleteWas the American Revolution a Revolution or an Evolution. Although there is outstanding evidence pertaining to both sides of the argument, I believe that the American Revolution was an evolution. An evolution is defined as the process of any change or development over a period of time. I believe that we can all say that the American Revolution was a big change that occurred in our history. For over 100 years the British had ruled over the Colonies that had developed in America. However, some colonists wanted to separate from the British. I believe that a lot of the Loyalists who wanted to stay loyal to Britain were afraid of the change that would happen if they were to separate from Britain. Many articles and documents were written explaining the authors side of the argument. A great example of that would be the article by Thomas Paine, “Common Sense”. Common sense explained how the British were to far away to rule over the colonies, how they were treating the colonies unfairly, and much more. However, many pieces of writing argued that the changes that would be made if they did separate from Britain, would be for the worst. They argued that the colonies couldn’t survive on their own, and they might go into a very bad economic stage, or they might be taken over from other countries. However, the colonists that did believe that a separation from Britain was needed succeeded in separating from Britain and made one of the biggest changes in history that would affect the world and our country.
ReplyDeleteTyler, I do not believe that the American Revolution moved at an evolutionary speed as you have stated. In my opinion, an evolution is exceptionally longer than the time it took for the revolution to take place. However, you did do a nice job on supporting your idea with evidence, nice work Dragon Slayer.
ReplyDeleteDear Jake, i agree with you an much of your evidence, however, as many people have stated before, the british government was never overthrown, it was just replaced with the government we have today. Also, the british government could not have been overthrown since the colonies were across a sea, and another thing... the british government is still here, and will be for a while. (take that spineto)
ReplyDeleteKevin,
ReplyDeleteI agree with your opinion. Your paragraph was well-written and full of supporting ideas. Also, your closing sentence is very powerful.
Can I comment on peoples comments instead of posts? Well this is to Andrew Lauzon comments to others. Andrew, I dont feel like talking about biology in a history project is going to get someone to go on your side o the argument. It just does not go together. So instead of talking about biology talk about other events in history that may have been longer then the Revolution.
ReplyDeleteCarly, I agree with the opinion that the revolution was evolutionary. Your post was very well-written and you provided many examples of the colonist reactions. Good job.
ReplyDeleteKevin,
ReplyDeleteIt seems as if you are trying to tell us the the colonistis should not have seperated from England rather then telling us why it should have been evolutionary, which i also disagree with. It only mentions in a few sentences how it was long, i would go more indepth on that.
lexie, even though i don't agree with you, you supported your belief well. :]
ReplyDeleteKevin;
ReplyDeletealthough i don't agree that the revolution was evolutionary, i liked how you explained and supproted your examples.
Lexie, although my statement was in opposition to yours, you supported the idea of this was being an evolution very well. It is well stated that the colonists felt as if they were being taken advantage of as being owned by Great Britain, when they are still British themselves.
ReplyDeleteJosh, you had many good points supporting your thesis, and an overall very convincing argument. All you could do to make it better would be maybe fix your grammar...jk. You may be able to make this better by putting in less of the Sons of Liberty, because it makes it sound like they basically were the only ones against the British, when they were really just the radicals of the time.
ReplyDeleteAngelica, I have to disagree with your thoughts that the American Revolution was just a simple revolution. The American colonists wanted more than to just revolt from Britain. They revolted against an entire idea, that everyone should be equal and have a say in government, aka democracy. Things like the Stamp Act were just the spark that set off this evolutionary idea.
ReplyDeleteLexie, I completely agree with you in terms of the war being evolutionary, that the colonists wanted their ideas to be heard and only revolted when George III denied them. I would like to point out, however, that the French and Indian War was actually a conflict that was started by the colonists and spread to the rest of the world, opposite to what you said.
ReplyDeleteRobbie i completely agree that the War was the result of more of an evolution as opposed to a revolution. What you could do to expand on that is, not limit the war to 8 years and bring in all the pre-existing problems between the two nations.
ReplyDeleteOlivia,
ReplyDeleteI agree with your statement and believe that it was very well stated. The way you progressed into telling us the details of why and how it was an evolution was outstanding. I do agree that the Revolution was evolutionary, and loved your example that it was a rebellion that happened slowly.
Two thumbs up :D
Andrew Larracey,
ReplyDeleteAlthough I believe many of those events to be revolutionary as well, you supported your idea very well. I also like how you included the French and Indian War. Good Job!
Kevin W, you make a very good point and i agree completely with the idea of the Loyalists, being loyal to Britain, also being afraid of what would happen if they were to separate from Britain. I also liked how you interprited the "Common Sense" ideas. Well done.
ReplyDeleteCaity-
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with all of your arguments defending that the American Revolution was evolutionary in design rather than revolutionary. You made some great points, and several examples. Just to make your paragraph slightly better, however, you could've added in the Olive Branch Petition, and how it was a final plea from the colonists to Parliament before actually starting the war. Other than that..good job. :)
Carly -
ReplyDeleteI agree with all of the points that you mentioned in your paragraph. I loved how you worked in the 'no taxation without representation' quote as well. However, you could've added the Olive Branch Petition, because, despite the fact that the colonists were severely annoyed at Parliament since the first tax after the French and Indian War, they still sent out a final plea agreement to Parliament. Other than that...good paragraph. :)
Lisa,
ReplyDeleteI couldn't disagree with you anymore. Your defense was that it happened over a long period of time. Yet, you also mentioned the Intolerable acts as an example to support your theory. When in reality, the Intolerable acts happened because of a QUICK act by the revolutionaries. This would have to mean that this example contradicts its self completely.
Josh, you made some very good points. Though I am in opposition to your view, you backed your arguement up with good examples and I liked how you added that it was also an evolution. I do disagree with your statement that it was a quick war, though. This war took around a hundred years so I dont see how you can say that it was quick, but all around good job!
ReplyDeleteAmanda;
ReplyDeleteI though I do not fully agree with your statement it is well thought through. I agree with the length of time it took for the war to end being long however i believe the actions were revolutionary. Good evidence still!
Audrey, I completely agree with your statement. You clearly supported how the American Revolution as a whole was actually more evolutionary. Well said.
ReplyDeleteRyan, I definitely agree with you. True, 10 years doesn’t seem like a very long time but there was way too much that went on during those 2 years to say that it was not a long and painful process that the people of America had to go through.
ReplyDeleteLarracy, I completely agree with what you said. Before the British ended the period of salutary neglect, the colonist were fine with British rule, but as they continued to enforce these new laws on the colonies the support for independence grew.
ReplyDeleteJosh, I like your argument about how is was a revolution rather than evolution and you are right, revolution is quick and with various rebellions. I agree with you.
ReplyDeleteCarly, I completely agree with you that the American Revolution was an evolution rather than a revolution. You did a good job elaborating on all the factors that caused the American Revolution. However, i think you could have better proved your opinion by adding some dates to your paragraph.
ReplyDeleteThe American Revolution can either be definated as a Revolution or evolution. in my mind i see teh American Revolution as more of a revolution than an evolution. The American people has many violent acts agianst the parliment. They would beat up money collectors to killing them. Dont forget the Boston Massacre that took place that was the last straw to the Americans. When parliment raised taxes on tea the citizens decided to take action and dump the tea into the harbor to show parliment the ment business. Revolution is defined as violents in a short time unlike evolution which is change over time. Yes the war took sum time but in my eyes evolution is hundreds of years not ten years. The word revolution is in the name. so after looking at all the facts i see the American Revoloution as more of a revolution than a evolution.
ReplyDeleteLarracey, I see where you are coming from saying that the American Revolution as a evolution but evolution is more of change over a great amountof time ten years isnt a great amount of time and how the patriots acted towards teh money collectors was a revlt against teh parliment
ReplyDeleteMusky
ReplyDeleteI understand that the war was taken about through revolutionary acts but these acts took place over a period of 10 years, but I like the way you backed up your opinion.
Comment on Josh: Josh i disagree with your statement that the American Revolution was Revolutionary. Partly because we have to remember that theres a lot of details before and after that make this war more evolutionary then revolutionary. For example when the Citizens left Britain for religious independence and money oppurtunities. The reason the citizens left was to get away from Britain. But, 100 years later they found themselves being taxed by the people they ran away from, which started grievances towards the British long before the American Revolution. Ultimately making it more evolutionary than revolutionary.
ReplyDeleteJosh, Although I believe it was an evolution I must admit that you do have a point. The Revolutionary War is called that for a reason because it is considered a revolution
ReplyDeleteMusky, You define revolution as violent acts over a short period of time and evolution as taking place over hundreds of years. However, this is history and evolution doesn't necessarily mean the same thing as in science. Revolutions are not always violent they just can be. Maybe you are right about it being a revolution but I believe the evidence you provided doesn't back up your point.
ReplyDelete