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How American Was The American Revolution?

For centuries, the American Revolution was seen as one of the most important events in American history, bringing about many significant changes that effect us to this very day. Although this is the way it may seem, many historians now view the American Revolution as conservative, meaning that the Americans tried to conserve their old British ways after throwing off British rule. This means that the revolution was in fact not a revolution at all, seeing as there was no significant political, social, or economic changes. After the revolution, women and lower class males were still not represented in government, loyalists and minorities continued to be treated unfairly with limited freedoms, and the nation continued to struggle with debt long after the fighting had ceased. Without these crucial changes, the American Revolution could not be seen as a revolution but more as a rebellion, going against British rule while keeping their old traditions and ways.
There were many political problems with the revolution involving who could and could not vote, as well as slavery. After the revolution, things stayed virtually the same for women in the political field. Women still were not equals in political America, and could not vote. In fact, the only people who could vote were white males who owned property. Even in the constitution, the text only states that all men are created equal, not mentioning women. In the Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America, it states that “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights;” (Document B) In the text, nothing is ever stated about women having the same equality of rights as all men do, showing that there was little to no change in how women were viewed after the revolution. Women actually weren’t even able to vote until the early 1900’s. In Abigail Adam’s letter to her husband John Adams in March 1776, she states...