Why Should I Care Article
Content
Why Should I Care?
If you don't already recognize the importance of the American Revolution, chances are
you won't be able to understand or appreciate most of what follows in American history.
This is the beginning of it all, the creation of the United States of America as an
(ostensibly) unified and independent country. The story of the Revolution lies at the heart
of what makes our country unique in the history of nations. The revolutionary principles
that led to the nation's founding continue to influence American society, as we still turn
to the founding generation seeking guidance, inspiration, or even just a useful quotation
to support one contemporary political claim or another. Whenever critics of current
American policies argue that we are forsaking our historic role as a nation dedicated to
freedom and equality, they are invoking the principles of the American Revolution (at
least as they understand them). Similarly, proponents of current government policy often
refer to the American Revolution and the principles of the founders to support their
tactics. And when critics of patriotic sentimentalism seek to debunk the assumptions or
myths of the past, they will often point to the paradox of slavery and freedom that
underlay the Revolutionary period.
For our younger readers, guess what: many young Americans were your age when they
signed up with the Continental Army and Navy, even if it was just to work as deck hands
or play the drums or the fife for $8 a month. Enslaved children ran away with their
mothers and fathers to gain their own freedom throughout the war, especially when the
conflict distracted their owners. Some of these black boys and girls actually fought or
provided forms of critical support (like helping the cooks, looking for firewood, and doing
other day labor) on both the British and American sides. Young stable boys in Boston
were some of the first to run across town and warn Paul Revere when they overheard
British officials whispering about their impending march on Lexington in April 1775.
Teenage girls carried out the dangerous job of relaying the Patriots' messages to one
another. Other young women carded, spun, and wove clothing, stockings, and other
important items to help maintain the colonial boycott on British goods and keep their
brothers, boyfriends, and fathers protected on the battlefield and warm amidst the harsh
cold of the winter army camps.
And for all our readers, young and old: Did you ever wonder whether American society
and government might have turned out completely different from what we got? If you
haven't, you should. For colonists from a wide variety of classes, regions, and
backgrounds all envisioned independence differently. For nearly half a million enslaved
Americans in the 1760s, the Revolution offered a priceless chance for freedom, whether
by escaping to fight behind British lines or by rebelling, or by petitioning legislatures for
emancipation, or by gaining freedom by fighting with the Americans. For some American
white women, the Revolution offered a chance to eke out more liberties than they had
possessed under the rule of English common law. For the masses of poor and middling
yeoman farmers, artisans, mechanics, and merchants throughout the thirteen colonies,
the creation of an unprecedented republican government from scratch offered not only
freedom of trade with all the countries in the world, but the chance to participate in a
more egalitarian society than had ever existed before. Although the hopes and
expectations of many of these groups were ultimately disappointed, the Revolution did
establish a set of principles that could be invoked later to make moral claims for a more
just society.
Respond to the following questions on your own paper:
1. What is the “paradox of the Revolutionary war”?
2. Do you agree that the American Revolution is an important event in history? Why or why
not?
3. Is freedom something worth dying for? Why or why not?
4. How did the Revolution affect women? Children? Minorities?
If you don't already recognize the importance of the American Revolution, chances are
you won't be able to understand or appreciate most of what follows in American history.
This is the beginning of it all, the creation of the United States of America as an
(ostensibly) unified and independent country. The story of the Revolution lies at the heart
of what makes our country unique in the history of nations. The revolutionary principles
that led to the nation's founding continue to influence American society, as we still turn
to the founding generation seeking guidance, inspiration, or even just a useful quotation
to support one contemporary political claim or another. Whenever critics of current
American policies argue that we are forsaking our historic role as a nation dedicated to
freedom and equality, they are invoking the principles of the American Revolution (at
least as they understand them). Similarly, proponents of current government policy often
refer to the American Revolution and the principles of the founders to support their
tactics. And when critics of patriotic sentimentalism seek to debunk the assumptions or
myths of the past, they will often point to the paradox of slavery and freedom that
underlay the Revolutionary period.
For our younger readers, guess what: many young Americans were your age when they
signed up with the Continental Army and Navy, even if it was just to work as deck hands
or play the drums or the fife for $8 a month. Enslaved children ran away with their
mothers and fathers to gain their own freedom throughout the war, especially when the
conflict distracted their owners. Some of these black boys and girls actually fought or
provided forms of critical support (like helping the cooks, looking for firewood, and doing
other day labor) on both the British and American sides. Young stable boys in Boston
were some of the first to run across town and warn Paul Revere when they overheard
British officials whispering about their impending march on Lexington in April 1775.
Teenage girls carried out the dangerous job of relaying the Patriots' messages to one
another. Other young women carded, spun, and wove clothing, stockings, and other
important items to help maintain the colonial boycott on British goods and keep their
brothers, boyfriends, and fathers protected on the battlefield and warm amidst the harsh
cold of the winter army camps.
And for all our readers, young and old: Did you ever wonder whether American society
and government might have turned out completely different from what we got? If you
haven't, you should. For colonists from a wide variety of classes, regions, and
backgrounds all envisioned independence differently. For nearly half a million enslaved
Americans in the 1760s, the Revolution offered a priceless chance for freedom, whether
by escaping to fight behind British lines or by rebelling, or by petitioning legislatures for
emancipation, or by gaining freedom by fighting with the Americans. For some American
white women, the Revolution offered a chance to eke out more liberties than they had
possessed under the rule of English common law. For the masses of poor and middling
yeoman farmers, artisans, mechanics, and merchants throughout the thirteen colonies,
the creation of an unprecedented republican government from scratch offered not only
freedom of trade with all the countries in the world, but the chance to participate in a
more egalitarian society than had ever existed before. Although the hopes and
expectations of many of these groups were ultimately disappointed, the Revolution did
establish a set of principles that could be invoked later to make moral claims for a more
just society.
Respond to the following questions on your own paper:
1. What is the “paradox of the Revolutionary war”?
2. Do you agree that the American Revolution is an important event in history? Why or why
not?
3. Is freedom something worth dying for? Why or why not?
4. How did the Revolution affect women? Children? Minorities?
