The coming of the revolutionary war meant to the inhabitants of America that change was looming in the future, some of it good, some of it bad, and even some that would take a while to come about, but never the less, change. For the already powerful colonist that were running the Continental Congress and making decisions on how we would combat the British rule, a revolution meant they would become the new government and would have say on what went on in the thirteen “states” that already existed. For the poor whites a war and a promise of a new government where they “would have say” was a glimmer of hope they could make it out of poverty and prosper in the new world like everyone had promised. The eastern Indians had a completely different feeling towards the matter though, because a victory for us was going to spell out defeat for them. So things were defiantly going to change; only some would be for the better and others for the worse.
The rich white men of the colonies were continuously having trouble with lower class rebellions, and most of the time these were reckless riots thrown together by angry farmers, but sometimes they turned into more. Going all the way back to Bacon’s Rebellion for example, showed that when organized, the angry colonist could really have an impact. Moving forward to the 1760s when there were still problems with uprisings, the rich white leaders figured out that if they could organize this anger and point it towards Great Britain, they would have a revolution on their hands, and for once it wouldn’t be against them. On top of that, a succession from Great Britain would help them even more because they could make more money off of their crops (referring to the rich white plantation owners) and wouldn’t have to give any of the profit to a government they had no say in. This war dint come without any risks though; if we would’ve lost all of the signers of the declaration would’ve been executed and that goes out to all of the rich supporters as well, but they felt that the risk would be worth the reward if we won.
The idea of a democracy for once instead of a monarchy was an incredible motivator for the poor colonist to fight the British, because for once they would have a say in how the government would be run and what taxes would be put on them. Also the angry, rebellious colonist I referred to earlier were partially the poor colonist. They were tired of the ridiculous acts that were being brought upon them to fund England’s excursions. For example when England passed the Quartering Act in 1765 which required residents of Boston to provide places for soldiers to sleep and food to eat, needless to say, the Bostonians were outraged. Eventually a skirmish broke out in which three colonists were killed, and what is now known as the Boston Massacre. Fallowing this event, Britain withdrew the troops from the city as to not cause anymore trouble with the Bostonians, but this was a very focal point leading up to the revolution because colonist now had a strong reason to want to fight. Another thing is these poor colonists were pretty much at rock bottom, so they didn’t have much to loose even if they lost the war, so why not try to make things better for themselves.
The side to the revolution that most don’t hear or realize is that the eastern Indians wanted Britain to win the war, solely because they actually drew a boundary line where the colonist could go no farther west, this line being the Appalachians. The Treaty of Easton, which marked the end of the French and Indian War, stated that English settlement beyond the Appalachians would be prohibited, and that the English had gone as far west as they were going to allow, but two main problems existed with this treaty, and they became apparent. First, during the war a road was hacked through the mountains so the troops could reach the area where they were fighting, and since you can’t undo building a road, the road still existed after the war. This presented a huge problem because they had to tell the colonist to basically stare at the road (to “free” land) and don’t go down it, something that wasn’t going to happen. The second problem was that the colonist were human, and being human wanted to explore and expand on the area around them, and since next to no one respected the Indians as people, they felt there was no problem in taking land from the Indians. Now I’m not saying that if Britain would’ve won the war that the Indians wouldn’t have ever been bothered again, but I am saying that there was a heck of a lot better chance that happening with the colonist under English rule, than under their own rule.
The group(s) of people that haven’t been addressed is the black slaves and the women of the time. Some people wonder how much the women supported the war even though in the new constitution there were no rights written in for them, but this wasn’t a new idea, so I don’t think it really mattered. In that time period there wasn’t a country in the world that gave women any rights, and this wasn’t done to spite them, it was just the way they thought. So my take on the matter is that the women most of the time felt the same way their husbands did and supported their decisions. What the war meant for the slaves was probably pretty close to what it meant for the poor whites, a chance that they would gain rights and that the “rules” of slavery would change. When the British began to move up the coast, starting in the south, they offered freedom to all of the slaves they came across that would fight for them, so if you were a slave at that time the white man’s war that was going on possibly meant freedom for you. Sadly, unlike the poor white colonist, nothing really changed for the slaves after the war so all of that hope came to nothing.
The Revolutionary War was exactly what the title entails, a revolution, and when you have a revolution you experience a big change in how things are run. The rich whites ended up coming out on top when the revolution was over because most of their problems were vexed after the war. The Indians, landing on the opposite end of the deal as they saw their land begin to be taken from them starting before the war, and all the way up to just a little while ago. Where the final group(s) of people landed could be debatable, but really the black slaves and women didn’t see anything go their way until post Civil War and on. Now days all of these groups have had things swing back their direction, so the positive change has made its way into all of these groups.
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