America Before and After Revolution

The way of life in the colonies before the Revolution was far more different than the way of life after the war. The colonies were completely run by Britain and didn’t have to fend for their own needs. Trading, taxing, and other parts of the economy were run by the mother-country. However, during the Revolutionary War, idealists like Thomas Paine produced concepts that fruited the idea for a more republican society. These new beliefs were reflected in the Declaration of Independence, after the war it played a huge part in the Articles of Confederation, and it was later the ideas established in the American Constitution.

In the years before the Revolution, the colonies were still growing. The New World was a melting pot for different European cultures and social status played a huge part in how people viewed each other. Even though the colonists left Britain to escape social structure, they found themselves once again ranking people by how educated they were or how much money or land they had. The landowners were better off than the widowed, the poor and the indentured servants. But it was possible for citizens to earn their way into a higher class.

Much like after the Revolution, the slaves had no worth and were at the bottom of the pyramid. Education was only offered for men to prepare them for ministry and it taught them the dead language of Latin that was important for interpreting the Bible’s scriptures. The link to religion was prominent in politics as well. A majority of the colonies were run by Parliament appointed officials that had close ties to the established churches of the colonies. The early years of the colonies were revolved around religion and were greatly affected by how England ran their government.

England’s hierarchical society was all that the colonist knew and it wouldn’t be for a hundred years before they would find new ways to establish the colonies. Trading in the colonies was heavily intertwined with Britain. No trading with other countries was permitted unless it went through England’s ports first. The British Empire used them as a source of raw resources and as a source of taxes to pay for Britain’s many wars and ventures. However, agriculture, fishing, lumbering and other industries had a large impact on the development of the Americas.

It was the first time that the colonies were producing things by themselves and providing their own goods helped instill confidence in the colonists. The American Revolution forever changed the colonies. The colonies were now a loosely united group of states, called the United States of America, and colonists now considered themselves American instead of English. The common man was given more rights and control. Laws like primogeniture were abolished and people were able to tend to their affairs freely.

The institution of slavery was weakened and some Northern states even abolished it. After the American Revolution, America was free to industrialize and sell goods to other countries at more favorable prices, no longer being locked into an unfair trading monopoly with the British. Industry and manufacturing increased because of the high demand from other countries, thus broadening their amount of trade. Financial wizards like Alexander Hamilton led the States into what would be one of the most economically dominant countries of the world.