Gordon S. Wood, The Radicalism of the American Revolution. Vintage Books. Random House, 1993

Introduction
The American Revolution seems to be conservative, not radical. 3.3; 4.6
Washington, Jefferson, and Adams are not thought of as passionate and blood thirsty as were Robespierre, Lenin, and Mao Zedong. 3.4
There was no Reign of Terror after the American Revolution. 3.6
the causes of the American Revolution did not include class conflict or poverty. 3.7; 4-.4
Carl Becker, a Progressive historian, interpreted the American Revolution as being about who would rule in America after the Revolution. It was a social struggle between the under privileged and the elite. 3.9-4.1
In overthrowing the monarchy Americans were changing American society. 5.8
Under the monarchy society was a hierarchy of ranks and degrees of dependency. 6.7
After the Revolution America became liberal, democratic, and commercial minded. 6.9-7.1
This took place without industrialization and urbanization. 7.2
The Revolution did not abolish slavery nor change the lot of women. 7.8
The Revolution made the prosperity of ordinary citizens the goal of society and government. 8.3

I. Monarchy

1. Hierarchy
Monarchy provided a society of dependent beings. People were inferior and did not have autonomy nor independence. 12.1; 19.2
Englishmen were known for their insubordination, stubbornness, and unwillingness to be governed. 12.3
Most Americans thought of themselves as Britons. They read the same literature and had the same history. The colonies were independent one from the other. Each colony was tied to the British crown. 12.5-7
Englishmen were not oppressed nor enslaved nor did they live under martial law. They had trial by jury, freedom of speech, and freedom from arbitrary arrest and search. 13.7-8
Americans loved the king more than Englishmen. 15.5-6; 16.1
Monarchy provided a hierarchy. Everyone had a social station and kept to his place. There was no social equality. 19.4
People were connected vertically, not horizontally. They were very much aware of who was above and beneath them. 23.4

2. Patricians and Plebeians
There was the prevailing view that society was made up of the noble and "the herd." 25.1
The aristocracy was powerful but was only 4-5% of the population. 25.5
Entrance into the aristocracy was impossible for anyone who was not rich and well connected.  26.3-4
There was a great separation between the aristocracy and the commoners. "All men are created
equal" was very radical. 27.1-2
The aristocracy was driven by ambition, pride, and honor. They were the sources of achievement in war, the arts, and government. 28.2-5
The colonies had no titled aristocrats (e.g., dukes, barons). They had gentlemen. 30.7
Gentlemen were wealthy. 32.3
Property was not enough to make a gentleman. He had manners, taste, and character. 32.7
They were free from want, ignorance, and the necessity to work with their hands.
33.5; 36.2; 36.4
Their income came from rents and interest on loans or bonds. 36.8
Dueling was for gentleman. Their honor could be challenged only by an equal. They could ignore the insult of an inferior. 40.9-41.2

3. Patriarchal Dependence
Gentlemen were paternalistic. They could be gracious with inferiors as with children. 43.2
"The obedience of children to parents is the basis of government." (Joseph Addison) 43.4
Land was the basis of life, and most land ownership depended on kinship. 45.9-46.1
When there was no will by the law of primogeniture the eldest son inherited the whole family estate. Entail kept the family estate intact. 46.5
Women were dependent on their father or husband. 49.1-3
Children were dependent on their father. 49.6
Many people were without land. 50.5-6
Indentured service was neither permanent nor hereditary. 51.7
Parents placed their children in service. 52.2
Indentured servants could be sold, rented, and willed. 53.6
Colonists were very much aware of legal dependence and of the value of independence. 54.3
Tenants who did not own land were common. 55.3
Black slaves, indentured servants, women, tenants knew dependence. They were not free. They could not vote. 56.4-7

4. Patronage
Much business was done through private relationships. People were dependent on patronage. 64.6-7; 67.3
In the absence of banks or the ordinary use of cash there was an elaborate system of barter and credit. The wealthy grew more powerful through money lending. 67.9-68.1; 68.3; 69.8

5. Political Authority
Patronage was common in politics. Officials gave friends and relatives political offices, military commissions, and judgeships. 77.6; 78.1
The king was at the top of society. Patronage glowed from the crown to colonial governors and throughout American society. 78.3-4
Patronage in the colonies was minor compared to what it was in England. There were no civil bureaucracies nor bishoprics in the colonies. 78.8-9
The king, however, was responsible for political influence in the colonies. 79.2
Local officials were dependent on the favor of the royal governor. 80.2-4
The monarchy sustained its authority through patronage. 80.9-81.1
Powerful individuals were expected to perform public functions at their own expense. 82.5
They served as military officers and governors without pay. 83.4; 83.6
Colonial society was a vertical structure based on wealth and patronage. 87.4-5; 89.5

II. Republicanism

6. The Republicanization of Monarchy
Monarchical, paternal, dependent relationships of the 18^th century would be replaced by liberal, democratic, capitalistic world of the 19^th century. 95.3
Republicanism challenged the hierarchy, inequality, patronage, and dependency of monarchy and offered new relationships of individuals to the family and state. 96.8
Monarchy and Tories loved peace and order. Republicanism and Whigs loved liberty and independence. 97.2-3
England had a republicanized, limited monarchy. 98.2; 98.7
Republicanism was the ideology of the Enlightenment. 100.5
Classical republican ideals were rooted in Athens and Sparta, in Cicero, Vergil and Tacitus.  100.7; 100.9
"Augustus" became synonymous with "tyrant." 102.7
Citizens achieved the greatest fulfillment by participating in a self-governing republic. 104.2
There would be true liberty when men of virtue were willing to serve in the government without pay. They had to be beyond self-interest, otherwise there would be corruption. They were willing to sacrifice self interest for the public good.  Monarchies, which were based on kinship and patronage, tolerated self-interest and corruption. 104.4-6; 105.4-6
Jefferson believed that only farmers who owned their land and were free from working for someone else were truly free and independent. This was the basis of virtue. 106.2-3
Only the landed gentry who did not have to work and whose income came from rents could be disinterested and impartial leaders. Merchants were driven by profit and greed rather than virtue. 106.7-8
Rulers who were virtuous would be trustful. Then there would be liberty, bills of rights, and participation in government. 109.4-5

7. A Truncated Society
When colonists resisted tyranny they thought they were acting as good Englishmen should.  109.9-110.2
Colonists felt little reason to respect royalty. 110.6
Puritanism was founded on defiance of king and church. 110.8-9
Even in the south most colonists had little sense of royal majesty. England was 3000 miles away. 110.1
Government in the colonies was localized. 111.4
Colonists would not accept any intrusion into their lives. 111.7
The king did not even have the support of the Church of England. There were no bishops in America, and in England bishops were loyal to the king. In the colonies there was rebellious presbyterianism. 111.8-112.1
Anglican churches in the colonies were run by the local congregations, which appointed clergy.  112.3-4
There was no titled nobility in America, no court, none of the fabulous wealth of English nobles.  112.6
In the colonies the domination of the economy, religion, and politics by kinship and patronage was never as strong as it was in England. 113.6-7
Even the wealthiest merchants in America could not ignore business. 119.7-8
America did not have the poverty of the slums of London. People were not starving in America.  122.5-6
Two-thirds of white colonists owned land. The propertyless were recent immigrants or young men awaiting inheritance. 123.5
America had no oppressive established church, no nobility, and no destitution. Most colonists were landowners. They were ready for republicanism. 123.8
America was still largely agricultural and rural and not nearly as economically advanced as England. 123.9-124.1

8. Loosening the Bonds of Society
The colonial population was growing and moving. Immigrants poured in. People moved west.  125.9-126.1
They moved in to the Appalachians, central New York, Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, Kentucky.126.9-127.3
With such movement social ties were tenuous and roots more shallow. It broke apart families, church, and neighborhoods. 128..5; 129.2
Life on the South Carolina was wild and as "unchaste as Indians." 132.3-8
Movement dissolved any relationship with the king, which was not strong to begin with. 133.9
The colonial economy was backward. Colonists began to produce wheat for towns and armies.   134.5-6; 134.9-140.1
Farmers worked hard to raise their standard of living. 135.2
There was a growing middle class; i.e., the class beneath the aristocracy and above the poor.  More people worked harder to acquire some luxuries. 136.5-6
Just before the Revolution colonial imports from Britain skyrocketed. 137.2
People drifted away from the traditional Anglican Church to evangelical Baptist, Methodist, and New Light Presbyterian Churches to satisfy emotional and moral needs. 144.2-4
The Great Awakening grew out of an attempt to adjust to social, demographic, and economic changes in their lives. 144.6-7

9. Enlightened Paternalism
Traditional authority was challenged. 145.5-7; 146.4
The Enlightenment held that obedience had to be won by giving respect and affection.   146.8; 148.3
Patriarchal absolutism was declining. 147.4
Locke advised parents not to base their authority on fear. This would not produce benevolent adults. They should be reasonable with their children. They should teach good principles and gradually entrust to children their own conduct. 150.9; 151.2; 151.8
Locke said that parental authority and political authority were distinct and came from different sources; one was based on nature, the other on consent. 156.8
Many Englishmen continued to believe, however, that the authority of the king was like the authority of fathers over their children. 157.1
Locke’s image of a trusting relationship between caring parents and respectful children came to explain the new consensual relationship between rulers and subjects. 157.5-7
In religion the New Testament love of Christ was being stressed over the Old Testament absolutism of Jehovah. 158.6-8
People who were long accustomed to obey had to be provoked by some significant injury to continued opposition to the government. 159.5
In business contracts were explicit and consensual. 162.6
People began to see their relationship to the government as terms of a contract. 164.9
a good summary 165.2-7
If subjects receive protection from the government they are loyal. 166.1
Tom Paine said that the king was a brute. 168.5
Colonists had simply grown up and were becoming independent. 168.6-7

10. Revolution
The Revolution brought about a radical change in society. Americans were no longer under the power of the monarchy. They were a group of free, self-governing people. 169.3-5
There was no mass poverty or oppression. There was prosperity. People were very touchy about any threat to their newly acquired prosperity. 169.7-9; 170.3
Labor was once regarded as necessary to subsist. Now it was a way to prosperity. 170.9-171.2.
The more people prospered the more they had to lose. Colonists united to protect their liberties against British oppression. 171.4; 171.7-172.2
There was very little that stood between their prosperity and oppression. If they were being taxed and their assemblies were being dissolved, they were being enslaved. 173.1-2
The people were more involved in government and less accepting of the authority of royal governors. 173.8
Some royal governors tried to restrict representation and meetings and to veto acts of the assemblies. 174.4
The crown sent tax collectors, swarms of officers, who were dependent on the king for their appointment and who used their office for personal gain. 174.9-175.3
Courtiers received their position by birth or patronage. Patriots received their positions from the people because of their talent, and they were free of dependent connections. 175.8-176.2
Two-fifths of the white colonists were loyal to the king. 176.3
Many of them were rich and powerful, and their removal disrupted colonial society. 176.5-6
Those with established power excluded others from their inner circle and showed favor to friends. 178.2-7; 181.4
Land ownership made people free and independent. 178.7-179.2
It is slavery to depend on others for life and property. 179.7
Jefferson said that revolutionary leaders would be an aristocracy of merit and talent, men who were educated. 180.8-9
hence the resentment to hereditary aristocracy 181.2
Republicanism was seen even in paintings. How? 184.1-3
Failure to abolish slavery was hypocritical. 186.3
Popular consent now became the only justification for authority. 187.5
In a republic no one would be able to use the government for private gain. Under kings individuals were granted charters for personal profit. 187.8
Now the government would do what private persons had been commissioned to do. 188.2-5

11. Enlightenment
Rulers who were men of merit and governed in the public interest would win affection and respect. 189.8
Locke held that people could be molded. 190.5
Revolutionaries were preoccupied with education and remaking society. 190.9
The Enlightenment stressed personal and social morality. 192.7; 194.9-195.1
Describe "the gentleman." 196.4-5
Many revolutionaries were first generation gentlemen and the first in their families to attend college. 197.1
Washington had not attended college and was self conscious about his limited verbal skills.  199.1-3
Franklin never attended college but was a self-educated gentleman philosopher. 199.6-8
Jefferson was a well-educated musician, astronomer, physicist, jurist. 202.8; 203.5
The revolutionaries adopted classical republican values and styles. 204.5
Washington was like Cincinnatus who returned to his farm after victories in war. 205.8; 206.7
Washington wanted to withdraw completely from public life. 206.1-2
Cromwell, William of Orange, and Marlborough all sought rewards and power from military victories. 206.3
Why did Washington accept the presidency of the Constitutional Convention at Philadelphia?   208.8-209.3
Americans accepted a strong executive precisely because they expected Washington to be the president. 209.5-6
Many wealthy merchants retired from business and converted their assets into property so that they could become gentlemen of leisure and pursue political office. According to classical republican values public officials should be so wealthy that they could serve without pay and have no desire to use their office for personal profit. 211.2-3

12. Benevolence
Whig radicals wanted to destroy monarchism (dependency on kinship and patronage) and replace it with republican relationships. 213.2-3; 213.6; 220.6-7
Officers of the crown were intimidated to get them to resign their offices. 214.2-3
There was a new civilizing relationship of benevolence and politeness toward the community which fostered peace and prosperity. 215.7; 216.7; 217.4
Benevolence was the basis of reform movements in the 19^th century. 218.2-3; 218.7-9
Benevolence should be cosmopolitan and extend to all rather than be narrow mindedly restricted to one’s locality. 221.4-5; 222..7

a good summary 229.3-4
Instead of creating a new order of benevolence and selflessness there was competitiveness and individualism, materialism, and egalitarianism. 230.1; 230.5
This "democracy," however, was part of republicanism. Conservatives blamed the French Revolution. This was the origin of the myth that the American Revolution was conservative, and the French Revolution was radical. 231.2-3; 231.6-7
Democracy meant equality of opportunity. 233.9
Property made equality and independence possible. Almost everyone was a freeholder. 234.5
Americans came to believe that no one was really better than anyone else was. 234.6-7
In monarchy common people were regarded as inferior. 235.1; 235.6
Regarding others as equal secularized the Christian belief in the equality of all before God and was the basis of humanitarianism. 235.7; 237.2
Locke held that where there were differences among people they were differences of opportunity
and environment. 236.1; 236.8
Revolutionaries held that all men were basically alike because all had the same human nature. This bound people together and made them compassionate. 239.1-2
Authority, superiority, and the rank of gentleman were challenged because they violated equality. 241.6

14. Interests
In the early colonial period people were focused on their own locality. Now locality was reflected in people wanting to protect their interests. 245.7
John Fiske described this as the "critical period" when everyone was in the pursuit of happiness, i.e. business interests. The gentry believed that this was leading to the failure of republicanism. 250.2-4; 251.1
Self-interest was seen especially in legislation to support debtors and printing of inflationary paper money. 251.5
Federalist Number 10 acknowledged the role of government to support free enterprise. 253.3-4
Government officials would be disinterested, impartial umpires in conflicts between interests.253.7-254.2
Since there were so few who did not have to work for a living, the impartial arbiters, said Hamilton in Federalist Number 35, should be men of learned professions rather than merchants and farmers who would promote their interests. 254.3-7
Madison said that government should protect a person’s rights and interests against being invaded by another, and it should prevent self-interest from threatening the common good.  255.5
Anti-Federalists charged that the Constitution would raise the fortunes of the well born few and oppress the plebeians, (255.7-8), and that liberally educated gentlemen were no more capable than ordinary people of disinterestedness and virtue. 256.2
William Findley said that promotion of interests in politics was quite legitimate as long as it was above board. 257.3-4
Since no one person could speak for all, only a person of a particular occupation could speak for those of that occupation. 258.8-9
Hamilton believed that, similar to European states, government should direct commerce (262.4;  262.6-7), and that there was a tie between the prosperity of the leaders of the government and the prosperity of the nation. Farmers and small businessmen were ignored. 263.2-4;  263.8-264.1
Public officials used their offices to get rich. 264.6; 265.2
An interest such as plantations should not be subject to numerical majority, for if it should collapse it would be fatal to the whole society. For the self-preservation of the nation the notion of one man one vote had to be opposed. 268.6-8

15. The Assault on Aristocracy
Federalists were accused of aiming at monarchy. 271.9-272.1
There was heightened appreciation for the dignity of labor which aristocrats held in contempt.  277.2
Washington was an example of one who worked. 283.4-7
Foreign visitors observed that America was so prosperous because work was honorable. 285.2-3
America was rejecting the leisure of aristocracy and celebrating the dignity and necessity of  labor for every citizen. 286.3

16. Democratic Office Holding
The republican ideal of office holders being wealthy and above self-interest was impractical. There were expenses in holding office, and officials had to neglect their jobs. 287.3-5; 287.9
They needed a salary. 289.3-5; 290.2
The Federalists and Republicans of the 1790’s did not consider themselves as political parties.  The Federalists saw themselves as the natural gentry of rulers. Republicans thought that when the Federalist monocrats receded after 1812 there was the "era of good feelings" and the suppression of a spirit of party. 298.4-9
Parties after 1820 existed to elect party members to office. Nominations and appointments were given to loyal party members. 300.4; 300.6
This practice under Andrew Jackson was the "spoils system." The system of patronage spread his influence throughout the country. 302.8-303.4; 304.2
In his "kitchen Cabinet" were plain businessmen, not refined gentlemen. Jacksonians were ambitious entrepreneurs, but they were unestablished and ungenteel. 303.6-9
"The duties of all public officers are so plain and simple that men of intelligence may readily qualify themselves for their performance." (Andrew Jackson) 304.2
Rotation in office was to free government of aristocratic influence of an office being the possession of the office holder. All people had the right and ability to hold office, briefly.  304.4-6

17. A World Within Themselves
With everyone pursuing his own happiness and interests, some longed for cohesiveness (e.g, Rip van Winkle). 305.9-306.2
The pressure to get ahead caused some lawlessness and especially alcoholism. 306.4-6
It was every man for himself. 307.8; 308.6
Population growth and movement as well as commercial expansion intensified feelings of equality. In the west especially people did not think of others as inferior. 310.5-7
Frederick Jackson Turner said that the west fomented democracy, self-sufficiency, and   individualism. 311.3
Literacy was necessary for business. 313.2
The basis of unity among Americans was the opportunity for all to prosper. America was a nation defined by self-interest. 313.6
People worked harder because they wanted more than the basic necessities. 315.5-6
The movement of people and goods created the demand for roads, canals, and bridges. 315.7
There was the growing belief that domestic commerce was more valuable that foreign trade.   315.9

18. The Celebration of Commerce
Hard work, getting ahead, and enterprise were celebrated. 325.9
People were obsessed with making money. 326.4-5
Since many people felt unconnected they formed associations and worked on charitable projects.  328.9
The Revolution disrupted religions. The Enlightenment tried to dispel the darkness of religion with the rays of science. This gave rise, among ordinary people, to evangelical Christianity. 329.6; 329.8; 330.4; 330.8
The Second Great Awakening supported the goodness of individuals and their right to follow their own conscience. It did not bring people together; rather it helped to legitimate their separation. 331.8; 332.6-7
The Revolution made America. It meant freedom to be left alone and to pursue happiness (i.e., make money). Self-interest was all that most Americans had in common. 336.1-5
Everyone felt equal because they were all pursuing their interests, but there was greatly unequal distribution of wealth. 340.8-9

19. Middle-Class Order
The middle class was composed of those people between the aristocracy and the working class.  It seemed that everyone was in the middle class, for they absorbed both gentility and the work ethic. 347.7-8
America was not classless as long as there were free and slave, male and female, educated and barely literate. 348.3
There was, however, more egalitarianism in America than had ever existed. 348.5
The manners of the middle class were as far removed from the elegance of courts as they were from the boorishness of the lower classes in Europe. James Fenimore Cooper called it "genteel vulgar." 348.8-349.1
It extolled education that was useful for business. 349.3
Only the few studied Latin and Greek. 349.5
American manners were more direct, natural, and sincere than those of European aristocrats.  351.2
Women had the role of cultivating proper morals in their husbands and children. 357.1-3
They needed to be educated in the liberal arts. 357.5
a good summary 358.7-359.5
There was the democratization of truth. One person’s ideas were as good as those of another.  All opinions ought to be allowed. 361.9-362.1; 362.8-9
The opinion of the whole people (public opinion) was the measure of right and wrong.   363.3; 363.5
The opinions of professionals had to bow to public opinion. 364.4
Emerson saw that the collapse of monarchy brought about both chaos and freedom. 365.4
Washington despaired of democracy. Party spirit had destroyed integrity in politics. 366.8
The French Revolution unleashed excessive democracy which led to dictatorship and tyranny.   368.5
The founding fathers wrote of freedom, equality, and the pursuit of happiness, and during the decades following the Revolution Americans took them to their logical conclusion.   368.5-7
They created a prosperous, free society of common people who wanted to make money. The price was vulgarity, materialism, rootlessness, and anti-intellectualism. 369.2-4