The most radical idea to come out of the American Revolution was the idea of republican government. To be called a republican in Europe in 1780 was something like being called a socialist or anarchist in later times. That idea of republican government-government by the people—once established, would profoundly change the relationship between men and women and their government. Some of those changes were subtle, but over time their impact was felt. Perhaps most important was the idea of virtue: Where did virtue reside in the political structure, and how could virtue be cultivated?
In a state run by an aristocracy, a monarchy such as England's, for example, the virtue—the goodness or quality or character—of the state was determined by the ruling class. Ordinary people had no real civic responsibility except to obey the laws. In a republic (from the Latin res publica) the people are responsible for the virtue of the state. The qualities that make virtuous citizens and therefore a virtuous state—decency, honesty, consideration of others, respect for law and order—are qualities that are first learned at home, generally at the mother's knee. So in a very subtle way the role of motherhood, the job of raising virtuous citizens, became a public good. The concept was known as "republican motherhood," and although women were still treated as second-class citizens for decades, when they began to make their case for full equality, they could and did point to seeds sown during the Revolution.
Other significant changes that came into focus during and after the Revolution included a new and more highly developed sense of equality, the idea that people should be judged by their worth rather than by their birthright, that being highly born is not a requisite for achievement or recognition. Those ideas developed slowly and unevenly, but the Revolution made such radical thinking possible. Some of those changes in attitude were eventually translated into new laws and practices, such as:
• More equitable representation among all regions of the states.
• Less restrictive voting qualifications—the elimination of property or religious qualifications for voting, for example.
• More liberal laws of inheritance—the end of primogeniture.
• Greater religious freedom—the separation of church and state.
We should note that the young American nation had the extraordinary luxury of a period of about six years between the end of the fighting in America and the next outbreak of violence to find a new way to govern itself. If the French Revolution with all its turmoil had started earlier, or if the Americans had taken longer in getting around to writing their Constitution, things would certainly have turned out differently, quite possibly for the worse.
Few nations have had such a broad and untrammeled opportunity to form a government under so little pressure.
Once the British system of government was rejected, the states, operating under the inefficient Articles of Confederation, saw themselves as independent republics, so that American government under the Articles was, in effect, a "United Nations of North America," rather than the "United States" as a single nation. For years the country was referred to in the plural: "The United States are. _" Americans were in no hurry to create a powerful national government-only after several years of experiment did they begin to realize that thirteen "sovereign and independent republics" could not function as a nation without a strong central authority.
World History
