97 Advantages and Disadvantages of the Revolution (1783)

The American Revolution on the one hand brought forth great vices but on the other hand it called forth many virtues and gave occasion for the display of abilities which, but for that event, would have been lost to the world. When the war began the Americans were a mass of husbandmen, merchants, mechanics, and fishermen. But the necessities of the country gave a spring to the active powers of the inhabitants and set them on thinking, speaking, and acting in a line far beyond that to which they had been accustomed. The difference between nations is not so much owing to nature as to education and circumstances. While the Americans were guided by the leading strings of the mother country, they had no scope nor encouragement for exertion. All the departments of government were established and executed for them but not by them. In the years 1775 and 1776 the country being suddenly thrown into a situation that needed the abilities of all its sons, these generally took their places, each according to the bent of his inclination. As they severally pursued their objects with ardor, a vast expansion of the human mind speedily followed. This displayed itself in a variety of ways. It was found that the talents for great stations did not differ in kind but only in degree from those which were necessary for the proper discharge of the ordinary business of civil society. It seemed as if the war not only required but created talents. Men whose minds were warmed with the love of liberty and whose abilities were improved by daily exercise and sharpened with a laudable ambition to serve their distressed country spoke, wrote, and acted with an energy far surpassing all expectations which could be reasonably founded on their previous acquirements.

The Americans knew but little of one another previous to the revolution. Trade and business had brought the inhabitants of their seaports acquainted with each other, but the bulk of the people in the interior country were unacquainted with their fellow citizens. A continental army and Congress composed of men from all the states by freely mixing together were assimilated into one mass. Individuals of both mingling with the citizens disseminated principles of union among them. Local prejudices abated. By frequent collision asperities were worn off and a foundation was laid for the establishment of a nation out of discordant materials. Intermarriages between men and women of different states were much more common than before the war and became an additional cement to the Union. Unreasonable jealousies had existed between the inhabitants of the eastern and of the southern States. But on becoming better acquainted with each other, these in a great measure subsided. A wiser policy prevailed. Men of liberal minds led the way in discouraging local distinctions and the great body of the people, as soon as reason got the better of prejudice, found that their best interests would be most effectually promoted by such practices and sentiments as were favorable to union. Religious bigotry had broken in upon the peace of various sects before the American war. This was kept up by partial establishments and by a dread that the Church of England through the power of the mother country would be made to triumph over all other denominations. These apprehensions were done away by the revolution. The world will soon see the result of an experiment in politics and be able to determine whether the happiness of society is increased by religious establishments or diminished by the want of them.

Though schools and colleges were generally shut up during the war, yet many of the arts and sciences were promoted by it. The geography of the United States before the revolution was but little known. But the marches of armies and the operations of war gave birth to many geographical enquiries and discoveries which otherwise would not have been made. The necessities of the states led to the study of tactics, fortification, gunnery, and a variety of other arts connected with war and diffused a knowledge of them among a peaceable people who would otherwise have had no inducement to study them. The science of government has been more generally diffused among the Americans by means of the revolution. The policy of Great Britain in throwing them out of her protection induced a necessity of establishing independent constitutions. This led to reading and reasoning on the subject. The many errors that were at first committed by unexperienced statesmen have been a practical comment on the folly of unbalanced constitutions and injudicious laws. When Great Britain first began her encroachments on the colonies there were few natives of America who had distinguished themselves as speakers or writers, but the controversy between the two countries multiplied their number.

In establishing American independence, the pen and the press had merit equal to that of the sword. As the war was the people’s war and was carried on without funds, the exertions of the army would have been insufficient to effect the revolution unless the great body of the people had been prepared for it and also kept in a constant disposition to oppose Great Britain. To rouse and unite the inhabitants and to persuade them to patience for several years under present sufferings, with the hope of obtaining remote advantages for their posterity, was a work of difficulty. This was effected in a great measure by the tongues and pens of the well informed citizens and on it depended the success of military operations. Such have been some of the beneficial effects which have resulted from that expansion of the human mind which has been produced by the revolution, but these have not been without alloy.

To overset an established government unhinges many of those principles which bind individuals to each other. A long time and much prudence will be necessary to reproduce a spirit of union and that reverence for government without which society is a rope of sand. The right of the people to resist their rulers when invading their liberties forms the cornerstone of the American republics. This principle though just in itself is not favorable to the tranquility of present establishments. The maxims and measures which in the years 1774 and 1775 were successfully inculcated and adopted by American patriots for oversetting the established government will answer a similar purpose when recurrence is had to them by factious demagogues, for disturbing the freest governments that were ever devised. War never fails to injure the morals of the people engaged in it. The American war in particular had an unhappy influence of this kind. Being begun without funds or regular establishments, it could not be carried on without violating private rights. And in its progress it involved a necessity for breaking solemn promises and plighted [pledged] public faith. The failure of national justice which was in some degree unavoidable, increased the difficulties of performing private engagements and weakened that sensibility to the obligations of public and private honor which is a security for the punctual performance of contracts.

It is now your turn to figure on the face of the earth and in the annals of the world. You possess a country which in less than a century will probably contain fifty millions of inhabitants. You have with a great expense of blood and treasure rescued yourselves and your posterity from the domination of Europe. Perfect the good work you have begun by forming such arrangements and institutions as bid fair for ensuring to the present and future generations the blessings for which you have successfully contended. May the Almighty Ruler of the Universe who has raised you to Independence and given you a place among the nations of the earth, make the American Revolution an era in the history of the world remarkable for the progressive increase of human happiness!

Source: David Ramsay, The History of the American Revolution (1789), II, 315-356. https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.45494/page/n653/mode/2up