The American Revolution has been traditionally studied as a single, unified movement of colonial forces fighting against the imperial British. As well as this descriptphilosophy, mathematics, government and language ion makes for a nice grade school story, it is important to understand that in the course of several years that composed the latter half of the eighteenth century, America underwent two revolutions. These two revolutions were dramatically different, yet uniquley simmilar. The primary revolution, which I will refer to as the Imperial revolution, w
as simmilar to the old stories of poorly trained colonists facing the largest imperial army in the world, the British. This Imperial revolution was an intense battle that began in the ports of Boston and ended in the fields of Yorktown. While this military battle ensued, a greater cause championed the revolutionary leaders. Early forms of republicanism emerged in the early 18th century when after the collapse of Catholicism, English philosophers began to reflect upon the first of the great republics in Rome and Greece.
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English: A slightly inaccurate hand-colored map de...
The first British attack on Bunker Hill. Shaded ar...This evaluation of the history of these two empires created and propelled republicanism into a revolutionary context. For the first time in modern history, the ideas of the old republics were being studied, evaluated and even practiced. The foundations of republicanism included the emphasis of virtue in society, and the importance of the greater good. These beliefs pioneered the philosophy of the leaders of the American revolution. As the Imperial revolution progress, republicansim began more evident in the justifications for such action. Towards the end of the conflict, the leaders of the revolution began to see their republican cause as a universal cause, that they were endowed with to spread across the world. I argue that Imperial revolution was only one part of the American Revolution, that would be paired...