The American Conservative raises that question by re-publishing this essay by the late Robert Nisbet, a sociologist and one of the leading conservative thinkers of the post World-War II period: Was There An American Revolution? Nisbet covers a lot of ground in this essay, touching on everything from class & property to religious liberty. Nisbet's conclusion, contra other conservatives like Russell Kirk and M.E. Bradford, is that the American Revolution was indeed a real revolution, impacting social, cultural and religious aspects of American life, leading to a profound change not only in the formal political institutions of the country but also the underlying spirit of the nation. As Nisbet concludes:
I would argue, then, that there was indeed an American Revolution in the full sense of the word–a social, moral, and institutional revolution that effected major changes in the character of American society–as well as a war of liberation from England that was political in nature.
The line from the social revolution of the 1770s to the civil rights revolution of the 1960s is a direct one. It is a line that passes through the Civil War–itself certainly not without revolutionary implication–and through a host of changes in the status of Americans of all races, beliefs, and classes. The United States has indeed undergone a process of almost permanent revolution. I can think of no greater injustice to ourselves, as well as to the makers of revolution in Philadelphia, than to deny that fact and to allow the honored word revolution to be preempted today by spokesmen for societies which, through their congealed despotisms, have made real revolution all but impossible.The linkage between the revolutionary work of the American founding generation and the civil rights movement of the 1960s is one that was made repeatedly by many in the civil rights movement at the time, perhaps most notably by Martin Luther King, Jr. in The Letter From a Birmingham City Jail.
4 comments:
Thanks for bringing attention to this essay,Mark. It surprised me a bit; I expected another denial of the radicalism of our revolution, a la Russell Kirk through his Burkean spectacles. And in one sense it was conservative--seeking to preserve the existing imperial relationship against Parliament's efforts to reorganize and tighten-up the empire. As Nisbet points out, however, in its social and political consequences, it was a revolution in the full sense of the word. This seems to be not only the view of the Americans who made it, but also the view from both the revolution's friends and foes in Europe.
Thanks for the comment. Nisbet is an interesting thing, a conservative but not really in the paleo-con model a la Kirk and Bradford. Nisbet typifies the old saying that a conservative is a liberal who has been mugged by reality! Nisbet's take on the revolution is much more like Gordon Wood's -- it was a real revolution, perhaps not in its beginnings but in its implications that were then drawn out over the years of the early Republic.
The American Revolution succeeded because it was a conservative revolution. Our people in 13 very different states were used to self-government and considered themselves more English than the English. The imposition of new taxes, the encroachments upon America through suppression of local governments and the power of juries, and the almost total lack of cash money here to pay British taxes and old debts drove us independence.
The Civil Rights movement likewise succeeded in its conservative mission to secure for African-Americans descended from 18th-century slaves what 3rd-generation immigrants were obtaining after WWII. It failed to the extent it had a left-wing agenda. TQ
Great point, TQ. It was a conservative revolution -- a real revolution for all that, but a conservative one nonetheless. And I agree with you about the civil rights movement. At its core, it sought to fulfill the promise of our founding era to guarantee civic liberty & equality under the law to every citizen. Where it went wrong is when it embraced the Left-Liberal worldview and the policies built off that worldview.
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