The American Revolution: The Forces in Conflict

This chapter discusses the players involved in the American Revolution, which is considered a great event for the whole Euro-American world. In the Age of the Democratic Revolution, the American Revolution was the earliest successful assertion of the principle that public power must arise from those over whom it is exercised. It was the most important revolution of the eighteenth century, except for the French. Its effect on the area of Western Civilization came in part from the inspiration of its message (which in time passed beyond the area of Western Civilization), and in part from the involvement of the American Revolution in the European War of American Independence, which aggravated the financial or political difficulties of England, Ireland, Holland, and France.