POLITICAL CHANGES

• • It gave birth to a new nation, the United State of America.
  • Under the Treaty of Paris (1783), England acknowledged the independence of her American colonies.
  • A few years after the Revolution, the Old Federal Constitution was replaced by a new Constitution that a special body of delegates framed at Philadelphia. It is referred to as the Constitutional Convention 1787.
  • The new American state was a Republic and not a monarchy. Instead of being a Unitary State it was a federation.
  • It was a democracy rather than a dictatorship. It is regarded as the world’s first democratic federal republic.
  • The world also received the example of a written constitution. Another praiseworthy achievement was the separation of the church and the State.
  • Under the new Constitution of 1787, which came into effect in 1789, were expected to “check and balance” one another.
  • The framers of the new Constitution in 1787, gave the Federal Government greater powers such as taxation and regulation of commerce.
  • It introduced new political, social and economic set up in the United States of America Democracy with separation of powers on the model suggested by French thinker Montesquieu was founded.
  • The government was divided into three branches instead of one. The government had :

• A Congress, the Legislative body

• An Executive branch, with the president at its head,

• And a Judicial branch, at the head of which was the Supreme Court.

• The American Revolution inspired men such as Theobald Wolfe Tone who went on to form the United Irishmen to try to achieve Irish independence in 1798.

ECONOMIC CHANGES

• It encouraged capitalist economy and helped in its growth by removing the hurdles coming in its way of growth.
• It greatly influenced the American Agriculture and boosted its production.
• Big landholder’s estates were fragmented into small pieces and handed over to the people of lower and middle classes.
• American industries got rid of the mercantilist restriction imposed by England.
• The development of colonial industries was boosted as imports from England had stopped during the war.

GEOPOLITICAL CHANGES

• France regained two small colonies, Tobago in the West Indies and Senegal in West Africa. Spain recovered Minorca and Florida.
• England lost her colonies in America and her national debt increased to a great extent.
• However, England could defeat and destroy the Spanish and French fleets, and thus retain her naval supremacy.
• France due to her heavy naval and military expenditures, the Royal Treasury in France grew bankrupt.
• France Bankruptcy soon led to the fall of the French Monarchy, since the Frenchmen had helped the Americans in their revolt against a King. They were now prepared to Revolt against their own king.

SOCIAL CHANGES

• The impact of American Revolution was a different story for women, African Americans and Native Americans. The women did not have any legal rights and political representations.
• Thousands of enslaved African Americans obtained their freedom during the revolution.
• American took initiative to improve the condition of women.
• In the USA, the realization that Westward Expansion was now possible altered Perceptions from the level of the individual family to National Policy.
• The rejection of Aristocracy started a swing between extremes of Privilege and Deification of the Common Man.
• Increased importance of education to democracy.