The Radicalism of the American Revolution was written by Gordon S. Woods. In this novel Woods talks about three stages that American went through during the eighteenth century. those stages were monarchy, republicanism and democracy. In this novel Woods shares why he believes that American Revolution is the that America went from monarchy to democracy. This paper will talk about these three stages and what Woods says about them in his book.
The book begins in the monarchy stage, which is before the American Revolution. This stage was basically when every one was under one rule. Basically the king is at the top and servants are at the bottom. Woods went in depth on how he felt that this called dependency. The person on the bottom of the social status always depending on the person a social class above them. And how in this social hierarchy ones superiority mainly depends on their birth right.
The next Stage that Woods talks about is republicanism. This was the stage that replaced the monarchy. The ruler of this stage was the "gentlemen", a ruler that will not be greedy. Woods felt that this ended dependency. Also that this stage brought out many leaders, such as Thomas Jefferson. Along with these types of leaders, virtues were also formed.
Even though this might seems As if it worked it did not. Due to the failure of republicanism, democracy was formed. This was the final stage of Woods novel. Woods says that this was the era of Enlightenment. The era where Americans can truly call themselves American. The era where pride was put in place along with human rights.
The novel The Radicalism of the American Revolution talked about Gordan S. Woods' views of America. It talks about the three Stages that America went through. these stages being monarchy, republicanism, and democracy. Woods feels that the revolution is what formed these stages and is what made America what it is today. This book helps you to understand what America has been through and why it is strong today.
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1 comment:
L,
Interesting summary of Professor Wood's book. I'll start with the good: I like your assessment of monarchy being another word for dependency-everybody was dependent on someone, except for the gentry-which you didn't mention. Next with Republicanism, you didn't tell me HOW it ended dependency. You were too broad in your definition of democracy, especially leaving out the fact that women and Blacks would not have any "democracy" for another century or so but that the Revolution got the IDEA of democracy going in the US. I felt that you were rushed in doing this assignment. Some of your grammar is awful-meaning that you didn't reread what you wrote, but you did a decent job. I'm not yet convinced that you read the entire book so this "C" is a gift from me to you.
MB
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