Chapter 5 Essay Nicole Mafonde

Class differences during the time of the Revolution were significant because they differed greatly from one another. There was the rich class, the middle class the poor and dispossessed class. On the other hand, there were also the Insurgents, (who were now called the Regulators) slaves, indentured servants, white servants, Indians, women, free negroes, free white men and men without property. Since the friendly Indians, free Negroes, white servants, and free white men had no stable home, they were excluded from the militia. The varieties of classes during the revolution war reach its independence.
The poor class was not very uncommon during this Era. A great example would be “Daniel Shay, a poor farm hand when the revolution broke out, he joined the Continental army, fought at Lexington, Bunker Hill, and Saragota, and was wounded in action. In 1780, not being paid, he resigned from the army, went home, and soon found himself in courts for nonpayment of debts. He also saw what was happening to others: a sick woman, unable to pay, had her bed taken from under her. (page 78) The military became a place of promise for the poor, who might in rank, acquire some money, change their social statues. Here was the traditional device by which those in charge of any social order mobilize and discipline a recalcitrant population- offering the adventure and rewards of military service to get poor people to fight for a cause they may not see clearly as their own. A wounded American lieutenant at Bunker Hill, interviewed by Peter Oliver joined the battle after being influenced by his peers. If he got killed, that would be the end of him, if his captain got killed; he would only seek for a higher position in order for a higher status.
(page 90) “Rich either control the government directly or control the laws by which government operates” (page 84) “The Revolutions effect on class relations, at what happened to land confiscated from fleeing Loyalists. It was distributed in such a way as to give a double opportunity to the Revolutionary leaders: to enrich themselves and their friends and to parcel outcome land to small farmers to create a broad base of support for the new government. Indeed, this became characteristics of the new nation: finding itself possessed of enormous wealth it could create the richest ruling class in history and still have enough for the middle classes to act as a buffer between the rich and the dispossessed.” (Page101) Hamilton, believed that in order for the government to be strong, it must ally itself with the richest elements of society. A Bank of U.S was set up as a partnership between the government and certain banking interests. Tax lacks were passed to raise to money for this bond redemption.


(page 91) “When the constitution was not represented” slaves, indentured servants, women, men without property. And so the constitution didn’t reflect the interests of those groups.” By 1787 there was not only a positive need for strong central government to protect the large economic interests, but also immediate fear of rebellion by discontented farmers. The chief event causing this fear was an uprising in the summer if 1786 in western Massachusetts, known as Shay’s Rebellion.

During the revolution, even though independence was significant, independence wealth more of a bigger issue.” (page 84) “Although the numbers of independent farmer grew, according to Rowland Berthoff and John Murrin, “the class structure did not change radically.” The ruling group went through personnel changes as “the rising merchant families slipped into the social status- and sometimes the very houses of those who failed in business or suffered confiscation and exile for loyalty to the crown.” “Edmund Morgan sums up the class nature of the Revolution this way: “The fact that the lower ranks were involved in the contest should not obscure the fact that the contest itself was generally a struggle for office and power between members of an upper class. The poor were put their life in danger for success. The rich, such as the Loyalists, as rich as they were, continued seeking wealth. The want for more money and more land was a constant fight. It was in importance or else the poor would be in a poorer state then they already were.