Results of the Revolution

• 25,000+ Americans died in military service

• about 80,000 loyalist refugees left for canada

• a “conservative” revolution: government changed, but society not drastically re-shaped long term

• disruptions without decisive change:

  • greater democratic involvement, but still stratified society

  • women took on new political roles, but denied full rights

    • active in protest movements

    • active participants in war effort

  • black americans actions and revolutionary ideology make chattel slavery into a problem

    • 100k fled slavery during war (1/4 of enslaved population)

    • fought on both sides

    • used ideology for their own purposes

The Treaty of Paris 1783

• formal peace, british recognized US independence

• british cede Appalachian west by “right of conquest”

  • US believed it had “won” the west

  • undefeated native allies disagreed

  • britain expected US couldn’t hold this territory

• another key outcome of the war:

  • a government willing to sanction and support colonial expansion

    • land sales a key source of funding

  • US began as both:

    • an independent republic

    • an imperial power in its own right