Reader's Journal on Wood article

The article “The War for Independence Was a Social Revolution” by Gordon Wood provides a sympathetic look into the American Revolution. The main theme of this article is that the war, while not as bloody and terrible as most revolutions, still upended American society in a way that reversed social roles and expectations. Basically, the Revolution transformed America into the most modernized and advanced country in the world.
We have all already been introduced to the negative viewpoint of the Revolution. “Haters” argue that the revolution was never a social struggle, and that no changes were made to the societal structure of America because of it. They argue that the entire purpose of the war was to protect rich, aristocratic landowners from laws imposed by the British, and that the average working class man’s life was unchanged. Wood’s article directly challenges that viewpoint, and offers evidence to oppose it.
It is true that the revolution was created and carried out by rich people. George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Adams, and all of their contemporaries were decidedly well-off, and they never claimed not to be. But their motives were not all out of selfishness and greed. They felt that the British had too great of a control over the colonies, and even though things were going well economically, the atmosphere was one of unease, as the British could at any moment take it all away. Wood points out that the main conflict of the time was not rich vs. poor as stated by some, but patriot vs. courtier. Courtiers, the “bad guys” were people who had been appointed to their positions by personal connections or by heredity. The true patriot was someone who did not claim leadership and position by right, but by nature of their talent and ability to lead. The role of Courtiers was cast on the entire country of Britain, as they presumed control of the colonies, and the common American sympathized with the patriot, who was seen as the true leader.
The main source of discontent in colonial America was the feeling of dependence to Britain. This dependence was equated to slavery, and while the connection was overly dramatized, many revolutionary Americans took it to heart. They didn’t agree with the idea of being under someone in a hierarchy, and the fact of British colonial rule was that there was no way to rise up within the ranks. Some men made fortunes for themselves, but a rich colonist was still lesser than the ruling classes of Britain. The Revolution was not an attempt by the rich to gain control over the rest of the colonies, it was an attempt by the colonies as a whole to create equality. These ideas carried through the war and were exemplified later in the freedom of indentured servants following the war. In the aftermath of the war, rich men and poor men together joined to become an operating country that’s still here today, and that same idea of equality stayed in place to create movements for the equal rights of all people, not just rich white guys.