Personal Perceptions of American Revolution - Essay Example

Going further back in history, I am now able to view the European colonization of the Western Hemisphere as inclusive of invasion, conquest, and genocide. I now look back with embarrassment about constitutional settlements that protected trade in slaves, committed government to helping slave catchers, and gave extra votes in Congress to slave owners. The moral perceptions that underpin those reappraisals oblige us to go further. In other words, it made me realize that there is good reason to question whether the American Revolution --the British colonies' fight for freedom from the Crown--was morally justifiable.

At the beginning of the course I thought of the revolution in transatlantic terms, springing forth as a result of colonial domination. The initial perception was that the colonists were taxed without due representation in Parliament, their endeavor to gain autonomy promptly suppressed by the Crown, their reluctance to act subservient to unresponsive masters leading, justifiably, to the sweeping revolution. It is not that these initial conceptions were disproved during the course, but some of them were rectified.

There is some veracity to the standard version of the War of Independence, for the colonists had genuine grievances against the British Monarchy. But, as I learned during the course, this version either colors or ignores certain obvious facts. Take say the plight of oppressed groups long inhabiting the vast North American landscape. Their voice was totally unrepresented in the discourse related to the revolution. According to the doctrinaire version of the revolution, the colonists were regarded as the primary victims of injustice.

This is blatantly false, because the principal victims were the colored people, including Native Americans, whose generosity and hospitality were grossly abused by the European settlers. Contrary to the belief that European Americans have been all too willing to accept, European emigres came to inhabited territory in North America. Native Americans were populous and many dwelt in stable and structured communities. They had cleared land on the eastern seaboard and cultivated vast terrains. Their nations had established territories which were vital to the hunting component of their economies.

These facts were evident to European settlers---especially to those who escaped starvation by accepting as gifts the fruits of Native American agriculture. Yet, distilled history of colonization largely neglects this aspect of early settlements. I also learnt during the course that African Americans are another community that bore the brunt of injustice - as they came to the continent tied in chains and were forced to slog as slaves. In this backdrop, the European frontiersman’s basic grievance was that he was restricted in robbing the already wretched natives and black slaves.

Their cry for freedom and liberty was nothing more than a clamor for more control over the disadvantaged slaves and natives. This state of institutionalized injustice was accentuated further during the years of the revolution, diminishing the aura surrounding it even more. In other words, the injuries and sufferings associated with the revolution were apportioned unequally between the colonialists and other colored groups. These darker facets of the American Revolution were not cognizant to me prior to taking the course.

And taking the course has made