Puritan Revolution

“During what we call the American Revolution, a second American revolution took place: a counterrevolution against the pleasure culture of the cities. Personal freedom and sensual pleasure came under attack during the democratic revolution not because the revolutionaries were puritans but because democracy is puritanical.” – Thaddeus Russell, A Renegade History of the United States

The American Revolution is commonly seen as a win for freedom. A nation was born. It freed itself from a far away government and monarch. Democracy and liberty won out over monarchy and paternalism. But is this only part of the story?

What if the common man actually lost freedom because of the revolution? What if people had more freedom when they were ruled by a far away King?

“The one thing that could make men forsake their own freedom and still believe they were free was self-rule”

Freedom is used to mean a lot of different things. You can want more freedom at work. You can search for a feeling of freedom. You can fight for freedom from an oppressive government.

So far in Renegade History, no distinction has been made between political freedom — what you are able to do without the threat of government repercussion– and practical freedom — what you are actually able to do.

A good example of political vs. personal freedom comes from Washington State. In 2010, if you were out at a picnic in a park in Seattle, and you wanted to eat a weed brownie you could have been arrested. Politically speaking you were not free to make and eat something with cannabis in it. Practically speaking, the chance of repercussions for doing this was zero. In 2016, you are politically free to have that brownie, as well as being practically able to buy and eat it.

The American Revolution traded rule of the British for a representative democracy. The people freed themselves of a colonial government, but did they become less free?

In the late 18th century, in the lead up to the Revolution, American cities were extremely socially liberal.

People drank heavily, blacks and whites drank together in lower-class taverns. Women were involved in all sorts of professions that would come to be seen as unfeminine. Prostitutes operated openly in taverns and on the street, with no care about the race of a customer. Same-sex and pre-marital sex were common and not looked down upon by members of the common class.

American democracy replaced rule by England with rule by American ruling elite. Since those in government depended on being elected they had more of an incentive to control public behavior. Citizens in the democracy, now realizing they would bear some responsibility for the irresponsibility of others had a greater incentive to attempt to control the behavior they didn’t like in others. And they had a route to do it through electing officials that would enforce their standards of morality on everyone.

For a democracy to function effectively it would need a hard working, rule abiding, virtuous group of citizens. It can not sustain itself if everyone is drinking, and chasing their own personal pleasure. Especially when those people chasing benefits for themselves take all the positions of power in the government.