Wood takes the reader step by step through. Wood argues that equality was the most important legacy of the Revolution, of people's idea that they were equal to everyone else regardless of rank or wealth (which lay the basis for the rise of contractual relationships rather than personal, patronage ones). "Americans came to believe that no one in a basic down-to-earth and day-in-and-day-out manner was really better than anyone else. Au contraire, Wood argues, the American Revolution was an extreme and radical departure from the English regime. This republicanizing impetus seeped into all kinds of social relationships (not just political) - parents/children, creditor/debtor, etc. This process was aided by a demographic boom in the second half of the 18th century and opening up of new territory to the west. To make clear just how radically the Revolution transformed American society and culture, Wood provides a thoroughly detailed picture of the old colonial. Then there was a process of " republicanizing of monarchy" which attempted to temper the rigidly hierarchical aspects while leaving room for rule by enlightened leaders (like Thomas Jefferson). Society was marked by rigid segmentation between elite and commoners and people often grappled with the dependence engendered by a system of face-to-face personal politics rife with patronage. Wood starts with the pre-Revolutionary period which he describes as far more traditional, stratified, and monarchical than scholars have characterized.
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