Question

For the lower classes, colonial society had been based on inequality, deference, and obedience. How did the American Revolution challenge that social order?

Answer 1

Americans had previously felt oppressed by the British crown, and for the most part, they were poor farmers and merchants who had left Britain with hopes of a better life. Political conversations of male suffrage, religious toleration, and the abolition of slavery extended from the upper class to the lower class. Following the Revolution, male suffrage was expanded, separation of church and state spread, and it seemed that all socioeconomic classes were free to think and share ideas.