What Was The Most Significant Effect of The American Revolution?

The most significant effects of the American Revolution came out as the end of the British colonial rule from the 13 colonies of North America & as the establishment of the United States of America.

The changes helped the 13 colonies in establishing their own government for self-administration. Although these were the most significant effects from the American people’s point of view, the revolution had versatile impacts around the world along with the 13 colonies.

The effects are still influencing the socio-economic and political points of view of the world countries. Another one of its most important effects is the rapid evolution of democracy and democratic government.

Before the American Revolution, most of the countries in the world had monarchies. In these countries, King or Religion had supreme power, and people’s opinions had no significance.

Through the American Revolution, for the first time in the world, something happened where a country’s people came further to decide their own governance.

This event later encouraged people throughout the world to uproot autocracy or King’s rule from nations. Later, this enlightenment became widely responsible for the rapid evolution of democracy and democratic government.

Soon after the revolution’s success, this ideology broadly spread all over Europe and started causing the death of monarchies. French Revolution is the most significant example of it, which ended King Louis XVI’s rule.

Even centuries after, it positively influenced the rise of democracy in Asian and African nations.

[Interesting Fact: Present-Day, Even Authoritarian Countries Such As China, North Korea, Russia, Laos, and Ethiopia Define Themselves Democracies] 

Rapid Evolution of Human Rights

In the post-American Revolution period, the progress of democracy had become possible only because the event profounded the protection of human rights.  

The progress of the human rights issues was not only for the 13 colonies but also for the entire human race, a great gift of this revolution.

Before this event, no country in the world had done so extensively that people had become aware of protecting their natural rights.

Especially, the King and Religion, when they had their own motives, violated common people’s natural rights.

For the first time in history, through the Declaration of Independence, American leaders wrote that every human being in the world has some unanimous rights, which can’t be taken away from them under any circumstances. 

Those rights are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. No one, even governments, the king, and religion, has the right to violate these great ends in any condition.

If they try to do something like that, then it’s the right of the people to throw that authority out of power. With this announcement of the historical document, the subject of human rights began to expand widely.

In the post-American Revolution era, the ideology immediately influenced European countries.

Mainly the impact we can see in the case of France. Here it caused the glorious French Revolution, which ended the autocratic rule of King Louis XVI and established democracy for a short time.

(French revolution period: 5 May 1789 – 9 Nov 1799).

[Did You Know? The French Revolution Primary Intention Was To End King Louis XVI’s Rule & Establish Democracy In The Nation. However, The Result Was The Opposite. Instead of Democracy, The Nation Soon Fall Into The Grip of Another Dictator, He Was Napoleon Bonaparte]

Global Impact of The American Revolution In The 21st Century

The American Revolution created a huge impact in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries throughout the world.

In the 21st century, the event still inspires many countries or groups of people to fight for their primary rights against autocratic rulers.

For example, we see this struggle in Russia, China, Myanmar, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Yemen, Syria, Bahrain, etc.

A few recent events of 2021:

1. People in Myanmar are widely protesting and even giving up their lives to re-establishing Democracy. In March, its military killed more than 100 protestors in a day, but they are still fighting.

2. In Russia, people are fighting to end Vladimir Putin’s dictatorship. 

3. The people of Hong Kong are protesting against China’s new policy to end democracy, etc.