Class Struggle Was a Crucial Part of the American Revolution
The American Revolution was linked to a surge of working-class political activity on both sides of the Atlantic. The struggle against British rule unfolded in tandem with another struggle over who would dominate the post-independence US.
Class conflict is a neglected but crucial theme in the American revolution. Many historians see the Constitution as the response of American elites to the threat of redistributive democratic politics. (Bettmann Archive via Getty Images)
Late in 1776, with the War of Independence underway in the American colonies, a twenty-four-year-old housepainter named James Aitken walked into Britain’s most important naval dockyard and set it on fire. The damage was significant: estimates for repairs were twice the value of the tea destroyed at Boston harbor three years earlier.
The sense of threat experienced by Britain’s ruling elite was also profound. Few people today remember Aitken’s acts of sabotage against the British war machine. But they deserve recognition as part of the wider transatlantic workers’ struggle that helped make the American Revolution.
Spirited Conduct
Three years earlier, Aitken had been in Philadelphia. There, the city’s working class had been gradually taking over political leadership since the mid-1760s. Some people were appalled by their confident sense of equality. In the words of one clergyman: “The poorest laborer upon the shore of the Delaware thinks himself entitled to deliver his sentiments in matters of religion or politics with as much freedom as the gentleman or scholar.”
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