Status Updates From The Will of the People: The...

The war's over, the peace has been signed, and now it's time to sort out the status of the Loyalists who didn't flee. Should they be required to make some kind of loyalty oath? Should they get their seized property back, and if so, under what terms? Bitterness on both sides could result in an endless cycle of reprisals.

The role of ordinary Americans finding workarounds and solutions to the problem of hyperinflation during the middle part of the Revolutionary War, when it would've been easy to give up on the whole enterprise. Often overlooked by histories that focus on the policy-makers with formal training in finance, etc.

Although there were some extremes, by and large revolutionary justice maintained the norms of the English Common Law. Judges such as Hanson were by and large the exception to the norm of restraint when dealing with lack of enthusiasm. But then there was the problem of outright betrayal.

The various committees of safety, and the development of a new system of justice that didn't depend upon a king. At times it could go awry, especially when people were afraid of subversion (as covered in the previous chapter), but it was baby steps to a new model of governance.

Compared to the French or Russian Revolutions, the American Revolution was relatively free of terror and mass reprisals. However, that doesn't mean it was completely free of attacks upon suspected subversives. Instead, those tended to be focused upon groups that were already considered outsiders, particularly those of African and indigenous origins.