Revolution of Sober Expectations

One of the great questions of history is “Why does one people flourish while another does not to the same extent?” This question can be asked, for example, of the difference between certain Latin American countries and the United States of America. While both were settled at similar times, and both have similar resources, one has become the most powerful nation in the world, possibly that the world has ever known, while the other remains a third world country (I won’t clarify which country fits where in order to avoid offending anyone.) Answers to our original question shed great light on the way we understand the world.

I believe that this question is what led to Martin Diamond’s observation that the American Revolution was a “revolution of sober expectations.” By asking why the American Revolution was so successful in breaking the cycle of the human predicament while the French and the Russian revolutions were not, Diamond discovers that it was the modesty of the founding fathers that brought about that change.

I find Diamond’s conclusion very interesting. It seems to me that the more common deduction as to what the reasons for the success of the American Revolution were would be the genius of the founders, their passion, and also the zeal of the people in general for liberty. This, however, is contrary to what Diamond finds.

Referring to Declaration of Independence and the Constitution as the two founding documents of the U.S., Diamond says “Only in the unity of the Declaration’s principle and the Constitution’s institutions does the American Republic achieve its complete being.” He goes on to say that this is because, while the Declaration begins the Revolution, it “is devoid of guidance as to what those institutions should be.” It is only after another eleven years of consideration and compromise that the Revolution “reaches its completion with the Constitution.” This shows that at the time of issuing the Declaration, the founders were not yet confident in asserting what type of government should replace the existing one.

It is this eleven-year silence, this gap between the beginning and completion that Diamond calls the “splendid distinction” of the American Revolution. The Jacobin and Leninist revolutions were driven by devotion to the Reign of Liberty or unlimited equality in all respects, where as the American was devoted to the idea of civil liberty. This devotion civil liberty encourages moderation and sobriety. And those are the sentiments that drove the Revolution to completion.

Furthermore, the American Revolution, while devoted to democracy what not too hasty in subsiding all power to the ideals of democracy. However, a dispersal of powers was put into place, with checks and balances.

All of the considerations presented by Diamond are impressive, once again, because they are so counter-intuitive to the common ideas of revolutions in general. It was the mature nature of the American Revolution that allowed it to be so successful. I feel that this is a powerful example of the Christian ideals intertwined with the founding of America. Sobriety, moderation, maturity, and ultimately humility were the keys to the success of the Revolution.