Status and mobility

War leaves an imprint on the lives of a people who themselves sanction the contest and expect to redress wrongs and achieve certain goals. That the war aimed primarily to secure freedom from interference by an outside power, however, limited its social impact; the emphasis was governmental change, although the concern of who should rule at home suggested that inevitably there might be realization of a more deep-rooted democratic society. The conservatism of the event itself precluded any dramatic and immediate social upheaval. A slow maturing process had brought on independence. As Richard B. Morris has written, “the most remarkable fact about the American Revolution was not that there was social change, but that it was relatively so modest.” ¹