The Unfinished Revolution

The Declaration's promise that all men are created equal was aspirational, not descriptive. At independence, roughly one in five people in the colonies was enslaved. Women had no political rights, and property requirements kept most white men from voting.

The American Revolution's greatest impact may have been outside America. The idea that a colony could successfully rebel against a European empire electrified the world. Within fifteen years, France erupted, and the example kept spreading from there.