| It is true that the Revolution was not a social revolution, and, with the exception of Tories, left social classes pretty much as they had been, but I would not say that the upper classes were the driving force of the Revolution. It was the middle class, rather. The Stamp Act, for example, affected printers, when that was a small proprietorship. The Tea tax primarily affected shopkeepers, as well, by raising retail costs and driving down demand. Land hunger was felt, not by gentlemen farmers, but by the yeomanry or potential yeomanry, small homesteaders. Most of the wealthy were Tories, and fled to Canada or England. |
