Why did the 13 colonies not descend into chaos after overthrowing the British?

[Blue3]

Why did the 13 colonies not descend into chaos after overthrowing the British?

The French Revolution... the ongoing crises in the Middle East... I didn't always think so, but now it seems like the "normal" result to overthrowing the government is chaos and mass violence, at least for a time.

What made the U.S. the exception? (And what are the other exceptions, and why are they also exceptions?)

[dead0man]

There wasn't any/enough reason to.  There was the Whiskey Rebellion, but that was small and out on the frontier.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

They already had stable functional governments, didn't they? It was just about whether they'd serve George and the British Empire or look out for themselves.

[SPC]

They already had stable functional governments, didn't they? It was just about whether they'd serve George and the British Empire or look out for themselves.

Hence the distinction between a war of secession and revolution.

[The Mikado]

Yeah, because the colonies had already been self-governing there was a rather smooth transition because the same system was in place and the same people were in charge.  Same reason many people (including myself) like to refer to it as the War of American Independence rather than the American Revolution.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Same reason many people (including myself) like to refer to it as the War of American Independence rather than the American Revolution.

This is the standard term in most of Europe, and I was actually quite surprised when I learnt Americans prefer to use a term like revolution.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Same reason many people (including myself) like to refer to it as the War of American Independence rather than the American Revolution.

This is the standard term in most of Europe, and I was actually quite surprised when I learnt Americans prefer to use a term like revolution.

I'd be interested to see if the British have a particular take on it.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

American War of Independence is generally preferred in 'serious' circles, and other than that people don't really care.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

The American Tax Revolt was in nature primarily a counter-revolution aimed at restoring the old order of the pre-Seven Years War era rather than a revolution aimed at instituting a new order.  However, it proved impossible to get the British to agree to return to that old order, and hence it became an independence movement.  Had France (and Spain) not intervened, I think it entirely possible that the Revolt could have been resolved with an understanding of where the boundaries between colonial and imperial sovereignty lay similar to the American view of where they ought to lay pre-1774.

[nolesfan2011]

because of strong central leadership that was respected (Washington) without turning into a dictatorship.. If Washington had had ill intentions he easily could have become an American dictator like Franco, Lenin/Stalin etc.

Still Washington kept movements like the whiskey rebellion in check and kept the nation from falling apart.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

It really is amazing how he managed to build a stable nation on an idea as opposed to an ideology. The idea of a republic, not the ideology of prole rule.

[PiMp DaDdy FitzGerald]

It really is amazing how he managed to build a stable nation on an idea as opposed to an ideology. The idea of a republic, not the ideology of prole rule.

To be fair, I don't really think there was any revolution with that goal until the commune. Even the French one was more about Burghers and Peasants as seen by the government's violent repression of urban workers.