The American Revolution succeeded in accomplishing the securing of rights for the citizens of America, however by not creating a sound economic base, the Revolution failed by not ensuring that the new government was strong enough to protect rights. When it was decided that the colonies would declare independence from Britain, the motivation was to secure national rights for its citizens. What the colonists failed to realize is that they were being supported financially by the British government. After the Americans achieved this independence from tyranny, they failed to ensure strong governmental protection, and only through strong governmental protection can you achieve rights protection.
In the beginning of British colonial rule, the British government was strong and stable enough to make decisions for the colonies, which would not only help the empire as a whole, but would help the colonies. One measure to help the colonies was the passing of the Navigation Acts. These acts secured a market for colonial goods, in addition to helping the Empire as a whole. Measures like the Navigation Acts were taken to secure a base of financial stability for the colonies. However, in the minds of the colonial land owners, these acts were a violation of their liberty because not only did they feel that superficially the taxes were not just, but they were too dense to realize that the taxes were going to help them. The colonists did not see a 100% return on their taxes so they cried foul. In addition to that, we can look later in history and see that the Tea Act and England's compromise with the East India Tea Company, in which they would ship directly to the colonies instead of going through England, was instituted in order so that the colonists would pay less for their tea, and, at the same time, generate taxes in order to pay for the upkeep of the Empire.
In essence, the rich colonists were able to gain power because after the revolution, they could rule themselves. For the rest of the colonists, however, the only thing that was gained was a victory of morale. The US Revolution allowed for and helped the French as well as other international revolutions, by laying a ground work for how a revolution can be accomplished successfully. However, the American Revolution did not accomplish what many think it accomplished -- the securing of life, liberty and property for all Americans.
When looking at the American Revolution, what it failed to accomplish stands out more than what the Revolution actually accomplished. The colonists were trying to achieve a protection of liberty and a protection of their natural rights. However, by not providing a sound economic or political system to run off of in case the revolution succeeded, it failed to secure the protection of natural rights for the new government's citizens. Before the revolution, the colonies were monitored by the British government, an expert in managing economic and political affairs. Clearly, we can see that the revolutionaries did not plan ahead, and put the rights of their citizens in jeopardy by not being able to quickly agree on how the country should be administered. First, they couldn't agree on a government. Looking at the Federalist Papers, we can see that it actually took persuading on the part of the Federalists to have 12 of the 13 colonies agree on a government that could protect rights, and, even after that, it took Rhode Island another fourteen months before they accepted the new federal government.
In addition, the newly created government could not agree on how the people would be represented. First, the Constitution did not protect or even acknowledge the rights of women or of minorities, and it barely recognized the rights of the lower and middle class, if at all. The 3/5 Compromise was a result of this, where congress, after much debate, agreed that slaves would count as 60% of a person.
However, this was not the greatest problem. The greatest problem arose from the Federalist's poor planning of a financial base for the new union. During England's colonial administration, the colonies never worried about this because the Navigation Acts game them a guaranteed market. However, this also greatly concentrated their trade to the point in which they weren't trading with any other country. It is easy to see how America fell into financial ruin after they gained their independence -- they had no one to trade with. Looking to governments around the world, and more recently with Russia, when the government is broke, the rights of the citizens cannot be protected.
In the US, inflation occurred when the government mass produced the Constitution, thus causing a Yeltsin effect. With inflation sky rocketing, the economy of the US plummeted and the government, or what was left of it, fell into a period of grave economic depression. This period negated any recent progress of the revolution because by not planning ahead, the revolutionary leaders were simply looking out for the good of themselves and not the good of the citizens as a whole. It is in this way that the American Revolution succeeded in accomplishing the securing of rights for the wealthy citizens of American, however by not planning ahead and creating a strong government with an economic base, the principles of the Revolution were not achieved by the Revolution itself.
