"To what extent did American independence bring about a revolution in the United States in its first two decades? In your response, discern between the structures of government, the social order, popular ideology. To highlight the American case, make relevant comparisons and/or contrasts with the revolutions in France and in Haiti."
It's the first sentence that's confusing me a lot. I don't get the revolution after independence part of the question. I thought gaining independence was a revolution?
It's poorly worded. The question is asking about a social and political revolution, which can be distinct from the actual violent revolution that precedes it/accompanies it.
Essentially, you can have a change in regime, and yet still live under the status quo. For example, when the US changes political administrations, none of the existing political and social structures actually change, only the person leading the government. A revolution requires a change in status quo, which is what I think is being alluded to in the prompt.
To answer your inquiry, the essay question is asking about changes within the political and social structures post-Revolutionary War.
Well, the first structural document in the US was the Articles of Confederation, which was a pretty wishy-washy setup, and eventually, the problems of governing the union, and to a large extent, the question of what "the union" was, eventually brought about a change in thinking by policy makers of the day, and this is one of the things that precipitated the constitutional convention that really set down what this country was going to be.