The birthday of a new world is at hand.

That was what Thomas Payne, the fiery pamphletier, rode in 1776, as 13 of Great Britain's North

American colonies rose in revolt against British rule and declared themselves a newly independent

nation.

The American Revolution was something the world had never seen, politically, economically,

and diplomatically.

Let's look at all three.

First, the politics.

Revolutions themselves were not new, of course.

Britain put itself through not one but two revolutions in the 17th century.

Other countries in Europe endured similar upheavals.

These rebellions shared one of two goals.

Replace the current monarch with another one, or extort new protections and privileges

from the existing regime.

In stark contrast, the Americans did not propose merely overthrowing a monarchy.

They proposed ending the very idea of monarchy as a worthwhile form of government.

In America, the citizen, not the government, or the king, would hold the keys to power.

With this overturning of the old way of doing things, the rebels made the political systems

of Europe look as antiquated and irrational as fully as Newton's laws had made medieval

physics look antiquated and irrational.

As it was with politics, so it was with economics.

Terring up the old order meant more than just refusing to take political orders from kings,

...