The American Revolution was not a revolution in the sense of a
radical or total change. It was not a sudden and (47)
overturning of the political and social framework, such as later
occurred in France and Russia, (48) both were already
independent nations. Significant changes were ushered in, (49)
they were not breathtaking. What happened was accelerated
(50) rather than outright revolution. During the conflict,
people went on working and praying, marrying and playing. Most of them were
not (51) disturbed by the actual fighting, and many of the
more isolated communities scarcely knew that a war was on.
America’s War of Independence heralded the birth of three modem nations.
One was Canada, which (52) its first large influx of
English-speaking population from the thousands of loyalists who fled there from
the United States; (53) was Australia, which became a penal
colony now that America was no longer (54) for prisoners and
debtors; the third newcomer—the United States — based itself squarely on
republican principles. Yet even the political overturn was not
so (55) as one might suppose. In some states, notably
Connecticut and Rhode Island, the war largely ratified a colonial self-rule
already existing. British officials, everywhere ousted, were (56)
by a home-grown governing class, which promptly sought a local
substitute for king and parliament.
A) violent
I) other
B) seriously
J) received
C) revolutionary
K) but
D) evolution
L)
severe
E) another
M) available
F) and
N)
when G)
replaced
O) revolution
H) repelled