The American Revolution changed the world for those who experienced it greatly. Most were affected badly and the Revolution left many wounds that would never heal. Everyone bears the cost of war, but those who say everyone bears the cost equally are incorrect. It is clear that those who were affected the worst, by the Revolution were Native Americans, for they never fully recovered from the consequences of American winning its independence. Of course, many other people suffered too, but not nearly as badly.

To start off, casualty means death, injury, or capture. The American and British soldiers suffered terribly during the war. Many of the casualties were from disease. The winters the soldiers went through threatened them with disease and starvation and many of them perished as a result. Things weren’t much better for those at home, since food and supplies were scarce. Even after the war people were affected by the injuries they suffered during the war and many people’s homes and livelihoods were destroyed during the conflict. Loyalists suffered the most loss regarding their homes and livelihoods. Many had to flee the country leaving everything behind or risk suffering attacks from their neighbors.

Black people were forced to make a choice during the war, stay in the United States or join the British, and perhaps secure their freedom. After the war, many of the African-American’s who stayed and fought in the U.S. were left high and dry while most British generals kept their promise to take the formerly enslaved people to Britain.

Native Americans suffered the most and no group of Indigenous nations came out of the Revolution better than they entered it regardless of any hopes they had. The Revolution greatly damaged the environment since they harvested many of the natural resources and dumped toxic materials anywhere they could. The first dilemma they faced was whether to ally with the Americans or the British. One group of Native tribes called the Iroquois confederation never recovered after some tribes allied with different nations. Most Native Americans fought for the British in hopes that they would delay the colonists from invading their land since they already prevented colonists from settling further than the Appalachian Mountains. However, others allied with the Americans hoping that they would be rewarded for their loyalty, but their land was starting to be taken less than a decade later. The Revolution resulted in increased westward expansion and higher population numbers in the colonies. The Revolution ended any possibility that Indigenous nations would or could retain their popular sovereignty.

In the end, everyone suffers short term losses. Soldiers and their families sometimes lost their land and their livelihoods, but eventually, they would recover. White men obviously were the least affected by the Revolution and were given voting power. Women mostly went under the radar and went back to their old lives and mothers and homemakers. Loyalists I’m sure were alright in the end, or the future generation was. The people who were affected the most long term were African-Americans. Native Americans never recovered and that is the real tragedy.