In 1765 the British government was like, 'Hey, since we went into this debt to get you all this new land, we trust that you won't mind if we pass the Stamp Act, in which we place a fancy stamp on your documents, newspapers, playing cards, etc., and in return, you give us money.'

In order to enforce these boycotts, the protesters created Committees of Correspondence, which spread information about who was and was not observing the boycotts.

And it's probably not a coincidence that most of the writers and signers of the Declaration of Independence were men of property, and they wanted to keep it that way.

Did it change the way we think about what people are and how we should organize ourselves? Addressing those questions will involve a brief foray into the history of ideas.

The American Revolution also reminds us - as the French one will next week - that revolutionary ideas and values are not always easy to live up to.