This painting by John Trumbull depicts the British surrender at Yorktown. Benjamin Lincoln is about to receive the sword from O’Hara.
Image Source: Yale University Artthe expressive or application of human creative skill and imagination in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, or in music, literature, or dance; art is created primarily for beauty and emotional power; and "holds art is anything the viewer or listener finds aesthetically pleasing." Gallery.
Notice the details of everyday life: uniforms, (British and French) flags (white flag of surrender on the left, and American flag on the right), and who stands where. A revolution changes ways in which people show status, identitythe name of a person, along with the qualities, beliefs, etc., that make a particular person or a group different from others, and respect.
On October 19, 1781, after a three-week siege that began September 28, British General Lord Cornwallis surrendered to George Washington and his French allies at Yorktown, Virginia. It was the last major land battle of the American Revolution, and it took place 245 years ago.
Cornwallis did not appear at the surrender himself. He claimed to be ill and sent his deputy, General Charles O’Hara, who tried to hand his sword to the French commander first, and was redirected until it was received by an American general, Benjamin Lincoln. Even in defeat, everyone was carefully acting out who ranked above whom.
This “revolution” story is usually told as politics and warWar: A state of armed conflict between different nations or states or different groups within a nation or state.. But if cultureculture is not genetically inherited, it is shared, learned, and dynamic- never static is simply everyday life, the way we dress, talk, greet each other, and celebrate, then a more interesting question is: What do revolutions change about everyday life?
Breaking the Old Order
A revolution doesn’t just replace a government. It tries to break the old order into small, visible habits that people live by. Three of the easiest places to see this are titles, dress, and languagea system of symbols that allow people to communicate with each other, also the MOST symbolic way that culture is passed down.
Titles: from “Your Lordship” to “Mister.”
Before the Revolution, how you addressed someone announced who you were and where you stood. Lords, gentlemen, and commoners each had their place. Everyone knew it. The new nation changed the status ladder, and the Constitution banned titles of nobility. When the first Senate debated what to call the president, a great, royal-sounding title was proposed, and immediately rejected. A few even suggested “King,” which Washington quickly rejected! The title was finally settled on as “Mr. President.” That may seem small but changing how people address each other changes how they think about each other.
Dress: what you wear says who you are.
When Britain taxed imported cloth, colonists boycotted it and wore plain homespun, so a rough coat became a badge of loyalty. Patriots turned the clothing issue into a political statement. The following decades brought more changes: the powdered wigs and knee breeches of the gentleman slowly gave way to simpler styles. In France, revolutionaries called themselves the sans-culottes, “without fancy knee breeches,” because long trousers were the clothing of ordinary workers, and they wore them proudly.
Language: a new country, a new way of speaking.
Words changed too. Noah Webster argued for Americans to have their own dictionary and their own spelling, which is why we write “color” and “center” instead of “colour” and “centre.” A new nation wanted its own voice, and everyday speech was one of the first places to find it.
What Did Not Change
Much of daily life carried on. People still farmed, worshipped, cooked familiar foods, and raised their children the same. The most visible changes come at the top, while the deepest habits shift slowly, over generationsthose people that are born and living at about the same time, regarded collectively; usually a generation within families is considered about 20 years. One of the most important lessons about culture is that it changes far more slowly than governments do.
Freedom: won at Yorktown did not Reach Everyone.
Thousands of enslaved people fled to the British armed forces in search of freedom, and many died in the war. Native nations lost land and alliancesa close association or agreement for a common objective such as marriage, family, kinship, or defense More. Women gained new ideals but few new rights. Later generations, including abolitionists, suffragists, and civil rights leaders, have used the Revolution’s own words to demand that the promise be fulfilled.
Not Every Revolution is Successful
Some Revolutions Fail: The Paris Commune of 1871 was crushed within weeks; the Hungarian uprising of 1956 was put down by force; Haiti’s revolution ended slaveryforcibly removing people from their homelands to sell them into slavery, enslavement of war captives, or slavery for prostitution - there are many forms of slavery, but also a condition where human beings are owned by other human beings, and by law are property More and won independence in 1804, but at enormous cost. However, even failed revolutions can change what people are willing to say, wear, and demand. The American Revolution succeeded, yet it has taken generations for its ideals and everyday habits to take hold. Changes in everyday lives are continuing.
Two Anniversaries, One Question
This year, 2026, America marks 250 years since the Declaration of Independence. The Yorktown surrender, 245 years ago this fall, is a reminder that declaring a new nation and living in one are two different things. It took years of war, and generations of changing everyday habits, before “Mr. President” felt normal, and Americans are still trying to think of themselves as one people.
What parts of your everyday life come from a revolution that you never realized?
As we look back on 250 years, here is something to think about: How you address your boss, the words and spellings you use, the clothes you wear to church or to work, the holidays you celebrate. Everyday life activities carry traces of the choices people made long ago. I like the mantra of the National Genealogical Societya group of people who are all interdependent and interconnected by their cultural connections; they live in patterned ways and their behaviors in various circumstances are well established; for instance in the Western world most people adhere to lines (cue) at bus stops, or movie theaters, or when checking out at a grocery store; patterned and regular ways of doing things are expected and accepted:
“We are who we are, because they were who they were.”
Who was left out of “everyday life,” and how has “we the people” changed?
That is the question the anniversaries invite. A revolution begins with a “declaration,” but it continues in daily life, in every generation. We must keep deciding, always, what those words in the original Declaration of Independence really mean. You can read and print the official text through the National Archives Declaration Transcription at the following link:
https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript
