Especially appealing to the planter elite was the conservatism of the American Revolution. Indeed, according to their reading, it had been so conservative that it hardly deserved the title of revolution at all. The goal had been simple political independence, and the issue of home rule had not expanded to include the dangerous question of who should rule at home. The men who made the revolution had maintained control in victory.
James L. Roark, Masters without Slaves: Southern Planters in the Civil War and Reconstruction
american-conservatism, slavery, south, u-s-history, u-s-politics