Reflections on the anniversary of the Fort Wilson Riot... America’s War of Independence was striking for many reasons, reasons that are sometimes overshadowed by the shock of a ragtag army defeating the world’s greatest military power. But this striking issue is in fact just as important as the victory itself: As historian Joseph J. Ellis puts it, the American Revolution is famous for the fact that “it didn’t eat its young.” Consider the French Revolution, and its subsequent Reigns of Terror, followed by the Napoleonic Wars. Most revolutions go through stages: overthrow the incumbent ruling class, then kill them all,...