Wonderful piece, great comments.
British author Paul Johnson once pointed out that the American Revolution was unique in that the aftermath did not follow the usual revenge-motivated murders that accompanied virtually every other revolution and rebellion in history. Approximately sixty thousand former British American Colonials, still loyal to the crown, departed the new America for Canada and Britain. They were not molested or abused on their way out, despite the terrible privations inflicted on their neighbors and former friends by those they had supported during the duration of the conflict.
This was a remarkable distinction that rarely gets attention, and is in stark contrast to what happened in France shortly after.
The French revolutionaries killed their king and queen, as did the Bolsheviks later on. We did not, which I think accounts for much of the difference in the outcome. No bitter civil war for one thing (at least not until much later).