I agree with you that it’s a mistake to conflate Continental European conservatism with that of America or even its parent England.
But I don’t think that affects my point that 1776 was an independence movement, whereas 1848 was both a social and political revolution.
1776 was a revolution that replaced monarchy with self government. It was a political revolution, but it left daily life intact. There was no “class struggle”.
1848 was another matter. It was an attempt to overthrow the old order, socially as well as politically. The 48ers encompassed a wide variety of beliefs, from Whigs all the way to the likes of Marx and Engels.
Just as it’s a mistake to equate Continental conservatism with that of America, it’s a mistake to equate the 1848 revolutionaries with those that led to the creation of the American culture.
“American conservatism is, from a long-term historical perspective, the most radical ideology in history. “
I don’t know that I’d agree with you here; like Russell Kirk I believe that American conservatism is the absence of ideology; when what you have is an ideology it’s something other than conservatism.
I get your point about the American revolution differing in character from that of 1848. I contend, however, that it was more a difference of emphasis than of type.
The American Revolution was not solely one of a conservative nature. There were Americans who wanted the revolution to go farther, towards the direction of what we would call social revolution. An example being Shay’s Rebellion in MA, but such outbreaks occurred in most states. The Constitution was in fact largely proposed and adopted to provide the government with a more effective way to oppose and put down such rebellions.
I think it is pretty clear, however, that the American revolutionists would have been on the barricades had they been living in 1848 Europe. Since these revolutions were crushed, we don’t know whether they would have followed more closely the American or French/Russian path.