Revolutions are less to be preferred to evolutions.  The frustrations that mount up and eventually spill over in revolution get out of control and risk unleashing even more unfortunate results than what they are revolting against.  I'm partial to the American Revolution but like all revolutions it has had some unfortunate consequences also. 

The American Revolution is striking for several reasons which distinguish it from other revolutions of note.  First, the extent of the violent fight itself was more confined to combatants and we don't hear the stories of mass brutal reprisals from the British - given the potential propaganda value of such incidents it is telling that they are not a part of our shared cultural legacy.  The civilian populace didn't face the "reign of terror" so much a part of the process or aftermath of many revolutions.  The pro-British Americans were under some pressure from the revolutionaries to be sure, and some fled to Canada or Britain for comfort.  We don't hear about mass roundups of either side to be exterminated.  The US and UK have strong relations since those times so it is understandable that unpleasant histories might be suppressed, but historical truths do have a way of being kept alive in small pockets and resurfacing from time to time.

The next great distinction is the vision of the founding fathers in crafting the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights.  Every revolution has a manifesto but few are as thoughtful and constructive as the Declaration of Independence.  Being formulated in such an analytic, dispassionate way it served as a brake on the typical bloodlust evinced by revolutionaries on the recently toppled.  The argument has been made that the founding of the US was not benefit to the indigenous people or to the slaves - to this I can only counter "how much better would those parties have fared under colonial rule?"  The British didn't have a spectacular record of treating the Indians well, and while the British abolished slavery earlier than the US did, they were able to do so in such a way that the upheaval was mostly felt in the colonies, not in their homeland.

Whether by some quirk of their national character, or denied expedient circumstances, the British did not exact a heavy tribute from the newly formed US in the manner of the French treatment of Haiti.  The Haitians have never recovered.  This can be attributed to many things- neocolonialism, racism, or the failure to establish a system of private property rights which would enable wealth creation in a fashion similar to the US.  The Haitians shook off nominal French rule but replaced it with servitude every bit as onerous. The first time I heard of Toussaint Louverture, his name was the title of a track on a Miles Davis album.  This aspect of history is not taught in public school.

The French Revolution was the first great example of the forces of the mob, once unleashed, turning on themselves with a vengeance, at a vast human cost.  The scale of the bloodletting was not to be seen again until the Russian and Chinese Revolutions much later.  The French thirst for bloody vengeance made any early, peaceful end to the tumult impossible. The message writ large in this history is a warning of about mob rule, the lack of a check on ambition, and the ability of the best intentions to bring ruin to a nation.

Compared to national revolutions it seems inappropriate to use the same word applied to the Industrial Revolution.    While this societal transformation displaced a large number of people from their traditional ways of life and overturned an established order, it was not a violent overthrow.  The Industrial Revolution was the start of man's liberation from a life of toil.  Man should always know work and the character-building benefits of it, but he also needs free time for rest, play, worship and self-improvement.  The one caveat to all this, and applicable to political revolution too, is that man's wisdom and benevolence has not kept pace with his technology.  When this finally happens through evolution, not revolution, men can know lasting peace and prosperity.