Abstract
<p>This article examines the formation and transformation of the revolutionary hegemonic bloc in colonial America during the period 1763-1776. Drawing on Antonio Gramsci's theory of hegemony, the analysis conceptualizes the American Revolution as a process of formation of class alliances among heterogeneous social classes under conditions of crisis. The article argues that revolutionary unity did not emerge spontaneously nor through elite manipulation alone, but through a prolonged and conflictual process in which merchants, large landowners, and lawyers articulated a hegemonic project capable of incorporating artisans and yeomen, while simultaneously containing popular radicalism. Using a structural-historical approach, the article distinguishes between two phases of the revolutionary crisis: an initial phase characterized by a fragmented and decentralized bloc organized around negative unity and resistance to British taxation (1763-1774), and a second phase marked by the institutionalization of the hegemonic bloc through the Continental Congress, provincial conventions, and committees of safety (1774-1776). The analysis highlights the central role of institutional mediation, the relative autonomy of political and ideological processes, and the strategic sacrifice of short-term economic interests by leading classes in order to sustain bloc cohesion. By demonstrating how hegemony can be constructed and exercised in the absence of a consolidated state, the article contributes to historical sociology and offers a theoretically grounded reinterpretation of the American Revolution as a case of pre-state hegemonic formation.</p>