Hindsight In The American Revolution

After receiving his PhD from Harvard in 1953, American historian, author, and academic specialist, Bernard Bailyn, continues to transform ideas of early American history with his award winning books. As we know, the foundation of today’s American Society leads back to the transfer of people from the Britain to the New World, in the early 1600s. In his book, Bernard Bailyn, author of The Peopling of British North America, An Introduction, gathers demographic, social, and economic history research to form four propositions relating to the migration. While identifying central themes of our history, he attempts to present an overview for American knowledge relating to the causes of migration to the new world and consequences of society created

In the seventeenth-century before I was born, “the colonies were becoming overrun by various, very different immigrant groups” (Davidson, J., 2006). Famine, warfare, and religious persecution forced many non-English groups to flee their homes in Europe to

During the seventeenth century, colonial America was welcoming many newcomers, several from England. Quantities of these newcomers were seeking land for economic purposes as others were longing for religious toleration. Many of the English colonists settled in the New England region for religious freedoms, to escape the English king, and leave adversaries of other religions behind. Settlers who resided in the Middle Atlantic region were affected differently. Although the Middle Atlantic was more

One of the major causes for emigration from England to North America was religious persecution. Religious tolerance in Britain for other Christian sects besides the Anglican church was virtually nonexistent, resulting in many members of other sects to seek religious haven in the colonies. The vast majority of immigrants coming to New England were followers of

      English colonizers brought old world traditions into the new world and strengthened their respective communities in order to protect their cultural identity in the colonies. For the English, immigration into the colonies meant facing one’s inessentiality; the colonies had high rates of mortality and weakly structured economies.11  Faced with their dispensability, settlers discovered new means to retain their cultural identities. For example, Quakers “rejected institutions of high culture and made virtues of simplicity and hard work in a hostile environment.” 12 They transplanted their theological cultural inheritances into colonial society and were able to perpetuate that facet of their identity in the colonies. The solidification of their communities was vital to the survival of their identities. For Scots, maintaining close relationships with prominent Scots in other colonies emphasized a Scottish identity, even across colonial borders.13 Maintaining relationships equated sustenance of old world culture through social interactions. Additionally, English colonizers solidified their community by placing a strong importance on trust. “Among persons for whom doubt replaced basic trust in the way of one’s social group, such doubt may undermine the

In addition to unity by the end of the revolution, the colonies had developed a definite sense of identity. According to Document H, which was published two years before the end of the revolution in 1781, becoming an American was 'by being received in the broad lap of our great Alma Mater. Here individuals of all nations are melted into a new race of men, whole labours and posterity will one day cause great changes in the world. American identity meant being a mixture of European, Native American, and even African American blood and culture. Looking back at the times when the colonies were just being set up by the first arriving colonists, from that point, the spirit of the colonists had been that of fighters. They had fought to build a community out of nothing, and although they initially failed, they tried again. They fought the Indians numerous times in order to protect what was theirs, and during the time of the acts, towards the time of the revolution, they had fought again for what was theirs; their inalienable rights. Thus, the American identity

In what ways and to what extent did the “American identity” develop between 1750 and 1776?

During the 17th and 18th century, English residents felt that England was over-crowded and intolerable. They wanted to lessen these problems that rose up because of the large population increase and to establish more religious freedom (Horn). The English believed that the best way to go about this was to colonize the New World. Subsequently, many colonies began to develop, and of these colonies, Massachusetts Bay and Virginia were the most well-known. The early settlements of Massachusetts and Virginia were both established by similar groups of people at the same time; furthermore, their contrasting beginnings as a colony, views on religion, and method of economic stability all contributed to our American heritage today.

America was a place for dreams and new beginnings, until white people arrived in 1607. Three groups sailed over the treacherous Atlantic from their cruel lives in England to set up peaceful religious colonies. The only problem is that they attempted to settle in their own way and all failed dismally. The New England, Middle and Southern Colonies grew differently over the period 1619-1760.Examining the three sets of colonies will prove that they were all different: socially, economically, politically but not philosophically.

Anglicization of the Britain’s American colonies was a big event for the course of not only American or British history, but world history. The colonists adopting many British ways and becoming very patriotic towards the “mother country” had a large effect on the events that unfolded in the late 18th century. While it is true that the American colonists were incredibly British during the beginning to the mid-18th century, the colonies had been around long enough to develop their own culture and way of doing things. The series of events and acts that were imposed on the colonists post French and Indian War got the ball rolling on what came to be known as the American Revolution. The colonists were so fed up with the way in which the British were tightening their hold on the colonies to the point where they were driven to rebellion. The combination of British and underlying American ideals in the pre-revolution era were a necessarily pre-requisite and important component of what would become the American Revolution.

While all of the above social, cultural and economic circumstances were playing out and laying the groundwork for the American Revolution, several important political developments came to fruition in the concluding half of the 18th century that sealed the certainty of the American Revolution and made it inevitable. These developments, namely, the relative strengths of the local and colonial governments at the time, the betrayal of the colonies by the British Crown after King George’s War, and the end of Salutary Neglect, proved to present insurmountable odds to the colonists.

There were a myriad of differences between Great Britain and her American colonies in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, but these differences can be divided into three basic categories: economic, social, and political. The original American settlers came to the colonies for varied reasons, but a common trait among these settlers was that they still considered themselves British subjects. However, as time passed, the colonists grew disenfranchised from England. Separated from the king by three thousand miles and living in a primitive environment where obtaining simple necessities was a struggle, pragmatism became the common thread throughout all daily life in the colonies. It was this pragmatism that led the colonists to create

In 1776, the American people declared themselves an independent nation. The American people were traumatized by the Revolution and feared a strong central government. This led to their first attempt at a government, the Articles of Confederation, which ultimately failed. After this let down of a government, the founding fathers wrote the Declaration of Independence, which would become the law of the American land. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were two influential individuals, who were originally involved in the writing of the Declaration of Independence. Both were involved in the political side of the Revolutionary war, but when speaking of it, told alternate versions of the war. As they approached the end of their lives, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams dedicated themselves to telling extremely differentiating versions of the Revolutionary War; Jefferson focusing on the glory and Adams focusing on the hardships, while Jefferson’s version is the only one recorded in the textbooks students use today.

“Is there a single trait of resemblance between those few towns and a great and growing people spread over a vast quarter of the globe, separated by a mighty ocean?” This question posed by Edmund Burke was in the hearts of nearly every colonist before the colonies gained their independence from Britain. The colonists’ heritage was largely British, as was their outlook on a great array of subjects; however, the position and prejudices they held concerning their independence were comprised entirely from American ingenuity. This identity crisis of these “British Americans” played an enormous role in the colonists’ battle for independence, and paved the road to revolution.

When the American Revolution began, both the colonists and the English were uncertain of what was unfolding. Colonists were confused about their motives and goals, and the English were upset at the Americans asking for more than it was possible to give. The Americans romanticized their past, pining for salutary neglect, but they couldn’t describe exactly what they wanted. Once aware of the fragility of their collective identity, they aimed to find a solution. The way the colonies were established and ruled created an identity crisis and later, extreme antipathy towards the English. As the colonists tried to make sense of their confusion and contempt, they found that republicanism offered a justification for their feelings and actions.