Colonial American Identity

Both the British and the American colonists contributed to causing the American Revolution. The war grew out of contempt: England’s contempt for the colonies and colonial contempt for British policies. A series of actions by the British eventually pushed the colonists over the edge and towards independence. The results of the war gave many citizens a new role in society while others, like slaves, felt no change at all. This paper will examine the specific causes and effects of the American Revolution.

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.

The American Revolution taking place first in 1765, was mainly because there was a want for a free and open government. After the battles of Lexington and Concord they colonies were debating whether fighting for independence or reconciliation was the best way to protect their liberties as colonies. If and when people decided that independence was the best option, they were still hesitant about openly seeking this freedom. Though Congress was sending out declarations that the colonies were loyal to King George, they were also preparing for war with the British, which was much of a contradiction. The British also prepared for war and even recruited slaves to fight for them. Many

The American Revolution was an unequivocal example of the ability of a nation’s people to rise and defeat an inadequate government. When a government fails to protect its inhabitants, citizens will grow uneasy and fight for their rightful cause. The British government’s rule over its colonies was erroneous and harmful to the colonists’ best interests. Best described by John Hancock, the British government’s rule caused many colonists to become despondent with their ruler. “As though they thought it not enough to violate our civil rights, they endeavored to deprive us of the enjoyment of our religious privileges; to vitiate our morals, and thereby render us deserving of destruction.” Evidently, the American Revolution was sparked by a

Colonial unity, it is an ongoing struggle. It was necessary for preserving freedom so they put aside their differences and came together. In 1754, the year French and Indian War began, Benjamin Franklin created his “Join or Die” ( Document A) cartoon that consisted of all the colonies as part of a dismembered snake. And the message was either join together or die alone. The revolution was mandatory because when the British won, they demanded that the colonies pay by taxing everything, such as tea, paper, and even had quartering. So the colonists joined together by

Beginning in 1763, the Americans had a long road of aggravation ahead of them as laws limiting their control were established by Britain. The French and Indian War caused a need for regulations due to the debt Britain accumulated and tensions between Indians and colonists. However, the colonies had no control over the regulations imposed on them. Britain restricted their territories, surrounded them with British soldiers, and continued to escalate the regulations. Eventually, the Americans rebelled in response to these actions. In the late 18th century, Britain’s unrelenting control over the American colonies was the primary cause of the American Revolution.

The American Revolution was inevitable and America could have not gradually and peacefully developed independence within the British Commonwealth without the violent revolt. The colonist were getting fed up with the way that they were being governed and they felt as if they did not have rights. They wanted everything to go back the way it was before because they did not want to break away from the British but they wanted the salutary neglect to continue. Salutary neglect consist of the the government having rules and not enforcing them which would eventually cause an uproar from the Colonists. The peace with salutary neglect eventually was disturbed when the British decided the Colonists needed to pay taxes due to large national war debt that was upon them but the Colonists did not agree with that decision.

Historians have argued the American Revolution was a result of the political influence of the British, and the colonists were trying to retain their rights. On the other hand, other historians contended that the colonists were more concerned on economic issues implemented by the British government. In conducting some research, I found arguments on the causes that ranged from military, religious, political, and economic interactions between Britain and the colonies. The Revolution developed due to a mesh of complex social, political, and economic factors.

The American Revolution, which occurred approximately from 1765 to 1786, is also known as the American Revolutionary War and the U.S. War of Independence, for good reason. The conflict rose from rising tensions amid the people of Great Britain’s thirteen American colonies and the colonial government, which represented the British crown. Clashes between Britain’s troops and colonial militiamen in Lexington and Concord in April 1775 kicked off the armed conflict, and by the following summer, the rebels were waging a full-scale war for their independence. The American Revolution had tremendous consequences, and was not simply a victory of arms on the battlefield, but also a feat of economic and political ideals, and vital societal changes. This huge period of history set into motion greater changes in American life and created a country, demonstrating just how this revolutionary age in time more than earned its name. This battle of independence waged by the American colonies against Britain influenced political ideas and revolutions around the globe, as a young, largely divided nation won its freedom from the greatest military force of its time.

The span of years from 1750 to 1776 were some of the most important years in American history. Up until the eve of the revolution, the British were still very involved in American lifestyle and there was no unity among the colonies. However, as the eve of revolution neared and harsh acts, salutary neglect, and lack of representation was implied on the colonies by their mother country England, America built a great sense of unity and a sense of identity as a country.

Leading up to the American Revolution, were a chain of events that created a spark in the colonists to obtain independence from Great Britain. The American Revolution could not be tied to one single event but instead by the feelings and determination brought on by this chain of disgraceful actions. Gordon S. Wood explains what he believes caused the rebellion of the American colonists from Great Britain and how those causes help explain the outcomes of the revolution in his essay, “Radical Possibilities of the American Revolution.” Wood argues that the colonists were motivated to rebel against the British monarchy due to their need to preserve their liberties and through this revolution a radical change in government and American life occurred.

The English colonies each had their own identity/name. Despite having their different names, religious beliefs, laws, and economic activity, the colonies all had one common link which was the country of Great Britain. All the colonies had to officially claim their identities by getting a character from the King of Great Britain, and all 13 were generally under British rule. During the 17th and 18th centuries the colonists began to make agreements and compacts regarding unification to benefit the general colonial population. The colonies were striving to become unified with each other, but some clones had different approaches toward unity that did not coincide with other colonists beliefs. However, some colonies had the same specific reasons

As the eve of the American Revolution came upon history, British had control of colonist in America and at the time the 7-year war had ended and this caused Britain to become indebted by many countries and British troops that were in the war. As a result of this debt, the king of Britain, King George iii, decided to pass acts toward the American colonist such as the stamp act, Tea act, Malasous act, and to pay back the soldiers the Quartering acts are introduced. In addition, the American colonist did not enjoy act of taxation and quartering acts so as a result, the American identity grew stronger and independent because the colonist had known that the taxes, King George iii placed, were unfair and decided the best solution to this problem

The American Revolution helped develop an American identity by changing the colonists views on nationalism, politics, and religious freedoms. Before the American Revolution many colonist viewed themselves as simply being English, however, after the American Revolution colonists viewed themselves as Americans. With their strong belief in democracy and the experience of fighting for their political independence the colonists united under a new, ideological definition of what it meant to be an American (Schultz, 2014 p. 112). Many of the colonists views on politics changed dramatically after the American Revolution. They no longer wanted to be ruled by a monarchy that catered to the wealthy and powerful but by a Republican democracy that was

The American Revolution was predicated by a number of ideas and events that, combined, led to a political and social separation of colonial possessions from the home nation and a coalescing of those former individual colonies into an independent nation.