The 18th Century And Colonial America

During the 17th and early 18th centuries, many American colonists took it upon themselves to unify the English colonies. As Puritans and other settlers began to establish villages across the eastern coast of North America, they found that the only way for them to function properly was through peace and order. Unity was attained through agreements and constitutions laying down the first steps to self-government and democracy, and to a lesser extent a call to action between the colonists and the English crown.

     Building on English foundations of political liberty, the colonist extend the concepts of liberty and self-government far beyond those envisioned in the mother country. Although Britain had a representative government they had a monarchy, sort of. Still even though they had a representative government the members of parliament were not directly chosen by the people. In Virginia, in specific Jamestown, the House of Burgesses said that representatives were to be chosen by land owning people. Another good idea from the colonies was the

The New England colonists did not come to the New World in search for a quick fortune. They came for the sole purpose of creating a model society for other settlers who sought a new life. They believed in creating a prosperous society rather than a few wealthy individuals (DOC A).

Between the 18th -century the British colonies in North America transformed their colonial life and culture through Anglicization and Americanization. Anglicization was where the new colonies wanted to follow the British society. Americanization was where the new colonies wanted to follow their own original and self-governing rules and create a new nation. While both of these processes aided in shaping the new colonies, only one process transformed the colonial life and culture into what it was after the 18th-century.

By 1763 the American colonies developed a society different than the Mother Country due to religious, political, and economic differences. Religious toleration was established in the colonies whereas persecution was still occurring in England. In addition, the colonists extended concepts of liberty and self -government to a greater extent than the British did as well as developed an open social structure in which people could rise whereas England had well-defined, hereditary classes.

By 1760's the Americans increasingly felt a sense of unity and their own identity. The people knew that if they do not unite it would be much easier for the British to destroy them. However the each of the colonies still tended to

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 power hold in North America shifted massively during the eighteenth century. One event that contributed majorly to the rise of the American Identity was the creation of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. The Declaration was constructed in response to colonial unrest towards British rule. It was one of the major reasons why the American identity rose in the first place. With no Declaration of Independence, there would be no USA, which means no American identity. The crafting of this very important document gave the patriots something to call "theirs". It elicited a sense of pride within the colonists that would eventually develop into the American identity.

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

Using information from the evidence below as well as your knowledge of the period assess why, over the course of the 17th and 18th centuries, colonists went from considering themselves “British subjects” to identifying themselves as “Americans”

Many events happened during the period of time from 1763 through 1775 that changed American’s mindset as the country grew. Both people and events during this time affected the nation of the United States enormously. This time period changed the United States for better in it’s development as a nation. Specific people like Thomas Paine and Samuel Adams tenaciously tried to change the course of history; wars, such as the French and Indian war altered the perception of the American people. These events and people were some of the many that facilitated the colonists’ defiance against the British. Altercations they encountered turned the people of the newly formed Americas against the British aiding in their quest for independence.

American colonists mainly descended from England and were loyal to the British Crown, however, politically the decisions made in the Continental Congress and the stopping of salutary neglect angered the colonists, socially, as a result of unfair taxes, colonists from all the colonies began to rebel and thus have their interests aligned which developed a sense of social unity, and economically after many unjust acts were carried out by the British Empire, the colonies began to help one another, therefore between 1750 to 1776 colonists began to cease their loyalty towards England and develop an independent American identity.

The presence of the Atlantic Ocean made it increasingly difficult for the British to have firm control over the colonists and the freedom that resulted from this leniency contributed to the formation of a distinctly American identity (since no other British subjects had as much freedom as the American colonists). Edmond Burke, a member of the House of Commons and a supporter of the colonies, noted in 1766 that “…The eternal Barriers of Nature forbid that the colonies should be blended or coalesce into the Mass…of this Kingdom.” (Document B). The “tyrant three thousand miles away” (Document D) attempted to have tighter control over the colonies by enacting the Sugar Act, Stamp Act, Quartering Act, and the Declatory Act and quickened the unification of the American colonies, who felt like victims, against the

Searching for evidence to explain the genesis of that distinctively American cultural identity that led to the events of the American Revolution, historians use the benefits of hindsight, to analyze and understand a phenomenon without which the American Revolution would have arguably never happened. Searching for evidence to explain the genesis of that distinctively American cultural identity that led to the events of the American Revolution, historians use the benefits of hindsight, to analyze and understand a phenomenon without which the American Revolution would have arguably never happened. While British North Americans colonists saw themselves in regional roles, such as Virginians, Carolinians or New Yorkers rather than Americans, late

From 1607 to 1754, people’s views on governing themselves changed greatly. It began in 1607, with the settlement of Jamestown. They were a corporate colony, working for the Virginia Company, they were whole-heartedly British. The Great Awakening, the Enlightenment, and the Tradition of Neglect all introduced new ways for the American colonies to think of themselves as more independent. Although they still considered themselves part of the British Empire, by the end of this era they had discovered that they could make their own laws and constitutions that fit the way that their world worked as opposed to Great Britain.