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The Founding Fathers The Politicians Who Led Colonial Assemblies And Congresses

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Alan Taylor writes, “The Founding Fathers-the politicians who led colonial assemblies and congresses-did not distinguish themselves with self-discipline. [During the boycott of English goods to protest colonial restriction], Thomas Jefferson imported British glass windows for his mansion at Monticello.”(Taylor 53) This is one example of the contradicting era of cultural development in 18th century America: the continuation of closeness to England, and the steady distancing of the American colonists from the British. For the majority of the 18th century, colonial America sprouted shocking ideas of the power of the individual through events like the Great Awakening and Enlightenment, and the emergence of parties such as the Whigs. Meanwhile, they continued to hold close ties to their mother country through imitative actions caused by the mercantilist policies controlling trade and taxes. Although mercantilism imposed by the British brought the colonies and England closer, the ideas of individual liberty and choice that arose in pre-Revolutionary America including the Great Awakening, Enlightenment, and Whig ideologies divided them. These conflicting movements led to an era of dynamic cultural growth in which the colonies both grew closer and further apart from Britain. The ideas of individuality that emerged as a result of the Enlightenment and Great Awakening pushed American colonists to question and distance themselves from the monarchical English rule of society and the

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