Identity And Unity Among The Colonies
The American Revolution was an event that could only have happened under certain crucial circumstances. Britain's taxation of the colonies as a way of paying their war debts reinforced an emerging sense of American identity and helped to precipitate the American Revolution. Resistance to the crown became more and more common as the years went by, and these minor inconveniences eventually led to the birth of a new nation. By the eve of the Revolution, the colonists had established a deep sense of identity, and although numerous Americans were united against Britain, many remained loyal to the crown.The unique identity of the American colonies became more obvious to everyone as the events leading up to the Revolution took place. Edmund Burke, an English statesman, refers to the American colonies as a "great and growing people spread over a vast quarter of the globe." This shows the American identity being drafted; being molded not only from the colonists, but from the observations of foreign people. The colonies' distance from Britain also affected their identity. The colonies were far enough away that England had little or no influence of American s
Nearly all Americans protested the taxation and boycotted British manufactured goods. The American identity, being well established and rooted into the culture, was visible to all by the Eve of the Revolution. " This is showing how America contains a unique people with unique customs and beliefs. The unification of the colonies, however, was not so obvious. This allowed them to grow as a separate nation secluded from Britain's societies and cultures. One major example of the American unity is The United Colonies of North America meeting in Congress at Philadelphia and setting forth the causes and necessity of their taking up arms. America is now most firmly united and as firmly resolved to defend their liberties ad infinitum against every power on Earth that may attempt to take them away. Another example of the colonists' unity is how during the Stamp Act, the majority of the colonists united in regards to the nonimportation agreements. One example of the expressions of unity from the colonists is a cartoon called "Join, or Die" which was placed in the Pennsylvania Gazette in 1754. Another example of the colonists' unity comes from Richard Henry Lee. As to the unity of the colonists, there was no such agreement between them. This cartoon shows that the colonies need to join together or they will perish. The American Revolution was a great test of the colonists' identity and unity. This shows a negative account of the colonists' unity; stating that the colonists were not originally unified, but because they were tricked into their decision by a terrorist group, they became united. Mather Byles, a British loyalist, takes a different view of the colonists' unity in The Famous Mather Byles: The Noted Boston Tory Preacher, Poet and Wit, 1707-1788.
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