The proponents of US independence, mobilized against the British and the colonial loyalists during the 1760’s and 1770’s. This was the era when America was witnessing fundamental revolution, especially in its political life.
Various political concepts were being developed, with the major proponents of independence emphasising on the need to grant America independence. Social life began to change, prior to this era, monarchy and aristocracy societies were dominant in America. With the need to become independent, there were stronger voices that outlined civil liberties and constitutional rights in the country.
This was seen as the age of revolution, where various factors were in force such as capitalism, increasing population, growing cities and the rise in the middle class. This had a remarkable impact on economic, social, political as well as in intellectual life. People were becoming more enlightened. The convergence of this factors brought conflicts in the western maritime. This eventually resulted in the American Revolution during the late 1700’s. The revolution affected both Western Europe and America.
The American Revolution that took place between 1775 and 1783 was contributed by two major factors. These included the American war of independence and the formation of American independent government. The war for independence involved patriots who took a very strong stand against the British way of administration.
This included its measures of taxation and control[1]. Although British were able to mobilize thousands of colonial loyalists, they could not handle the increasing number of Americans who agitated for independence. In fact, the establishment of a republican government where the power resided with the people was another hurdle for the Great Britain.
However, the characterizing endeavours by the patriots at the state and national levels were seen as “revolutionary” as well as being problematic. This is because the urge for independence was definitely leading to a revolution. It had its own problems, both long-term such as social, political and economic changes as well as short term such as war.
The political changes directly affected British colonies[2]. It was the escalation of the increased conflict between British government and its colonies. It was of course going to result into an outbreak of war in 1775. However, this eventually led to independence in 1976. The new government had to implement the republican constitution.
The patriots’ endeavours were to see that Americans had better life both at state and national levels. Notably, the Britain’s 13 American colonies in the north were experiencing a high rate of growth.
In 1770, the population had grown to about 250,000 with the increasing number of inhabitants’ years later. The growth formed a formidable force in the movement for growth. The composition of the population was also changing during this time. There was declining number of colonialists who had British origin. This implied that their culture was also beginning to dwindle.
The arrival of new immigrants from Germany, Scotland, and Ireland among others resulted into increased racial diversity. Therefore, few areas such as New Hampshire were purely composed of English culture[3]. The British wee unable to continue with their rule, since the increasing population and cultural diversity became a challenge. This gave room for independence movements to be formed and the resultant American nationality mainly composed of the patriots.
At the state level, there was a need for change. Back in 1750, British rulers did not offer basis for national consciousness in almost all its colonies. As a result, each of the 13colonies in the north was treated as separate entities.
Each colony had its own governor and a legislative assembly. In addition, the colonies were classified into, corporate, loyal and proprietary. This was based on the way the rulers were being appointed either by the king of England or by corporate owners. In this type of government, it was indeed hard to formulate policies, since there was neither a government body nor political parties.
The intervention was made in the event when response was needed to be affected in all colonies. Each colony was represented at the national assembly, and was mandated to make laws and policies for the respective colony. However, the assembly was limited in terms of jurisdiction and carrying out some activities such as collection of taxes, appropriation of money, regulation of internal trade, social behaviour as well as religion.
British government was the only body that was allowed to deal with external matters such as foreign affairs and trade[4]. Thus, it enjoyed much of self government. Nevertheless, within the assembly, there were patriots who highly agitated for independence. This is because they were well functioning representatives who later formed the basis for the new government.
The patriots urge for independence was also supported by the ideological source of resistance from the educated colonists. These group of intellectuals mounted attacks on British ideologies in administration policies. These attacks were based on the English common law, where they argued that these legal rules and procedures were not affected in governing of the new colonies.
They maintained that these legal provisions were meant to protect the king against any arbitrary acts by the subjects and the government. The age of enlightenment in Europe in the 17th century, became the foundation under which the second intellectual attack was founded. They believed that individuals all over the world possessed certain natural rights such as life, liberty and ownership of property. This was an awakening on the movements that opposed British colonialism.
After defeating the French in the great war of empires between 1756 and 1763, British placed a heavy burden to the tax payers in the effort to pay off the debt it incurred during the war. The war began with skirmishes in North America and most of it took place in the northern colonies.
Eventually, British defeated France and went ahead to seize French holdings in Canada and Florida. However, it incurred a lot of expense during the war that had to be paid. In order to generate this revenue, they turned to the colonies. The Great Britain’s relationship with its colonies became hard to maintain at this juncture. Prior to the war, there was no strict enforcement of laws such the Molasses Act that imposed payment of tax on molasses[5].
Moreover, the trade in America had made British very wealthy and powerful. However, with the heavy burden to the colonies, the colonies started to almost develop independent political and economic systems. The new tax reforms and new taxes were put in place something that did not go well with the patriots.
Eventually, conflict began when the Great Britain tried to reassert their power and control over the colonies. This is because during the war, some colonies had already initiated conflict with British by somehow collaborating with the French. There were conflicts in relation to the control of militia used to fight the French, independence of the colonies among other related factors.
Great opposition was evidenced, after the establishment of the Stamp act in March 1765. In fact, people such as Patrick Henry of Virginia highly urged representatives from the House of Burgesses to condemn it. An inter-colonial meeting was called, where an appeal was made to the king to withdraw the act.
It was deemed as taxation with any form or representation. British merchant also supported this move. This is because they feared the effects it would have on their exports. In addition, violence was witnessed in various areas opposing the measures of taxation and control.
Days before the enactment of the Act, merchants in several colonies vowed to oppose importation of British goods. The violence escalated to a point where a British officer’s house was plundered[6]. Later’ general Thomas Gage ordered British commanders to rout protesters by force. The non-importation agreements were encouraged even by British merchants. This challenged British authority in all colonies. They were said to lack power to prevail in such conditions.
In conclusion, the movement by the patriots during 1760s and 1770s was seen as a revolution with its own problems. Although there were a number of loyalists to the colonial government, the patriots agitated the need for independence both at state and national levels which was eventually granted.
References
Alexander, K. John. Samuel Adams: America’s Revolutionary Politician. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2002.
Ferling, John. A Leap in the Dark: The Struggle to Create the American Republic. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2003.
Gary, B. Nash. The Unknown American Revolution: The Unruly Birth of Democracy and the Struggle to Create America. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 2005.
Footnotes
- John, K. Alexander. Samuel Adams: America’s Revolutionary Politician. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2002.
- John, Ferling. A Leap in the Dark: The Struggle to Create the American Republic. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2003.
- John, K. Alexander. Samuel Adams: America’s Revolutionary Politician. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2002.
- John, Ferling. A Leap in the Dark: The Struggle to Create the American Republic. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2003.
- Nash, B. Gary. The Unknown American Revolution: The Unruly Birth of Democracy and the Struggle to Create America. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 2005.
- John, K. Alexander. Samuel Adams: America’s Revolutionary Politician. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2002.