American Revolution 1

Running head: AMERICAN REVOLUTION

American Revolution

Márcio Padilha

College of Southern Idaho

HITS 111 – Tremayne

Fall/2009
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American Revolution

By echoing the Irish motto “no taxation without representation,”

Americans started signaling their repudiation to excessive taxation by the

British, eventually leading to the Revolutionary War which would shift the

political structure of America and the role of its inhabitants().

Whereas Adams contended, “American freedoms were not ideals still

to be obtained, but rights long and firmly established by British law and by

the courage and sacrifices of generations of Americans,” the British indicated

to view the issue under a very different perspective in light of the 1765

Stamp Act, Britain’s first direct tax on Americans. With that being so, the

formative elements of the American Revolutionary war for independence

were set in motion ().

When the fifty-five delegates, comprised of the Thirteen Original

Colonies’ leading political figures, convened, in September 1774, to the first

Continental Congress in Philadelphia, not only were they forging the

beginning of a new nation, but also, and more importantly, committing an

act of treason under British Colonial law as their newly adopted Continental

Association, calling for non-importation of British goods, non-consumption of

on British products and non-exportation of American goods to Britain and the

British West Indies, hurt the British Empire’s interests in the New World ().

In order to assure efficacy, “Committees of Observation” were created.

Although officially charged only with overseeing boycott implementation,

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they became de facto government agents which, via an elaborate spy

network, circulated copies of the Continental Association for signatures and

investigated reports of questionable remarks and activities believed to

reflect vice and corruption. The concomitant synergism was that,

proportionally to the extension of the Committees of Observation power, the

regular colonial governments started to collapse ().

The epitome of the American Revolution took place at the night of

March 5, 1770 in Boston when a shouting crowd attacked the despised Red

Coats, who, in turn, fired back, killing five men. The war that eventually

ensued out of this occurrence led to a foremost reassertion of the social

fabric of the land. Whereas great majority of people on American soil

proclaimed their loyalty to Great Britain, the loyalties of Indians and of

settlers remained uncertain. The Native People’s grievances against the

European American predisposed many toward an alliance with Great Britain.

Reciprocally, recognizing that their standing with Native Peoples was poor,

the patriots also sought the Indians neutrality. A group of Cherokees,

nevertheless, decided to seize the moment and regain some land while the

Iroquois, despite pledging to remain neutral, ended up allying with the British

to protect their territory from land-hungry colonists. About one fifth of the

European American population remained loyal to Great Britain, firmly

rejecting independence while, between patriots and loyalists, there remained

perhaps two-fifths in the middle of the European population who, being true

pacifists, were neutral. To patriots, neutrality was as heinous as loyalism.

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Whereas revolutionary fervor was widespread in the north and free African

Americans enlisted in local patriot militias in New England, in South Carolina

and Georgia, where slaves composed more than half of the population, there

was noticeably less enthusiasm about resistance to Britain. In light of their

charged relationship with the patriots, supporting the British appeared more

promising to most slaves. In 1775, Virginia’s royal governor offered to free

any slave who would leave their patriot master and join the British forces ().

Upon being appointed as the first president of the United States,

George Washington was in a unique position to restore order due to his

previous military experience, remarkable stamina, coolness and caution, all

of which even loyalists admitted to be attributes of his leader skills().

Furthermore, in light of the early death of a brother and his marriage, was

one of the largest slave owners in Virginia, George Washington fully

demonstrated his embracing of the doctrine of the new nation, i.e. that “all

men are created equal”, by stating that he regretted slavery ever existed ().

Due to Washington’s perseverance, the British temporarily left Boston

for Halifax in the spring of 1776. Subsequently, second continental congress

formally recommends that the individual colonies form new governments,

replacing their colonial charters with state constitutions on May 10, 1776.

Meanwhile, the Declaration of Independence, adopted on July 4, 1776, is

being drafted, which will pave the way for a new Nation to come into

existence. Nevertheless, the north and south of this new nation-to-be would
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be viscerally different, a factor which will event promote greater societal

reshaping ().
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Bibliography

Norton, M. B., Katzman, D. M., Blight, D. W., Chudacoff, H. P., Logevall, F.,
Bailey, B., et al. (2005). A People and a Nation: A Hostory of the United
States, Vol. 1. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.

Oates, S. B., & Errico, C. J. (2007). Portrait of America, Vol. 1. Boston:

Houghton Mifflin Company.