Between the settlement of Jamestown in 1607 and the Treaty of Paris in 1763, the most important change that occurred in the colonies was the emergence of a society quite different from that in England.
Changes in religion, economics, politics, and social structure illustrate this Americanization of transplanted Europeans. Colonies removed themselves from their mother country, then extended liberty that was heavily deprived of in England. Society evolved into thinkers that were allied with the state government and/or the church. Social class structure became well developed in time to produce the Declaration of Independence.
By 1763, although some colonies still maintained established churches, other colonies had accomplished a virtual revolution for religious toleration and separation of church and state. Thomas Jefferson's letter of 1802 rephrases that the separation of church and state were avoid the forceful respect to religious groups.The government separated from the church, struggled to keeps its society pacified from its economy. While religious toleration remained, the government of the state had outraged its people economically.
In a similar economic revolution, the colonies outgrew their mercantilist relationship with the mother country and developed an expanding capitalist system of their own. The mother country, Britain, had difficulty with the distribution of jobs, thus making it a burden for colonists to support their own families. British soldiers were given the right to be contained within the homes of colonists, igniting the outrage for independence by Bostonians. Thomas Hutchinson recounts the reaction to the Stamp Acts in Boston (1765) to be "one of the more explosive reactions to the stamp act" created by a chain of attacks from a mob rising against a rich merchant's home. This merchant, Andrew Oliver, was responsible for enforcing the Stamp Act. Colonists became dependent on their mother country, but Britain were in the equal position for they taxed the colonists. Great Britain could not distribute jobs properly and thus became worse for the colonists.
Building on English foundation of political liberty, the colonists extended the concepts of liberty and self-government far beyond those envisioned in the mother country. British soldiers were granted their impending freedom, and the influential independence flashed the lightbulbs of the English colonists. They began governing themselves and followed the path to independence and detachment from the mercantilist trade sprouted by the mother country. The boycotting in Boston spread to the southern colonies, helping to rely on American goods rather than British goods. Restriction of imports allowed Virginian colonists to "maintain the liberty" derived from their ancestors, as quoted by George Washington. Boston, however, had a system that granted soldiers a higher level of freedom, causing the emergence of independence and rioting.
In contrast to the well-defined and hereditary classes of England, the colonies developed a fluid class structure which enabled the industrious individual to rise on the social ladder. British soldier, for example, were granted a freedom no other citizen of Boston could receive. The soldiers were given a greater opportunity to work, but at the same time stole the jobs of colonists. The industrial rope-makers protested to regain their jobs they had lost, flourishing with riots to rise on the social ladder. Resistance was forced by Captain Preston by firing unarmed and rightful innocent which were left for dead. Samuel Drowne, a victim of the Boston Massacre in March 16 of 1770, testified against the soldiers who were shielded by defense attorney John Adams. Soldiers were able to attack, but colonists were not. Thus giving them the chance to rise in a class structure that the Americans aggressively abolished in conclusion by the Declaration of Independece.
No comments:
Post a Comment