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Ap Us History Dbq

Decent Essays

By the eve of the revolution, the colonists developed a strong identity and a unity as americans by british representation, boycotting british law and fighting for their rights. Colonial unity, it is an ongoing struggle. It was necessary for preserving freedom so they put aside their differences and came together. In 1754, the year French and Indian War began, Benjamin Franklin created his “Join or Die” ( Document A) cartoon that consisted of all the colonies as part of a dismembered snake. And the message was either join together or die alone. The revolution was mandatory because when the British won, they demanded that the colonies pay by taxing everything, such as tea, paper, and even had quartering. So the colonists joined together by …show more content…

The presence of the Atlantic Ocean made it increasingly difficult for the British to have firm control over the colonists and the freedom that resulted from this leniency contributed to the formation of a distinctly American identity (since no other British subjects had as much freedom as the American colonists). Edmond Burke, a member of the House of Commons and a supporter of the colonies, noted in 1766 that “…The eternal Barriers of Nature forbid that the colonies should be blended or coalesce into the Mass…of this Kingdom.” (Document B). The “tyrant three thousand miles away” (Document D) attempted to have tighter control over the colonies by enacting the Sugar Act, Stamp Act, Quartering Act, and the Declatory Act and quickened the unification of the American colonies, who felt like victims, against the …show more content…

Many people who lived in the colonies were not English; they were German, Dutch, Swedish, Jewish, Scots-Irish, and French. Some people were a mixture of many different ethnic groups. This “mixed” group of people, which could not be found anywhere else in the world, that united to fight for their rights led to the creation of a separate identity (from Britain). The British thought that this “open Rebellion” was unjustifiable and that the colonists had no reason to turn against their mother country, who “…protected them against the Ravages of their Enemies…” (Document F). The American colonists insisted that they were still loyal to Great Britain (even though they fought against British troops at times) and did not want to “…dissolve that union which has so long and so happily subsisted…” (Document E). They pledged their loyalty to Great Britain by sending the Olive Branch Petition to King George III in 1775. The rejection of this peace request led many American colonists, who only wanted to secure their rights, to desire complete independence (from Great Britain). The American colonists were willing to do anything to keep their rights, and in the end, they realized that they would have to unite and separate from Great Britain in order to be free. During this time, Richard Henry Lee, the fourteenth President of the Continental Congress, stated that “…all

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