Term Paper on "American Revolution Describe the Social and Political"

Term Paper 5 pages (1703 words) Sources: 3 Style: APA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

American Revolution

Describe the social and political climate in England; how was it different in the colonies. Although English culture was not as admired as French culture within the European community - indeed the English seemed "...only a cut above barbarians" (Middlekauff p. 10) - they had merchant ships worldwide and won wars with great regularity. The English were politically supportive of their King in the respect of foreign policies and military might, and Middlekauff asserts that on the domestic front, the English people concerned themselves with liberty and parliamentary government.

No nation in 1760 could match England" when it came to expansion, to concentrating power and energy to tasks at hand (Middlekauff p. 11). Moreover, when it came to English society, there was a thriving criminal element which "exited fear and admiration," albeit the English enjoyed seeing criminals punished, and crowded the streets for hangings, which may account for the view that they were barbarians. The cities suffered from "filth, disease, and shabby housing" (Middlekauff 12) while the countryside was "bursting with flowers, greenery, and woods." That said, at about the time of the American Revolution, much of the profits from British world trade were invested in new English roads, bridges, and canals.

In the colonies meanwhile there was "a standard culture...one heavily indebted to England," Middlekauff writes on page 28. The English model for politics and government was the operative dynamic, and the social values were of course mainly English. However, many of the immigrants to the colonies were poor, and they tended to land in the cities. The middle class of colonials "owned and cultivated their own land" (Middlekauff 34). As to the political dynamics, representative government flourished in all 13 colonies and the right to vote was not tied to ownership of land. In Virginia and New Hampshire, politics was tranquil but in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, and to a degree New York, Maryland and North Carolina, factions battled one another and threatened the stability. "The political order...was presided over by governors who, except in Connecticut and Rhode island, were appointed" in England. That said, it was also true, Middlekauff explains on 42, that local people "managed to get their way."

TWO: What decisions were made in the British House of Commons that were challenged by the colonists? The Molasses Act and it's successor, the Revenue Act of 1764 (also called the Sugar Act) imposed duties on the colonies in an attempt to regulate trade and fill British coffers; it also identified which goods produced by the colonies that could only be shipped to Britain, "among them lumber, on of the most valuable items in colonial trade" (Middlekauff, 61). This act, along with the Currency Act passed by Parliament, "contributed to the disposition of Americans to couch their protests in economic rather than constitutional terms," Middlekauff explains. The idea of being taxed by a body in which Americans were not represented "violated a long-standing right of British subjects" (Middlekauff 62).

Middlekauff writes that these laws opened the door to creative abuse by the colonists, as they evaded paying the duties whenever possible. The Townshend Revenue Act of 1767 required vessels leaving the colonies to carry specific lists of all goods on board; penalty for violation was seizure of the cargo by the British. This led to increased hostility.

The Intolerable Acts (the Boston Port Act, the Massachusetts Regulatory Act, the Impartial Administration of Justice Act) all contributed to taking away power from the colonies and giving it to the Crown. And though there was a lot of opposition in Parliament, the Stamp Act passed in 1765 and imposed taxes on the colonies that created riots and fueled the opposition to British rule in a dramatic way. The act required a tax stamp on all legal documents, contracts, newspapers, pamphlets, playing cards and other items in the colonies. It was England's way of raising money to keep their troops in the colonies, and it was basically the straw that broke the camel's back as far as firing up the colonists to resist the English authority.

THREE: Explain the actions of the colonists and the responses of the British government that led to a political break and the Declaration of Independence. The first colony to react officially to the Stamp Act was Virginia's House of Burgesses; this body passed a series of "resolves on May 31 which declared that the constitution limited the right of taxation" to the Virginians themselves, and not to Parliament (Middlekauff 77). Patrick Henry, a firebrand, headed the anti-tax movement in Virginia; later, Henry was given credit for helping shape public opinion against the British. Once Virginia has passed it's resolutions against the Stamp Act other colonies' legislatures followed suit. Before the end of the year in 1765, the lower houses of eight other colonies passed resolutions "denouncing the Stamp Act and denying Parliament's right to tax the American colonies for revenue," Middlekauff writes on page 83.

Massachusetts was the scene of violent protests in the streets, and in Boston, in August, 1765, angry mobs attacked the homes of British officials who were responsible for the collecting of taxes under the Stamp Act, and who played significant roles in administering the power that the British still held. On August 26, 1765, the house where Thomas Hutchinson lived was destroyed; "Virtually everything movable within was destroyed or stolen...and what could not be moved was severely battered" (Middlekauff 93). These kinds of actions continued and spread to other colonies. The "political meaning" of the taxes charged through the Stamp Act had a greater impact on the colonists than did the actual taxes, Middlekauff writes. And even though the Stamp Act was later repealed by the Parliament, along came the Tea Act in 1773, which gave the British East India Company "a monopoly of the trade in tea with the colonies" and retained a tax on tea of three pence. This, too, aroused great resentment in the colonies, and led to the Boston Tea Party, and eventually led to the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

FOUR: Analyze the Declaration of Independence as a political document, and as a humanitarian statement. The Declaration is often seen by scholars as a re-writing or paraphrasing of the contract theory of John Locke, the philosopher; the philosophy of those including Thomas Jefferson who wrote the Declaration was that England had indeed violated its relationship with the colonies. But beyond its philosophical underpinnings, it was a very adroit political document. "The British ruler violated the contract repeatedly and finally drove the Americans..." (Middlekauff 328) to stand up and be counted, and demand redress of grievances; and when they were denied that redress of grievances, there was nothing left to do but cut the cord with the mother country. That is the politics of it. And though Jefferson's original draft blasted the British people, the later versions focused on the King.

It's important to remember that by signing the Declaration, Congress was not only making a formal proclamation, it was announcing a dramatic change in the political structure of the colonies which jeopardized the citizens and their livelihoods. No one could have known at the time that the American Revolution would succeed in beating the British Empire, but things had gotten so far out of hand in the relationship between the colonies and England, that there was little else to be done in the minds of the lawmakers.

It is a humanitarian statement by the very fact that it called for the equality of all men; "...all men are created equal" was an important and highly debated phrase, since slaves were certainly not equal to white people in the colonies. But the tone of the opening lines of the Declaration could be used by any nation that is dominated by a colonial power; "...whenever any form of government becomes destructive," the Declaration reads, "it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it." That is not political per se; it is universal, and hence, is humanitarian in its assertion of the basic rights of people to be free of domination.

FIVE: In the first year of fighting, the American army was able to fend off and keep free to challenge the more numerous and better trained British Army. Explain. The forces led by George Washington were very loyal to General Washington, and this may explain in part why the Americans, even though outnumbered, were able to beat the British. On page 500 Middlekauff writes that the battlefield in the 18th Century was an "intimate theater"; the killing range of the musket was up to 100 yards, and much of the fighting involved bayonets and close combat. And because of the intimacy of the battlefield, men under Washington could "give one another moral or psychological support"; and troops in "tight lines consciously reassured one another in several ways," Middlekauff continues on page 503. The odds against the American troops at Greenspring, Virginia, were great, as Cornwallis' troops greatly outnumbered the Americans; however,… READ MORE

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