Discuss the development of various forms of resistance--economic, ideological, political--to British policies in North America from 1763 to 1776

Résumé du document

The year 1763 marked the end of the French-Indian War for the American colonies, as well for Great Britain and France. It marked the beginning of a new sharing of the American territory, to the benefit of Great Britain. Thirteen years later, in January 1776, author and one of the founding fathers of the United States, Thomas Paine anonymously published his lampoon "Common Sense". It had a strong claim for independence that met with a response on the 4th of July, 1776, when the Declaration of Independence was signed by the thirteen colonies in order to separate from the motherland. They called themselves the United States of America. For the first time in history, they were thrown into the modern colonial revolution. But one should underline that nobody could have forecast the sudden an unplanned independence in 1763. And still, only thirteen years passed, which demonstrates how time "accelerates" during revolutionary periods. However, we cannot consider those years as uniform, there were phases and several causes of unrest in those years; among them were the economics, ideology, politics, which led the Americans to claim for independence.

Extraits

[...] Actually the cause Paine argued for was not only a political fight, it was also a moral issue, which would stake a great cause: free and independent America would provide a refuge and innocence for the persecuted and the victims of the corruption of the old world. Paine imposed the idea that a secession was a moral necessity and that the colonies can govern themselves alone. It provided then the necessary background for a political organization and especially for action Concerted action and political organization, aiming in the end at independence The first step –more symbolical than effective- towards independence was the 1st continental Congress in September 1774, which condemned the previous Acts emitted by the Parliament. [...]

[...] The colonists intellectuals were also inclined to understand the present through the past, hence the influence of classical antiquity, even if it was sometimes used with some superficiality. As regards the judiciary world, the British tradition of common law prevailed, and the radical Whig ideology was also part of that American ideology. Eventually, Puritanism and civic humanism also complete that complex American ideology. All those elements merged into the “American experiment”, that is to say the freedom of every American, the notion of possibilities, without being answerable to anyone. [...]

[...] The first step was another economic repressive measure, which they called Intolerable Acts” in 1774. Those acts aimed at punishing the city of Boston, but the city never submitted, and in an atmosphere of growing incomprehension between the far-distant motherland and its colonies, the acts provoked a sentiment of unparallel outrage among the colonies, and the solidarity with Boston created a consensus. Indeed the colonies understood that they could easily undergo the same fate. The other “provocative” measure for the colonies was the New York suspending Act, enacted in 1765, which required the colony of New York to pay for the maintenance of troops on its soil. [...]

[...] Still the way to independence did not seem so obvious or easy, since the thirteen colonies were far from being united: organization and unity were at stake when it appeared they were on the verge to break with the motherland. The issue of regionalism played a role in the chain of events, all the more that one thing the colonies shared in common was the allegiance to Great-Britain, so the breaking-off could have threaten the ties between the colonies too. Therefore how the conjunction of causes and events turned the resistance of the colonies, faced with the intransigence of Great-Britain, into a claim for independence? I. [...]

[...] The men in favour of the independence were called the “Americans” or patriots” while their opponents were called the “Loyalists”. Actually, the way to independence was far from being an easy path since the clashes and soon the war against England rampaged the American territory and divided the population. Some historians even described the period after 1776 as an “American civil war”. However, a strong movement, with both its ideology and its political affirmation took root in the decade between 1763 and 1776, and we can say that this movement won over the British intransigence, and was well aware of its victory, and the difficulties which were to come too. [...]