Dbq 2: American Revolution
Dbq 2: American Revolution
To what extent had the colonists developed a sense of their identity and unity as Americans by the eve of the Revolution? Use documents and your knowledge of the period 1750 to 1776 to answerthe question.
By the eve of the revolution, particularly the period between 1750 to 1776, the colonists had united to fight wars in defense of each other, called inter-colonial meetings in regard to “national” threats, and introduced a new race to the world: the American, whom had a mix of all European blood.
The French and Indian War and the conflicts that would lead up to the American Revolution both proved to the world that America, although young, was a force to be reckoned with. The French and Indian War was fought over the Ohio Valley; the invading French were seen as threats to the expanding British colonies. From Virginia to Maine, colonists fought to their victory in 1763, which resulted in an almost complete abandonment by the French of all their North American claims- an overwhelming victory. Then came the time that the colonies would question the authority of their mother country Britain. With the passing of regulations such as the Stamp Act, the Intolerable Acts , the Navigation Acts, and the Townshend Acts, the colonists once again united to fight this threat to their liberty. After the Boston Tea Party (the protest against the British tax on tea where hundreds of chests of tea were dumped into the Boston Harbor by a group of whites disguised as Indians), Parliament shut down Boston Harbor until damages were compensated for. Hearing the news, colonies form Connecticut to South Carolina donated goods to Boston to help the cause. According to the Massachusetts Historical Society, the Contributors of Donations for the Relief of Boston stated that, Connecticut, among other things gave twice over “600 bushels of grain,” New Jersey donated “Cash or articles of provision or other necessaries we can furnish,” North Carolina contributed with “2000” and South Carolina gave a “shipload of rice.” Although not yet battling the british physically, economically the colonies were defiantly fighting as a whole. Inter-colonial unity as exemplified here would have not been possible if not the representative meetings held to organize such actions. Assemblies such as the Albany Congress, the Stamp Act Congress, and the First and Second Continental Congress demonstrated the the unity of the colonials against a common foe.
The Albany Congress during the French and Indian War consisted of representaitves from seven of the thirteen colonies; they met in Albany, New York to figure a way to keep the Iroquois loyal to the british, and to achieve greater colonial unity to bolster the common defense against the French. The Stamp Act Congress consisted