News accounts of celebrations of the Declaration , Exuberant official celebrations were held throughout the colonies in which the Declaration was read to the public, the new states' military preparedness was put on display, symbols of British authority were destroyed with much "huzzaing," and afterwards, much convening occurred in taverns to drink "patriotic toasts" that might appear in the next week's newspapers.
How did the celebrations and the reporting of them mark a clear transition from British colonies to the status of free and independent states? How did they forge unity among the colonists? As scholar Stephen Lucas reminds us, "the Declaration presented the truth as Jefferson and the Congress saw it, but it is the last place one should look for an evenhanded account of the American Revolution.
Nor should one expect to find such an account in the writings of administration apologists like [John] Lind and [Thomas] Hutchinson. Not entirely unsympathetic to the colonists' grievances, he had yet enforced all parliamentary actions and upheld British authority. In late in London, Hutchinson published a page anonymous essay entitled Strictures Upon the Declaration of the Congress at Philadelphia , dismissing the Declaration as a "list of imaginary grievances.
How would the Declaration authors and signers have replied? Crisis Rebellion War Independence Constitution. Loyalists I: Civil War 2. Loyalists II: Traitor! Loyalists IV: Backcountry 5. The Pacifists 6. The Enslaved 7. Common Sense? The declaration of independence was read publicly in all the states and was welcomed with many demonstrations of joy.
The people were encouraged by it to bear up under the calamities of war, and viewed the evils they suffered only as the thorn that ever accompanies the rose. That separation which the colonists at first dreaded as an evil, they soon gloried in as a national blessing. Discussion Questions Summarize the content of the Declaration in a three-to-five sentence overview. Basically, what is the Declaration declaring? How does the preamble justify America's decision to throw off one government and create another?
What part of the justification is "self-evident"? What part must be explained? Organize the 27 grievances into three to five groups. Clearly explain the pattern among the groups, e. What do you discover in the process of organizing the grievances? Why are the grievances not listed in chronological order, with dates and events? Analyze the structure of the Declaration. How does it give momentum and necessity to the Declaration?
In what ways is the final Declaration more or less persuasive, in your analysis, than Jefferson's draft? How does the Declaration inspire confidence as well as solidarity? Grievance 2 "He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
Grievance 3 "He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only. Grievance 5 "He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
The New York legislature was dismissed in and for refusing to implement the quartering act for British troops in the colony. It was not until that a NY legislature finally acted on the measure. Grievance 6 "He has refused for a long Time, after such Dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining, in the mean Time, exposed to all the Dangers of Invasion from without, and Convulsions within.
Sometimes royal governors would just suspend the legislature to force them into compliance, since no internal governing could be carried out while the legislature was suspended. Grievance 7 "He has endeavored to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
The Plantation act had given each colony the right to enact laws for naturalizing immigrants into its colony. It was viewed as another example of parliament taking away colonial self-rule. Grievance 9 "He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
Colonists feared that this would cause the judges to no longer be truly impartial since they would want to keep parliament happy to ensure they continued to get paid and kept their jobs. Grievance 10 "He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.
Grievance 11 "He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures. As far as the colonists were concerned, with the French defeated and relatively peaceful Indian borders, there was no longer any need for British troops in the colonies.
They refused to recognize that with a greatly expanded empire, England would need to maintain a military force in the colonies to maintain peaceful borders with the Indians and other European powers. Grievance 12 "He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power. Thomas Gage, Commander in Chief of British forces in America, was appointed to be the new governor of Massachusetts, and the military would be used to enforce law as necessary.
Grievance 13 "He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to theirActs of pretended Legislation. Had they been able to do so, any such suspects were to be transported across the Atlantic to England for trial, for the British were rightly suspicious that anyone indicted would be found innocent by the local courts that were so friendly to colonial citizens.
But of course, it would also be impossible to receive a fair trial in England either, where no supporting witnesses would likely be available. When Thomas Jefferson helped write the Declaration he included this item that had directly lead the Virginia House of Burgess to reestablish the Standing Intercolonial Committees of Correspondence.
Baule : The British government offended the New England religionists by supporting Catholicism, and the middle and southern colonists by restricting expansion. It allowed for Catholicism to be freely practiced in Canada and what would become the Northwest Territory. It put land speculators and others interesting in moving into the Ohio Valley at a disadvantage against the existing French habitants. Those looking towards westward expansion now had to deal with a foreign French system of government managed by former enemies.
This put a huge impediment in place to thwart legal westward migration. The Quebec Act was responsible for keeping Canada loyal to the Crown.
The present in Quebec was the future in America. This began to change in the s. Throughout the crises of the s these charters were used as the main defense against parliamentary intrusions into the colonies, but what it meant to be a British subject had changed after Struggling in their efforts, the rebels relied on an ancient feudal concept based on the reciprocal obligations of the Crown providing protection to its people in exchange for their allegiance. The absence of one meant that the contract had been violated and permitted revolt.
In truth, England never withdrew its protection, but it has served as a convenient argument to justify rebellion. However, I feel it is even more a damning indictment of Adm. Samuel Graves, who conceived of the attack and by extension Capt. Henry Mowatt, who carried it out. The act basically ruined them.
Their careers were never the same afterwards. From the British perspective, it was all about those merchants evading tariffs with widespread smuggling and trading with enemies. Timothy Symington : I have always been bothered by this particular grievance, perhaps because the racism towards the Native Americans is so blatant.
This may have been the general opinion of members of the Congress. Jefferson himself probably did not see the Native Americans as savage or merciless, and he was fascinated with their culture. But, war was the setting, so anyone the British sided with had to be turned into monsters.
The Americans should also not have been surprised by the British trying to turn the slaves against them. What else was to be expected?
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