Summary Of Mayhew's Influence On The American Revolution

Before the American Revolution really kicked off, all the colonists from different social classes had to become angry. This soon happened as the majority of the people, including the middle class, became increasingly displeased about the mounting taxation, giving rise to the popular phrase, “no taxation without representation,” coined by Jonathan Mayhew. Mayhew was a minister in Boston, Massachusetts, who like Washington and many other notable figures, greatly opposed the Stamp Act. In a fashion similar to that of Paine’s, he impacted the outcome of the Revolution by writing political sermons such as “The Snare Broken,” and “Discourse Concerning Unlimited Submission and Nonresistance to Higher Powers,” reflected his political ideology transparently. The latter questioned the so called divine right of kings. His discourse states that “all civil rulers, as such, are the ordinance and ministers of God; and they are all, by the nature of their office, and in their respective spheres and stations, bound to …show more content…
Patrick Henry delivered a speech on committing Virginian troops to the cause, while uttering his famous words, “give me liberty or give me death.” Like the aforementioned Thomas Paine, Henry, too, ascertained that reconciliation or appeasement was no longer a method that could be used. In his speech, he claims that “we have petitioned - we have remonstrated - we have supplicated…” and “shall we try argument? Sir, we have been trying that for the last ten years. Have we anything new to offer on the subject? Nothing.” Henry also boosts morale and ignites the beginning sparks of rebellion by establishing that the people would not be weak before the redcoats, if they used the millions of people they had in their arsenal. Henry also reassures the people by focusing on a “just God,” who would fight alongside