In the Contending Voices section The Price of Patriotism: Jonathan Sewall and John Adams the main issue is the divide between the patriots and the loyalists, and how they viewed and experienced the American Revolution. This issue is described from the viewpoints of close friends, Jonathan Sewall, a loyalist, and John Adams a patriot. Adams and Sewall came from similar backgrounds with both of them attending Harvard, “and pursued legal careers after unhappy stints as school teachers” (54). Sewall was able to easily rise into a career in law while his friends John Adams lacked family connections so he had to work his way up from the bottom (54). Despite the similarities between these two men they would find themselves on opposing sides during
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Sewall views the colonists as little more than spoiled children who are ungrateful to their kind rulers in Britain. Sewall describes the wealth that those in America owe to the British government when he says “ that a Country of Husbandmen, possessed every one, almost, of a sufficient Share of landed property, in one of the finest Climates in the World; living under the mildest Government, enjoying the highest portion of civil and religious Liberty that the Nature of human Society admits,...”(64) this shows his honest belief that the revolutionaries are simply “ungrateful sons of bitches”(59). Sewall hopes that this new nation is destroyed by Britain or at least completely crumbles in on itself, which shows how bitter he is at being displaced from his home …show more content…
I was surprised at how difficult I found this decision, as I have always been told the story of the American revolution from the viewpoint of the revolutionaries, but in seeing the opposing viewpoint of the loyalists I can see why they desired to remain with Britain. However I still find Adam’s argument to be superior as he represents the values that have been instilled in me throughout my entire life, that liberty and democracy are worth dying for. Though I find Sewall’s argument compelling, and I can agree that to a certain extent the colonists were being unreasonable, his unwillingness to really consider that the British authorities might be overstepping their power and taking away the colonist’s liberties is where he loses
Sewall views the colonists as little more than spoiled children who are ungrateful to their kind rulers in Britain. Sewall describes the wealth that those in America owe to the British government when he says “ that a Country of Husbandmen, possessed every one, almost, of a sufficient Share of landed property, in one of the finest Climates in the World; living under the mildest Government, enjoying the highest portion of civil and religious Liberty that the Nature of human Society admits,...”(64) this shows his honest belief that the revolutionaries are simply “ungrateful sons of bitches”(59). Sewall hopes that this new nation is destroyed by Britain or at least completely crumbles in on itself, which shows how bitter he is at being displaced from his home …show more content…
I was surprised at how difficult I found this decision, as I have always been told the story of the American revolution from the viewpoint of the revolutionaries, but in seeing the opposing viewpoint of the loyalists I can see why they desired to remain with Britain. However I still find Adam’s argument to be superior as he represents the values that have been instilled in me throughout my entire life, that liberty and democracy are worth dying for. Though I find Sewall’s argument compelling, and I can agree that to a certain extent the colonists were being unreasonable, his unwillingness to really consider that the British authorities might be overstepping their power and taking away the colonist’s liberties is where he loses