Colonial American Culture Analysis

By the 18th century, it was obvious that the American colonies had grown very different, and fiercely independent, from its parent country of Great Britain. Colonial American culture was viewed by its European counterparts as being considerably less refined: A culture without a clearly defined class system that embraced democracy (Schweikart & Allen, 2004). This independent spirit had, no doubt, developed out of necessity; while officially a British colony, Parliamentary laws and edicts were rarely, if ever, enforced. This lack of enforcement led to a widely self-governed population. For decades, the American colonies had enjoyed the benign neglect of British rule, routinely ignoring the Navigation Acts of the 1660s, and economically benefiting …show more content…
The French and Indian War, while empirically successful, only added to that amount. Young and inexperienced, George III had his work cut out for him. He needed to find a way to continue to finance the military demands of his territories and pay for the interest on Britain’s debt (Schweikart & Allen, 2004). With domestic politicians being resistant to the idea of increasing taxes at home, it was decided that the first order of business would be to strictly enforce the trade regulations of the Navigation Acts. It was well-known that there were American colonists regularly smuggling molasses from the West Indies, and even exporting the products made from it, all tax free. Perpetrators violating the Navigation Acts were being hunted down and tried by British courts through warrants called the Writs of Assistance. The sudden enforcement of old laws did not sit well with those who had been profiting from smuggling and illegally exporting enumerated goods (Malone, 1954). The New England colonies were especially resistant to this new tightening of British control. Americans believed that they had matured enough to have earned proper representation in their own affairs; the sudden micromanagement of colonial affairs after years of laxity was unwelcomed and unwarranted. The Stamp Act of 1765 proved to be too pervasive for the American colonies to take. In response to the …show more content…
The first Continental Congress met in Philadelphia in 1774 with representatives from all of the colonies with the exception of Georgia. While each colony shared common complaints against the Crown, complete independence from Britain was never discussed at this initial meeting. It was approximately six months later when the ‘shot heard round the world’ at Lexington and Concord officially started the Revolutionary war (Malone, 1954). There were many documents encouraging American independence that proceeded the Declaration of Independence, one of the most notable being Thomas Paine’s pamphlet, Common Sense, published in June 1776 (McCarthy, 1974). Thomas says in Common Sense, “I have never met a man, either in England or America, who hath not confessed his opinion, that a separation between the countries would take place one time or other” (Panchyk, 2008). An America independent of Britain was inevitable. The Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson, was ultimately a formal declaration of severance of the thirteen American colonies from the imperial rule of Great Britain (Cavendish, Marshall, 2008). Britain did not agree. Although the Revolutionary War continued until 1783, the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, 1776 still marks the official birthday of America as an independent