Joseph Ricardo

History 494

Professor Zarrillo

May 11, 2008

The American Revolution

How the Intellectual Evolution of Western Civilization led to a break from

Old World Politics.

The American Revolution is an interesting and commonly popular event in

history especially to those living in the United States. In my writing I will show and

prove my theory that the American Revolution was a product of an intellectual evolution

of Western civilized man that created a progressive liberal society to counter the Old

World conservative forms of government. This happened in a few stages the first was the

emergence from the Dark Ages an era of ignorance and little progress. Next was the

progress in the Renaissance era and the rebellion against the papal authority in the

Protestant Reformation. Then there was the colonization of the New World that coincided

with European Enlightenment and the flourishing of liberal government and ideology of

the American Colonies. Finally was the defiance of British authority, rebellion against

British forces, and finally Revolution against the British for Independence.

The American Revolution is often thought of as a conflict between American

Colonist and the British stemming from animosity over taxation of colonial affairs. I

believe that the conflict was much larger in scope. The American Revolution was the

culmination of dissatisfaction that had been growing since the end of the Dark Ages and

the onset of the Renaissance in the 14th century. Western Civilization went for the most

part stagnant after the fall of Rome, divided into small nations Europeans were plagued

by wars, conflict and disease. During this time the Catholic Church and monarchies ruled

under the church were in charge of the governments of most of Europe.

The Dark Ages are often described as a time period from the fall of Rome to until

around 1000 AD which then becomes the Middle and High Middle Ages. I would in my

opinion describe the Dark Ages as period that didn’t end politically until the Magna Carta

of 1215, technology wise not until Gutenberg’s printing press of 1450 and religiously

until Martin Luther’s 95 thesis in 1517. The lives of normal citizens were limited mostly

to serfs living on and working on land owned by land lords.

The Dark Ages were a time of Western civilization stagnation in science,

technology, literature, and also a lack of historical accounts of the time. The inventions of

Western man during the Dark Ages are limited to the heavy plough of the 5th century,

tidal mills in the 7th century, and the hour glass in the 9th or 10th century1. To show how

far Western mans intellect expanded during the Renaissance the mechanical clock was

invented in Milan in the year 1335 a mere 300 years after the invention of the hour glass.

The gap between Western civilization progressions can be seen in numerous fields

including math, astronomy, philosophy, chemistry, medicine. In medicine you have a gap

between Galen’s discovery of the link between severing the spinal cord and paralysis in

180 AD to Roger Bacon’s writing about concave lenses for the treating of long

sightedness in 12493. During the medical gap of Western Civilization Islamic scholars

like 9th century Muslim Hakim and physician al-Tabari who wrote the first medical

encyclopedia, a 9th century Persian physician Razi made distinctions between measles and

small pox, and Ibn Zuhr the father of experimental surgery who was also the first

physician to use inhalant anesthetics in the early 12th century. This is just one example of

the cultural decline of Western man during the Dark Ages.

During the time of the Dark Ages there was little progress made in monarchial

governments until the signing of the Charter of Liberties 1100 and the Magna Carta in

1215. The Charter of Liberties4 was an important document because King Henry binds

himself and future kings, earls, barons and others in high positions to the same laws as

common citizens. The Charter of Liberties was the predecessor of the Magna Carta of

1215, unlike its predecessor this document would not be signed by the free will of the

king5. The signing of the Magna Carta was a result of King John’s abuse of power as well

as perceived incompetence. During his reign he managed to lose territories in France

including Normandy a huge source of English income. John also managed to get

excommunicated by the pope by not excepting Pope Innocent’s appointee as the

Archbishop of Canterbury. Innocent even went as far as suggesting to Philip of Spain to

invade England. To make amends John gave England and Ireland as papal territories.

This action outraged the barons of England that the king would give up autonomy of

England. Johns actions that would offend the commoners was his attempt to raise taxes

for the army due to the loss of French territories. On July 10, 1215 numerous barons

gathered together and went to London to force King John to sign the Articles of the

Barons. Clause 61 the security clause allowed for a committee of 25 barons to overturn

any unjust ruling by the king6. John immediately denounced the agreement and threw

England into a civil war “the First Barons War” which ended shortly after John’s death.

The Magna Carta was a huge influence not only to the growth of Parliamentary rights and

in turn to more power to ordinary people. The document is also a large influence on the

Declaration of Independence.

Between the end of the Dark Ages and the onset of the Renaissance and there was

a period of catastrophes like the Black Death7, and the Hundred Years War. The Black

Death was a disease called the bubonic plague that killed at least one third of the

European population or an estimated 25 million people between the five year period of

1347 to 1352. Some felt it was the anger of God and tried to appease him by whipping

themselves and even some blamed and attacked Jewish people. After the plague ended

and one third of Europeans were deceased there was a lot of land left behind and an

abundance of work opportunities. The upper class and land lords tried to keep wages low

with laws like the Statute for Laborers in 13518, but the fact that there was so much work

and such a shortage of labor left many land lords no choice but to pay higher wages. I

believe this tragic event allowed for ordinary people to become more independent in both

philosophy and faith, as they could no longer depend on their clerics to save them and

now had more opportunities to advance in society with the abundance of work

opportunities. Ordinary people were now becoming less subservient to the upper class.

After the Black Death ordinary European people seemed ready to put behind the

old way of life and began pursuing new interests and becoming artisans9. Cultural

advances were being made in parts of Europe, new inventions were emerging, and

advances in science were coming to fruition. The Renaissance began in Italy but would

soon spread throughout Europe mostly though France, Germany and England.

The Italian Renaissance was driven by the humanist movement, which was a

belief in equality and dignity of all people. The early influence to the humanist movement

in Italy was Dante Alighieri (1265-1321)10. Dante was famous for his work the Divine

Comedy in which he travels through hell, purgatory and paradise when he realizes that

more popes were in hell than in paradise. The moral of the story was that popes could as

easily go to hell as could any normal citizen. This was one of the first in a growing trend

of challenges to papal authority. Other contributors to the humanist movement were men

like, Francesco Petrarca and Giovanni Boccaccio these men contributed to the growth of

freethinking but not the challenge of authority or the old way of life as Dante did. The

Renaissance in Italy also saw the artistry of men like Michelangelo Buonarroti, Leonardo

Da Vinci, Raphael Sanzio, Bramante and Lorenzo Ghiberti. Along with men like Lorenzo

di Medici who was a Florence politician who funded artist like Michelangelo and Da

Vinci, Italian artistry had reached a high point.

The Renaissance in Europe was a direct influences on the next revolution in

Europe the Protestant Reformation. This reformation was preceded by men like William

Ockham, Dante, and John Wycliffe, but began with Martin Luther’s 95 thesis and men

like John Calvin and Zwingli. Martin Luther was a German monk who wrote the 95

theses which were a direct challenge to papal authority12. Luther’s motivation was the

collection of indulgences which the church remitted sins in exchange for money, Luther

believed only God could remit sins. Beginning in theses five and six he challenges the

authority of the pope to remit sins, when Luther believes only God can remit sins. He

challenges the pope’s authority as Gods messenger on earth, promotes scripture over the

papacy, and criticizes indulgences. These challenges by Luther would lead to a new

spread of discontent against the Catholic churches authority.

Around the same time as Martin Luther there was Ulrich Zwingli who was a

priest who questioned papal authority over the word of the scripture and eventually found

him self in conflict with the Zurich pulpit for seduction of young woman, in which

Zwingli replied his vow to celibacy did not necessarily mean chastity13. By 1522 he along

with ten other priests petitioned to the Bishop of Constance for permission to get married.

This petition went ignored but Zwingli finally married a woman outside of the church.

John Calvin born in Switzerland was another leader in the Protestant Reformation.

Calvin was a product of Northern Renaissance humanism and wanted to reform the

church but found himself in conflict with the papacy and forced into exile. He is most

famous for his writings the Institutes of the Christian Religion, as well as his work in

Geneva.

The Catholic Church at first tried to counter the rise of Protestant Reformation

with revivals which were started by Pope Pius IV in 1560. They tried to reform within

their interpretation of scripture, and their religious style. Pope Paul III would try

reforming his bishops and priests with his Council of Trent but eventually the papacy

would turn to harsher tactics in their efforts for Counter Reformation15. The papacy

would resort to inquisitions, in which they would torture, imprison, or put to death any

one accused of heretic ideology. This led way to major controversy between Catholics

and Protestants and different countries were beginning to nationalize themselves after

Protestant religions.

Luckily for Western Civilization the Age of Exploration was already under way

by the early 15th century. While Columbus is credited with but not always agreed to as

discovering the New World in 1492 and landed on South American mainland in 1498,

Vasco Da Gama reached India for the first time for Europeans in 1498. The New World

would prove to be the new stepping stone for liberal ideology and separation from Old

World culture and politics. By 1607 the New World had its first English colony the

Jamestown Virginia settlement. By 1620 there was the second English colony in the New

World in present day Plymouth Massachusetts. The colonies within Massachusetts and

the surrounding New England colonies would eventually become most influential in

colonial politics, spreading much liberal ideology, ideas of natural rights, free will,

human rights, equal rights, and a freer attitude toward politics, culture and religion.

The original English settlers in the New World came seeking both religious

freedom and economic prosperity. Legislation like the 1559 Act of Uniformity, made it

illegal to conduct private or unofficial church services outside of the Church of England,

it also made it illegal not to attend church services. Separatist like Henry Barrowe and

John Greenwood were executed for their defiance of the new church laws. After much

tension between Separatist and Puritans with the Anglican Church a group of them were

finally able to obtain a patent for land in the New World. Robert Cushman and John

Carver convinced investors with the London Company to grant them a patent by telling

them of the speculated profitable opportunities in the New World. En Route to the New

World they decided to write up their own constitution the Mayflower Compact. This

document established a majoritarian form of government16 which called for all laws to be

voted and decided upon by a majority vote, a concept which was foreign to European

monarchial societies where laws were decided by Kings and Parliaments. The Mayflower

Compact would be the first stepping stone toward liberty and democracy in America.

King Charles would eventually grant an official charter to the “Massachusetts Bay

of New England” in 1629. The king also gave them recognition as a corporate body with

the right to rule the territory in name of England.17

The early rights such as freedom of religion were tested early within the colony

and numerous new settlements were found for the cause of escaping further injustices of

personal freedoms. The first of these defections was John Endicott whose defection was

due to a lack of religious discipline he felt within the Plymouth colony in which he then

settled to Salem. Then there was Roger Williams who was a theologian with many ideas

that preceded his time, many of which conflicted with the established Puritan society of

Massachusetts. On his arrival in February of 1631 he was asked to replace a pastor. His

sermons were considered extremely radical by other Puritans. Williams believed in the

separation of church, religious freedom (Amendment I)18 and state as well equal rights

and treatment of all men including the Native Americans (Amendment XIV) in which he

spent much time learning their languages and culture. Williams replied to the controversy

by calling the Church of England and apostate and claiming the English had no right to

take the natives land. In a land dispute between Massachusetts Bay and Salem, Salem

was granted land as long as they excommunicated Williams. In June of 1635 Williams

and his followers arrived in Providence Rhode Island. The first law of the land was to be

equal rights for all men. By 1640 the colony had established both religious freedom and

separation of church and state. Providence became a safe haven for those who still faced

religious persecution such as the Quakers, Jews, and Baptists. In May of 1652 the law in

any colonies making slavery illegal (Amendment XIII) passed in Providence. The colony

established by Roger Williams was indeed beyond its time and exemplified a free society

with liberties and natural rights.

Anne Hutchinson was another example of continued oppression of freethinkers, in

this case due to their sex. Hutchinson was a Puritan preacher who was unable to legally

preach due to being a woman. She migrated in 1634 to Massachusetts and found her self

in immediate controversy for preaching at small sermons at her home. She questioned the

already established religious hierarchy in Massachusetts as well as some of the preaching

of the pastors19. She preached faith alone in God would lead to salvation which conflicted

with the Puritans who preached salvation through donations to the church. When John

Winthrop became governor he had Hutchinson banished. She would go to Rhode Island

and eventually settle in New York where she would be murdered by Siwanoy natives.

Even though Massachusetts would for the most part remain a more Puritan

conservative society, they still established many liberal laws compared to those of

England and other European nations. In December of 1641 Nathanial Ward8 wrote the 98

laws the Massachusetts Bodies of Liberties which was a legal document granting certain

rights, privileges and civil liberties. The first law protects the rights of men from being

tried for any crime not in the document. The second law grants equal justice in the court

for both inhabitants and foreigners. Monopolies are prevented in the 9th law. The 18th law

prevents any man from being imprisoned before sentencing. Reasonable fines are set in

the 22nd law (Amendment VIII). The 42nd law protected any man from being tried twice

for the same crime (Amendment V). The 46th law protected men from inhumane

punishment. These laws established were pretty liberal in comparison to the laws of

England and other “Old World” countries.

Though the American colonies for the most part lived in salutary neglect in the

early stages of colonization they would experience a few bumps in the road. The first

major incident would occur in 1651 when England imposed the Navigation Act, this law

made it so no goods could be imported or exported to and from the colonies unless in and

English vessel21. The colonist response to these acts was a intricate smuggling operation

which would become known as the triangular trade. New England would ship timber, fish

and cotton goods to the French Caribbean islands in exchange for molasses. Back in New

England and primarily Rhode Island the molasses would be distilled into rum, the would

be shipped to the West Indies, exchanged for slaves, brought back to Newport R.I. the

empty slave ships would then bring rum to Gold Coast Africa and come back with new

slaves. One of the most famous smugglers in colonial times was John Hancock, who

inherited the business from his Uncle and foster parent Thomas Hancock22.

The colonial charter of Massachusetts was withdrawn in 1684 due to their lose

interpretation of British law. By December 1686 the British Crown installed Edmund

Andros as the royal governor of the Dominion of New England. He began his reign of

power by levying and collecting taxes which became extremely unpopular. Along with

the influence of the Glorious Revolution the colonist found the power to overturn the

government in April of 1689 and imprisoned Andros. This would be the beginning of

defiance against British authority in the New World.

The colony of New England was a place where the notion of natural rights and

liberties were growing rapidly. The New World was influenced by idealist from Europe

with philosophies that were against the beliefs of those in charge like the monarchies and

papacy. New events were occurring in Europe such as the English Civil War and the

signing of the English Bill of Rights.

Another movement that occurred in Europe and influenced the American colonies

was the Enlightenment and the Age of Reason, which coexisted and flourished around the

same time as the beginnings of the American colonies.

New England experienced more prosperity per capita than other parts of the

country such as the south. The richest in the south were the plantation owners while the

tenant farmers and slaves shared none of the profits. In the north how ever there was

more distribution of wealth. Many colonists in New England were merchants, boat

builders, fishers, lawyers, or specialized in numerous other trades. The education system

in New England was also exceptional in that the first public school of the colonies was

the Boston Latin School in 1635 a mere 15 years after the Pilgrims landed in Plymouth.

In 1636 Harvard University23 was established still the oldest and one of the most prestige

schools in the United States. Of the first ten colonial schools four were located in the

New England area along with Harvard in 1636 there was, Yale Connecticut 1701, Brown

University Providence 1764, and Dartmouth College New Hampshire 1769. The make up

of the early colonies showed that they were concerned with education, individual success

and progress. The American colonies were shaping up to be a new innovative society

concerned with individual rights, liberties, and freedoms.

Toward the middle of the 18th century the British once again began to impose on

the colonist supposed new found freedom. These infringements would continually agitate

the colonist and lead to continuous rebellion. Also by the mid 18th century many of the

colonists were trained in the art of war fare through service in the French and Indian War

that began in 1754. Not only were they trained in military tactics but there gunpowder

and military supplies were increased. They now had the resources to defend themselves

from any outside influences.

The city of Boston was the most famous for defiance against the British. Of the

main cities in the American colonies between 1700 and 1764 there was six riots in

Philadelphia, PA, four in New York and 28 in Boston24. Only land owners were allowed

to vote which made the hardships fall harder on regular citizens with no ownership of

land. It was said that in Boston the common folk would resort to “voting with their feet”

when there grievances could not be resolved. One of the earlier riots occurred around

1709 in Boston called the Boston Bread Riots. These riots were a result of expensive

bread being sold by merchants for high profits.

Their defiance in Boston did not come only from rioting and protesting they also

defied the British “Navigation Act” with an intricate system of smuggling as I discussed

earlier. In 1759 New England was exporting about 38,000 British pounds worth of goods

while they were importing over 600,000 British pounds worth of goods from England

alone. The profits from the smuggling trade were enormous and Britain began to notice.

The failure of the Navigation Act brought along the Writs of Assistance in 1761

which allowed for the searching of ships as well as household for suspicion alone of

smuggling. This legislature would be mainly ignored for the most part like other British

laws. One famous politician was James Otis who was once an advocate general in the

vice admiralty court whose main job was to prosecute smugglers, found the law to be

unconstitutional and a violation of basic rights25. Otis is most famously known for his

argument to the Stamp Act Congress in which he argued “No taxation without

representation” which basically meant the colonist should be taxed by Parliament if they

are not directly represented within them.

The Writs of Assistance would be followed by a few new laws in the 1760’s.

There was the Sugar Act of 1764 which had an impact on the southern colonies but not

much on the northern ones. The act that would really agitate the colonist and provoke a

collective rebellion was the Stamp Act of 1765. This affected the colonies as a while

making it a requirements for a stamp to be attached to numerous goods such as

newspapers, legal documents, licenses, as well as playing cards26. The response from the

Virginia House of Burgesses was a passing of a Virginia Stamp Act Resolution which

claimed the British were taxing the colonist without them having the proper

representation in Parliament. When the congressional leader of Massachusetts heard of

the resolution they sent invitations to all colonies to accept the resolution. This is event

was significant in that it was the first time the colonies began to act as one in defiance of

the Stamp Act of 1765. The colonies then began collectively boycotting English goods

and formed the First Continental Congress to collectively plan further resistance against

British tyranny.

Like they had previously done the people of Boston began once again to “Vote

with their feet”. Mobs of men sometimes members of the Sons of Liberty began tarring

and feathering Stamp Act officials. One time a mob probably the Sons of Liberty burnt an

effigy of Andrew Oliver who worked for the Office of Stamp Distribution27 and went as

far as to take the stamp office itself down to the ground. When both the sheriff and

governor came to calm down the mob, the leader ordered his men to take arms against

them. In another incident a mob destroyed the Lt. Governor’s house and destroyed his

collection of valuable manuscripts and books as Hutchinson was an historical writer. The

people of the colonies especially in Boston were furious over the new Stamp Act and

were taking revenge on anyone associated with the new taxes. Royal Officials were being

forced resign and as a result the Stamp Act was appealed, but the Declaratory Act was

signed by Parliament preserving their right to tax the colonies in the future.

During the time of rebellion against the Stamp Act new radical groups had formed

with ideologies of liberty and freedom. One of these groups was the Sons of Liberty.

They were formed in Boston around the summer of 1765 in response to the Stamp Act.

There main function was to oppose any new legislature they thought was against their

basic rights and liberties. By the end of 1765 there were Sons of Liberty groups in all the

existing colonies28. Violence was not their only means of resistance they also had heavy

influence in local newspapers which they would use to spread propaganda against British

tyranny.

One of the most influential members of the Sons of Liberty was Samuel Adams,

one of the elder leaders in the revolutionary effort who was an unsuccessful brewer yet a

brilliant tactician against British tyranny.

In 1767 Charles Townsend took control of the English Parliament and decided to

levy his own Townsend Acts of 1767, which he aimed to punish the colonist for the

uprising against the Stamp Act. A Massachusetts Circular letter was passed in February

of 1768 which pointed out and supported the views of John Dickinson of Pennsylvania a

farmer who debated the difference between internal and external taxes. The letter also

urged the colonist to further boycott British imports; they would suffer a 40 percent loss

from colonial importation.

In response to the boycott and rebellious acts of the colonist the British sent soldiers to

the port of Boston on October 1, 176829. The colonist would treat the British soldiers as

invaders and tensions would continue to grow. It was typical of the colonist to taunt and

throw stuff at the soldiers while they marched through the streets of Boston. On March 5,

1770 the tension between the colonist and British soldiers would boil over. Numerous

stories surround the events of the Boston massacre, but the end result was the killing of

five colonists after an altercation with British soldiers. There is no conclusive evidence as

to who started the altercation, but the men who died that day would become martyrs to

the cause of American independence. The Boston Massacre would be used as propaganda

in local papers and pamphlets. Paul Revere and Samuel Adams would use the event to

portray the British as over exerting their power and tyranny on the colonies through

violence.

The Boston Massacre would be considered the first blood shed of the conflict

between the colonist and the British but the first offensive act by the colonist would come

in June of 1772. The Gaspee Affair was an incident where the HMS Gaspee was trying to

enforce navigation and trade laws when they ran aground off of Narragansett Bay chasing

the smuggling boat Hannah30. A group of Patriots led by Abraham Whipple came aboard

the grounded ship shot the Lt. Commander and burnt the ship down. Whipple would go

on to become one of the most significant naval officers of the American Revolution.

The turning point that would lead to the British occupying the Boston harbor

would be the throwing of tea into the harbor by Patriots. The British had made a deal with

the East India Company to import tea into the colonies at a cheaper price than previously.

This would lead one to wonder why the colonist would be upset over cheaper tea, well

the fact was that the British would also be making a larger profit off of the tax on the tea

than previously. The colonist decided that the tea would not come on shore. On

December 17 of 1773 a group of men most likely led by the Sons of Liberty boarded the

Dartmouth ship. According to an eyewitness George Hewes31 the men boarded the ship

dressed as Natives brandishing hatchets they broke open the crates of tea and threw them

into the harbor.

The result of the Boston Tea Party would be the Coercive Acts which would be

known in the colonies as the Intolerable Acts32. The British Parliament claimed the laws

passed in 1774 were a result of “growing unrest in the thirteen colonies”, although the

laws took a particular aim at the Boston colony. Two of the four acts were the

Massachusetts Government Act and the Boston Port Act. The Massachusetts Government

Act ended all elections in the colony, officials would now be appointed by the British

Crown. The Boston Port Act closed the port of Boston from any trade until the losses

from the tea party were compensated for. This act in particular would gain sympathy

from colonies like Virginia and the Carolinas who previously had no concern for New

England affairs. These colonies began to send supplies to New England. The Boston Port

Act unintentionally banded the colonies together. The First Continental Congress would

meet in Philadelphia, PA in part as a result of the Intolerable Acts.

While the First Continental Congress was attempting to find some sort of

resolution to the growing conflict between the British and the colonies, the Patriots in

Massachusetts were stocking up on munitions and gunpowder. On September 1, 1774

260 British regulars were sent by General Thomas Gage to investigate a rumor of

gunpowder supplies being kept in Somerville Massachusetts34. The rumors had been

correct and the troops seized all the munitions and gun powder. The event would become

known as the Powder Alarm, and would serve as a warning to the British of possible

future conflict. In response to the Powder Alarm the Patriots met in Worcester and urged

one third of all militias to be assembled into minutemen. These minutemen would be

ready to fight and defend their land in a minutes notice. They also established a system of

express riders who would be ready to ride to neighboring towns and warn of impending

British attacks.

At this point the growing conflict between American colonists and the British was

coming to the point where blood shed was becoming a reality. Previously the notion of

blood shed or war was not a real possibility from either side, except from the extremist on

each side. The British felt that the rebellious acts of Boston would not spread or come to

anything more than what they considered kids away from home acting out. The British

thought they could quell the resistance with a little show of force. Unfortunately the

animosity in the Boston colony was boiling over and the show of authority by the British

was backfiring into support for the rebellious Bostonians.

The first official blood shed of the American Revolution came on April 18, 1775

after General Thomas Gage decided once again to investigate rumored munitions in the

town of Concord34. This time the townships would be warned by Paul Revere and Samuel

Prescott. The British troops on this day would meet resistance from the Middlesex militia

comprised of 6,000 men led by Col. James Barrett35. At the end of the conflict 19 British

officers and 250 soldiers killed as opposed to 90 American Patriots36.

The Patriots would follow the British troops back to their main stronghold in

Boston. Under the leadership of General Artemas Ward an initial force of 6,000 to 8,000

men surrounded the city from all sides in the Siege of Boston, opposing the force of

4,000 British troops.

The British would eventually receive reinforcements of 4,500 troops and attempt

to leave the city. The attempt would result in the Battle of Bunker Hill actually fought on

Breeds Hill. The British attempted to charge up the hill but were dealt 1,000 casualties37

from 1,500 Patriot marksmen as opposed to 140 Massachusetts militia casualties. The

Patriots would be forced to retreat only after running out of ammunition. Both sides

considered it a win with the British gaining position on the hill while the Patriots killed

more troops.

The American Patriots were now at war with the British, and it would be an up

hill battle. In the beginning of the war American Patriot victory looked dim, and under

the leadership of General George Washington they would lose more battles than they

would win, yet in the end they were able to endure and drive the British out of the

colonies.

Resistance to the old conservative way of life had reached full circle in the

American colonies and they would gain their independence from the Old World. The

American colonies would grow to become the epicenter of freedom, liberty and

democracy. The growth of Western civilized mans intellect and desire for natural rights

and liberties, grew into a revolution against the Old World politics of Europe and resulted

in American independence.

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