US Before 1865
October 18, 1999 Nationalism first emerged as the Colonists became
more
and more Democratic. Some argue that Democracy had always existed in
the
colonies, but didn’t begin to emerge until around the beginning of
"The
Enlightenment". I believe that Nationalism was present during
the
Revolutionary Era, but then faded again, adding fuel to the fire
during the
Civil War. Colonists exhibited all the aspects of Nationalism.
They had a shared
sense of cultural identity, a goal of political self
determination, and the
overwhelming majority shared a loyalty to a single
national state. Colonists
were thousands of miles from the king, the
parliament, and Great Britain, this
led to a new way of life. While many
aspects of colonial society were taken
directly from that of England society,
they also formed new beliefs and customs
as they saw fit. The Enlightenment
"Helped produce a growing interest in
education and a heightened concern with
politics and government." (Brinkley
pg. 85) With this rise of intellectual
curiosity also came the rise of literacy
and technology within the colonies.
The literacy rates rose and more and more
people had readily avaliable texts.
The invention of the printing press led to
an influx of printed material,
much of which delt with politics. Books,
pamphlets, and almanacs all were
used in expressing the political ideas of many
of our great early
politicians. "One reason the Stamp Act created such a furor
in the colonies
was because printing technology-and thus print itself-had by
then become
central to colonial life. Massa 2 The colonies, like any nation,
wanted to be
self-sufficient, but due to the fixed amount of wealth, this was
impossible
unless they obtained an outside source of income. Mercantilism was
a
essential part of colonial society, the demand for imported goods was
great.
England passed the Navigation Acts to limit the Colonies trade
with outside
sources. The Sugar Act, which again prohibited trade, especially
that of sugar,
between the colonies, and the French and Spanish Claims in the
West Indies. With
all the restrictions placed upon them, it was only natural
that the colonists
would break these restrictions. Britain passed a series of
Acts which included:
the Hat Act, the Currency Act, the Iron Act, and the
Stamp Acts. When colonists
heard of these acts, they began to stir. At first
the colonies thought that
there was little or nothing to be done. Then in
1765, the Virginia House of
Burgesses added fuel to the fire. Patrick
Henry stated that it was ridiculous
for the colonists to pay taxed to a
government that they had no representation
in. This and other resoulutions
were printed and deemed the "Virginia
Resolves". At the same time in
Massachusetts, James Otis was calling for an
intercolonial congress. After
the end of the French and Indian War, there were 4
problems which in turn
directly led to the rise of Nationalism and the
Revolution: 1. In 1765
the British acquire a great deal of land in the U.S.
through the Treaty of
Paris. 2. The end of the war led Great Britain to
reinforce the Navigation
Acts. 3. The war removed the 1 basic bond that was
still remaining between
the U.K. and the U.S., that which was defending the
colonies agains the
French. 4. The French and Indian War led to a 130 million
pound British Debt.
This staggering war debt was another reason that England
passed the Stamp
Acts. These events helped to strengthen the colonists sense of
cultural
identity and help the rise towards Nationalism. Massa 3 With all
the
restrictions placed upon them, it was only natural that the concept of
political
self-determination arose. Colonists felt that they must ban
together to rise
against the British. The trade situation was a determing
factor in the rise of
colonial political systems. Britian realized that the
colonies were beginning to"think on their own" and a series of British
government institutions began
in the U.S. There were Vice Admiralty Courts,
the Board of Trade and
Plantations, and many economic and trade
regulations. All colonies had Royal
Governors and colonial officials. In
October of 1765, the Stamp Act Congress met
and drafted a petition to England
stating that colonists could only be taxed
from their own provincial
governments, and not from Britian. The protests
worked, because Britain soon
overturned the Stamp Act. The colonies were
apparently "calm" until the
1770’s when England again passed restrictive
acts, this time the Intolerable
Acts. It was the Intolerable Acts that led to
the start of colonial boycotts
against the British. Following the dissolvation
of the intercolonial
congress, there was a national belief that "the
Intolerable Acts menaced
the liberties of every colony". This belief led to
the creation of the
Continental Congress. This convention made 5 important
decisions, one of the
most influential being the plan to boycott Great Britian
in an attempt to
sever trade with them. One night in the winter of 1773,
colonists stormed
Boston Harbor, and threw tea from 3 ships into the waters.
News of the
"Boston Tea Party" spread and other colonies held comparable
acts of
opposition. Britain was directly responsible for the colonists rise
to
political self determination. With so many restrictions and taxes placed
upon
the colonies, they felt the need to create a political system to remedy
these
problems, while at the same time setting up a type of government that
was better
suited to their needs. An important aspect of nationalism that the
colonies
exhibited was the loyalty of the overwhelming majority of the people
to a single
nation state