Monday, October 13, 2014

Americans United as Americans?

Task:  Evaluate the extent to which the colonists developed a sense of identity and unity as Americans by the eve of the Revolution?  Use your knowledge of the period 1750 to 1776 to answer the question.

Thought Process:  Hi there!  Alright time to get started.  First things first do you understand the prompt?  We are asked to EVALUATE aka provide evidence for the REASON as to how colonists developed as a nation, but the days preceding the Revolution.  We are to use 1750 all the way up to 1776, which means a few years prior to the French and Indian War until right before the Declaration of Independence was signed.

Come up with a list of reasons that you can use to support your point!

  • French and Indian War (1754-1763) The British (and the Americans) won this battle!  It definitely boosted their moral... even though later it led to debts, and taxes to pay for those debts.
  • Lexington and Concord (1775)  This is when the British had their first attack.  They experienced the Guerrilla warfare of the Americans for the first time.  Here the Americans united especially when they created the "one if by land, two if by sea" system to alert the colonists of the British arrival.  Paul Revere and William Dawes galloped to Lexington from Charlottesville. Warning other that the "regulars" were coming.
  • Battle at Bunker Hill (1775)  This is an interesting one, because although the American lost they felt like they won.  During the first 2 attempts of the British to attack the Americans, they failed.  The third attempt was successful since the Americans ran out of ammunition, HOWEVER the British suffered heavy looses.  This battle led the Americans to believe that they needed full force on the war efforts, and all eligible men needed to fight in the war.
  • Boston Tea Party (1776) This caused great commotion because the extreme radicals dumped expensive tea into the ocean causing the British to impose the Coercive acts so that they could pay for all the damages.
  • Groups of people like the Committees of Correspondence, the Continental Congress, and the Sons of Liberty were formed in order to create a new government system.  They were grouped together with the common interest of wanting to cede away from the British.
Great now we can work!  We can use the process my teacher gave me which is the X, however, A, B, C, therefore Y.  X is the counter argument, weird I know.  I have always been told to never have the other side in the essay.  A, B, and C are all the point to support YOUR POINT, which is the Y in the picture.

Let's write a thesis shall we?

The Americans were divided between the Loyalists and the Patriots, however through the boosted moral at Bunker Hill, the desire to over throw the royal control through the Boston Tea Party, and rebel group formations, the Americans had formed a sense of unity and American identity prior to America actually being created.