US history to 1877 Essay

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History - 201

11/1/2016

AMERICAN REVOLUTION ESSAY

How the enlightenment, the great awakening and the country ideology influenced the colonists in the years leading up to the revolution.

There are many ideologies that influenced the revolution such as in enlightenment, the country ideology and the great awakening. These ideas had different contribution in making sure that the revolution happened and in a successful way. The effects of the Awakening was indeed a rebellion against the different authoritarian religious rule that managed to spill to the other areas of the colonial life.

Among the growing population of the different colonies in the 18th century and also the public gathering, different charismatic individuals such as the Edmund Burke, and Locke gave a lot of information and delivered numerous messages about their beliefs and ideas. Through the different religious movement, the awakening had some repercussion on the political and cultural spheres too (The University Chicago 4).

All the governing norms of the life in the different colonies were replaced with the quarrelsome age. There were a lot of practice and mind sets changing by the awakening like never experienced before. Prior to the revolution, there were many cases of Anti-Catholicism which was very dominant in the colonies just prior to the revolution.

The attitude was indeed very significant in the way of life of the New England life. It not only existed in the churches, but was also seen in the newspapers, schools and the taverns. When the popish threat was subsided with the subsequent passing of the Indian and the French war, the colonialists looked for a new Antichrist where they are likely to direct their specific attention.

The core ideals of the enlightenment such as the justice, equality and liberty led to the creation of the conditions for the American Revolution and the followed the constitution. Most of the ideals ideas and the concepts such as the natural rights and the freedom from oppression and finally the innovative ways of thinking in regard to the structure of the government were borrowed from the enlightenment philosophers.

The ideas from the movement that helped in inspiring colonialists to oppose the British policies such as the stamp act and also the break with the Great Britain in the year 1776.

The other ideas that inspired the colonialists included the currency act of the 1764 that prohibited all the colonies from making of the paper money. The parliament had decided that all the British colonies were to use the same currency so that the debt would be equal, and that no any particular colony will be able to pay their debt with the currency that had deflated (The University Chicago 10).

The colonies were annoyed with the move due to the fact that they had been engaged in the printing and coining of their own currency from the beginning. They were also happy with the fact that they had an exchange rate that was very favorable in terms of the borrowing and trade. The other key thing was the quartering act of the year 1765.

In the act, all the colonies which had the stationed troops were forced to pay for the board and the room of the different soldiers hence providing funds for the building of the different barracks. The act did not at any time force the colonists in housing of the soldiers in their homes. Majority of the colonies did not at any time accept to comply with the provisions of the act.

The state of New York got itself in trouble for violation of the act when the act was finally passes in the year 1767 (The University Chicago 4). There was also the stamp act that was passed in the year 1765. It was charged on all the legal documents, newspapers, custom papers and the playing cards/dice, papers and the diplomas. All of the items were supposed to contain the stamps on them.

All the people who were suspected of violation of the act were to be tried in the admiralty courts. The English people who are living in Great Britain had for a long period of time been paying the taxes. It is for this reason that Grenville thought that it will be good for the colonies to follow suite. The colonists did not take this down and as a result, they responded by going into the streets to protests the decision.

All the colonists were justified in all their criticism of the British Government

The colonialists were clearly justified in the criticism of the British government. This is because the rules and the methods that were being used by the colonizers were very oppressive and exploitative. It was aimed at draining the resources from the American society. In this regard, they had to criticize and protest for the sake of protecting the American society.

Work cited

The University of Chicago Press The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke. 6 vols. London: Henry G. Bohn The University of Chicago Press 1775