road to unity

Road to Unity
By: Ryan Hagan
DBQ
From 1750 to 1776 an increase in tension between the colonists and England led to ideas of unity. The British were very involved in the everyday American lives, but there was no unity within the colonies. The English parliament passed numerous acts that increased colonial taxes, making the colonists angrier than ever. More and more Americans began to realize their place in society and the necessity for unity. Due to the uprising in levels of crisis the Americans needed to come together as one. America developed its identity through three distinct phases from 1750-1776.
In the early stages of 1754, colonial unity was beginning to be discussed by several colonies but, as a society they had no motivation. The Pennsylvania Gazette printed a comic of the colonies saying “Join or Die” (A). This cartoon relates to the importance of colonial unity and urged colonies to unite. These events led to the meeting of the Albany congress where Benjamin Franklin proposed the Albany Plan of Union. The plan tried to unite all of the colonies nevertheless, they never came to an agreement in unity but there was progress made. It was one of the first steps towards colonial unity and there was a bit of Unity but they weren’t there yet. Along with several problems the Americans faced, one of the toughest challenges was the Stamp Act. The act created a ton of controversy and problems along with extracting revenue from the Americas. The “Sons of Liberty” are responsible for the Stamp Act of 1765, in addition to the cowardly acts of dumping tea into the Boston channel. In a meeting of 9 colonies, the colonies protested the Stamp Act and the act was abolished. The necessity for unity began to come more important to the colonists whose crisis level continues to rise.
The Second phase from 1766-1774 takes the colonies just one step closer to becoming unified. In 1766, Edmund Burke, believed that there was no characteristic shared by America and England. Due to the division created by the Atlantic Ocean, Burke stated that England could not hope to rule America because of the natural barrier between them (B). In 1767 the Townshend acts were passed by British parliament putting an indirect tax on consumer goods, such as paint, lead. The readiness of the colonists to unify, and anger were at an all-time high(C). With the continually uprising of crisis the colonists needed to do something. In what looks to be the start of the unification process following the intolerable acts, the first continental congress was formed in Philadelphia. The First Continental Congress agreed to boycott British goods as well as agreeing to meet again if Great Britain didn't change their policies. The Congress did not want fully want to become independent yet, but they were becoming more and more unhappy with Britain. With only 12 of the 13 colonies at the congress it was very hard to make any progress. As needed there must be all 13 in agreement to discard a law and 9 to amend/ratify.
The third and final phase in the process towards becoming unified denotes the readiness of America to separate and become one. In April of 1775 the American revolutionary war began with the shots of Lexington and Concord. Following Lexington, it was shortly added to at the capture of Fort Ticonderoga in May of 1775 in New York taking the fort by surprise. Moving along to June the British made the attack on Bunker Hill the colonial forces had no other option but to retreat over Bunker Hill, suffering their most significant loss ever on Bunker Hill. Through its grievances the colonies needed motivation to separate from Britain. In the hope to persuade people Thomas Paine wrote Common Sense in 1775 that inspired people in the Thirteen Colonies to declare and fight for independence from Great Britain. The crisis level is at all time high and the necessity to become unified almost becomes a requirement to survive the disasters they’ve been living that last several years. In the summer of 1775 The Second Continental congress formed in Philadelphia with the hope to finally complete the unification process. They drafted and sent the “Declaration for the Causes of Taking up Arms” to England in which they state that the colonies will do whatever in order to keep their liberties (E) In addition, the second Congress managed the colonial war effort, and moved rapidly towards independence creating the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. This furthermore completed the entire process and recognized the United States of America as one. The progress of the United States was later published by Peter Oliver through this particular time period and the advancements from it (F).
America developed its identity through three distinct phases from 1750-1776 ending with the unification of the United States of America. America was seen as a global spotlight and the place to have unlimited opportunities and start a new life (H). The necessity for unity was needed and the people finally realized its real place in society. With hardship involved the intensified process is something no one will ever disregard. We formed our identity were the name itself is not just a place to go, it was the United States of America.