Unity Among the Colonies Dbq

Unity among the 13 colonies Any American knows the details about the American Revolution, but how much do they know about the status of the colonies leading up to the war? What did it mean to be a colonist in America and how were they different from the British? The Americans developed their own sense of identity that was completely different from any other country and the colonists became united. One can see the sense of unity becomes greater and greater as the revolution gets closer. Unity between the different colonies is first seen during the French and Indian War. Before this, each colony was able to survive on its own and didn’t have to worry about the other colonies. Britain exercised salutary neglect and the colonies became used to this. When the French and Indian War occurred, the colonies had to unite to fight against a common enemy, although the colonies were being backed by the British and didn’t have to work together as much as they did in the revolution. Document A is a political cartoon created by Benjamin Franklin and it symbolizes that each separate colony will perish on its own during a war. This cartoon acted as a stepping stone towards unification. One of the other significances of the French and Indian War was that the differences between the colonists and the British were being seen. The British generals looked down on the colonists and this showed that they were no longer just British descendants. Americans were an enormous mix of cultures. “Here individuals of all nations are melted into a new race of men”(H). The final significance of the French and Indian War is that England went into debt and they inevitably began taxing the colonies. England’s taxing the colonies led to even more unification. One of the first British acts passed was the Proclamation of 1763, which really ticked off the colonists. The colonists felt that they had the right to move onto their land. After this act were the sugar and stamp acts. The Stamp Act was a