Running Head: Liberty in Retreat: The Symptoms of Crisis in the American 1

Colonies

Liberty in Retreat:

The Symptoms of Crisis in the American Colonies

Taylor Smith

James Madison Memorial Fellowship Summer Institute

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Liberty in Retreat: The Symptoms of Crisis in the American Colonies

Distressed Bostonians helplessly standby while a squad of British soldiers massacres

colonists in the streets of BostonPaul Reveres Boston Massacre engraving is commonly

utilized in secondary classrooms as a lens into the streets of the Revolution (Revere, 1770).

Students may perceive that American Revolutionaries were victimized, yet aggravated, by King

George IIIs taxes and various acts; believing that the Declaration of Independence acted as a

break-up letter explaining the wrongs of ones former true love. The narrowing of a rebellion

turned revolution during the second half of the 18th century neglects the notion that the

Revolution acted as a means of carrying America towards a bustling and individualistic

modern world (Wood, 2002, p. xxiv-4).

Gordon Woods (2002) characterization of the conflict in the second half of the 18th

century as being a series of symptoms where aggravating relations between the British and the

increasingly suspicious colonists came to a headencapsulates the spirit that propelled the

Revolution and became the Federalists contention for the purpose of the Constitution. The

strongest aspect of Woods analysis of a tumultuous America moving from a monarchy to a

republic is his avoidance of anachronistic arguments; Therefore contending that the entirety of

the Revolution is a story to be understood not condemned or condoned through the

economic, political, and constitutional events that gave way to the spirit of 76 (Wood, p. xxiv-

4). The conflicts of the second half of the 18th century are thus contextualized by the expansion

of the colonies, along with the English reform efforts that necessitated American

constitutionalism as a means to resolve politics, leading to a completely different political

structure in America.
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Liberty in Retreat: The Symptoms of Crisis in the American Colonies

Following the Seven Years War, colonists expanded west to Appalachia and to Northern

parts of New England. This expansion dismembered ties between many colonists and their

provincial governments. As the fragmentation of communities persisted through the loosely

organized empire, the roots of fear of underrepresentation from a distant political power grew.

Western settlers thus voiced the same attitude that Americans in general had about British

power, in regards to their provincial governments. For example, Wood (2002) describes the

setters in the growing interiors of Pennsylvania and North Carolina whom raised arms in the

1760s because they believed that they were being exploited by remote eastern governments.

Therefore, when Paxtons Boys rebelled against the Pennsylvania assembly to obtain more

representation, they were turning to the belief in a unique government to match their new

developing identity as Americansan identity that rested on the sovereignty being in the hands

of the people. Deep-seated fear of underrepresentation demonstrates the very spirit that

Americans in general developed towards the imperial constraints that followed in the attempts to

reform the empire (Wood, p. 4-12).

The contextual factors discussed by Gordon Wood (2002) move beyond the Atlantic

seaboard with discussion of the tumultuous conditions facing Parliament within the British Isles,

while the British government pursued measures to overhaul the empire and obtain necessary

revenues. According to Wood, the reform efforts, especially the Stamp Act, unified Americans in

an unprecedented manner by enhancing colonial political consciousness, suspicions, and

organized popular resistance. As the ties between colonists and the British were increasingly

severed, the enforcement on behalf of the Britishwhether through ignoring the petitions of

colonists or of the presence of troops drove many, including merchants, into opposition in a
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Liberty in Retreat: The Symptoms of Crisis in the American Colonies

manner that caused many Americans to believe that their liberty was directly threatened (Wood,

2002, p. 28; 35-36). The conflicts in the colonies thus unified many Americans under the spirit of

liberty that eventually ignited the characteristics present in the Constitutional Convention of the

latter half of the 18th Century.

As the tensions between the colonies and Britain fumed, the colonists brought the idea of

virtual representation to the forefront of the conflicts. According to Wood (2002), the colonists

were engaged in a constitutional debate with the British over sovereignty, representation, and the

Empire. Although many colonists wanted to carry on the successes of the Empire, they rejected

virtual representation in favor of actual representationthat the popularly elected legislators

were the ones that held the authority to tax and serve them as the popularly elected were the

closest to the public (Wood, p. 39-41). Thus this vision of democracy became the civic faith

that carried the colonies through the Revolution and towards the development of the Constitution

(Wood, 2002, p. 166).

The spirit of 1776 was a significant consequence of the American Revolution since the

preceding conflicts nurtured the belief that sovereignty must always remain with the people,

making the government limited and representative of the politic. Despite fears of growing

factions, America extended the political arena over the whole nation, making the Constitutional

framers believe that the large number of interests and divisions would check and balance one

another. Thus the purpose of the American Constitution was a design that protected against a

tyrannical society by creating a government that derived its power from the people (Wood, 2002,

p. 163-166). Ultimately American Constitutionalism was designed as a means to carry out the
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Liberty in Retreat: The Symptoms of Crisis in the American Colonies

needs of the war, while protecting American political interestsa validation of the American

independence.

The contentions over sovereignty intensified the conflicts in the colonies, as many

Americans believed that they were subjected to a tyrannical rule that usurped their most basic

liberties. Gordon Woods (2002) analysis of the chronological events of the first half of the 1700s

brings an essential understanding to the spirit of 1776 that propelled America into the modern

world with the creation of a republic. That being said, the events surrounding the growth of the

colonies, English reform efforts, and the ideas underpinning American constitutionalism brought

forth a set of ideals that are represented throughout American political thought. The idea that the

government is representative of the people, and that the public holds the greatest authority, is a

consequence of the spirit of 1776 that carried the colonies through the conflicts, the Revolution,

and the creation of the American Constitution. The tumults presented in Paul Reveres engraving

of the Boston Massacre illustrate the spiritthat liberty will not retreat on behalf of an empire.
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Liberty in Retreat: The Symptoms of Crisis in the American Colonies

Works Cited

Wood, G. (2002). The American Revolution: A History. New York: The Modern Library.

Paul Revere (1770), The Bloody Massacre in King-Street, March 5, 1770. Boston. Retrieved
from: https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/road-revolution/resources/paul-
revere%E2%80%99s-engraving-boston-massacre-1770