American Identity And Unity During The Colonial Period

Daniel Soto Mr. Sandoe AP US History Period I 21 September 2014 American Identity and Unity during the Colonial Period prior to the Revolution By the eve of the American Revolution, the colonists had unknowingly developed an identity that was neither English nor American but was instead a mixture of the two. The American side of this new identity can be seen in the religious freedom that was promoted in the colonies, their self-governance, and their quasi-independence from Britain when it came to trade. However, although there was this new identity forming, colonists still thought of themselves as English and asked people to address them as such. This led to complications during the events leading up to the American Revolution in which†¦show more content†¦The fundamentals of this agreement would permeate throughout the years to the other colonies and would stay with America up to present day. Other good representations of the growth of a self-governing American identity are the assemblies that governed each colony. They were ruled over by a royal governor that represented the Crown in the colony and they were then made up of an assembly of elected citizens that represented their town/county. Over time, the elected assemblies grew to be more powerful than the governors due to salutary neglect and this resulted in the colonies actually governing themselves and having a semblance of independence from Great Britain. While Great Britain knew about the undeclared policy of salutary neglect and about the colonies’ self-governance, they did not address it because it was also beneficial to them as well. It allowed them to not have to worry about governing the colonies so that