Radicalism: Getting Rid of the Oppressors

   In the late 1700s, especially after the French and Indian War, the British established a much firmer grip on their colonies in the New World.  Even before the French and Indian war, they passed several acts that severely limited what colonists could and could not produce on their own land.  Following the War, they passed the 'Intolerable Acts,' thoroughly enraging Colonies all across the New World.  The colonists met twice in the mid 1770s, in conventions that would later be known as the First and Second Continental Congresses.  Here, the colonists were split into three groups of people; Radicals, Moderates and Conservatives, each with their own opinions of how the Colonies should respond to English oppression.  The Moderates believed that relations with the colonies' mother country could still be repaired, and that the recent events did not call for a revolution.  The Conservatives wanted to establish a plan with the English that would restore their relations exactly as they were before the French and Indian War, including the Intolerable Acts.  The Radicals, heavily outnumbered, held that the Colonies should act immediately against the English, whether by force or strong diplomacy.  The Radicals eventually had the right idea in history, and did prove to be the right choice in the end.  While severely outnumbered in the Continental Congresses, the Radicals were the most persuasive in their ideas through events that happened in history.
   The Moderates in the Continental Congress, including important figures such as George Washington, believed that the oppression of the English on the Colonists had not yet necessitated a forceful American revolution.  They still retained hope in their mother country, and still thought that they would listen to their subjects halfway across the globe.  They didn't believe that the Intolerable Acts and other Acts of oppression were permanent, so long as they argued and complained to the government that effectively gave the colonists the food on their plates.  Moderates were also opposed and possibly even fearful of a revolution by force to the English Empire, as they were at the time the largest and strongest military power in Europe.  To any logical mind, an assault against the British from their own colonies would be effective suicide.  However, the Moderates did not take into consideration the fact that the colonists were being crushed by all the oppression and pressure that the English were enforcing, nor the fact that they could align with the French and/or Spanish in a revolution against England.  The Moderates had a flawed argument in the end.
   The Conservatives perhaps held an even more absurd opinion of what could happen between the Colonies and the British; they believed that relations could be restored to the way they were prior to the French and Indian War.  Even before that war, the English imposed Acts that limited what the colonists could and could not do with the resources that they extracted and harvested.  Even before the War, the English already had plans to fully utilize the colonists to do their bidding, effectively practicing mercantilism to its highest extent.  The War itself was a great catalyst in enforcing English prosperity on the colonists even more, as they practically depended on the English for all their necessary supplies.  After the War, the English fully expected the colonists to be eternally grateful for their 'savior.'  However, they saw right through their tactics, and it became clear that relations could not be repaired, no matter how hard certain people such as the Conservatives argued for it.
   The Radicals were the only ones in the Continental Congresses who really saw that the tactics of the British Empire were only harming the colonists.  They held that relations could not be repaired, certainly could not be brought back to the state they were in more than 30 years ago, and were doomed to consume and crush the colonists.  The Radicals believed, rightly so, that force, violent or nonviolent, should be used to push back the English oppressors.  They called for an immediate, strong and forceful response, or else the colonies would surely be swallowed up completely by the taxes, the polices and the moderation of the iron English hand.  And a Revolution is exactly what started rolling less than 2 years after the Second Continental Congress was dismissed.
   The British rule over their colonies was simply intolerable by 1774, and all the colonies knew it.  However, most of them were too driven by fear to even suggest a revolution, or any sort of opposition to their mother country, save the Radicals.  After all, such ideas as a revolution would surely be severely punished by the ones who ruled the colonies, despite the fact that British rule was already being resisted by colonists across America.  Outnumbered by 2 to 1, the Radicals held their ideas, and eventually got the ball rolling for the American Revolution, which was in the end a complete success.  The 'dangerous' idea of full revolution against an oppressor turned was proven by history to be the exact right decision.

Religious Colonies: The shining examples of colonial America

The English settlers all came to the New World with a purpose.  Be it for economic, political or religious reasons, it could be said that all colonies enjoyed much more independence than in England, especially those seeking religious freedom.  With the persecution of the new English Church, all religions save the Protestants were under severe persecution.  Of course, with the New World looking as promising as it did, many fled there.  From Catholics to Quakers to Puritans, they all made their own colonies and carried out their own ways of life.  Some tolderated religious freedom in their own colonies, while others simply wanted their colony to be strictly under their own religion.  This of course caused several small conflicts between the religious colonies.  There have also been several conflicts between the religious and the Crown-Chartered royal colonies seeking nothing but profit.  However, religion did play a very significant role in the establishment of all the English colonies.  Those that sought religious freedom each became shining examples of how colonies should run.

Massacusetts Bay was established as a Calvinist, Protestant colony, which existed as a haven to those following John Calvin from England.  They tolerated no other religion other than Calvinism, and openly exiled and rejected all others.  Years later, Pennsylvania was established as a Quaker colony, open to all religions and backgrounds, even the local Native American tribes.  They saw themselves as all one race, and acted as a haven from the English crown, seeing that they were all exiles.  Both were very successful colonies, and were major role models for colonies to come in later years.

They were not without their conflicts, however.  Massachusetts, tolerating no other idealism other than Calvinism, was host to many uprisings and exiles of open-minded people.  Roger Williams established Rhode Island after he was banished from Massacusetts for promoting seperation of Church and State, with Anne Hutchinson following him shortly after.  She had the audacity to accuse the clergy of being too bound to one view of the Bible, and said that any faithful person can interperet the bible for themselves.

Conflicts also happened between other colonies and the religious ones.  The Carolinas were established by Charles II after retaking the crown, and gave that land to those who fought for him.  The people who came were unruly, and openly slaughtered any Indians on their land.  Their religion was that of the english Church, and sought only a rich economic opporitunity.  Even after Pennsylvania declared its tolerance to Native Amerians, the Carolinians chased them all the way into Pennsylvania to kill them.  William Penn was certainly not pleased, yet chose not to confront them.

While some were hated by their neighbors, the religious olonies were arguably the most well-organized and most stable of the English colonies.  Massachusetts becoming one of the largest colonies, and Plymouth the most famous, our bill of Rights is based off of some of their ideals.  Freedom of religion was brought by Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.  Colonies like the Carolinas and Georgia quickly fell to be some of the least popular colonies, simply because they were drones of the Monarchy.  The colonies seeking religious freedom were in fact, the first revolutionaries.

English Colonies

- Explain how the English colonies in the New World were different from one another in terms of government, population and origin.


     The English colonies in the New World were all started for different reasons; some were started as grants from the King or Queen of the time, others for religious freedom, others still as economic projects, and in the case of Georgia, as a penal colony.  The 13 colonies each had their own goals, their own ways of doing things, and had almost no correlation to one another.  It seemed to be a separate world for each English colony in the New World.

     In 1606, the Virginia Company set its foundations in Virginia.  There, they planted and cultivated tobacco, primarily using slave labor, for the settlers, and Englishmen back at home.  The profits from this were innumerable, and the colony prospered.  Meanwhile, Catholics fled from England with, hoping to escape prosecution from the now-protestant government.  They were also a plantation colony, but had no interest in trading with their motherland.  Instead, they became a self-sustaining, independent colony.  Years later, Georgia was founded with the goal of defending the Carolinas from the Spanish, who were bent on re-obtaining their land.  In return, it became the least popular of the now 13 colonies.  

     While all these colonies were inhabited by (former) Englishmen and women, their goals were vastly different.  Virginia and Maryland were right next to each other, and had completely different goals.  One was a colony intended purely for profit, making its money from friendly England, while the other was bent on escaping persecution based on their religion from menacing England.  The Carolinas were founded with blessing from King Charles II, and had its roots in slavery and the expulsion of the Native Americans.  A few miles away, William Penn, who founded another colony based on religious freedom from England, promised friendly relations between them and the Natives, yet the Carolinians still had their bloody massacres of the "savages."  It could easily be said that not all of the colonies were "Friendly Neighbors"

     By 1775, the differences between these colonies were fairly clear, based only on their statuses.  All the colonies serving England, be it by selling their goods to them, protecting their most valuable money-makers, or simply to prove a political point.  Of course, all the colonies escaping English persecution for not being Protestant were given no such status, and remained independent.  The colonies that sought religious freedom were generally friendly to the natives, taking into regard their land needs, culture, and openly traded with them.  As seen with Carolina, the "royal" colonies took little to no consideration, and wanted nothing more than for the Indians to leave or die.

     There was a clear distinction between the English colonies; they all had different goals and ideals, and some of them clearly didn't get along.  Georgia was founded to protect the rest of them, and later became the slowest-growing and most hated colony.  But the difference wasn't only in their goals and social statuses, but in the way they behaved in this New World.  All the colonies founded under or by the British Government tended to be much more cruel to people unlike them; they dealt in slavery and "hunted" Indians, while the religious freedom colonies had no slaves, and treated the Native Americans with respect to their culture.  Colonial America was most definitely a mixed, sperate world from itself.

So, a little about me.

If I had to be in another class, it'd probably be Graphic Design III. I'm part of the Mock Trial club, Drama StarZ, Tech Crew (kind of), and President and founder of the Anime Club here at Kenwood. I'm also one of the co-presidents of my Youth Group.. I've got a lot of responsibility this year. I'm taking two other AP classes this year; AP Biology and AP Literature. I plan on going to Columbia College in Chicago after graduating this year, and getting into the new Game Design major. I can't really think of anything else, so.. ending this paragraph o_o.