by Mitch Cook | May 3rd, 2010
After months of struggling with America’s polarized society, I have been pressed to come to some sort of understanding of why American’s can be so divided on some very basic issues. Since much of what divides Conservatives from Liberals comes from differences in opinions about freedoms and liberties, I decided to look back into our history. I wasn’t having much luck determining how we could have come to such a wide divide until I watched the first of a series of programs on the History Channel call “America: The Story of Us.” POW!! The answer came to me like peering into a crystal ball.
In the early days of the American Revolution, a band of men decided that it was time for America to break free from British rule. We all know this story, of course. Our history books explain that Americans were under the thumb of Britain and were unable to determine their own course. Tyranny was something to escape from not live under. Revisionist History says that early Americans were simply greedy and turned on the British Crown that had sponsored and sent them to create Colonies for England. What Americans called “Independence”, England called “High Treason.” Neither story is telling the complete truth.
American Mythology says that America was created to provide its people with certain freedoms. The reality is somewhat different. While Britain had established the Colonies in America and had contracts with them to return goods and treasures found there back to England, Americans, over time, began to feel taken for granted and unfairly treated. This should not have come as a surprise to England. Decades before, the Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony had fled England for religious freedom. But they found that freedom in Holland. So why did they go to America? Economics. They found that they fared better in England with trade and commerce than they did in the Netherlands but couldn’t worship they way they wanted. They needed a place that would provide them with both Religious AND economic freedom. England graciously granted them safe passage to America under contract even though they had been a thorn in the side of the King. They promptly broke that contract upon arrival.
They got what they wanted but it cost them dearly. After arriving in Plymouth it took only a few months for nearly half of the entire colony to die. They were ill prepared for the rigors of freedom in a hostile land. It was the Indians who saved them along with a dark choice. The mythology continues to explain that the Indians showed the remaining Pilgrims how to grow crops and hunt and fish. Basically saving the colony from sure death. This led to the First Thanksgiving. Not Exactly. The nearest tribe had a problem. They were at war with another local tribe and saw an opportunity in the English. They made peace with the English and would show them how to live on lands inhospitable to them if they helped them with a problem. You see the Pilgrims had guns and a need to survive. They made a terrible pact with the tribe and helped them to destroy their enemy. How could a self describe band of holy people set aside their Christian values and choose to kill? The answer is simple; economics. They chose to survive.
Survival is a common theme found in early American history. Later, when England was treating the American Colonies with little regard and no representation, the American leadership decided on another dark choice. Was it because they felt the tyrannical breath of the current king of England? Yes. Had they made agreements with England to provide the crown with money made in the New World? Yes. Was England unfairly taxing the American Colonies? Yes. Did England have a right to do so? Yes. So, once again Americans, citizens of England to be precise, chose to set aside their agreements and pacts with their fatherland and rebel. Why? Economics and survival.
The Mythology continues to suggest that Americans were never given a fair shake and were unfairly treated by England. They stood up to tyranny and fought back establishing a new nation conceived of Liberty. Revisionists suggest that Americans became traitorous, slave owning rebels stabbing the back of their benefactors in England. Neither story is completely true.
Americans had been following their agreements for many years. Citizens in the New World found a new economy that was flourishing. Timber, Tobacco, and slave trade made some very rich indeed. England was pleased with the progress but they wanted more. Americans were also pleased with their progress and wanted to keep more of their rewards. And why not? They were the ones doing all the hard work. A struggle was brewing and it had little to do with Liberty and Freedom. It had everything to do with Economics and survival.
England did press too hard and expected too much. They passed laws for the Colonies that forced Americans to give up more and more. Colonists demanded more say in how they ran the colonies and England refused to cooperate. That was a mistake.
Next: After the Liberation.
-MRC
