Theories of Revolution Ideas that matter Theory Reality

Theories of Revolution Ideas that matter?

Theory & Reality �The Morgans retell an old story from Boston of one “Jonathan Loring’s barn” that held the misfortune “some thirty years” before the Stamp Act to occupy suitable ground for a road. While the selectmen debated the legality of removing it, a mob, ever with “blackened faces” it seems, literally dismantled the problem. Perhaps, then, frustration and expediency as much as theory explains the American Revolution. Taxes bothered. Inadequate voice in Parliament annoyed. Royal officers galled. Redcoats and press gangs were downright appalling. These tensions, then, while easily expressed in philosophy, only mattered really once gone from disagreeable to exasperating. Then the exasperated took out an axe.

liberalism Enlightenment theories of / beliefs in: �Liberty �Equality �Rights of men �Individualism �Trade & consumption �Humanism �Justifies rebellion

republicanism Belief in: �Self-rule �Property �Civic virtue �Common good �“country” = virtuous / “court” = corrupt (also cities) (Country v. Royalist) �Citizen militia = virtuous / Standing armies = corrupt

Consumerism �Vibrant trading classe �Consumer expression = political expression �Consumer expression in identity (“Boston Tea Party” teapots, etc. ) �Connectivity �Self-interest & politics intersection

Committee on Correspondence �Sons of Liberty �Rhetoric �Hysteria �Concerted action �Communication �Boycotts

British Response � 7 Yrs War � Security � Trade � Overexpansion � Supremacy of Parliament � Morgan: � “If the colonist had followed Hutchinson’s advice, perhaps they might have preserved their attachment to the mother country without necessarily suffering an unfair burden of taxation. Through humble petitions and silent economic pressure they might have been able to obtain the redress of their immediate grievances. But they would have obtained it as a favor, not as a right. Hutchinson’s mistake was in supposing that the colonies were willing to accept favors in place of rights. Fifty years before, they mgh aveh been, but never after the passage of the Stamp Act. ” (229)