LO 1 Discuss the background material leading to the Declaration of Independence. This material breaks down into two areas of:( 1) external and (2) internal factors. Discuss the debate and factors that led to the colonies to finally declare their independence from Great Britain.
While men in Boston fought and died, the Continental Congress struggled to organize a response. The radical Massachusetts delegates––including John Adams, Samuel Adams, and John Hancock––implored the Congress to support the Massachusetts militia then laying siege to Boston with little to no supplies. Meanwhile, many delegates from the Middle Colonies––including New York, New Jersey, and Philadelphia––took a more moderate position, calling for renewed attempts at reconciliation. In the South, the Virginia delegation contained radicals such as Richard Henry Lee and Thomas Jefferson, while South Carolina’s delegation included moderates like John and Edward Rutledge. The moderates worried that supporting the Massachusetts militia would be akin to declaring war.
Externally, the final movement towards independence began on August 23, 1775 when King George III refused to receive the conciliatory Olive Branch Petition. This document, written by John Dickinson, for the Second Continental Congress, expressed colonial hopes of reconciliation and asked for the King's help in the restoration of peace.
The petition arrived in England on August 13, 1775, but, before it was delivered, the King issued his own “Proclamation for Suppressing Rebellion and Sedition.” He believed his subjects in North America were being “misled by dangerous and ill-designing men,” who, were “traitorously preparing, ordering, and levying war against us.” In an October speech to Parliament, he dismissed the colonists’ petition. The King had no doubt that the resistance was “manifestly carried on for the purpose of establishing an independent empire.” By the start of 1776, talk of independence was growing while the prospect of reconciliation dimmed.
On December 23, King George III issued a royal proclamation closing the American colonies to all trade and commerce, effective March 1, 1776. This action made the resolution of April 6, 1776, which opened the ports of the colonies to the trade of all nations except Great Britain, a necessity. This resolution was in essence an economic declaration of independence, an important forerunner to the political Declaration of Independence of July fourth.
In order to protect themselves and in anticipation of the Kings actions, in November, 1775 the Second Continental Congress had appointed a "Committee of Secret Correspondence" to establish relations with and seek aid from friendly European nations. In December the colonists heard from their agents that France would consider offering her support.
In order to protect themselves and in anticipation of the Kings actions, in November, 1775 the Second Continental Congress had appointed a "Committee of Secret Correspondence" to establish relations with and seek aid from friendly European nations. In December the colonists heard from their agents that France would consider offering her support.
By March of 1776 both France and Spain had agreed between themselves, although nothing was formalized at this time, that it was to their interest to help the American colonies in their battle against the British by supplying them with war materials.
Meanwhile, ignorant of these developments, the Second Continental Congress voted (March 3, 1776) to send Silas Deane to Europe to purchase war materials. Thus, because of King George's proclamation of December 23,1775 and the colonists' need for war materials, the April 6, 1776 resolution of economic independence became a necessity. The significance of this economic declaration is that it would make apolitical declaration necessary. Six days after this economic declaration the North Carolina Provincial Assembly authorized her delegates at the Continental Congress to support a political declaration of independence.
Virginia followed suit by mid May and on June 7th Richard Henry Lee offered a resolution to the Continental Congress that the united colonies "are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States." On June 11, the Congress authorized a committee made up of Jefferson, Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston to prepare a draft of a formal declaration. The job of writing the document was given to Thomas Jefferson.
On July 2, 1776, the Continental Congress voted 12-0 for independence with New York abstaining, and on July 4 the Congress again voted 12-0 to approve the document. New York abstained again, but on July 9 approved the declaration. Also by mid-May, the Continental Congress had issued a resolution authorizing each of the 13 colonies to form a new provincial government.
Internally, two events in January 1776 helped push the American mind to the final acceptance of independence. First came the news that the English were sending hired German soldiers (called Hessians because many of them came from the German principalities of Hesse-Kassel and Hesse-Hanau) to fight against them. Almost 30,000 of the German mercenaries ultimately served with the British army during the war. The colonists associated mercenaries with looting and rape and feared that the Germans would run amok among them.
The second decisive event occurred in January of 1776 with the publication of Common Sense by Thomas Paine, one of the most potent pamphlets ever written. Paine, the son of a Quaker corset-maker, came to Philadelphia in 1774 and found work on the Pennsylvania Magazine with the help of Ben Franklin.
In Common Sense, he advocated the immediate declaration of independence on both practical and ideological grounds. Paine did much to push public opinion to accept what had in fact become inevitable.
In clear and persuasive prose, Paine listed the advantages the colonies would enjoy once they had formed themselves into an independent nation: free trade with other countries of the world, release from England-European conflicts, freedom from having to appeal to a court 3,000 miles away.
"There is something very absurd," he insisted, "in supposing a Continent to be perpetually governed by an island."
Common Sense attacked not only George III but the idea of monarchy itself. Paine stated plainly that monarchy was a corrupt institution and called George a "Royal Brute." About 150,000 copies were sold in the critical period between January and July and total sales were over 500,000.
During the Revolutionary War, Paine continued to write and to publish his views on the patriot cause in a series of papers called American Crisis. In his first issue he wrote: "These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country. "With this eloquent patriotism the hesitation of many about the war in and out of the army were resolved. Washington was so impressed with the papers that he ordered them to be read to his troops at Valley Forge.
Hence, Thomas Paine like Sam Adams was an extremely important propagandist who molded the American mind toward independence. At the end of the war Paine was penniless, having refused all profits from his writings so that _the price would be low enough for all to have access to them.