Revolution Ideology

Revolutionary Ideology

• Britain, land of the free!• Discussion: John Locke and natural rights• Colonial perceptions of liberty and power• Liberty threatened!• The thoughts that lead to independence

The Freest People on Earth!(Protected by the British Constitution)

Personal Liberty

Royalty

NobilityCommons

Laws, customs and traditions

The British Constitution is…

“the most perfect combination of human powers in society which finite wisdom has yet contrived and reduced to practice for the preservation of liberty and the production of happiness.”

-John Adams, 1764

Discussion:

John Locke1631 - 1704

Wikipedia.org

“The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for among old parchments

or musty records. They are written, as with a sunbeam, in the whole volume of

human nature, by the hand of divinity itself, and can never be erased or

obscured by mortal power.”

-Alexander Hamilton, 1775

Harken back to the days of Rome!

Historum.com

“…Liberty has been skulking about in Corners from the Creation, and has been hunted and persecuted, in all Countries, by cruel Power.”

-John Adams, 1765

The British Empire, 1763

wcurrlin.de

“It is a very improbable supposition, that any people can long remain free, with a strong military power in the very heart of their country…”

–Samuel Adams, 1768

Liberty Threatened:The Legacy of the French-Indian War

Crushing British war

debt

End of “Salutary

Neglect” policy

Colonists not as free as they

thought

Colonial Thinking ChangesThe three opinions led to independence:• Representation– Colonists have no one to speak their interests

• Constitution– Fails to protect colonial rights

• Sovereignty– Parliament has no power over the colonies

“But what do we mean by the American Revolution? Do we mean the American War? The Revolution was effected before the war commenced. The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people… This radical change in principles, opinions, sentiments, and affections of the people was the real American Revolution.”

-John Adam, 1818