Page 134 - American Stories, A History of the United States

waging war, they acquired a more intimate sense of an America that lay beyond the
plantation and the village. Conflict had carried thousands of young men across colo- 4.1
nial boundaries, exposing them to a vast territory full of opportunities for a booming
population. Moreover, the war trained a corps of American officers, people like George
Washington, who learned that the British were not invincible. 4.2
British officials later accused the Americans of ingratitude. Britain, they claimed,
had sent troops and provided funds to liberate the colonists from the threat of French
attack. The Americans cheered on the British but dragged their feet at every stage, 4.3
refusing to pay the bills. These charges were later incorporated into a general argument Quick Check
justifying parliamentary taxation in America. Why did victory over France not
The British had a point. The colonists were, in fact, slow to provide the men and generate greater mutual respect 4.4
materials to fight the French. Nevertheless, they did contribute to the war effort, and it was between American colonists and
reasonable for Americans to regard themselves as at least junior partners in the empire. the British?

4.5
conclusion: Rule britannia?
James Thomson, an Englishman, understood the hold of empire on the popular imagi-
nation of the eighteenth century. In 1740, he composed words that British patriots have
proudly sung for more than two centuries:

Rule Britannia, Britannia rule the waves,
Britons never will be slaves.

Colonial Americans—at least, those of British background—joined this chorus. By
midcentury they took their political and cultural cues from Great Britain. They fought
in its wars, purchased its consumer goods, flocked to hear its evangelical preachers, and
read its publications. The empire gave the colonists a compelling source of identity.
An editor justified the establishment of New Hampshire’s first newspaper in pre-
cisely these terms: “By this Means, the spirited Englishman, the mountainous Welsh-
man, the brave Scotchman, and Irishman, and the loyal American, may be firmly united
and mutually RESOLVED to guard the glorious Throne of BRITANNIA . . . as British
Brothers, in defending the Common Cause.” Even new immigrants, the Germans, Scots-
Irish, and Africans, who felt no political loyalty to Britain and no affinity for its culture,
had to assimilate to some degree to the dominant English culture of the colonies.
Americans hailed Britannia. In 1763, they were the victors, the conquerors of the
backcountry. In their moment of glory, the colonists assumed that Britain’s rulers saw
the Americans as “Brothers,” equal partners in the business of empire. Only slowly
would they learn the British had a different perception. For them, “American” was a
way of saying “not quite English.”

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