The Importance Of The Declaration Of Independence In American History

12 Pages 2976 Words

a system of self-government, and, the Plymouth settlers were able for many years to carry out their own dealings without inside interference under this compact. But this living under the protection of Mother Land was not long lasting. Beginning in 1651, the English Government, from time to time, passed laws regulating certain sides of colonial economic life, some beneficial to America, but most favoring England. The main principle was the mercantilist view that colonies should supply their mother country with raw materials and not compete in manufacturing. But this policy was weakly enforced, and the colonies had never thought of themselves as submissive. Rather, they considered themselves largely as states, like England herself, and they thought that they had a loose connection with London. Although the British occasionally tried to secure better enforcement, their efforts were always short-lived, and the authorities returned to a policy of “salutary neglect”. In other words, although laws were in place to maintain the subordinate status of the colonies to Great Britain, they were usually not enforced. King George III wanted to rule the colonies more strongly and put an end to this salutary neglect. This–to some extent–political independence enjoyed by the colonies naturally resulted in their growing away from Britain, becoming increasingly “American” rather than “English”. In the first years of the colony life, the colonialists would proudly call themselves “His Majesty’s loyal subjects living in the colonies”. They saw themselves in the first years as sharing with their cousins in the Mother Country a common language, common culture and traditions and, above all, a common body of legal rights and privileges. They would not say, “We are Americans”. But the concept of “being American” strongly overwhelmed the thought of “sharing the common language and culture with the ones in the mother land”. This te...