Existing comment:
A Great Leap
“I am not a Virginian, but an American.”
-- Patrick Henry, delegate to the First Continental Congress, 1774
The colonists’ grievances against British authority led them to organize together across the colonies. In turn, that organization gradually built a sense of connection to others who shared common ideas and demonstrated common commitments. As the dispute intensified, patriots slowly disconnected from British authorities and their own Loyalist neighbors. In 1776 their experience of shared resistance led them to embrace a new political identity.
“Premiere Assemblée du Congrès” (First Meeting of the Continental Congress), 1782 |