Essay On The Difference Between American Colonists And British Citizens

The British Colonies in North America were established in the 16th century by various British citizens yet as time progressed the British citizens evolved in to American colonists with their own ideologies. By 1763 the differences between the British citizens and American colonists became more apparent to both parties leading to the American Revolution. The ideology that largely shaped the American colonists is often called the “country philosophy” and the major ideas caused that a spilt from the British include the issue of power vs. liberty, the idea of what made a virtuous man, and worries over standing armies.

One of the major concepts of the country philosophy, which shaped colonists’ actions in the 1760s and beyond, is the idea that power and liberty have an inherent inverse relationship. For the colonists at this time the idea of their liberty was very important to them. Due to the fact the colonists felt so removed from the

Colonists saw themselves and what they believed of their own society to be virtuous. The society they believed they belonged in and was virtuous was a society of simple farmers who cared about individuality but still stood up for the common good. The colonists contrasted themselves to Britain, particularly London, which was run by ministers and merchants who cared only about luxury goods, power, and being the wealthiest person in society. Realities of the colonies did not differ as much from England as they thought mercantilism and competition were the driving factors and though agriculture was important it was not a society made up entirely of farmers. The virtuous society of farmers believed that they were the ones fit to run society and make decisions. On the other hand merchants with ties to England saw an issue with what made up a virtuous man so they in turn focused on another concept in the country philosophy, the issue of a standing