When Did Americans Become Americans? 1945, 1865, 1787, or 1776?

History Unplugged Podcast

History Unplugged

Society & Culture, History

4.2 • 3.7K Ratings

🗓️ 10 December 2024

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

When news reached Parliament of the Boston radicals’ destruction of the Royal East India Company’s tea, it passed the Coercive Acts, a collection of punitive measures designed to rein in that insubordinate seaport town. The Coercive Acts unleashed a political firestorm as communities from Massachusetts to Georgia drafted resistance resolutions condemning Parliament’s perceived encroachment upon American liberty. Local leaders also directed colonists to refrain from purchasing British merchandise and forego the theater, horse racing, and other perceived debauched traditions. Local activists next convened the Continental Congress to coordinate a pan-colonial resistance movement to pressure Parliament into repealing the Coercive Acts and settling American rights on a constitutional foundation. Once convened, Congress deftly drafted the Articles of Association. Traditionally understood as primarily an economic response by the colonies to Parliament’s actions, the Continental Association called for public demonstrations of commercial and cultural restraint, conduct delegates hoped would both heal the empire and restore colonial virtue.

Today’s guest is Shawn McGhee, author of No Longer Subjects of the British King: The Political Transformation of Royal Subjects to Republican Citizens, 1774-1776. We discuss the process by which the Continental Association organized American towns and counties into a proto-national community of suffering to protect political identities they felt were under threat. Those sacrificing for the common cause severed their bonds of allegiance to the British king and separated from the broader imperial nation. In this crucible of austerity, they formed an American political community, completing the political transformation from subject to citizen.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Noble gold investments is the official gold sponsor of History Unplug, a company that specializes in gold IRAs and physical delivery of precious metals.
0:07.9	Learn how you can protect your wealth with noble gold investments.com.
0:19.2	It's going to here with another episode of the History Unplug podcast.
0:22.7	American Colonials existed as British subjects happily for nearly two centuries,
0:26.9	but seemingly in a blink of an eye, they started calling their sovereign a tyrant
0:30.9	and considered themselves citizens of a republic worthy of self-rule.
0:34.3	What changed? What happened in the 1770s that took dissatisfaction with the crown
0:39.0	and channeled it into a full-scale revolution? It has to do with a little-known group of articles
0:43.9	that the First Continental Congress drafted called the Articles of Association. This all begins
0:49.0	with the Boston Tea Party in response to Britain's coercive acts, and local activists convened the Continental Congress
0:55.0	to coordinate a pan-colonial resistance movement, pressure Parliament to repealing the coercive acts.
1:00.2	Once convened, Congress drafted the Articles of Association, which organized American towns
1:04.2	and counties into a proto-national community of suffering to protect political identities they felt
1:08.6	were under threat. In today's episode, we're going to look at the exact process by which revolutionary passions
1:14.3	were funneled into an effective political movement and didn't just burn out through a mob violence
1:18.9	that was put down by the British military.
1:21.3	I'm joined by today's guest, Sean McGee, author of No Longer Subjects to the British King,
1:24.9	the political transformation of royal subjects to Republican citizens. Hope we enjoy this episode. And one more thing before we get started with
1:34.1	this episode, a quick break for a word from our sponsors. History tells us that there have been only
1:38.9	two fiat currencies over the last 200 years, the dollar and the pound. The dollar's taken some
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1:47.7	That mind, it's a great time to learn about alternative investments.
	...

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