American Revolution
In 18th century, before the American government gained independence from the British rule, there were several attempts to ensure unity in America so as to be able to fight Britain that was a strong Nation, with strong economic, social and with strong political system known as the Kingdom of Great Britain (Middlekauff, 2001).
Social and political climate in England
In England social status was more relevant in attaining any leadership position according to Middlekauff (2001) there was the upper class, who were the rulers, the middle class who were the second after the upper class and the lower class that consisted the poor, uneducated and the slaves that were captured from different parts of the world, in the social stratification, they were the working class. Leadership was based on monarchy common with the royal families. The colonies were given slots of representatives in the House of Commons. The representatives were to represent their states on social and economic matters during the House of Commons sessions and each state had a representative. It was therefore not easy to take away the control of thirteen colonies from the Great Britain and the thirteen colonies of the Britain had to come together to fight the British Empire.
Decisions made in British House of Commons and why these decisions were challenged by the colonists.
There was need to come up with a proper way of tackling the British army the thirteen colonies were not pleased with the leadership of Britain government. The thirteen colonies of Britain were Rhode Island, New York, North Carolina, Hampshire, Virginia, Delaware, South Carolina, Massachusetts, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, New Jersey and Georgia. The thirteen states united in a revolution that led to the formation of the United States of America. The British government did not allow the colonies to bring forward the names of the representatives in the parliament to air their views and to follow the proceedings in parliament. This led to animosity among the colonies and even the royal officials were not allowed in parliament, one of the decision arrived by the thirteen states, was representation in the British parliament, the colonist was not pleased with the demand and had to deny them the chance to unite (Middlekauff, 2001).
Actions of the colonists and the responses by the British government
This led to the formation of provincial leaders or congress by different states to create another center of power out of the monopoly of the British parliament and to forge new system that was free from the British influence. As a result, new crop of leaders emerged to fight with a common objective of gaining independence. According to Middlekauff (2001), political leaders from different states fought to form a strong government that would be centralized since they were against the form of system that was based in monarchy and they feared that the British form of governance could be entrenched in the newly formed State (USA).Another step that the colonists took was the opposition to the British policies, the colonists were united in opposing the economic and social policies that were being promoted by Britain as a result the British administrators came up with a strong military to fight those that were opposed to the policies.
According to Middlekauff (2001), they also feared the attack from the well organized army of Britain and to be able to benefit from the struggle and to attain sovereignty, centralized government was important in the protection of the boundaries of different States from occupation or invasion by strangers. They had to bring the interest of every state to ensure that the views and the interest of the thirteen States were represented fully unlike the British government that never allowed representatives in their parliamentary sessions. It was also important in ensuring that representation was well catered by protecting or guarding the interest of every State.
Political break and the Declaration of Independence
After opposing the policies, there existed a political break and there was an urgent need to chase the British people out of the territory. Even though the British Army was well organized and trained, strategies were part of the war and the American soldiers were favored by natural factors such as distance, terrain and the weather. According to Middlekauff (2001), the British government had a major problem in suppressing the thirteen States since they occupied a big area that required more allocation of funds and required additional soldiers to protect the colonies from coming together against them. Britain had several problems, from manpower to machineries. The coming up of thirteen States meant that more troops were to be involved and the British government had several setbacks on the military since they had to transport more soldiers via the sea which was slow yet the soldiers had to be armed and eat before they could attack the thirteen States, making it more cumbersome to make a positive move against America.
Poor communication and distance barrier made it more difficult for the British government to attack the United States. For instance, the distance between London and America was wide across the Atlantic Ocean this made many soldiers to be killed and some were affected greatly as a result of lack of food and clothing during the war (Middlekauff, 2001). It is therefore worth noting that, despite proper organizational ability of the British army and the availability of resources, the tactics that the British government employed during the war could not work effectively for them since they even lacked resources and manpower to control or to force there policies in the thirteen colonies.
Analysis Declaration of Independence as a political document
A few months before Declaration of Independence, a document was adopted in July 1776. The Thirteen Colonies and Great Britain had been at war for more than a year. Relationship between the colonies and the mother country had worsened after the end of the Seven Years War in 1763. According to Middlekauff (2001), the war had taken the British government deep into debt, and so Parliament endorsed a series of measures to increase tax revenue from the colonies.
It was therefore expensive to keep managing the affairs of the colonized states as a result of financial strain. Declaration of Independence therefore meant a lot to America rather than just freedom and bill of rights it meant that positive habits and personal individual effort was greatly important in the realization of freedomliberty of the Nation. According to Middlekauff (2001), liberty can be classified in two categories positive liberty and negative liberty. It is important to understand that liberty is based upon deep-seated principles and not philosophies or policies. Principles, which are based on reality, are constant and timeless philosophies and policies are erratic and changing and are based upon theories, conditions and opinion. Again, liberty is not free.
First year of fighting that fends off better trained British army
During the first year of fighting the British army were more organized and well armed, the American army had not been well trained though they had a better knowledge on the terrains and the geographical background of the area. According to Middlekauff (2001) the British army could not fight the thirteen states at ago and their soldiers were not well trained to fight under such strains, the American soldiers took advantage of the situation and killed most of their soldiers that were not well adapted to the climate and the general environment. This made most of the British soldiers to fend-off and surrendered the battle naturally.
The declaration of independence came into reality a month after the congress selected a Committee of Five to draft a declaration to the world presenting the colonies case for independence (Middlekauff, 2001). The committee consisted of John Adams of Massachusetts, Roger Sherman of Connecticut, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, Robert R. Livingston of New York and Thomas Jefferson of Virginia. The committee delegated Jefferson the task of writing the original document for approval. After slight alterations that were subsequently made by Franklin and Adams, the document was submitted to Congress for approval. On Monday, July 8, 1776, America was declared by the colonial government as Independent.
Conclusion
The Unity that was forged by the thirteen States contributed greatly in the formation of a Unified States and creating good relationship between them. The declaration of Independence document was a more political document than defined individual freedom and liberty. Even though the British Army was well organized, strong and had the experience in war, there were several factors that could not make them wage a successive attack against the thirteen States.
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