Liberty Or Death In My Brother Sam Is Dead?

“Liberty or Death”

War can be both positive and negative, depending on where you stand and what you stand for. During the Revolutionary War, there were Loyalists, Patriots, and those who were neutral, somewhere between the two opposing sides and living in the thirteen colonies. “Give me Liberty or give me death …” was famously spoken by patriots, but would it stand true? Patriots were believed to be fighting for freedom, equality, justice, liberty, representation, and the overall pursuit of happiness; while, Loyalists were those that were against the war and remained loyal to the crown. Loyalists thought the war to be brutal, avoidable, and only cause more trouble for many innocent lives. In My Brother Sam is Dead, Christopher and James Collier use the injustices and ironies of Ned, Sam, and Mr. Meeker’s death to influence Tim Meekers overall decision of neutrality regarding the American Revolution.

Through all the fighting of the American Revolution the patriots cried for freedom yet kept their slaves. The Loyalist would retain their slaves and often use them to deliver messages about the war, and the Patriots would take or sometimes offer slaves freedom but only if they fought for them. When slaves were found by the
Our land is destroyed, economy is in ruins, there is no justice or law - every man, women and child has been affected by this war. Certainly, one would like to say war is justified, but from all ages man has witnessed, none saw freedom, liberty, justice or equality. Tim Meeker still remained neutral, not understanding fully the position of the patriots or the steadfast position of the loyalists. Tim would grow, be educated, have a family, and enjoy many of the riches in life. Tim would certainly have grown into a man and had these experiences without the American Revolution. Tim sees from his life experience that war was not the