The American Identity

By the mid-1700s, the America colonies had begun to develop a separate identity than that carried by the British. Colonists in different areas were similar in the fact that their religious, economic, political, and family values differed from those held in Britain. On the other hand, the colonies themselves varied largely from one to the next. Although the Americans had developed their own identity up until Anglicization in the 1750s, it is not accurate to say the colonies had more in common with each other than with England. There were certainly differences between the colonists and the British, but other diversities occurred between colonies as well. When colonists arrived in America in the 1600s, they all had some ideas of making a society different from England. Many young gentlemen arrived seeking free economy and gold, trying to escape the mercantilist policies of Britain. Others arrived in family units and sought religious freedom that would not be guaranteed in their homeland. Upon settling the Americas, the colonists set up a government much different than that of the English Crown. Unity among the colonies grew with each day. When colonists first started to build communities, the colonies had much in common. Language was much more fluid and unified across America than it was across England, where many dialects of the language played a role in dividing the country. Unlike England, the Americans didn't build a standing army. The American soldiers were volunteers who wanted to be there, uniting them under a single cause. Lastly, the family life in America pulled the colonists away from England as well. When the colonies were first established and land and resources were abundant, the Americans decided against the long-used English practice of primogeniture. That is, until land became more scarce. Under the colonists' original system, any child could inherit land, even a daughter. This shows a decline in the patriarchal values that were ever-present in Britain. The colonies did not have it easy, however. They were divided by their own regional differences in government, laws, religion, and even race. Elective assemblies governed many colonies, but other bodies governed some colonies. Such is the case with the Dominion of New England. With this variation of governments in the colonies came a variation of laws. As if it were not enough to have inter-colony diversity, there was a divergence of unity within some colonies. Many American colonies experienced strife within because of fundamental religious and racial differences. In New York, disputes between the English and the Dutch were common, causing disunity in the area. America was also one of the most diverse places in the world. Between the Natives, the English, the Dutch, the French, and the Spanish all trying to inhabit one area, there was bound to be some regional diversity. Lastly, differences in religion kept colonies from being united. In Maryland, the Protestants and Catholics had to work together, always with some feeling of spite. Not everyone who came to America came for religious reasons, thus there were bound to be regional discrepancies. So, although American colonies were unified on many levels, they had fundamental differences, much like the differences between the colonies and Britain that kept them from being unified. They did probably have more in common with each other than they had with England, but there are so many differences on every level that it is impossible to tell exactly.