The Zion Legacy: The Colonial Climate and the American Revolution

Abstract

John Adams in 1801, reflecting on the American Revolution would insist that "the apprehension of Episcopacy contributed … as much as any other cause, to arouse the attention not only of the inquiring mind, but of the common people, and urge them to close thinking on the constitutional authority of parliament over the colonials." Vital to the understanding of the origins of the Revolution is a realization that irrational fears were as significant--if not more--in shaping the colonial stand as were rational arguments. Fears of corruption and sin, episcopacy and tyranny, were in part a colonial inheritance from Zion ancestors. Irrational discomforts, complemented by a judicious reading of Whig authors, were interwoven into the affairs of state. This moral-religious aura enhanced the controversy over imperial organization, complicated the issues of taxation and sovereignty, crippled the propensity to compromise, and made the final separation less difficult. Divergent interpretations of Parliamentary power resulted in conflicts; fundamental assumptions ware challenged. The British attitude, stemming from a tradition of success, strengthened preconceptions of colonial subordination and restricted effective adaption. The colonial mind, distrusting the nature of man, especially in relation to power, received little reassurance on the limitations of Parliamentary enactments. Frustration, mutually produced, whetted the scythe or suspicion so that it cut deeper into the minds of both.