American Revolutionary War - Essay Example

Oftentimes throughout history, the major historical events that take place are focused upon to such a degree and extent that the causal factors/catalysts that help to engage these instances from the very beginning are overlooked. This can especially be said to be true with respect to the American Revolutionary war. All too often, the impacts of pre-Revolutionary war sentiments, groups of dissatisfied colonists, and the levels of organization that began to be evidenced in the early 1770s are overlooked as historians and stakeholders within society choose to focus instead upon the key factors of the major events of that help to define the way in which the Revolutionary war was fought in the manner through which “independence” was finally one from the British crown. With respect to this particular analysis, the author will consider the way in which the group “The Sons of Liberty” provided just such a catalyst with respect to the events that helped ultimately to lead to through such a unit of analysis, it is the hope of this author that this catalyzing factor will be understood and appreciated to a more full and nuanced degree so that the reader will come to a more complete form of appreciation for the way in which this particular group, as well as many other tangentially related and similar groups within the era, were ultimately the main factors in helping to prompt moderates and firebrands towards a general consensus with respect to exercising the right to self-determination and throwing off the bounds of British colonialism. Through understanding this group and the mechanisms by which it spread and sought to create a newfound colonial identity, the reader can come to a more informed understanding with regards to the way in which the Sons of Liberty, and groups like it, were absolutely pivotal in determining the course of action that would take place leading up to and including the Revolutionary War period. Firstly, in seeking to understand the Sons of Liberty, it must be understood that this particular group of patriots were ultimately formed as a means of seeking to promote an understanding an integration with the concept of the rights of the colonist. As with many groups, the membership was from a wide array of stakeholders within the society of that time. Individuals who owned large businesses in the growing cities of the colonies along with stakeholders of society that had significantly less in terms of material wealth. This collection of individuals, fervently meeting and discussing aspects of independence and the means through which a further level of rights could be manifest ultimately began to protest the perceived abuses that the British colonials were meting out on them. As a form of this protest, these individuals organized street marches as well as planned and engaged in the Boston Tea Party. It is of course this Boston Tea Party that the group has become the most famous for in helping to engage the broader population of the colonies in an act of civil disobedience and seek to overthrow the ruling power of the British at that time. The hard-line tactics and level of anxt and frustration that the Sons of Liberty were able to instill within the individuals they interacted. Naturally, the level of response for these activities was not muted; as the British responded with the Intolerable Acts and cracked down on the ways in which such groups were allowing for a vocal level of societal indignation over the perceived slights that the British government was performing.1 Yet, rather than stymieing their efforts, the success and visibility of the Sons of Liberty only encouraged the formation of further groups throughout the entire nation; spurred on by the rhetoric of liberty and the intense dislike of the way in which the colonies were being administered at that time.2 As a result of the groundswell of sympathy and support that the Sons of Liberty began to receive, they were able to encourage the formation of other revolutionary groups. Moreover, due to the fact that they brought a level of attention to the colonial/revolutionary cause, other groups within the 13 colonies began to spring up that espoused a similar ideology to the Sons of Liberty. Likewise, the overall lasting impact that the Sons of Liberty had cannot and should not be minimized. What should certainly not be ignored is the fact that the “Sons of Liberty”, as well as groups like it, were fundamentally responsible for participating in the prelude to what would form the early backbone of belligerents of the Revisionary War. Whereas today these individuals may have been deemed as radicals, extremists, Sovereign Citizens, or worse yet, terrorists, the group struck a chord in a populace that had long since viewed itself as distinctly separate from the British crown. Accordingly, the inroads that this group was able to make within the far removed towns and villages that made up the 13 colonies were profound. Without such activity on the part of groups such as the Sons of Liberty, it is doubtful if there would have ever been a revolution at all. Ultimately as the Revolutionary War drew closer, Sons of Liberty groups had sprung up in New Hampshire, Rhode Island, North Carolina, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, South Carolina, and Georgia. Such a broad level of support from so many disparate colonies evidenced the fact that the rhetoric that this particular group espouses was reverberating with individuals from so many different parts of the colonies; so much so that it ultimately spurred them into war and allowed for a level of communal understanding with regards to the key grievances and demands that were the impetus for this war. Bibliography Cornog, Martha. 2011. "The Sons of Liberty." Library Journal 136, no. 5: 104. Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed October 16, 2013). Kokesh, Timothy. 2010. "The Sons of Liberty, Vol. 1." Publishers Weekly 257, no. 18: 55. Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed October 16, 2013). Read More