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Pastimes : Let's Talk About Our Feelings!!! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Grainne who wrote (21145)	4/29/1998 5:45:00 PM
From: Thomas C. White	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 108807

"The more flag-wavingly patriotic version of events tends to portray the colonists as fervent constructors of a new form of government.." Well, I think your average everyday colonist at the time of the Declaration was more concerned with day to day issues. As a typical irksome kind of thing, for example, it was not possible for an American to build a stove or a farm implement and sell it to another American. These items, as well as most manufactured goods, could only be purchased from British suppliers. Fervent constructors of a new form of government...well, actually, yes, in fact, what developed, once the war was over, was a strong movement (which was nascent during the drive for independence, being the "just consent of the governed" theory etc.) that did indeed fervently envision a new form of government, one which for the first time in history placed a set of heavy restrictions upon a central government and set various protections of individuals from the state in place. And in fact, the Constitution was a radical document that shocked and excited political philosophers and intellectuals throughout Europe, evoking no small amounts of admiration and, by the governing bodies, some fear as well. In fact, it was so effective a limitation on centralized authority that the United States labored under a very weak central government for years until people finally agreed that it had to be strengthened (particularly the Executive branch) in order to be effective. I don't think this is flag-waving, although sometimes it's presented in such a form, this is basically what actually happened. The average colonist, while concerned more with day to day matters, was imbued with a deep distrust of central government power, and to a great extent the framers of the Constitution reflected this basic set of beliefs.