Enlightened Self-Interest

The colonization of North America took time and toil, and hardened those who struggled to build new lives for themselves in a world that was wilderness. It forged bonds between men that might not have existed previously and encouraged the communities that sprung up to work cooperatively and establish trading relations. It did not erase suspicions or weaken religious prejudices, but it was certainly not in the best interests of any enclave in the Americas to leave itself isolated, with so many potential pitfalls working to prevent success.

Even at the rapid clip of human endeavor, which far outstrips the natural forces that shape humanity and the planet, it was a slow and inexorable crawl toward union. The catalyst for union turned out to be the very forces that had driven people to escape across an ocean in the first place: the assumption of power by aristocracy. Where, back in England and in many places in Europe, land was owned by feudal lords who held all the rights and therefore the power, those who came to the Americas were able to establish rights to land without the need for overlords. Though much of the legitimacy for the grants of land in the New World was given by monarchy, it was the landowners themselves who found it desirable and necessary to manage their own affairs in terms of governance.

This system might have maintained itself for centuries, with the New World continuing to hold a respectful but aloof stance from the Old World, were it not for the intercession of monarchy in the realm of taxation. The relative prosperity and abundant resources to be found across the Atlantic were a natural draw; the American colonies were a vast a source of wealth that the British Monarchy and Parliament could draw on to continue to finance its wars in Europe and in the Americas. England, still vexed by France and Spain, increasingly sought new revenue to maintain its naval supremacy and control over its territories.

Now, a certain level of taxation was to be expected in order to pay for the maintenance of trade and the military garrisons that protected the American Colonies from native and foreign invaders. However, taxation became rampant, squeezing the colonists out of their new-found wealth, to finance the indiscretions of the British Empire. With proclamations like The Stamp Act, it became increasingly clear to the colonists that Great Britain saw the American Colonies as merely a source of capital, and would continue to drain them of vital wealth and resources needed to promote local growth and prosperity in the process.

The singular and most frustrating point, the one that would prove the linchpin for the promotion of revolution, was the fact that the American Colonies had no say in the British Parliament. Not that it would have mattered; Parliament was determined to use the wealth of America to sop up the losses caused by having to operate as a naval superpower. Representation might have forestalled the eventual revolution, but could not seriously have prevented it.

So, we have a band of Colonials who have -- having organized a working society, worked hard to bring themselves prosperity, and lacking sufficient representation -- determined that they must form a confederation and fight against Britain. This was not a decision made in haste, and there were many filled with trepidation at the thought of severing ties with the mother country so rashly. While the colonies had become more independent by the year, they were still not self-sufficient to a great degree. Cutting ties would push Americans into a difficult corner to extricate themselves from; losing access to vital materials while having to find ways to replace those materials with substitutes. It would require sacrifice. More than that, it would require a higher degree of unity than existed at that moment.

Such unity turned out to be a frail but manageable thing, though as the revolution to come progressed from idea to full-fledged battles, it would be strained to degrees that should have broken it. Even as the war was fought, many in the American Colonies were still not convinced in the righteousness of the cause. This would have consequences both during and after the war; unity was not perfect or complete at any point. It would cause the war to drag on longer than perhaps it should have, cost more than it needed to, and exacerbated divisions that had long been swept aside in the name of enlightened self-interest. But first, there was a war to fight, and America had to figure out how to do that.