The establishment of the United States:

Prior to the event

A struggle for a nation to establish an identity for itself.

The United States started out as 13 colonies governed by England. These colonies were inhabited by people from many European countries, as well as people from Africa, who were brought in as slaves at the time.   In addition, there were Native Americans who already resided in the Americas. These people also had varying religious beliefs such a Catholicism, Christianity, and Judaism. This diverse group of people lived side by side in colonies that were under the control of England, and so they identified as British subjects. These people identified as British subjects because they knew that their central authority was the British government even though they were not actually living in Britain. As the years progressed, and the colonies began to increase in size and population this began to change. The people living in the colonies began to wonder how they should identify themselves. They wondered why they were considered British subjects and had to pay British taxes, but were denied many rights that British citizens possessed, such as the right to have elected representatives in parliament. Many colonists decided to Identify themselves with the colony they lived in rather than Britain while others still chose to identify with England.

As more time progressed more and more people decided to identify with the colony that they lived in rather than the British government due to the unfairness of British rule. This was evident by the unequal rights given to colonists in comparison to British citizens.  It was also easily seen in many events, such as the Boston massacre (killing of protestors in Boston Massachusetts by British soldiers) which further illustrated the harshness of British rule. As a result of this identification with the colony, the colonists from 13 of the colonies decided to band together and become independent from England, since they could not find it in themselves to identify with their occupying nation anymore.

The Actual Event

The colonists struggled to earn their independence from England. First, the colonists tried to become independent peacefully through the declaration of independence. When England refused to let the thirteen colonies break off peacefully they had no other choice but to resort to warfare. This then lead to a large war that took 8 years to complete and resulted in many casualties for both the colonies and England, but for the colonies it was worth the toil, since they won their independence.

Following the event

After the war ended the newly founded United States of America would continue to struggle to figure out its identity as a nation. Immediately following the war, the United States of America was established as a federation of States under the Articles of Confederation. Under this confederation states which came from the thirteen colonies mostly had the right to govern themselves, but there was a weak central government connecting them. However, due to many problems such as severe debt and the central government not being able to maintain order, the confederation failed and was replaced by the Democratic Republic we have today. This system, with the Constitution as its central code of law, had the governmental identity it has today.

However, after the war the United States’ identity molded in more than just a governmental way, Under the Federation people identified more with their state rather than the central government, since the central government had very little power. However, after the creation of the Constitution and the establishment of a strong central government people started to view themselves as a member of the United States of America rather than an individual state. In turn, people went from first viewing themselves as British subjects, to viewing themselves as colonists, to viewing themselves as statesmen, to viewing themselves as Americans.

Over the years this idea of the identity of an American would soon expand because at first “Americans” were only considered to be of European descent. This expanded to include people of all races and nationalities.

How this relates to my project

My project is about how learning about my ethnicity effects both my relationship with religion, and in turn the way I view myself. This is very similar to the American Revolution in that through gaining their independence as well as various political, and governmental changes the idea of the identity of people who live in America changes. Just like the “American” identity my perception of my identity is very complex, and the events of my life have worked in many ways to alter it.

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