Revolution Then and Now

Most people today believe that the American revolution was unanimously supported by all Americans. That is not true at all.

Only one third of the citizens living in America at that time called themselves Patriots and supported the fight for freedom. Another third were known as Loyalists and did everything they could to support English rule in the colonies. And another third could not make up their minds who they supported.

So there was strong division between the two extremes of the American revolution. One extreme opted for status quo, unfair taxes levied without representation in Parliament, and the continued control of an oppressive King.

The Patriots, on the other hand, wanted power to vest in them as promised and ordained by God. They wanted a representative form of government that would give each of them a vote. To them the people were more important than the power of government.

It seems as though the country is still divided with one extreme believing in the power of the individual, and the other, the power of the state. This is Nina May for the Renaissance Women and all modern-day patriots.