Wilmington Salutary Neglect Essay Assignment
I’m working on a history question and need an explanation and answer to help me learn.
During Salutary Neglect, the Thirteen Colonies grew autonomously from the rest of the British Empire, establishing for itself its own economy and its own culture and society. During the Revolutionary period, those same colonies experienced events and ideas that molded them from colonies of England and into an independent country, one that provided safeguards from perceived abuses at the hands of government. What events in colonial and revolutionary America influenced the writing of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights? You must describe these events in detail and where you see their influence in the founding documents.
The Enlightenment had a significant impact in both Europe and North America. How is the influence of the Enlightenment reflected in the founding of the United States? What events, documents, and thinkers illustrate the impact of the Enlightenment and its leading contributors? Describe the ways that the Enlightenment is reflected in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
“These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives everything its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated. Britain, with an army to enforce her tyranny, has declared that she has a right (not only to tax) but “to bind us in all cases whatsoever.”
The above words, from the American Crisis, were written by Thomas Paine just before the battle of Trenton at the end of 1776. Break down the passage and explain the situations that Paine is addressing. Further, how can this passage explain any winter for the newly independent nation in the years before the French joined them in war against Britain?