#250 YEARS: "Like modern historians, British imperial officials never understood the principles, temperament, and character of the American revolutionaries"
"[A] phrase the Americans of the 1760s and 1770s invoked repeatedly [was] the “spirit of liberty.” The phrase “spirit of liberty” united theory and practice for America revolutionaries; it implied an action in defence of a principle; it was characterised by certain virtues in defence of liberty. ...
"No theme ran as broadly or deeply through American culture in the 1760s and 1770s. The colonists’ spirit of liberty served as a kind of moral and psychological tripwire that was first triggered by the passage of the Stamp Act and kept active with the passage of every piece of British legislation aimed at the Americans in the decade leading up to 1776. ...
"In 1767, John Dickinson penned his 'Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania,' which many historians regard as one of the most influential pamphlets of the Revolutionary period. Dickinson’s 'Letters' present a powerful analysis of the ways in which unchecked power asphyxiates liberty. The letters also provide the best analysis of the American spirit of liberty written during the Revolutionary period.
"Dickinson’s primary concern in the 'Letters' was to sound the alarm against the Townshend Acts ... a tax. [however small], and “Those who are taxed without their own consent, expressed by themselves or their representatives, are slaves. ,,,
"Dickinson attacked the Townshend duties precisely because they were so comparatively small. It would be a “fatal error,” he warned, to disregard and therefore to acquiesce in these new duties because of their trifling amount. In fact, the “smallness” of the duties is a trap. No matter how inconsequential the tax, no matter how reasonably and equitably applied, the colonists should regard the act with “abhorrence.” He suggested that the Townshend duties were intentionally designed to be small so that the Americans would not notice or object and a noose-tightening precedent could therefore be established. ...
"Americans, he warned, must be vigilant and exert 'the most watchful attention' against Parliament’s subtle designs; they must prevent a creeping form of slavery under the guise of legalities, otherwise 'a new servitude may be slipped upon us, under the sanction of usual and respectable terms.' He goes on to warn against those 'artful rulers' who attempt to 'extend their power beyond its just limits' by subtly manipulating language and legal technicalities. ... Thus, it was necessary, Dickinson argued, that the people should always be on guard to protect their liberty as they protect their property. He encouraged them to “watch,” “observe facts,” “search into causes,” and “investigate designs,” and of course he insisted that they assert their “right of judging from the evidence before them, on no slighter points than their liberty and happiness.” He implored his fellow Americans to be ever vigilant. Quoting from Montesquieu’s 'Spirit of the Laws,' Dickinson reminded his readers that “slavery is ever preceded by sleep.”
"Dickinson equated the American spirit of liberty with jealousy, watchfulness, and vigilance. “A perpetual jealousy, respecting liberty is,” he told the American people, “absolutely, requisite in all free states.” ... This idea of preserving natural liberty in its pristine form and so resisting even one small precedent against it had come close to the centre of the American consciousness. This idea is precisely why the colonists viewed the rather trifling stamp tax and Townshend duties so ominously: they viewed each as the entering wedge of a broader campaign to deprive them of rights and liberties.
"Like modern historians, British imperial officials never understood the principles, temperament, and character of the American revolutionaries, which meant they never understood their deepest motives. They had no way to know that the revolution’s trigger was embedded in the spirit of American liberty. British officials therefore could never understand why it was necessary for the Americans to dissolve the political bands that had connected them to Britain for over 150 years.
"Likewise, twenty-first century Americans who still revere the revolutionaries’ spirit of liberty are beckoned to recover the moral impulse and moral logic that drove their ideological ancestors to independence and freedom.
"Happy Independence Day!!! Long live the United State of America!"
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