DBQ American Identity Pre Revolution
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DBQ: American Identity Pre-Revolution
The colonists had built a strong national unity and identity by the beginning of the
American Revolution in 1776. In the early eighteenth century, the colonies enjoyed great prosperity due to Britain's policy of salutary neglect, which allowed the settlers various freedoms. The French and Indian War, however, ended salutary neglect and provided for the separation of an angry union of colonies.
It was the French and Indian War that first forced the colonies to unite. They desperately needed the support of the Iroquois Indians to defeat the French, and in order to do so, they needed to commit an effort to a common cause. The cartoon that appeared in the Pennsylvania Gazette in 1754 best summarized the situation. It featured a snake cut into small parts, with each part representing a colony. The message to the colonists was "Join, Or Die" (Document A). When the war was over in 1763, the colonists found themselves in need of the same harmony, this time to combat the British.
The demise of salutary neglect had a particularly severe effect on the American economy...