Changes to American Society and Culture from 1700 to 1812 - The Era of the American Sociopolitical Identity
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Consumer Revolution
The consumption of goods made in Britain by the colonies was considered a representation of the social status as citizens of the colonies strived to adopt lifestyles that represented those of the residents of the British Empire. This new consumer culture was due to the strong support for Monarchy and Parliament at the time and created a culture of consumption 1
1 Clark, G., 2010. The Consumer Revolution: Turning Point in Human History, or Statistical Artifact?. -
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Changes to American Society and Culture from 1700 to 1812 - The Era of the American Sociopolitical Identity
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The Great Enlightenment
This event that championed by the Great Awakening Movements laid the foundation for the political emancipation of the British colonies since their propaganda tools and materials became enlightenment resources for the citizens. The emphasis on religion as a means to developing new ideas became a social platform for preachers. 2
2. Bukovansky, Mlada. Legitimacy and power politics: the American and French Revolutions in international political culture. Princeton University Press, 2010. -
The Boston Tea Party
One of the major sociopolitical events that are a product of the Great Enlightenment period and contributed to the American national identity of freedom and liberty. This event was characterized by the dumping of over three hundred cases of tea into the Boston Harbor. The perpetrators of the act that really unknown were protesting the imposition of a tax by the British Parliament. 3 -
American Revolution
The agitation for independence by the thirteen colonies was the high point of the formation of the identity and culminated in the subsequent events that were used to establish the nation's ideological values of justice and liberty. The American Revolution that pitted the colonies against their masters in war for eight years began when the true identity of the country was created. 3
3. Berger, Thomas U. "Norms, Identity, and National Security." Security Studies: A Reader (2014). -
Treaty of Paris
The signed treaty of Paris was the event that led to the independence of American from the British colonial rule after an eight-year war between the colonies and their colonial masters. It was this treaty that heralded the independent nation and the announced the principles that would be used to form the country's sociopolitical identity that would evolve over the years to what is obtainable today. -
War of 1812
The evolution of the socio-political identity of freedom and justice was tested by the War of 1812 that erupted from the attempt of Great Britain to limit the volume of trade that the United States would conduct with the international partners. Therefore, the country's victory from the war was hugely celebrated as the final act of independence from the British Empire and the emergence of a powerful nation where libery is an inalienable right of all citizens.
