AP US History!!!!!! Please help!!!!?

Question

I need help with the dbq question from 1999
To what extent had the colonists developed a sense of their identity and unity as Americans by the eve of the Revolution?

Help would be greatly appreciated, Im not asking for someone to do my homework. I just need help wrapping my brain around this question. It seems so easy but facts are so hard to come up with.

thanks!!

Answer 1

salons were more a place of discussing politics as well as taverns

American Communities on the eve of revolution
Barriers separated the communities from others
Communities were isolated and localized. Life was organized locally with tenuous ties even to the colony (what are today states).
The colonial relationship forced commerce through London. London discouraged trade between colonies. They demanded that each colony trade with London instead. Thus, a Virginian seeking New England whale oil would buy it from London merchants who bought it from a New England whaler.
Identities of colonists was British. They saw themselves as subjects of the English King. Because the consciouness of social station was so vertical, they could not envision themselves without a King.
Their rhetoric of world politics was dominated by their attachment to Britain.
Their enemies were Britain's enemies. The world powers that threatened them were Spain (who had raided their coast) and France (who had unleashed the Natives on them).
Their trade was dependent. Everything they had that came from beyond their communities came from the British merchants who extended them credit. Americans were heavily in debt to British merchants because they bought on credit, perhaps even more than we do.
They took pride in being British rather than any other nationality. They viewed the British government as the best form of government in the world. They relished in being a remote outpost of the worlds' most powerful nation.
But forces were expanding the ring of public awareness through the colonies
The Great Awakening. This religious movement spread from New England to Georgia. Itinerant ministers played a large role in its dissemination. Their journeys provided news of the other colonies.
Increasing commerce. Prior to the 1750s most trade in the colonies was through England. As roads improved (particularly the Great Wagon Road), trade among the colonies picked up. Sea coast shipping also became important.
A reality to government beyond the neighborhood. The French and Indian War required a pattern of government beyond the immediate neighborhood. As colonial governments organized for the war, and even cooperated with each other, issues of public life beyond the day-to-day were raised as never before.
These forces present new conditions and new challenges. They define new dimensions for public life. The rhetoric of the colonies had to develop ways of knitting the colonies closer in joint opposition to the French. The Great Awakening and the increased trade provided pathways along which that new "colonial" language could spread.

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Getting Your Language Ready for War
Regardless of the conflict, those who would wage war must get their language ready for war. There are several rhetorical tasks required:
Some rhetorical tasks were necessary before the war could start . . .
Promoting Unity. In the American colonies there were many rhetorics to motivate public action. Those multiple rhetorics were a source of disunity. Before war could start, there needed to be a merger of these rhetorics into a language through which the colonists viewed themselves as one people, one culture. In this case, they also needed to see themselves as "Americans" distinct from being "British." The colonists had seem themselves as "British" for over 150 years. So the basis of their unity needed changing.
Motivating Sacrifice. Before wars are fought a rhetoric needs to develop through which people are willing to give even their lives for the common war objective. Of course, without unity these would have been in terms of the particular motivation of the particular culture within which the action occurred, and fighting for the other colonies would have been less than fully motivated. Thus, the rhetoric to motivate sacrifice required unity also.
Other rhetorical tasks were necessary to fight an ongoing war . . .
To divide the enemies from allies. A vocabulary typically develops that allows allegiances to take form that permits opposition. This vocabulary is often pejorative and dehumanizing. The colonists divided themselves among the "Patriots" and the "Tories." They also transformed themselves from "British" to "Americans." They also developed a way of talking about their own motives and those of the British that allowed the division to be an obvious and severe one.
To transform both defeats and victories into support. Both wins and losses are inevitable in war. A good war rhetoric must transform the danger that defeat will dishearten into defeat resteeling the spirit. Similarly, a good war rhetoric must transform the danger that victory will encourage complacency into victory as energizing.
To conduct the day-to-day war. War is a complex of drill, and orders, and supplies, and financing, and all the other things that constitute human institutions. A day to day vocabulary must evolve to allow these activities to proceed.
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American rhetoric to fight the revolution
Establish intercommunity networks. Through the Committees of Correspondence (a network of people writing to each other to report on events in their colony and to share commitments to the cause), an active press that published pamphlets and pro-revolutionary newspapers, and the begining of intercolonial Congresses (meetings in Albany and then Philadelphia including representatives of all the colonies), colonists began to communicate with those in other colonies. These sources were carried from colony to colony through the increasing number of itenerants.
Develop a weave of characteristics from different communities. As they communicated with each other, the characteristics of their rhetoric began to cross-pollinate. Common ways of talking pulled from their separate communities' rhetorics. For example, religious proof and the notion of American exceptionalism -- the errand -- came from New England; enlightenment themes such as common sense from Virginia. The key was weaving these together into a single coherent rhetoric.
Narratives of British action. One of the important themes of the Committees of CorrespondenceAs the government of Great Britain took actions to regain control -- new taxes, closing the port of Boston, sending troops to maintain order -- the colonists began to describe these actions in a narrative that changed their values. Colonists were made victims, the British government became an enemy, and the question of the King's loyalty to his American subjects became a topic of conversation. These narratives eroded the identity of colonists as British.
Ideographs to unite. and became important ideographs that expressed the commitments of patriots and united the colonists in their fight.
Day to day language of revolution. As the revolution proceeded, the colonists developed a rhetoric of governing themselves that empowered their own communities. They accompanied this with a rhetoric that talked about the sacrifices of the revolution as for the benefit of future generations who would govern themselves with liberty.

Answer 2

The American Revolution started in Massachusetts and spread to New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Vermont, New Jersey. The northern colonies were different in politics, economics and outlook from the southern colonies.
The southern colonies joined the Revolution (see Patrick Henry's famous quote "Give me liberty or give me death.") but the southern colonies likely were less keen on independence, as the UK was the leading customer for cotton, tobacco and other southern agricultural products, the production of which was dependent on slave labor vs. the north, where the economy was comprised of family farms and light industry.

Answer 3

In the beginning, the colonists thought of themselves as whatever state they were from. They were Virginians and New Yorkers, etc.

Look at the transcripts of the Declaration of Independence. Look at the military battles. They list which state the people were from.