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The American Revolution was truly a unique and special type of Revolution. This

Revolution gave birth to a movement of liberty that’s language has been able to be traced from

the start of the Revolution to present day. Liberty, Freedom, Equality, these are things that we as

a nation strive for and believe in and this language was first discussed during this Revolutionary

Era. This era gave birth to what we know as Classical and Shared Republicanism which was the

foundation for the shaping of not only the Revolution but of the government that it was soon to

form. Shared Republicanism is an idea that a government and those in it should rule by the

people and for the people they rule with the power coming from the people. That this

government has separation of the powers of the government and checks and balances that are in

place to protect from tyrannical rule. Under Shared Republicanism the participants within the

government would be ones that had both private and public virtue that would fight for the

common good and express the rights declared by the people. From this Shared Republicanism

came two different discussions on how to best achieve this, one being Majoritrianism ,as it

sounds this is the idea that whatever the majority says goes and doesn’t allow for difference of

opinion. The other being Classical Republicanism, this was favored by the elites within society

and saw government as key to protecting natural rights because people were inherently corrupt

and believed that deference and a virtues public was the key to a successful republic. From these

two ways of achieving Republicanism both focused on isolating groups of people or as scholars

refer to them as the “other”1. This first is seen when the Revolutionary generation discusses

Native Americans but this eventually this thought progressed towards their former rulers.

Throughout the revolutionary era the founding generation strove to make the American identity

distinctively different than that of the British Empire.

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Kornfield, creating American culture.
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This creation of the Other was first seen when in conversation about Native Americans

and their relationship with the new Republic. The founding generation believed that “their

confidence in the future American ‘civilization’ depended in large part on the construction of a

‘savage’ Indian Other.”2 Many in this elite class that ended up in leadership roles within the

government felt that “the need to repress these alternative cultural visions and to maintain belief

in a stable, fixed, essential identity.”3 This purposeful prejudice against the Native American

Other can be seen in Timothy Dwight poem Greenfield Hill: A Poem in Seven Parts, within this

poem Dwight paints a savage image of an incident between Colonists and Pequods, “remorseless

Indians, all in midnight dire, the little, sleeping village, did o’erthrow, bidding the cruel flames to

heaven aspire, and scalped the hoary head, and burn’d the babe with fire… Bold, savage, fierce,

of arms the glorious pride, and bidding all the circling realms obey.”4 The use of language within

this poem shows how the colonist felt and wanted to make clear that these Native Americans

were inferior to the white colonists even though they lived within the same lands they were not

equals and the Natives lacked virtue which was key to this new Republic. The reason for

discussing the Othering of Native Americans is because similar to how the Americans wanted

establish the difference between themselves and the Natives, they did the same thing with the

British Empire. Instead of calling it Othering it was looked as getting out of the shadow of a

brother and setting themselves apart from their former brethren because “American identity, like

other social identities, was constructed in contrapuntal fashion, in opposition to a culturally

different Other.”5

2
Chapter 6 encounterthing the other. Creating an American culture, 67.
3
Kornfield 67.
4
Creating American culture Timothy Dwight Greenfield hill a poem in seven parts, 245
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Kornfield 66.chapter 6.
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To first see the start of the distinctively different identity and culture one must start

during the Seven Years War. During this war, France and Britain were fighting over vast

amounts of territory and like the Ohio Valley and North into Canada. During this war Americans

showed the British that they were not for dying in battle just the British could fight in a manner

that was respectable “in their conflicts with the Indians, colonial militiamen learned to adopt

some tactics. They took scalps from the enemy dead and conducted scorched-earth campaigns

against Indian towns. Like Indians, colonial soldiers who served alongside European armies in

North America exhibited little patience for the backbreaking labor, fatigue, and long-term

exposure to danger involved in siege craft.”6 A great example of this new style of warfare that

militiamen had picked up by their encounters with Indians forces can been seen with the raid on

Kittanning. In this raid the colonial forces had encircled Kittanning and when day broke started

their attack. Once inside the village “Colonel Armstrong ordered their houses to be set on fire

over their heads, which was immediately done by the officers and soldiers with great activity.”7

This ruthless burning of homes and stealthy night attack was not in line with British style of

warfare, but eventually British officers realized that the American style of fighting could be

useful in defeating France. This unique guerilla warfare that the colonist adapted from Indian

tactics eventually gave rise to men like Robert Rodgers. Robert Rodgers was a skilled outdoors

men and scout and this earned him a commission leading his own force that came to be known as

Roberts Rangers.8 Rodgers would train his volunteers in the guerilla style Warcraft that was

vastly different than that of his British counterparts and their gentlemen’s style of fighting. From

the Seven Years War American Colonists start to develop their own fighting style and started to

6
Seven years war in north America, chapter 3, 68.
7
Seven years war, document 14, 77.
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Seven years, document 17, 85.
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“believe that they had proved their worth to Britain, not just as producers and consumers of

goods but as fellow subjects who helped to defeat Britain’s Catholic enemies and deserved to

share in the rewards of victory.”9 It was this shift in thinking after the Seven Years War that had

colonists stating to believe that they were equal in rights with their British brethren. However,

what came out from this war wasn’t equality but taxes and an invasion of what colonists believed

was their natural rights. Because of this invasion of natural rights “English government, real

Whigs declaimed, had fallen away from virtue, austerity, and liberty. It had forgotten the

principles of its Glorious Revolution against Stuart tyranny.”10 It was here when a shift had

happen from loyal subjects of the crown to citizens questioning their rulers, as Hamilton

proclaims “that the existence of the house of common depends upon the people’s right to share in

the legislature; which is exercised, by means of electing the members of that house.”11 This is

due to the fact that Great Britain wanted to enact more control over the local governments within

the colonies. Colonists didn’t believe in this “virtual representation” that Britain claimed they

colonies had because they believed that “no member can represent any but those by whom he

hath been elected, if not elected, he cannot represent them, and of course not consent to anything

in their behalf.”12 This distinctly different thinking was created from documents like Brain Tree

Document which “summarized more than a century’s experience of self-government in

communities like Concord, where voters gathered annually to elect every official, including the

neighbors who served on juries, and vote their own taxes. Representation to the colonial Yankees

was a direct relationship between magistrates and the people.”13 From charters like the Brain

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Seven years war, 23
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Minute men In their world chapter 2, 32.
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Jeff v. ham 11
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Min men 36
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Min men 36
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Tree Document colonists were distinctly different because in local politics they had already been

practicing this idea of direct representation by their own means It was this want for direct

representation and a charter of rights declared “that later generations of Americans would take to

extremes.”14 It was these wants and urges and differences of direct representation and defense of

natural born rights that pushed the colonists to declaring their independence.

When crafting the constitution the founding generation wanted to be very clear that they

were not like the British when framing this new Republic. One such example of this distinctively

different government is the executive office. During the discussion between the Federalists and

anti-federalists, anti-federalists were concerned when it came to office of the president because

of fear of it becoming a position like that of Great Britain’s king. So as to insure that this

government wouldn’t become like that of British Tyranny they suggest that “the greatness of

power must be compensated by the brevity of the duration, and that a longer time than a year,

would be dangerous”; by allowing any longer time would allow for “designs he therefore fancies

that he may be great and glorious by oppressing his fellow citizens, and raising himself to

permanent grandeur on the ruins of his country.” 15 This anti-federalist sentiment towards the

office of the president and the power that he would wield scared them because in Classical

Republican understanding that everyone person is corrupt and they wanted to make sure they

wouldn’t fall into corrupt leadership like that of Great Britain. Anti-Federalists wanted a frame

work that didn’t allow for the office of president to be grossly overpaid because “wherein does

this president, invested with his powers and prerogatives, essentially differ from the king of

Great Britain? … it is necessary, in order to distinguish him from the rest of the community, and

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36, min men
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Letters of cato 4. 59
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enable him to keep, and maintain his court, that the compensation for his services to enable him

to appear with splendor of a prince.”16 The Anti-Federalists main concern with the proposed

constitution was the fact that it could turn into that of the Empire they had just gained their

Independence from and argued how this “frame of government differs but very immaterially

from the establishment of monarchy Great Britain.”17 The conversation that took place in the

Federalists and Anti Federalist papers show that supports for the constitution were firm in their

belief that this new framework would be distinctively different than that of Great Britain.

Federalists reassured opposition by stating “from these facts that Montesquieu was guided it may

clearly be inferred that there can be no liberty where the legislative and executive powers are

united in the same person… He did not mean these departments ought to have no partial agency,

or control over acts of each other.”18 Both sides knew that the country needed a stronger federal

government but how much stronger was the questions and where does the power of this stronger

government stop? As Jefferson proclaims “none is so afflicting, and fatal to every honest hope,

as the corruption of the legislature. As it was the earliest of these measures it became the

instrument for producing the rest, and will be the instrument for producing in future a king.”19 By

stating this Jefferson is voicing his concerns about making sure that we don’t fall into ruin like

the British did.The constitution put forth allowed for a Republic that could work for the best

interest of the common good while allowing for checks and balances to keep it from slipping into

a monarchy. The dialogue that took place during the Federalists and Anti Federalists examined

how they could makes sure that the new Republic that they created wouldn’t become corrupt like

that of British Empire, Jefferson shows his support for the new constitution when states “I think

16
Letters cato 4, 60
17
Letters of cateo 5, 63
18
Madison essay 47, 232,233
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Jeff v. ham 80
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our government will remain virtuous for many centuries; as long as they are chiefly agricultural;

and this will be as long as there shall be vacant lands in any part of America” because “when

they get piled upon one another in large cities, as in (Britain) they will become corrupt as in

(Britain).”20 By establishing a government that was steeped in Shared Republicanism and

operating for the common good and allowing for corruption not to foster showed the distinctive

difference between Americans and the British identity.

Through the creation of American culture the founding generation created a distinctively

different identity of that their former rulers. Throughout the revolutionary era Americans showed

through their writings and narratives that they were different then the British “where could vice,

caprice, and corruption be found in more abundance that then English court and stage.”21 By

looking at the early work of Benjamin Franklin in 1768, he developed a “scheme for a new

alphabet and reformed mode of spelling to simplify and regularize English spelling.”22 By

reframing and adding to the British language Franklin shows this urge to want to separate

himself and other Americans from that of the Empire. However, Franklins work did not pick up

any traction tell Noah Webster showed interest in 1789. Webster focus of the book was a build

off of Franklins where in the focus would be orthographic. Webster believed that “the English

have lost the sounds of most of the guttural letters” and by restructuring the spelling of these

words would allow Americans to have their own different language that would be easier to teach

to children and allow for higher literacy rates for the country.23 By again rekindling the flames of

Franklins proposed language for the country, shows this yearning to stand out from England.

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Jeff v. ham 25
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Creating American Culture 22
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Benjamin doc 4 creating American culture,99
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Doc 5 noah webster 102 american culture
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Also, by looking at the poetic work of Phillis Wheatley when she states “He pray’d that grace in

ev’ry heart might dwell, he long’d to see American excel” the reader comes away with an image

that supports of the American movement were holy people.24 This religious insinuation of

American and her people allows the reader to walk away with an idea that America is blessed by

god and in doing so virtues. By also looking at Philip Freneau and Hugh Brackenridge work “no

more of Britain and her kings renown’ d… a Theme more new, tho’ not less noble, claims our

every thought on this auspicious day; the rising glory of the western world.”25 From this excerpt

the authors are depicting that empires like Britain are the past and the future of modernization

and virtue are within America. From rise of this religious, virtues culture and desire to separate

through the creating of a new language, the founding generation wanted to distance its self from

Great Britain. And from this shows the willingness behind wanting to be distinctly different then

the British.

However, one could argue that because “defining American identity within a national

culture also required intellectuals to declare who they were not. Imagining and excluding ‘the

Other’ became a central part of the intellectual project for some, who waged a losing battle

against American popular culture.”26 By elites within society waging this losing battle against the

majority of the country they in fact were acting similarly to the British. This action by the

intellectual elites to use narrative’s to shape and mold American cultural and identity holds a

stark similar to the actions of the British before the Revolutionary War. The British put forth

legislation and placed British magistrates within local areas of power in hopes to reframe

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Doc 10 Philli wheatley, 50 black americans
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Doc 1 rising glory, creating American culture.
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Creating amerinca culture 8.
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colonial identity. By the elites acting in a controlling and manipulative it made them distinctively

British in that moment.

In Summary, the American Revolution left a mark on not just American history but on

world history and would soon be the calling cry for Revolution that took place in France. During

the Seven Years War, also known as the French and Indian War, American colonists

demonstrated a unique culture and adaptive fighting style such Rodgers Rangers that was vastly

different than that of their British counterparts. During the discussion’s that took place in the

Federalists and Anti Federalists papers over the formation of the new constitution, it is clear to

see that in the language used and the structure of the government put forth that neither side

wanted to be anything but uniquely different then the British. Finally, by looking at the

formation of a new American language and poetry throughout the Revolutionary Era it is clear

that throughout this era Americans repeatedly tried to distinguish themselves from the British

Empire.