British Colonists Lived In An Empire Of Goods

“British colonists lived in an empire of goods.” What does this statement mean, and how does it help explain the origins of the American Revolution?

If anyone had travelled to any of the British colonial cities at the end of the seventeenth century or at the start of the 18th century, the spectator could have been shocked to witness the stagy changes in the lifestyle and living standards of the colonists. Those items that are considered basic necessities turned out to be commonplace, whereas the luxury items such as embroidered waistcoats, china plates, curved and stylish chairs, and silver forks turned out to be the status co and expression of wealth and power for at least fifty years.

In the British colonies, the increasing population due to migrations increased the demand for essential goods. This resulted in the first internal trade by the small-scale industries to meet the demands of the colonists. This type of independence significantly improved the living style of the colonists and moved the society towards an empire of good.

The conversion to an individualistic and distinctive perspective could be evidently seen in spiritual beliefs in the colonies. The Great Emerging “challenged traditional [religious] norms” and divided the colonists into the “New Light’ and the “Old Lights”, which instigated much hostility between colonists(Tansill, 1774).

This dissimilarity would be accredited to the increase in the colonies’ business relations with Caribbean islands and Britain, which resulted in an upsurge in revenue and, hence, more wealth for luxury items. With more and more wealth, the arrogance among the colonies further moved from a community-based need to a more distinctive, individualistic, and unrestricted style, which could be outlined as the foundation of “Anti-British Sentiments”(Lemay, 1983). Therefore, the “empire of goods” headed towards the start of the “American Revolution” due to the decline in reverence for authority and the increase in political conflicts.

References

Lemay, J. L. (1983). John Mercer and the Stamp Act in Virginia, 1764-1765. The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, 3–38.

Tansill, C. C. (1774). Declaration and Resolves of the First Continental Congress, October 14, 1774. Reprinted in Making of the American Republic: The Great Documents, 1789.