In the sample schedule for this summer's teacher institute at Colonial Williamsburg, there is a quotation to get us thinking for each day. These quotes from real people illustrate how people made the transition from being proud British subjects to becoming citizens of the new United States of America.
Day 1: Jamestown
“All and every persons being our Subjects, which shall dwell and inhabit within every or any of the said colonies and every of their children Shall have and enjoy all the Liberties, Franchises, and Immunities within any of our other dominions, to all Intents and Purposes, as if they had been abiding and born, within this our Realm of England, or any other of our said Dominions.”
Virginia Land Company charter, 1606
Day 2: The Colony of Virginia, British Subjects“A more pleasing and natural Connection never subsisted between any different Bodies of Men than did till of late, and ought long to continue, between Great Britain and her Colonies. The Americans are descended from the Loins of Britons, and therefore may, with Propriety, be called the Children, and England the Mother of them. We are not only allied by Blood, but are still farther united, by the extensive Trade and Commerce carried on between us. Our Manners are similar; our Religion, and Language, the same.” |  |
Day 3: The British Mercantile System
“He that commands the sea, commands the trade, and he that is Lord of the Trade of the world is lord of the wealth of the world.”
Sir Walter Raleigh, cited in James P.P. Horn, A Kingdom Strange: The Brief and Tragic History of the Lost Colony of Roanoke (New York: Basic Books, 2010), p. 61.
Day 4: Life in Virginia's Colonial Capital City
“Mr. Carter informed me last Evening that this Family one year with another consumes 27000 Lb. of Pork; & twenty Beeves. 550 Bushels of Wheat, besides corn 4 Hogsheads of Rum, & 150 Gallons of Brandy.”
Diary of Phillip Vickers Fithian, April 10, 1774
Day 5: Unrest in the Colonies
“Would anyone believe that I am Master of Slaves of my own purchase! I am drawn along by the general inconvenience of living without them...”
Patrick Henry, letter to Quaker Robert Pleasants January 18, 1773
Day 6: Forming a New Nation
“. . . But what do we mean by the American Revolution? The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people; a change in their religious sentiments, of their duties and obligations . . . This radical change in the principles, sentiments, and affections of the people was the real American Revolution.”
John Adams, 1818
