The Revolutionary Mindset
What Caused Regular People to Fight in the American Revolution
The philosophy of life for the common man in Colonial British America produced values shaped by family need, local politics, religion, virtue, honor and even war.
Survivor: North America
As contemporary psychology has taught us, the human instinct is to protect their basic need of survival before any other. In the late 1700s, this was a much stronger motivation than today. Theirs was a dangerous world where you were more likely to die from the flu than you were from a heart attack. Even in War, up to 75% of casualties were not related to combat but to disease. Imagine a world without antibiotics, comprehensive healthcare, or even a decent toothbrush! These were the steps in which the earliest Americans walked and many times ran in paralyzing fear. Just surviving was the first and very thankfully received priority of their lives. In this “howling wilderness” they were also beset with natural calamity as well as the continual threat of war.
Common Sense
Politically, there was a surge of information and "propaganda" about resistance to tyrannical power and the logical leap that the patriots took to transform this new virgin land into a republic. This included the most famous as well as most widely read pamphlet of the day, Common Sense by Thomas Paine. Even with all of this, the ordinary citizen looked at their world from a local perspective. While the "waves" of political theory and patriotic rhetoric washed over the shores of most educated minds, they left but a residue of motivational influence as they passed by. The general public had a common, while not hyper-focused, view that the virtue of society had a large bearing on the success of any government. They were excited about making a change to a republican government.
Well-Informed Public
This was an amazing feat! They transitioned rather immediately from a constitutional monarchy to a loose confederation of republics. "Republican Virtue" was showcased by fact that all of these mini revolutions at the state level were peacefully executed in a relatively short time. The catalyst for the efficiency of this transition was a well informed and active role of the citizenry in electing and serving as the republican representatives that debated and formed these new governments. While the average colonist may not have been able to define republican virtue, what their lived during this time of upheaval was a life of sacrifice to support a government that they believed would put their welfare above its own needs. In this they were the living breathing definition.
Honor and Heartache
They key to understanding the role of republican virtue is to understand it was thought to be the lynchpin of a successful republic. The 18th-century predominance of religious belief in America led naturally to an individual sense of confidence and therefore a heightened sense of responsibility to establish a "moral" force to keep power from corrupting the new leadership. The influence of religion, which pervaded every aspect of their lives, made it honorable in a political, social and religious sense to be willing to die in defense of a new government that was the protector and champion of their freedom. They had a general sense of the merit of this cause, especially at the beginning. Religion played a very important part of insuring its success. It was a powerful motivating force as well as a system of accountability that preserved the people's virtue. There would be much heartache ahead but, though the foundation of the republic would be shaken to the core, it was the physical, political and religious survival instinct of the average American that proved to be the difference between victory and defeat.
Sources
A Leap in the Dark: The Struggle to Create the American Republic by John Ferling, 2003, Oxford University Press
The Central Themes of the American Revolution, an Interpretation by Bernard Bailyn at the Symposium of the American Revolution, 1971, Institute of Early American History and Culture
