America had a successful revolution due to the motley crew, despite the lack of recognition and amenities they received for their contributions. “A Motley Crew in the American Revolution” by Peter Linebaugh and Marcus Rediker highlighted the motley crew for their influence on the American Revolution, and provided information and background generally not given in a standard textbook. The motley crew, comprised of sailors and slaves in a literal sense, and the urban mob in a political sense, paved the way for the American Revolution and the founding documents through rebellions, uprisings, conflicts, protests, and violence. This group of men changed the world in the opposition of forced labor, press-gangs and slavery in particular, through influencing …show more content…
the political minds of the century, and demonstrating the uniting of people based upon beliefs and morals, rather than race or creed. Those that made up the mob in the 1760s to 1770s made the British and colonial powers quake in the wake of their intense desire for liberty. The motley crew worked to end the enslavement and forced labor of men, and sought liberty for all. The sailors opposed press-gangs, or groups led to seize men for forced employment at British seaports, or naval ships. The sailors found this to be cruel, and they were easily able to empathize with those ensnared by the press-gangs, and their empathy led to their desire to change the system. They proceeded to defend men who had escaped from press-gangs, burn the ships of those involved, and tear apart the press-gangs they could get control of. African Americans also fought the press-gang as they viewed impressment as a death sentence and wished to preserve the bonds of freedom that they had worked so hard for themselves. Both sailors and African Americans (free and enslaved) objected to British taxes and fought against the re-enslavement of escaped African Americans under the British Law of habeas corpus, or freedom of imprisonment without due process of law. Sailors and slaves, blacks and whites, worked together with the goal of ending impressment, terror, working to death, kidnapping, and forcible confinement along with arbitrary arrest and trial without a jury. The common motivations of the mob and their low socio-economic standing united them to fight for their convictions. America’s brightest minds and long standing documents have been affected by the motley crew.
Samuel Adams Jr. used the Knowles Riot to form the conclusion that it is a natural right to form a mob and justified the violent acts as a means to end oppression. This led to the profound change that all men are created equal, not just the British. This concept is so significant that it became part of Declaration of Independance. Later, John Adams, future president of the United States, acknowledged that the motley crew had made a revolutionary movement, despite his dread of them. Thomas Jefferson, another future president, briefly mentioned the mob in the Declaration of Independence, although he focused on the strife between nations rather than the power struggle between the classes. The motley crew received very little recognition in the end, but they did have a dramatic impact on the politics and founding of America. Linebaugh and Rediker’s essay on the motley crew addresses a subject glazed over by textbooks and pushed under the rug by politicians in the eighteenth-century. The uniting of the lowest classes, sailors and slaves into a unified group fighting for the liberties and freedom of their fellow man led to the American Revolution and altered the perceptions of race and ethnicity within the mob. The violent and forgotten unsung heroes of the impoverished in the eighteenth-century are the motley
crew.
When I was first given this assignment earlier in the semester, I knew whom I wanted to right about immediately. One of the most recognizable rock stars from the 1980’s and even now, the bassist from Motley Crue, Nikki Sixx.
The American Revolution started in the year 1765, when the Colonists rejected the Parliament of Great Britain to tax them without representation and ended in 1783 with the peace treaty with Britain; Treaty of Paris. But a lot of major events occurred in the colonies before the American Revolution could be over and these events would result in series of social, political, and intellectual transformation in American history. In his book, The Minutemen and Their World, Robert Gross’s describes the lives of people in Concord, Massachusetts before, during and, after the American Revolution, where much of these events took place and changed the way of life people lived in Concord. He goes through a very brief detailed aspects of colonial life in
Gordon Wood’s Radicalism of the American Revolution is a book that extensively covers the origin and ideas preceding the American Revolution. Wood’s account of the Revolution goes beyond the history and timeline of the war and offers a new encompassing look inside the social ideology and economic forces of the war. Wood explains in his book that America went through a two-stage progression to break away from the Monarchical rule of the English. He believes the pioneering revolutionaries were rooted in the belief of an American Republic. However, it was the radical acceptance of democracy that was the final step toward independence. The transformation between becoming a Republic, to ultimately becoming a democracy, is where Wood’s evaluation of the revolution differs from other historians. He contributes such a transformation to the social and economic factors that faced the colonists. While Gordon Wood creates a persuasive argument in his book, he does however neglect to consider other contributing factors of the revolution. It is these neglected factors that provide opportunity for criticism of his book.
The American Revolution is without a question one of the, if not the most, important period in the beginning of American history. Between 1765 and 1783, the colonists rejected the British monarchy and aristocracy after a series of taxes and tariffs were forced upon them, finally the colonists then ultimately overthrew their authority and founded the United States of America. Many historians and authors have debated over the exact reason and overall effects of the War for Independence, however, all agree of the significance and importance of this event. The colonies, which were created as a resource for raw materials and a means for generating profits for Parliament and the Crown, began to desire managing their own affairs and worked towards
Expectations are define as personal belief that something will happen. It’s similar to judgment or assumption people made to a certain person or group of people. It may not be true and it could be different from what is expected. People can also change how they live their lives based on their own expectations just like how the Greasers and the Socs had different expectations. These two groups have contrast expectations that caused bad actions to come up or lead them to benefits for their own group. Expectations may force people into something they are not, even if it is to become a hero or the opposite.
Mob violence was a persuasive feature of the Revolutionary War in every port city, particularly Boston. These mobs, which were often described as motley crews, were central to protests and ultimately played a dominant role in significant events leading up to the American Revolution. Throughout the years, leading up to the American Revolution, many Americans were growing tired of British rule and thus begun to want to break free from Britain and earn their own independence. Some of these Americans, out of anger, madness, and in defense of their rights, began terrorizing towns, sometimes even to the point of paralysis highlighting grievances and concerns that the common man couldn’t say with mere words. These groups would then be absorbed into a greater organization called the Sons of Liberty. With the use of violence and political strategy , these radicals defending their rights, struck terror into anyone opposing them but also carried out communal objectives ultimately pushing for change which was a central theme for the American Revolution. It will be proved that these men through their actions not only were the driving force behind resistance but also proved to be the men who steered America toward revolution.
The American Revolution has too often been dominated by the narrative of the founding fathers and has since been remembered as a “glorified cause.” However, the American Revolution was not a unified war but a civil war with many internal disputes that wreaked havoc and chaos throughout America. In his book, The Unknown American Resvolution, Gary B. Nash attempts to unveil the chaos that the American Revolution really was through the eyes of the people not in power, including women, African American slaves, and Native Americans. In his book, Gary B. Nash emphasizes their significance in history to recount the tale of the American Revolution not through the eyes of the privileged elite but through the eyes of the people who sacrificed and struggled the most, but were left forgotten, in their endeavors to reinvent America.
Kaplan, Sidney. The Black Presence in the Era of the American Revolution, 1770-1800. Greenwich, Conn: New York Graphic Society, 1973.
...osed the “Intolerable” Acts and asserted their Declaration of Rights and Grievances; an exercise that ultimately laid the foundation for the Declaration of Independence.
The River Flows On: Black Resistance, Culture and Identity Formation in Early America is a fascinating consideration of African culture and its effect on the history of slave resistance in North America. Walter Rucker seeks to establish that the effect was extensive; furthermore, he claims it to have been essential in the creation of a communal consciousness among enslaved peoples. One of his main objectives appears to be to impress upon his reader the important advancements that could continue to be made if greater significance was placed on slaves’ African roots. In doing so, he claims, one could “better grasp the convoluted complexities of slave life” . Not unlike the work of Michael Gomez, in which Rucker places great significance, The River Flows On rejects an “Americanist” approach to the study of slave culture in favour of one that embraces a unique African-American identity . Of those historians who take an “African-Americanist” position on the subject, R...
The American Revolution was so much more than just a war, or a time in history. It was a time where America grew, and as the name suggests, revolutionized their way of thinking and governing. It was a time for some great thinkers to get their ideas out there, and these ideas helped shape America into what it is today. These revolutionary thinkers shared their ideas publicly, and that gave the people ways to revolutionize their thoughts as well. They flipped what they knew about government upside down. They turned against the ways of monarchy, realizing that all men should be equal and should not be under a tyrannical king any longer. While this revolution was extremely powerful, it was also a trial and error effort. The Patriots tried many
The could easily turn the Boston Massacre victims into martyrs who had sacrificed their lives to overturn the unmerited laws and acts of the British. The Boston Tea Party which resulted in the Intolerable acts which cut off Boston 's trade could be perceived as the Britain 's cruel and harsh laws. It was another punishment to the colonies that wasn 't right. The Daughters of Liberty were the women who received great honour from the people as they had taken up the making of clothes that everyone had depended on from British trade. The Son of Liberty was a secret group of American colonists who fought for the protection of their rights and taxation. One of my favourite members was Hercules mulligan who would become a key spy in the revolution for the patriots. The Committee of Correspondence in Boston communicated with the other colonies saying they should begin opposing the sugar and currency acts, much like Boston was doing, the states needed to act as one in this early rebellion. At first, this was directed to the rich but John Adams wrote “the people, even to the lowest ranks” were to defend their natural
Both the British and the American colonists contributed to causing the American Revolution. The war grew out of contempt: England’s contempt for the colonies and colonial contempt for British policies. A series of actions by the British eventually pushed the colonists over the edge and towards independence. The results of the war gave many citizens a new role in society while others, like slaves, felt no change at all. This paper will examine the specific causes and effects of the American Revolution.
The Rolling Stones are one of the most well known hard rock bands. They have a distinctive history that separates them from other similar rock bands. Their unique sound formed the basis of rock and roll. The band had a huge influence on British music through things such as their fashion, fusion of obscure genres, and attitude. Over the course of the last fifty years, The Rolling Stones unique history, sound, and overall look still has an influence on modern British bands.
School of Rock is a comedy about a struggling rock ‘n’ roll musician, Dewey Finn played by Jack Black, who gets kicked out his garage band and poses as his friend Ned to get a substitute teaching job at a prestigious prep school. With no educational background, Dewey or Mr. S as his known by his 4th grade class, begins teaching his students about rock ‘n’ roll. After learning that a handful of them are musically talented, he forms a rock band gives each of his students a part to play.