The Freeman 1972 - The Ludwig von Mises Institute

1972 PRELUDE TO INDEPENDENCE 241November, the colonies receivedword that. the king had refused toreceive the Olive Branch Petition.The House of Commons then defeateda motion to make the Petitionthe basis of reconciliation bya vote of 83 to 33. Late in 1775 aroyal proclamation was issued closingthe colonies to all commerceafter March 1, 1776.A Reluctance to SeparateThat all these things had occurredand that the colonists stillcould not bring themselves to declarefor independence indicateshow reluctantly they took thatstep. By the winter of 1775-1776,some goodly number had alreadydecided for independence; but'many had not. •This was a mostdifficult decision to make, muchharder than merely deciding forresistance. Those who took thisstep must forswear ancient allegiances,must commit the mostheinous of crimes (or so they hadbeen taught) by becoming traitors,must· hazard their lives and fortunesupon the uncertain outcomeof a war, must almost certainlydivide the country, and might welllet loose domestic disorder on alarge scale. Prudent men mustever ponder carefully their coursebefore taking such an irrevocablestep. Arguments were made inpublic for and against independenceeven as men wrestled inwardlywith the difficult question.If men of those times had usedsuch terms as "conservative" and"liberal," which they did not, theymight well have debated the questionof which was the conservativeposition. From one point ofview, it would have been conservativeto have continued old allegiancesand connections. But fromanother angle, Britain was the innovator,and the colonists had insistedall along·that they werecontending for the ancient constitutionand the old order and harmonythat had prevailed. Indeed,the father of conservatism, EdmundBurke, saw the justice oftheir contention though, of course,he could ·not advise the coloniststo become independent.Probably, much of· the waitingwas in the hope that Englandwould take some action that wouldsway the most reluctant towardindependence. While this neverhappened, as time went on, andBritain committed more and moreacts, more did decide for independence.Thomas PaineBut it was the little book, CommonSense, published by ThomasPaine in January of 1776 whichdid so much to galvanize Americanopinion in favor of independence.Within three months, 120,­000 copies of it were in circula-