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"Suffering in the Common Cause": The Continental Association and the Transformation of American Subjects to Citizens during the Coercive Acts Crisis, 1774-1776

dc.contributor.advisorUrwin, Gregory J. W., 1955-
dc.contributor.advisorRoney, Jessica C. (Jessica Choppin), 1978-
dc.creatorMcGhee, Shawn
dc.date.accessioned2022-05-26T18:11:39Z
dc.date.available2022-05-26T18:11:39Z
dc.date.issued2022
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12613/7692
dc.description.abstractThis dissertation explores the point and process by which American colonists transformed from subjects to citizens. Upon learning of Boston radicals’ destruction of East India tea, Parliament passed the Coercive Acts, a collection of punitive measures designed to rein in that seaport town. In response, American communities from Massachusetts to Georgia drafted resistance resolutions calling on colonists to refrain from importing British merchandise, exporting American resources, and partaking in frivolous pastimes. Boston’s suffering, these communities declared, presented a threat to every colonist. Grassroots activists next called for a Continental Congress to coordinate and enforce a pan-colonial resistance movement to pressure Parliament’s repeal of the Coercive Acts. Once convened, delegates of the First Continental Congress drafted the Articles of Association which incorporated many directives already circulating in the town and county resolutions. Traditionally presented as a colonial boycott of British manufactures, the Association regulated cultural as well as commercial practices. It advised colonists to avoid waste and extravagance and singled out horse racing, cockfighting, theatergoing, and other displays of leisure as examples of moral decay. Echoing the grassroots resolutions, Congress also urged colonists to commit to nonimportation and non-consumption of British wares and nonexportation of American goods. Through these directives, Congress sought to achieve imperial reconciliation and colonial moral regeneration, yet its commitment to self-preservation reveals it focused more on restoring American virtue than returning harmony to the empire. To enforce the Articles of Association, Congress recommended towns and counties to create Committees of Inspection and Observation. Composed of locally elected men, these committees regulated their neighbors’ behavior and condemned violators of the Association as enemies of America. Using colonial newspapers, private letters, pamphlets, Congress’s official journals, Peter Force’s American Archives, and a wealth of other primary and secondary literature, this dissertation reveals how the Continental Association organized local communities of suffering. Members of these communities voluntarily suspended cultural and commercial practices to protect political identities they felt were in danger. In the process, those sacrificing in the common cause separated from the broader imperial community and formed an American political community.
dc.format.extent283 pages
dc.language.isoeng
dc.publisherTemple University. Libraries
dc.relation.ispartofTheses and Dissertations
dc.rightsIN COPYRIGHT- This Rights Statement can be used for an Item that is in copyright. Using this statement implies that the organization making this Item available has determined that the Item is in copyright and either is the rights-holder, has obtained permission from the rights-holder(s) to make their Work(s) available, or makes the Item available under an exception or limitation to copyright (including Fair Use) that entitles it to make the Item available.
dc.rights.urihttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
dc.subjectAmerican history
dc.subjectHistory
dc.subjectAmerican Revolution
dc.subjectArticles of association
dc.subjectContinental Association
dc.subjectFirst Continental Congress
dc.subjectNational identity
dc.subjectRepublicanism
dc.title"Suffering in the Common Cause": The Continental Association and the Transformation of American Subjects to Citizens during the Coercive Acts Crisis, 1774-1776
dc.typeText
dc.type.genreThesis/Dissertation
dc.contributor.committeememberGlasson, Travis
dc.contributor.committeememberShankman, Andrew, 1970-
dc.description.departmentHistory
dc.relation.doihttp://dx.doi.org/10.34944/dspace/7664
dc.ada.noteFor Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accommodation, including help with reading this content, please contact scholarshare@temple.edu
dc.description.degreePh.D.
dc.identifier.proqst14781
dc.creator.orcid0000-0003-0768-7282
dc.date.updated2022-05-11T16:08:58Z
refterms.dateFOA2022-05-26T18:11:39Z
dc.identifier.filenameMcGhee_temple_0225E_14781.pdf


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