Portfolio: Essay 2

Leah Vickers

A Loyal Citizen to the Crown of Europe; New York 1777

----As I, a loyal citizen to my fellow partners of Great Britain, walk along the streets of New York, I realize why so many people from other colonies are drawn here. It is beautiful and has great things to offer. The cobblestone sidewalks are filled with faces and there is a peace that surrounds you as you walk along the calm Hudson River with lush green grass and blue skies. Our many trading posts provide it easy for anyone to make a living. Farmers are able to sell and export crops and agriculture, and imported slaves become useful tools. Our land is beautiful, but “[…] immigrants as well as native New Yorkers were deserting the colony for the neighboring provinces due to the lack of free land in New York” (Kim). Our New York colony, like all the other thirteen colonies, is supported by our mother country, Britain. We owe our success to them, but I wish we didn’t have to part. We loyalists are outnumbered by patriots, and as of now the patriots have the attention of the British. Those patriots are so stubborn and full of themselves. They went behind our backs and wrote letters and pleas to other colonies and even to Europe. On May 13th, 1774 the patriots of Boston sent a letter to some of the patriots here in New York asking for help and stating how Britain had been “cruel and unjust” and they requested assistance in becoming detached. The New York Committee was unable to be of any help. But this certainly did not stop those ruffians from pursuing their dream of independence. I believe that the British have been an absolute wonder in helping our thirteen colonies become established. How else would Britain or any of the colonies gain success? Taxes must be imposed on anyone living in the colonies.


----Patrick Henry reflects this opposing view of taxes. If it weren’t for him, I don’t believe this whole “revolution” would have even begun in the first place. He and that Thomas Paine insist that no taxes be imposed upon anyone living in the colonies. How do they think that Britain will survive without us or us without them? I do not see what is so wrong about paying taxes if we are getting freedom in return. I don’t think that freedom is exactly a life or death situation. But according to Patrick Henry, who would rather have death over captivity and taxes, he and many others believe that being secluded from Britain will actually make them successful. The patriots believe “[…] that as America flourished under the former connexion with Great Britain, that the same connexion is necessary towards her future happiness, and will always have the same effect” (Common Sense). I am wondering if this is really what the patriots want. I believe that separation from Great Britain will bring many trials and difficulties. They need to leave well enough alone and let the British make their own decisions because they are the founders of our colonies in the first place.

---- If the famous Patrick Henry’s ideas of war are taken into effect, the patriots could possibly irritate the British so much that they would be inclined to impose an even heavier tax upon us colonists! If Patrick Henry was so faithful to God then why did he insist in his document Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death that “[…] we must fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight!” (Henry)? I don’t think that God intended us to fight over what we want. War only leads to death, and we are not to kill our neighbors! This is the biggest reason as to why I choose to remain loyal to the crown. I do not believe in war, and I do not want my children growing up thinking that it is okay to go out and kill people just to get attention or to get what you want. We don’t want to damage our trade with Great Britain. In my opinion, this is all that war will do for us, besides make us very unhappy.

----After the signing of The Declaration of Independence in 1776, 547 loyalists in New York, including me, signed and circulated “A Declaration of Dependence” to stay connected with Britain. We thought it was a good idea at the time, until we realized again how outnumbered we really were. Our declaration did nothing. I guess the patriots were just better at persuading the British into thinking it was their way or no way at all. My views will never change about being a loyalist. If we do end up being split apart from Great Britain, I will always remember the influence that Britain had on my family and I, and the respect that I had for them. I agree with the right to tax because it maintains success, and disagree with dependence in fear of struggling alone.

Work Cited:
1.) Paine, Thomas. "Common Sense." US History Jan, 1776 5 Nov 2008 http://www.ushistory.org/Paine/crisis/c-01.htm

2.) Henry, Patrick. "Give me Liberty or Give me Death." Avalon Project 23 Mar, 1775 31 Oct 2008 http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/patrick.asp


3.) Kim, Sung Bok. A New Look at the Great Landlords of Eighteenth-Century New York.The William and Mary Quarterly, Third Series, Vol. 27, No. 4 (Oct., 1970), pp. 581-614. Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture.http://www.jstor.org/stable/1919705