Jacob Faust Ideas have played many important roles in the history of America since the beginning of her

existence. Ideas have created political parties in America, produced life altering inventions, and even led to the formation of many states by the heroic ideas of exploration. In Edmund Morgans book The Birth of the Republic, Morgan argues that the Revolutionary War was fought for certain ideas our founding fathers had. Ideas such as the right to secure property, taxation with adequate representation, equality for all men, strive for nationality, and the dangers of political tyranny are some of the ideas Morgan explained in his book for reasons that the Revolutionary war was being fought. Ideas such as these where not just the ideas that our rich, aristocrat founding fathers possessed, but those of even the poorest yeoman farmers in the colonies as well. The ideas Morgan covered in his book The Birth of the Republic on why the war was fought had one common ground for those who supported the revolution, a desire to disconnect themselves from the mother country. With that desire and the ideas Morgan stated in his book, a revolution was in the making, and a republic was to be the product of it. The first Idea Morgan wrote about in this book on why the war was fought was the colonist right to secure land in the new world. Morgan stated in chapter one that this widespread ownership of land is perhaps the single most important fact about the Americans of the Revolutionary period. Ownership of land gave economic and political independence to the colonist. For this reason many people fled to the new world in search of a better life through ownership of land. Morgan also wrote in chapter one about the indirect relationship the king and parliament had with the colonist. As population and British Empire grew in the new world from the result of the seven years war, so did the direct British control of the colonists. Navigation Acts where being passed by British parliament, the colonist began to see their right to land

ownership become limited and controlled by the British. This idea Morgan presented in his book, desire for land ownership, may have been a small drop in the bucket, but it was an important one. This thought of land being taken away from a king all the way across the Atlantic Ocean was one idea all colonist with a desire for economic gain could use for the cause of a Revolution. The second idea Morgan wrote about in The Birth of the Republic, that the war was fought for what as many Americans today see as the main cause of the Revolution, taxation without representation. All throughout the book, Morgan highlighted most of the many different tax acts the British forced on the colonist. Acts such as the stamp act, tea act, sugar act, and Townsend act were explained by Morgan to be undesired forms of taxation the colonist endured by the hands of the British without proper representation in parliament. Throughout the next few chapters of the book Morgan showed the readers the consequences of these acts that pushed the colonist toward war. Morgan highlighted events in his book such as the Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party, which showed his readers the disapproval the colonists had towards the acts the British parliament forced on them. As the taxes began to increase throughout the colonies and representation in parliament for the colonist began to decrease the idea of taxation without representation Morgan talked about in his book is starting to be seen as the driving factor for the Revolution. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness, these were the famous words written by Thomas Jefferson in the beginning of the Declaration of Independence. As our founding fathers stressed the idea that all men are created equal in the Declaration, Morgan also stressed this idea of equality as an idea that the war was fought in chapter five of this book. Our founding fathers said they will no

longer be enslaved by the British. Morgan also exposed his readers to the patriotic voices of Thomas Paine and his piece called Common Sense, as well as other equality movement leaders such as John Locke so show the colonist desire for equality. This idea of equality would be one that would carry our founding fathers in the writing of the Declaration of Independence, the birth certificate of America. As the colonist began to form the desire to disband from the mother country, a desire to form a country of their own began to also show the colonist another reason to fight the war. This form of national pride the colonist began to posses was also an idea Morgan stated in his book on why the war was fought. Morgan showed his readers how a ragtag militia led by farmers and craftsmen transformed into an elite military force to protect the country in which they had a desire to form. Morgan wrote in his book that the Revolution became a peoples war. What this means is that now the colonist had began to form a since of national pride and began to see America as an independent country not just a product of Great Britain. This idea of nationality was also an idea Morgan wrote to be a cause of the war, and this newly formed national pride would carry the colonist to a victory over the British. As the taxes began to increase in America, the power of the king and the royal government also began to increase, the colonist began to despise the idea of political tyranny. This idea the colonist began to see as the dangers of tyranny was the final idea Morgan declared in his book on why the war was fought. The colonist might have not had much knowledge on how to run a government, but they did know that political tyranny would not be a part of their new republic. As the colonist grew to reject the power the king and national government had over the states, the colonist felt a need to separate themselves from this form of government by fighting the war. Morgan explained to his readers in his book about the founding fathers desire to

prevent political tyranny through the formation of The Articles of the Confederation. This limited the power to the national government and gave it to the states. Although proven too weak to support the country the Articles of the Confederation showed, the colonists desire to rid of the tyranny the British government imposed on them. Morgan showed his readers the idea the colonist had about the dangers of political tyranny, and their desire to stop it by the wage of war to form a government of their own with a foundation of states rights not a kings power by birth. As I read Morgans book The Birth of the Republic I began to take into context these ideas that Morgan was writing about. Ideas such as the right to secure property, taxation with adequate representation, equality for all men, strive for nationality, and dangers of tyranny are all ideas the richest and poorest colonist could relate to and rally around to fight the worlds best military superpower. Morgan did a great job all throughout his book supporting his beliefs that these ideas where why the war was fought. I often felt as if I was living in the time of the Revolution as Morgan took me thorough a year by year expiation of these ideas and the reasons they lead to war. This was a very enjoyable read and I now know more ways ideas shaped the history of this great country. Ideas not only formed political parties in our country, made life altering inventions, and gave settlers a desire to explore new states, but ideas also started the American Revolution which can now be credited as the birth of a republic.