Editing American Revolution (section)

===Ideology behind the revolution===
{{Main|Age of Enlightenment|American Enlightenment}}
The American Enlightenment was a critical precursor of the American Revolution. Chief among the ideas of the American Enlightenment were the concepts of natural law, natural rights, consent of the governed, individualism, property rights, self-ownership, self-determination, liberalism, republicanism, and defense against corruption. A growing number of American colonists embraced these views and fostered an intellectual environment which led to a new sense of political and social identity.<ref>Robert A. Ferguson, ''The American Enlightenment, 1750–1820'' (1997).</ref>

====Liberalism====
{{main|Liberalism in the United States}}
{{see also|Social contract|Natural rights and legal rights}}
{{Liberalism sidebar}}
[[File:Samuel_Adams_by_John_Singleton_Copley.jpg|thumb|[[Samuel Adams]] points at the [[Explanatory charter|Massachusetts Charter]], which he viewed as a constitution that protected the people's rights, in this {{circa|1772}} portrait by [[John Singleton Copley]].<ref>Alexander, ''Revolutionary Politician'', 103, 136; Maier, ''Old Revolutionaries'', 41–42.</ref>]]
[[John Locke]] is often referred to as "the philosopher of the American Revolution" due to his work in the [[Social Contract]] and [[Natural Rights]] theories that underpinned the Revolution's political ideology.<ref>{{cite book|author=Jeffrey D. Schultz|title=Encyclopedia of Religion in American Politics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dy1MNv8ou-0C&pg=PA148|year=1999|publisher=Greenwood|page=148|display-authors=etal|isbn=978-1573561303}}</ref> Locke's ''[[Two Treatises of Government]]'' published in 1689 was especially influential. He argued that all humans were created equally free, and governments therefore needed the "[[consent of the governed]]".<ref>{{Cite book|last=Waldron|first=Jenny|title=God, Locke, and Equality|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|year=2002|pages=136|doi=10.1017/CBO9780511613920|isbn=978-0-521-81001-2 }}</ref> In late eighteenth-century America, belief was still widespread in "equality by creation" and "rights by creation".<ref>Thomas S. Kidd (2010): ''God of Liberty: A Religious History of the American Revolution'', New York, pp. 6–7</ref> Locke's ideas on liberty influenced the political thinking of English writers such as [[John Trenchard (writer)|John Trenchard]], [[Thomas Gordon (writer)|Thomas Gordon]], and [[Benjamin Hoadly]], whose political ideas in turn also had a strong influence on the American Patriots.<ref>Middlekauff (2005), pp. 136–138</ref> His work also inspired symbols used in the American Revolution such as the "Appeal to Heaven" found on the [[Pine Tree Flag]], which alludes to Locke's concept of the [[right of revolution]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Right of Revolution: John Locke, Second Treatise, §§ 149, 155, 168, 207–10, 220–31, 240–43|url=https://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/v1ch3s2.html|access-date=June 7, 2024|website=press-pubs.uchicago.edu}}</ref>

The theory of the social contract influenced the belief among many of the Founders that the [[Right of revolution|right of the people to overthrow their leaders]], should those leaders betray the historic [[rights of Englishmen]], was one of the "natural rights" of man.<ref name=Toth1989>Charles W. Toth, ''Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite: The American Revolution and the European Response''. (1989) p. 26.</ref><ref name=Cohen2008>Philosophical Tales, by Martin Cohen, (Blackwell 2008), p. 101</ref> The Americans heavily relied on [[Charles de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu|Montesquieu]]'s analysis of the wisdom of the "balanced" British Constitution ([[mixed government]]) in writing the state and national constitutions.

====Republicanism====
{{main| Republicanism in the United States}}
{{Republicanism sidebar}}
The American interpretation of [[republicanism]] was inspired by the [[Whig (British political party)|Whig party]] in Great Britain which openly criticized the corruption within the British government.<ref name= Weintraub2005>Stanley Weintraub, ''Iron Tears: America's Battle for Freedom, Britain's Quagmire, 1775–1783'' (2005) chapter 1</ref> Americans were increasingly embracing republican values, seeing Britain as corrupt and hostile to American interests.<ref>Bailyn, '' The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution'' (1992) pp. 125–137</ref> The colonists associated political corruption with ostentatious luxury and inherited aristocracy.<ref>Wood, ''The Radicalism of the American Revolution'' (1992) pp. 35, 174–175</ref>

The Founding Fathers were strong advocates of republican values, particularly [[Samuel Adams]], [[Patrick Henry]], [[John Adams]], [[Benjamin Franklin]], [[Thomas Jefferson]], [[Thomas Paine]], [[George Washington]], [[James Madison]], and [[Alexander Hamilton]],<ref>Shalhope, ''Toward a Republican Synthesis'' (1972) pp. 49–80</ref> which required men to put civic duty ahead of their personal desires. Men were [[Honour|honor bound]] by civic obligation to be prepared and willing to fight for the rights and liberties of their countrymen. John Adams wrote to [[Mercy Otis Warren]] in 1776, agreeing with some classical Greek and Roman thinkers: "Public Virtue cannot exist without private, and public Virtue is the only Foundation of Republics." He continued:
{{blockquote|There must be a positive Passion for the public good, the public Interest, Honour, Power, and Glory, established in the Minds of the People, or there can be no Republican Government, nor any real Liberty. And this public Passion must be Superior to all private Passions. Men must be ready, they must pride themselves, and be happy to sacrifice their private Pleasures, Passions, and Interests, nay their private Friendships and dearest connections, when they Stand in Competition with the Rights of society.<ref name=Rahe1994>Adams quoted in Paul A. Rahe, ''Republics Ancient and Modern: Classical Republicanism and the American Revolution. Volume: 2'' (1994) p. 23.</ref>}}

====Protestant dissenters and the Great Awakening====
{{main|English Dissenters|First Great Awakening}}
{{see also|List of clergy in the American Revolution|Quakers in the American Revolution}}
Protestant churches that had separated from the [[Church of England]], called "dissenters", were the "school of democracy", in the words of historian Patricia Bonomi.<ref name=Bonomi>Bonomi, p. 186, Chapter 7 "Religion and the American Revolution"</ref> Before the Revolution, the [[Southern Colonies]] and three of the [[New England Colonies]] had official [[established church]]es: [[Congregationalism in the United States|Congregational]] in [[Province of Massachusetts Bay|Massachusetts Bay]], [[Connecticut Colony|Connecticut]], and [[Province of New Hampshire|New Hampshire]], and the Church of England in [[Province of Maryland|Maryland]], [[Colony of Virginia|Virginia]], [[Province of North-Carolina|North-Carolina]], [[Province of South Carolina|South Carolina]], and [[Province of Georgia|Georgia]]. The [[Province of New York|New York]], [[Province of New Jersey|New Jersey]], [[Province of Pennsylvania|Pennsylvania]], [[Delaware Colony|Delaware]], and the [[Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations]] had no officially established churches.<ref name="Colonial America">{{cite book|first1=Oscar T.|last1=Barck|first2=Hugh T.|last2=Lefler|title=Colonial America|publisher=Macmillan|place=New York|year=1958|page=404}}</ref> Church membership statistics from the period are unreliable and scarce,<ref>{{cite book|first1=John Mack|last1=Faragher|title=The Encyclopedia of Colonial and Revolutionary America|publisher=Da Capo Press|year=1996|page=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofco00fara/page/359 359]|isbn=978-0306806872|url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofco00fara/page/359}}</ref> but what little data exists indicates that the Church of England was not in the majority, not even in the colonies where it was the established church, and they probably did not comprise even 30 percent of the population in most localities (with the possible exception of Virginia).<ref name="Colonial America"/>
<!--- The following paragraph is hidden because it is mind-numbing statistics that have nothing whatsoever to do with this section; it's not deleted completely on the off chance that someone can edit it to make it pertinent to this section:
By the time of the Revolutionary War, 82 to 84 percent of the approximately 2,900 churches in the Thirteen Colonies were affiliated with non-Anglican Protestant denominations, with 64 to 68 percent specifically affiliated with Protestant Dissenter denominations (Congregational, Presbyterian, Baptist, or Quaker) and the other 14 to 20 percent being Lutheran, Dutch Reformed, or German Reformed. Some 14 to 16 percent remained Anglican but were declining in number, and the remaining 2 percent of the churches were Catholic.<ref>{{cite book|first1=Oscar T.|last1=Barck|first2=Hugh T.|last2=Lefler|title=Colonial America|publisher=[[Macmillan Publishers (United States)|Macmillan]]|place=New York|year=1958|page=404|quote=The number of churches of each denomination at this time has been estimated as follows: Congregational 658; Presbyterian 543; Baptist 498; Anglican 480; Quaker 295; German and Dutch Reformed 251; Lutheran 151; Catholic 50.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first1=John Mack|last1=Faragher|title=The Encyclopedia of Colonial and Revolutionary America|url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofco00fara|url-access=registration|publisher=Da Capo Press|year=1996|pages=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofco00fara/page/358 358–359]|isbn=978-0306806872}}</ref> --->

[[John Witherspoon]], who was considered a "new light" [[Presbyterianism|Presbyterian]], wrote widely circulated sermons linking the American Revolution to the teachings of the [[Bible]]. Throughout the colonies, dissenting [[Protestantism|Protestant]] ministers from the Congregational, [[Baptists|Baptist]], and Presbyterian churches preached Revolutionary themes in their sermons while most [[Church of England]] clergymen preached loyalty to the king, the [[Supreme Governor of the Church of England|titular head]] of the English [[state church]].<ref name=Nelson1961>William H. Nelson, ''The American Tory'' (1961) p. 186</ref> Religious motivation for fighting tyranny transcended socioeconomic lines.<ref name=Bonomi/> The Declaration of Independence also referred to the "Laws of Nature and of Nature's God" as justification for the Americans' separation from the British monarchy: the signers of the Declaration professed their "firm reliance on the Protection of divine Providence", and they appealed to "the Supreme Judge for the rectitude of our intentions".<ref>Kidd (2010), p. 141</ref>

Historian [[Bernard Bailyn]] argues that the evangelicalism of the era challenged traditional notions of natural hierarchy by preaching that the Bible teaches that all men are equal, so that the true value of a man lies in his moral behavior, not in his class.<ref>Bailyn'', The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution'' (1992) p. 303</ref> Kidd argues that religious [[Disestablishmentarianism|disestablishment]], belief in God as the source of human rights, and shared convictions about sin, virtue, and divine providence worked together to unite rationalists and evangelicals and thus encouraged a large proportion of Americans to fight for independence from the Empire. Bailyn, on the other hand, denies that religion played such a critical role.<ref name="Thomas S. Kidd 2010">Thomas S. Kidd, ''God of Liberty: A Religious History of the American Revolution'' (2010)</ref> Alan Heimert argues that New Light anti-authoritarianism was essential to furthering democracy in colonial American society, and set the stage for a confrontation with British monarchical and aristocratic rule.<ref>Alan Heimert, ''Religion and the American Mind: From the Great Awakening to the Revolution''. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1967.</ref>