Take a close look at the process through which the United States came into being.
As the content pages and the reading show, the American independence movement had a number of causes that brought it into being including
the colonial peoples' understanding of themselves as able to govern themselves and make their own laws,
the debt of the British which led to increased taxation, punitive measures by the British and the American response,
the personalities of patriot leaders,
certain philosophical ideas that were changing in the world.
Yet there were forces and voices that were not favorable toward independence.
The British were a major naval and military power.
The rhetoric of freedom pushed by the Patriots (American colonists in favor of independence) encouraged many African Americans to believe that the end of slavery was possible and when the Patriots didn't come through, they turned to the British who already had a strong abolition movement.
Native Americans wanted a guarantee that they would be allowed to keep land and be left alone.
The merchants with ties to England wanted their trade to continue.
Many other people were confused and not sure whether it was a good idea to support the Patriot cause.
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