The Nation's Nature: How Continental Presumptions Gave Rise to the United States of America

chapter 4

chapter 4 nationalism’s nature congress’s continental aspect Although notions that geography bound mainland colonists together had gained credence by 1774 and 1775, many observers still held that these same colonists could never muster enough solidarity to resist the Intolerable Acts. Even after the First Continental Congress had convened , Governor Thomas Hutchinson of Massachusetts dismissed its ability to accomplish anything. He assured ministers in London that ‘‘a union of the Colonies was utterly impracticable,’’ because ‘‘the people were greatly divided among themselves in every colony.’’ Delegates themselves could be equally pessimistic. Joseph Galloway of Pennsylvania saw ‘‘such a Diversity of Interests, Inclinations, and Decisions’’ that would inevitably block colonists ’ attempts to unite, ‘‘even for their own Protection.’’∞ The growing pains following victory in the Seven Years’ War, to be sure, had promoted a measure of colonial union. The Stamp Act Congress and Committees of Correspondence exceeded the kind of cooperation only recently dreamed of when colonial assemblies rejected the Albany Plan. But the colonies still resisted ceding significant power to any centralized authority , much less separating from Great Britain entirely. Having rhetorically asked what the colonies would be like without Great Britain, Galloway could only answer, ‘‘They are weak in themselves, and many of them hold an Enemy within their own Bowels ready to destroy them.’’ They lacked any ‘‘Supreme Authority’’ to ‘‘decide their Disputes, or to compel them to act in Concert for their Common Safety.’’ Galloway’s naysayer musings may have been tied to his loyalist leanings, but more radical delegates shared his doubts. Years later, John Adams famously compared the Revolution to the improbability of thirteen clocks striking at once.≤ Notwithstanding such misgivings, the Continental Congress proved essential in the colonies’ resistance and independence movement. The Congress may have been a weak institution when compared with the govern- 154 ) Creating a Continental Empire ment later established under the Constitution, but hindsight should not blind us from seeing the institution’s strengths. After all, the Continental Congress oversaw a Revolution against the world’s greatest power, and, after the war, it implemented the blueprint for some of the new nation’s subsequent expansion with the Land Ordinance of 1785 and the Northwest Ordinance of 1787.≥ Among the Continental Congress’s strengths was its ability to appeal to Americans’ growing consciousness as a continental people. Until 1774, the monarchy provided political cement, joining Britons across vast distances. When the king’s support of the Coercive Acts eroded his authority, colonists groped for a source of unity. They latched onto a powerful one when they began to label their collection of colonies ‘‘the continent’’ and their congress ‘‘continental.’’ That these colonists regularly referred to their collective self as ‘‘the continent’’ should not be taken for granted, for through this practice they enacted themselves as a people. Language is action, a reflection of a decision, albeit sometimes one made viscerally, without much conscious thought or deliberation. Colonists could have spoke more often—as they sometimes did—of defending the rights of any number of collectivities: ‘‘Protestants,’’ ‘‘mankind,’’ ‘‘the virtuous,’’ ‘‘the free,’’ ‘‘the confederation,’’ ‘‘the united colonies ,’’ or ‘‘the association.’’ Instead, geography most captured their imagination when they chose how to describe their aggregate self. Scientific trends and geopolitical visions had made this geographic turn possible by making the continent appear as an inherently unified entity. Once colonists defined themselves by referring to an imagined natural space, Britain became an opponent not only by virtue of its policies but also by virtue of its geography, a measly island trying to impose tyranny over a magnificent continent. As with most actions, when colonists spoke of themselves in these terms it had consequences. Expansionism became more deeply wound into the dna of the young United States. So, too, did racism—even amid talk of selfevident truths and the rights of mankind. Some humans were simply better suited for the North American environment than others. White Americans became the true Americans. With independence secured, continental presumptions greased the wheels to establish a geographically extensive republic . With a history of defining ‘‘the people’’ continentally, proponents of the Constitution had more ammunition to counter arguments that republics were suitable only for small areas. This chapter reveals how the ‘‘continental’’ nature of the Continental Congress emerged to galvanize delegates and other colonists during the Nationalism’s Nature ( 155 transitional period from 1774 to 1776. This ‘‘continental’’ aspect became...