Becoming America: The Revolution Before 1776 Fr... Guide

Forget the image of the simple, self-sufficient pioneer. Butler reveals a colonial economy that was aggressive, profit-driven, and tied to international markets.

By the mid-1700s, the colonies were home to an incredible variety of spiritual beliefs. While religious "modern revivals" signaled a renewed commitment to faith, they also grew out of a pluralistic environment where no single church held total authority. However, Butler reminds us that this emerging tolerance had a dark side: it rarely extended to the Native American or African populations, whose own spiritual traditions were often suppressed or decimated. 4. Politics Beyond the Town Hall

This era saw a shift toward the materialistic and commercial values that remain central to American life. 3. Religious Pluralism (With a Catch) Becoming America: The Revolution before 1776 fr...

In 1680, most European settlers were English. By 1770, the colonies had become a "polyglot" society. Waves of Scots, Germans, Dutch, Swiss, and French Huguenots joined a landscape already inhabited by Native Americans and a rapidly growing population of enslaved Africans. This "unprecedented jumble of peoples" created a unique ethnic and racial diversity that we still recognize as fundamentally American today. 2. The Birth of Global Consumerism

Next time you think about the founders, remember that they were the products of a century-long cultural revolution that changed the world before the first shot was ever fired. Becoming America - Harvard University Press Forget the image of the simple, self-sufficient pioneer

The following blog post explores the themes of Jon Butler's book, .

When we think of the American Revolution, we usually think of 1776—muskets, tea parties, and the Declaration of Independence. But according to historian Jon Butler in his book , the real revolution started nearly a century earlier. Politics Beyond the Town Hall This era saw

The "Hidden" Revolution: How America Became Modern Before 1776