The Struggle for American Independence: Independence!

In this episode, I cover the independence movements in the colonies. First with Rhode Island and Virginia, which severed their allegiances autonomously and formed independent republican governments prior to the Declaration of Independence. I next move to the Second Continental Congress, where Richard Henry Lee proposed a dissolution resolution, and a committee was formed to create a document to articulate the causes that impelled the American states to the separation. After doing so, I address the structure of the Declaration of Independence, its purposes, its influences, and its ramifications.

WATCH

Recommended Readings

The Virginia Declaration of Rights

Virginia Constitution of 1776

The Declaration of Independence

Kevin Gutzman, Virginia’s American Revolution

Mercy Otis Warren, The Rise, Progress, and Termination of the American Revolution

Murray Rothbard, Conceived in Liberty

Tenth Amendment Center

The Tenth Amendment Center is a national think tank that works to preserve and protect the principles of strictly limited government through information, education, and activism. The center serves as a forum for the study and exploration of state and individual sovereignty issues, focusing primarily on the decentralization of federal government power as required by the Constitution. For more information visit the Tenth Amendment Center Blog.