Book Review: Forced Founders: Indians, Debtors, Slaves and the Making of the American Revolution in Virginia
Author’s Thesis
Holton’s (1999) book Forced Founders: Indians, Debtors, Slaves, and the Making of the American Revolution in Virginia makes the case that the Founding Fathers of the U.S.A. were not really motivated by the laundry list of grievances identified in the Declaration of Independence. Rather, their individual experiences in the country taught them that, on a practical level, it would be easier for them to obtain what they wanted by operating independently of the England than through England. The main argument that Holton (1999) makes is this—the tyranny of the Crown was not the real issue or driver of the push for independence; the real drivers were contentions over land, in-fighting among the colonists, a dislike of paying taxes, and the desire of the separate colonies to arrange affairs with foreign countries on their own.
Development of the Thesis
Holton (1999) develops the thesis by showing the practical troubles that the early colonists faced and how it simply made more sense for them to be in charge of their own individual affairs than have to rely on England for permission. For example, when it came to claiming land themselves, the colonists had to contend with the Native Americans. The Cherokee were worried that they would lose their hunting ground to the colonists,...
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