In 1765, American colonists cheerfully embraced the sovereignty of their young English king. They celebrated his June 4 birthday with bonfires, bell-ringing, public speeches, and joyful feasts. They were proud to be loyal subjects of the Crown.
Eleven years later, Americans “honored” King George III’s birthday by carrying out mock funeral processions and saved their fireworks and celebratory cannon blasts for their new Independence Day, July 4.
From happy and obedient servants of the king to revolutionaries who cheered for his death amidst the rousing beat of fifes and drums — all in the span of a short decade.
What happened? The Stamp Act happened. A series of parliamentary actions that sought to levy taxes on the American colonies had the inadvertent effect of igniting latent revolutionary fervor. In unintentionally creating an us/them dynamic between Mother England and her children, Parliament helped forge a distinctly American identity. A handful of new fiscal regulations lit a squib that would later explode into a history-shattering rebellion.
Such is the power of any movement championing liberty as its cause.
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