Go Radicals!

Go Radicals!
*The First and Second Continental Congress were shaped by disputes between moderates, radicals, and conservatives. Moderates favored the ways of both the radicals and the conservatives. The radicals believed that America should become independent from their mother country, Britain. Then there were the conservatives who believed in the exact opposite of the radicals. They believed that America should remain loyal to Britain. The group of Americans who were the most persuasive was in fact the radicals.
* In the beginning many Americans agreed with the ways of the conservatives, being that they should remain loyal to Britain. America felt that they benefited from Britain’s mercantile system. Also, that Britain’s navy and redcoats offered them protection. Being that they were under Britain’s rule, America felt that as Britain prospered so will they. This later changed when Britain started becoming richer off of America. Since Britain traded on America, why should America remain loyal, this was why the conservatives were not the more persuasive group.
* In order to be persuasive you must first stand strong in what you believe in. This is why the moderates were not the ones who were the most persuasive. They were the ones who were able to see the good in remaining under British rule or becoming independent. Moderates did not really feel that events had taken place yet to make them break from Britain, but were willing to change. They were also referred to as the mediators, the ones that felt that they would do anything as long as the end result was peace and happiness. They were the ones who were getting persuaded by the conservatives and radicals.
*Due to the fact that Britain was know becoming rich off of the Americans and were not really helping them, the radicals had a stronger reason to feel the way that they did. Prime Minister George Grenville helped prove the radicals to be right. He was the one who first started taxing Britain with the sugar tax and later the stamp tax. The conservatives argued that Britain offered them protection with there navy and redcoats for free. But now because of the stamp tax they will have to pay for that service. Britain also made it where American merchants had to ship products to Britain even though prices might have been better elsewhere. In result of Britain’s taxing Americans boycotted using non-importation and non-consumption. Another tax was the tea tax, which the Americans also found obscured. The reaction to this was the Boston Tea Party, where the tea was dumped onto the Boston Harbor. The reason that the radicals were the most persuasive is because they actually took action. The conservatives just relied on the way things were. Because the radicals were the most persuasive group the Revolutionary War was started, when American fought for there independence from their mother country, Britain.
* The radicals, moderates, and conservatives’ disputes shaped the First and Second Continental Congress. The radicals, who were the most persuasive group, believed that America should be independent from Britain. Moderates favored radicals and conservatives. And conservatives believed that America should remain loyal to Britain. The radicals were the most persuasive group because they were the only group because were the only ones who took action (non-consumption, and non-importation, Boston Tea Party, etc.) that actually ending with them getting what they were fighting for.