It is 1775, and you’re a 14-year-old living in Virginia. Your ancestors came from England almost 150 years ago, and now your family has a prosperous farm in one of Britain’s 13 thriving American colonies.
Are you British, or are you American? In fact, you are both – but soon your loyalties will be tested, as Britain and the colonies seem to be on a collision course. It was different during much of the 1600s and early 1700s, when the two had a mutually rewarding relationship. The colonists sold raw materials, such as lumber, to Britain, and the British sold manufactured goods, such as fine furniture, to the colonists. Everyone profited, but things started to sour in the 1760s. From 1754 to 1763, the British had fought a war against the French in America. Britain won, but the war had cost a lot of money, and Britain wanted the colonies to help pay. Many colonists resisted, and they used ideas from the Enlightenment to justify their resistance.
