Pre-War Colonial Developments When viewed in 1760 the year a young, inexperienced, and politically naive George III became king of Great Britain a united colonial rebellion appeared almost unthinkable. Hyderabad Subway Map For starters, the North Country colonies seemed more divided than united. As late as 1775, many colonists would have agreed with Connecticut minister Robert Ross’s claim that it was doubtless expected, from Colonies so different in climate, trade, and religion, that they would never agree, but contend and jar, and so break into pieces among themselves. For example, orthodox New England Calvinists were deeply suspicious of more religiously tolerant Rhode Island; Connecticut engaged in a heated dispute with Pennsylvania over control of Wyoming Valley lands; and civil war broke out between western and eastern North Carolina in 1771. The social and cultural commonalities that did exist between colonies seemed to bind them close to the British Crown. Free colonists were mainly of English descent and proudly asserted their English identity and the inherited rights that they believed such a heritage guaranteed. Country colonists also relished all things British and fashioned themselves as English cosmopolitans, greedily purchasing the latest British consumer goods. Colonists were also overwhelmingly Protestant and thus shared with their transatlantic English counterparts the assumption that they belonged to a specially blessed, elect nation. Country colonists understood that they were subjects of the most powerful, largest empire in the history of the Western world, and such an identity conferred upon them a large measure of national pride.
