Anti-Colonial Resistance Movement in North America

Running Head: ANTI-COLONIAL RESISTANCE MOVEMENT IN NORTH AMERICA
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Anti-Colonial Resistance Movement in North America
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ANTI-COLONIAL RESISTANCE MOVEMENT IN NORTH AMERICA
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Introduction
The great historical past of every nation elaborately brings forward a history of
colonization. Colonization became almost a trend during the time period from 1776-1991. It
has been a span of almost 15 years when countries have been colonized and they have fought
for their rights to achieve decolonization. The current scenario that we have arrived at today
is an impact of all these changes that have taken place over the years. United States of
America stands out to be one of the major nations that have taken it position even after being
an English colony for over a long period of time. The end of the colonial empire is marked
by some major revolutions all across the world. In order to understand this revolutionary
outcome it is really essential to know about colonialism and then to judge it on the basis of
decolonization. North America has been an easy spot for colonization process of the British
Empire. There were a number of factors that initiated the process of colonization and some of
them were like lesser indigenous population, safe from incurable diseases and immense scope
of institutionalization. These all added to the creation of a scope of colonization. It is quite
well known that every action of colonization has often been followed by decolonization and
this too had no such difference. In this paper we would be trying to analyze the impact that
anti-colonial resistance movement in North America had. Colonialism would at one point
lead to revolution which may end in decolonization but does it always have the same impact.
Colonialism and Decolonization
Colonialism as it is known is the idea that led to the creation of several new colonies.
It is this process that had a major impact on the nations that became colonies and even on the
nation of the colonizers. The major impact was the creation of such societies which were
completely distinct from the ones that were colonizing (Adas, 2012). The British tried to

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create a “colonial society” in North America but they failed to do so as it was quite less
populated. This raised a different situation and people from the colonizers nation had to be
called for so that they might settle down on these colonies. The creation of a colony is not
only dependent on the population but also on things like the rate of diseases. Hence North
America turned out to be a better part for colonization (Sium, Desai & Ritskes, 2012). The
diseases that affected this place were quite benign and less harmful and hence life and
institutions could easily flourish. North America has been a strong colony of the British and
hence the process of decolonization and the attainment of independence has been a loss for
Britain. It is often believed that both Colonialism and Decolonization both arises from the
concept of Nationalism (Ashcroft, Griffiths & Tiffin, 2013). It is a revolution on both the
ends; one begins to take away freedom while the other to attain that lost freedom.
Decolonization takes place when a nation which has once been a colony of another nation
takes a step forward and attains its independence. When there is a mention about colonies the
first name that appears is of Europe and within it, Great Britain stands out to be prominent
(Lewis, 2012). The process of colonization was a part of the expanding conquest of Europe
when they were trying to move beyond their continent through the creation of colonies. The
process of decolonization got its first setback in the year 1776 with the attainment of
independence by the United States.
Decolonization in North America
It was almost for over a period of 50 years that the initial phase of decolonization
existed. It began in the year 1776 with the signing of the Declaration of Independence which
resulted in the decolonization of a number of North and South American colonies. This
period is defined as the “era of revolutions” as the entire Atlantic region rose in revolution
against the colonialists and the previously accepted notions passed out. The revolutions