Foner's 'Homespun Virtue'

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Recommended: Religion in colonial America

Explain what ‘homespun virtue’ meant and how it set the colonists apart from the British. ‘Homespun’ refers to the clothing that colonists made rather than importing British goods. These pieces of clothing reflected a certain American spirit. Foner explains, “It also reflected, as the colonists saw it, a virtuous spirit of self-sacrifice as compared with the self-indulgence and luxury many Americans were coming to associate with Great Britain.” (Foner 192) Patrick Henry proclaimed that he was not a Virginian, but rather an American. What unified the colonists and what divided them at the time of the Revolution? The colonists all shared a common disdain for taxation but did not share a common religious experience. As a result Britain attempted to use this religious diversity against the colonists, Foner writes, “The Intolerable Acts united the colonies in opposition to what was widely seen as a direct threat to their political freedom. At the same time, Parliament passed the Quebec …show more content…

As it was universally hated by all colonists and colonies, there was a large movement to repeal it (the Sons of Liberty among other movements). Britain rescinded this act, but then replaced it with the Townshend Acts, leading to further cooperation and rebellion. Foner explains why suddenly colonists began to cooperate and see themselves as American, “Many Americans concluded that Britain was succumbing to the same pattern of political corruption and decline of liberty that afflicted other countries. The overlap of the Townshend crisis with a controversy in Britain over the treatment of John Wilkes reinforced this sentiment… In addition rumors circulated in the colonies that the Anglican Church in England planned to send bishops to America… which sparked fears that the bishops would establish religious courts like those that had once punished dissenters.” (Foner

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