How Contemporary Movements Are Impacted by Fearful Attitudes in Comparison to The Colonist Attitudes

Fear, I believe is the seed that spawns devastation and irrational actions which results in things like war. Doubtful attitudes rarely if ever have a positive outcome, doubt can lead to discontent and increase hostility among different parties or people. We see fear lead to poor outcomes in events all around us, in movements and individuals. However, fear and doubt don’t have to result in a poor outcome but tend to lead to change, which normally requires sacrifice and hardship. Fear and doubt are a hand and hand deal an example would be the war in Iraq where soldiers fought because they feared to lose their freedom and doubted the safety of our country along with doubting and fearing the enemy. In a more recent event, we can see with Trump being elected and the riots that have followed, we see doubt in our next years and fear for our future and the possible war or catastrophe that may be evolved from disagreements with North Korea. A very similar combination of doubt and fear played a role in starting the War of Independence.

The Patriots feared for their future under the harsh ruling of the British and developed a tension and doubt in the later to be known as Loyalists ability to rule fairly, ultimately leading to war. The build-up of fear is seen in every uprising/riot for anti-Trump groups and the same path was followed in history prior to the Revolution. We saw the buildup of doubt and fear in the beginning, early, and throughout the war of Independence. In the early stages a group of delegates from different colonies gathered for the Stamp Act Congress, the first-time colonies united to discuss their oppositions with Britain’s harsh tax policies. This was a pivotal moment, and although many at this point didn’t want to separate from Britain they “wanted their fears addressed and allayed” (Ripper, 2008). This quote supports what was mentioned earlier that fear tends to lead to movements. The dissatisfaction and doubt grew from here where the delegates signed the Declaration of Independence almost a year after the first shots fired at Lexington and Concord, and this signing resulted in the British viewing the soon to be known and Patriots as traitors.

I personally believe this was start to the fight for Independence, as time progressed and bodies accumulated from both sides the passion and doubt for the Patriots grew, and more official documents resulted. The first draft of the Constitution was formulated in 1781 and was “weak and incapable of holding the thirteen states together” (Ripper, 2008). Even though the initial draft was less than desirable it gave a basis for the lasting Constitution, specifically the Bill of Rights that was to come. In 1787 the doubt in the constitution being rewritten was understandably high. This lack of hope in the new draft written by James Madison, but including other contributions by the founding fathers, is displayed when the citizens expressed worry “about what was not in the proposed constitution. They saw no guarantees for freedom of speed or of the press.” (Ripper, 2008). This commonly held doubt among citizens showed Madison that their worries should be addressed and resulted in the Bill of Rights that acted as a safeguard. Overall the doubt present in these specific cases of the war shows the immense influence fear and doubt had/has on drastically changing events both in the past and present.