America's break with Britain divides families and friends_美文

America's break with Britain divides families and friends

"And we think of what it must've been like for Phoebe, in the middle between her husband and her brother. So that's a perfect example of a family that was split."

The patriots were also split among themselves in their thinking. The colonies did not really think of themselves as one nation. They saw themselves as independent states trying to work together toward a common goal. Historian Gordon Wood says at first, the United States was more like the European Union is today.

"When Jefferson said 'my country,' he meant Virginia. When John Adams said 'my country,' he meant Massachusetts."

This meant that Congress could not order the states to do anything they did not want to do. Congress could not demand that the states provide money for the war. It could only ask for their help.

George Washington, the top general, could not draft men into the army. He could only wait for the states to send them. Washington showed that he was a good politician by the way he kept Congress and the thirteen states supporting him throughout the war.

Just as Americans did not all agree about the war, the British people did not agree about it either. Many supported the government's decision to fight. They believed that the war was necessary to rescue loyalists from the patriots. Others did not think Britain should fight the Americans, because the Americans had not invaded or threatened their country. They believed that Britain should leave the colonies alone to do as they wished.