Woody Holton’s Forced Founders

The American Revolution is one of the most important events in our country’s history. Although many at the time had a basic desire to be free from British rule and taxation, many theories surround the beginnings of the American Revolution to explain why each colony chose to participate in gaining their freedom from the British. In Woody Holton’s book, Forced Founders: Indians, Debtors, Slaves, and the Making of the American Revolution in Virginia, the author argues that several groups influenced the revolutionary decisions of Virginia’s upper class. According to Holton, the unrest created by issues with the Ohio Indians, small landholders and tobacco farmers, and slavery forced the Virginian gentry to join the American Revolution to protect their way of life.

Holton argues that the British issuance of the Proclamation of 1763, which threatened the profits of the land grab of speculators, was one reason for the Virginian gentry to feel compelled to break from British rule. Confrontations with the Ohio Indians, their push to create a confederacy, and Indian threats to the Virginia colony, due to expansion in the area, scared the British. Wars with the Indians were very costly, so through the Proclamation of 1763, and the turning down of the House of Burgesses’ December 1769 petition for Kentucky, the British were attempting to avoid another war with the Indians. (26) These moves greatly stifled the Virginia speculators’ ability to make a profit. “Although the Proclamation of 1763 was aimed at both settlers and speculators, it was much more successful in denying legal title to speculators than in keeping farm families from simply moving west.” (28) Holton’s argument is that rather than stopping the encroachment onto Indian land, the Proclamation of 1763, and subsequent rulings that the British made against the Virginia land speculators, created a financial crisis for the Virginia gentry. Speculators such as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson lost money and were unable to fulfill their ambitions to expand claims to the west while under British rule.

Holton also attributes the Virginian's inclusion in the American Revolution to small landholders, tenants, and poor whites withholding tobacco for trade and the large debts incurred by the Virginian gentry that resulted from riots the small landholders and tobacco growers. “The struggle between Virginia tobacco growers and British merchants helped to spark the American Revolution.” (42) Small landholders were defaulting on their debts, which caused economic unrest through the colony. The unrest demonstrated by the lower class and tobacco farmers drove them to push for change while making profits difficult for the Virginian gentry to realize. Riots and unrest also made ignoring the problem virtually impossible, and a feeling arose that the colony’s economic and social woes could only be remedied by putting an end to British control over Virginia.

Horton points out that the communications between Virginia’s slaves and the British, with their push for freedom from slavery, gave the Virginia gentry another reason for joining the revolution against Britain. At the time, the number of slaves in Virginia was increasing, and the push for their freedom was not only seen as a threat to the Virginia gentry’s way of life but also presented a safety concern for them. Slave contacts with Governor John Dunmore and the work on the Proclamation of 1775 to free slaves in exchange for support to control local unrest generated fear among the Virginia upper-class. The fear that this caused even made some of the staunchest British supporters in Virginia support the patriot cause.

Woody Holton argues that economic and social unrest caused by the slave freedom movements, the inability to sell land farther into the Ohio Indian territory, and protesting tobacco farmers forced the hands of Virginia gentry. “Smallholders and gentlemen came to believe that Independence would strengthen them in their continuing conflict against each other. Many gentlemen saw home rule as the only alternative to anarchy; smallholders saw it as their ticket to a greater say in who would rule at home.” (208) Having Britain involved in decisions that affected Virginian’s livelihoods was much more than an inconvenience. To protect their investments, avoid economic failure, and continue their way of life, the Virginia gentry were thus pushed to join the revolution against Britain.

Bibliography

Holton, Woody. Forced Founders: Indians, Debtors, Slaves, and the Making of the American Revolution in Virginia. North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press. 1999. Print