Shared military service under Continental authority forged an American national identity from separate colonies.

Evidence

“My country,” Hodgkins called America in this March 1776 letter, written at a time when most members of his unit probably had never left Massachusetts, much less New England. To them, New York, Virginia, or Pennsylvania could seem as foreign as Britain, their common enemy. The ten-month siege of Boston had brought to Massachusetts patriot soldiers from not only kindred New England colonies but also other colonies such as New York and a commander in chief from Virginia, all operating under the authority of a Continental Congress in Philadelphia. By doing so, that joint military operation began the long process of forming a country from long-separate colonies. — Edward J. Larson, Declaring Independence, 144

Categorization

• XREF: Connects directly to the course theme of how ‘we the people’ as a single legal-political community came into being before the Declaration existed. — connects to: North American colonies’ compact geography enabled a continental ‘American’ identity to coalesce. — Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on…, 240; Early Americans identified with their states more than with the national government — Lawrence M. Friedman and Grant M. Hayden, American Law: An Introduction, 643

Broader Connections

• Early Americans identified with their states more than with the national government #complicates (0.85) — Lawrence M. Friedman and Grant M. Hayden, American Law, 643
• North American colonies’ compact geography enabled a continental ‘American’ identity to coalesce. #qualifies (0.75) — Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities, 240