Unity demands, not royal abuses alone, delayed independence

Evidence

As much as anything, only a felt need for complete unity among the colonies and their delegations at Congress held back a declaration of independence. … “America is a great, unwieldy Body,” Adams cautioned. “Its Progress must be slow. It is like a large Fleet sailing under Convoy. The fleetest Sailors must wait for the dullest and slowest.” The colonies could only achieve independence together, he believed; Britain would subdue them separately. — Edward J. Larson, Declaring Independence, 160

Categorization

• XREF: Challenges an assumption that the colonists declared whenever grievances mounted; the decisive constraint was inter-colony unity — a pragmatic-institutional brake alongside ideological zeal. — connects to: A shared enemy alone cannot constitute national unity — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 532; Selfhood and national unity are forged through conflict with a common foe — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized:…, 1194; Sudanese elites early rejected unity with Egypt in favor of independence — Eve M. Troutt Powell, A Different Shade of Colonialism_…, 842
• recurring: this claim recurs 2 times within its source

Broader Connections

• A shared enemy alone cannot constitute national unity #corroborates (0.80) — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 532
• Sudanese elites early rejected unity with Egypt in favor of independence #exemplifies (0.80) — Eve M. Troutt Powell, A Different Shade of Colonialism_…, 842
• Selfhood and national unity are forged through conflict with a common foe #contradicts (0.75) — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized, 1194