The Declaration of Independence

The Declaration of Independence was not painless task for the everyday colonist to support in the 18th century. Supporting the Declaration of Independence meant that he or she was a rebel in the eyes of the Great Britain, who had the most powerful military force at the time. The Declaration of Independence is a formal protest or complaint against the 18th century British government, stating that since they were violated of their rights many time, the 13 colonies were declaring independence from under British rule (Hulsebosch 1). A vast majority of American colonists did not support the Declaration of Independence and its sentiments.

About half of or 50% of the colonist were neutral, did not support the British or the patriots, roughly 20% were still loyal to the King, and the last 30% are patriots those who supported the Declaration (Selesky 1). The majority of the colonists were neither for the patriots nor the British meaning they did not support the Declaration of Independence. The first reason being that these colonists have their hands tied down by both sides, they must do what they can for their own good in order to survive.” I guess there were some who were loyal to whomever they were speaking with.” (Edwards 1). “oh, there is always that situation, indeed. And it varies. A lot has to do with the presence or the absence of the British army.” (Selesky 1). Meaning that these colonists that were neutral, when the British soldiers were in their colony or town it had a high impact on them, not wanting to be punished for supporting the Declaration they sided with the Crown. As these soldiers moved on and left, patriots would come and these colonists did not want to punished for supporting the Crown so they would side the other way, for their own good. Not allowing them to pick a side “in 1776, about half of the people were not sure whether to side with Great Britain or the Rebellion”,  but those who did know what they wanted, roughly 20 percent were loyalists.” (Selesky 1). The second reason many of these neutral colonist did not part with the patriots is, what if they actually won, they would not know what to do afterwards, many only knew about a government with a king. “…the depth of consideration that very many people, not everyone, but certainly a good number of people, gave to the problems of the imperial connection. `What are we going to do now? This is very tough. The outcome is by no means certain” (Selesky). Putting together a whole new system of government brings many challenges, almost like putting together a new ikea furniture with no instructions. That is why many just sat in the background and waited for the outcome, they were waiting to bandwagon which ever side came out on top (Troxler 1).