Rough Draft # 4

It is 1775, and the peak of the American Revolution. I am a small farmer living in the backcountry of South Carolina and I am attending a rally with other fellow loyalists speak out about the revolution, and why they choose to be loyalists. The backcountry of South Carolina is the western half of South Carolina, but I will refer to it as the backcountry. The backcountry is made up of mostly loyalists, and the rest of South Carolina, which is the eastern side, is made up of majority patriots. Sometimes, the factor of where a certain individual lives will play crucial in whether they would want to take the loyalist side or the patriots’ side. In South Carolina, socialism and economy were the two factors that would cause backcountry farmers like myself to side with Britain and become loyalists.

I was walking back to my house the other day after a long day of work tending to my farm, when I came across my neighbor, John Williams heading back from town. Although he is a small farmer like myself, he is still very interested in politics and the war going on. He began to talk about the east side of South Carolina and places such as the “coastal region north of Santee River [and how it has been] increase[ing] in population and prosperity”( Bull 572). From past experiences, when John would begin to talk about politics there was not stopping him. He is so passionate about this topic, he could go on forever talking about it. His wife is very patient, but sometimes she gets fed up with his long discussions of politics.

Knowing this, I decided to be a good friend and listen. So I set down my shovel and set up against the fence as he continued. He described how the Santee River wasn’t the only region of prosperity, but most of the eastern side of Carolina’s economy was thriving because of the wealthy patriots and their big plantations they owned with many slaves to do their work to help them prosper. “It’s not fair!” he protested, as he slammed his fist against the fence almost knocking me off balance. “The wealthy plantation owners don’t do any work while we are over here working as hard as we can just to get food on the table.” I completely agreed with him as I started to explain how social class would tie into political status. In our colony, the wealthier a person becomes, the more involved they become in politics, because they have money and social status, so people respect them right off the bat. The problem we both agreed on was the fact that patriots wanted independence and since a lot of them had a say in the government, if the British were too loose, then they small farmers wouldn’t be as represented in government as their own personal views such as democracy.

As a result, the British winning is what the American colonists need right now for guidance and support, because the British way of government has worked for hundreds of years and there is no reason why we need to change now. All my family and I wish is that “our Majesty may enjoy a long and prosperous reign, and that [his] descendants may govern [his] dominions with honor to themselves and happiness to their subjects, is our sincere and fervent prayer”(http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/contcong_07-08-75.asp). Our country was founded on the British and their principles and we should not abandon them now just because the patriots want to be selfish.

In final analysis,