ABSTRACT
The American colonists were not just humble farmers striving for self-government. They were rampant imperialists stretching out for empire on a continental scale. The white Anglo-Saxon leadership of the revolution had had a radical Whig version of English identity, as well as their regional identities, close to their hearts. The rebel colonies disposed of resources which made conquering them very difficult, and their expectations verged on the limitless. Two groups paid a grim price for the white settler's confidence and optimism, and neither derived any long-term comfort from the policies of the British government. One group was the black slaves whose physical efforts generated the cash crops from the southern colonies which went so far to fund the rebel war effort. The other group whose victim status was not altered, but rather on the contrary confirmed by the war, was the Indian peoples.
