Changes

===The Impact of ''Somerset===

According to historian Gerald Horne who has continued the arduous process of rewriting this history, Somerset signaled to the colonists that the British may not provide the same level of support to the institution of enslavement and westward territorial expansion. The Seven Years War was the opening salvo in the conflict that dealt prominently with these two concerns. Not only was it ominous that it appeared that the British would push a proto-abolitionist policy where the enslaved were concerned, there were also concerns that they might be eventually be armed as had been done in other parts of the empire. These rumblings would impact the ways that the colonists articulated their grievances with Great Britain. As Horne points out, they had been increasingly attracted to the North American mainland because of its relative security from kinds of revolts that had been taking place in the Caribbean throughout the eighteenth century. The rumors from Britain were thus a step too far. <ref> Horne, ''The Counterrevolution of 1776'', 161-208. </ref>

===Lord Dunmore’s Proclamation===

Virginia was ground zero for much of the political debates and decisions regarding the colonies. It was here where much of the political systems that would define America would be created. By 1775, as the colonists began to fear the incursions of the British, revolutionary sensibilities had already emerged there. It seemed imminent that a more thoroughgoing conflict was on the horizon as militias began to form. It is important to note that this revolutionary fervor was not universal. There was a large swath of colonists who remained loyal to the union. These Loyalists sought to ensure the continuity of British rule, as many of them were direct beneficiaries of their control.