There was a time when patriotism meant treason
By Judith Jennings
Special to The Courier-Journal
Many of the patriots of the American Revolution, like Patrick Henry and Betsy Ross, are well known today, but the British citizens who supported the Revolution are less often remembered. These British pro-Americans, like John Sawbridge and his sister Catharine Sawbridge Macaulay, were also called patriots, even though their advocacy for the American cause could be considered a form of treason to the British government.
What led these British patriots to support American liberty over loyalty to their own government? Why is remembering these patriots important today?
Historians do not know the exact number of British patriots, but their numbers included both men and women and some leading politicians, like John Sawbridge, an alderman of the City of London. In fact, a British bookseller described Sawbridge as "one of the most zealous advocates for America that we have in England,"
British women could not vote or hold office, but Catharine Sawbridge Macaulay and intellectuals like her expressed their political opinions and exercised influence through books, letters and conversation. Macaulay wrote a number of widely read books and pamphlets supporting liberty in Britain and America.
Macaulay defined a patriot as one who loved her country (patria in Latin) more than her government. She was called "The Republican Virago" because she favored government by elected representatives of the people over a hereditary monarchy. She was considered a democrat because she believed that the right to vote should be extended and actively practiced by citizens to guarantee good government and to protect "the liberties of the constitution."
Macaulay differentiated between dedication to one's country and to the government of one's country. Her primary dedication was to the liberty of the citizens of her country. She believed that the first purpose of government was to protect that liberty. If the government failed to do this, as she believed the British government had failed to do in the American colonies, then she argued that the people had not only the right but also the duty to resist the government.
Macaulay's definition of patriotism and her views on government were closely tied to her religious beliefs. In her Treatise on the Immutability of Moral Truth, she argued that the "divinity cannot be entirely understood by human rationality." Acknowledging the ultimate unknowableness of God, she believed in a just Deity who operated in a "spirit of perfect equity" and bestowed on all people the ability to know right from wrong. Blessed by the mercy and grace of God, the primary duty of every citizen was to act in accordance with private and public virtue.
Macaulay strongly and publicly supported American demands for liberty and government by elected representatives. She loved her country enough to criticize the British government when she thought it was wrong. In her Observations, written in 1770, she stated that "I will ever in all great points of national welfare express my genuine opinions to my countrymen," even though she knew some found her opinions "disagreeable."
In An Address to the People of England, Scotland and Ireland on the Present Important Crisis of Affairs, written in 1775, she called on British citizens to support American liberty, exhorting them to "rouse my countrymen!" She urged her readers to "rouse and unite in one great effort" to resist tyranny, arguing that if the British people did not support American liberty they would be in danger of losing their own.
Macaulay never desisted from voicing her support for liberty. She wrote her Treatise on the Immutability of Moral Truth after the American Colonies became independent. In it, she observed that: "Good government cannot grow excessively bad, nor liberty turned into slavery, unless the body of a people cooperate in their own ruin."
Some Britons reviled Macaulay for her beliefs, but many Americans honored her. She later visited the former colonies and found admirers among the patriots there. One of them, George Washington, described her as "a Lady . . . whose principles are so justly admired by the friends of liberty and of mankind."
Why is it especially important now to remember Catharine Sawbridge Macaulay and the British patriots who supported American independence?
Patriotism in the United States has never belonged to one gender, one political party or one faith.
Patriotism, as articulated by Macaulay and British citizens like her, was not a bumper sticker or a way to get votes, but a commitment and responsibility to practice public virtue.
Finally, Macaulay's concept of patriotism meant loving your country enough to speak out when you believed the government had not fulfilled its duty of protecting the liberty of all. Far from treason or unpatriotic behavior, speaking out to preserve liberty, even against your own government, was -- and still is -- every citizen's responsibility.
Judith Jennings is director of the Kentucky Foundation for Women.
She earned her Ph.D. in 18th Century British History at the University
of Kentucky in 1975. Her essay, "A Trio of Talented Women: Abolition,
Gender and Political Participation 1780-91," appears in the April 2005 issue of "Slavery and Abolition, A Journal of Slave and Post-Slave Studies."
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