Don Wildman

Somebody was saying, this is a silly way to do this.

I mean, using the word, it's also an unjust way in all kinds of eloquent fashions.

How widespread, though, does that take in America?

I mean, across the whole of the colonies, were the average colonists thinking of revolution, or was it just a sort of vocal minority?

Yeah, I like to think of it.

I mean, remember, we're talking about what leads up to the Declaration of Independence here.

And you have to think over these years leading up to this, you'd heard all about that.

If you weren't really a revolutionary spirited person, you'd heard about the Sons of Liberty.

You heard of the committees, of course.

Everything had been going on during this time.

But maybe not in your family, maybe not in even your greater reach, but it was definitely out there.

Suddenly common sense comes along and you can read it and it makes sense.

There's understandable ideas in there.

And that's really what, you know, strikes the fire, doesn't it?

This is when things start to move towards things officially.

Okay, good.

But you have, you know, hotbeds of loyalists, Philadelphia being one of them.

And then up New England, you got the more radical folks are up there.

At some point in this period, we have about 40 percent of the colonial population is tilting towards revolution.

Yes.