The narrator acts as an urgent, observant voice monitoring the escalating political tensions in the colonies. Believing deeply in the power of liberty, the speaker serves as a diplomatic intermediary addressing both the overseas colonies and the mother country. The speaker relies on shared English bloodlines and the history of New England's settlement to argue for peaceful reconciliation, warning of the dire consequences of continued oppression.

Britannia operates as a harsh maternal figure representing England. Fearing the growing strength of her offspring, she imposes heavy taxes and an iron chain of unjust laws to maintain control. She speaks with seeming sympathy and love while turning a senseless ear to actual grievances, demanding her child amend his manners and accept subjugation.

Representing the New England colonies, America operates as a patient son who grows increasingly strong over time. Pushed to his limits by severe taxation, he eventually weeps and protests his treatment, asserting that his own fluent tears have become his food. Though loyal and proud of his English blood, he challenges his mother country's cruel discipline and lack of regard.

These distant European powers, such as France, watch the political schism between the mother country and the colonies from afar. They act as predatory opportunists waiting for the familial bond to break. Their presence serves as a warning that continuing the internal conflict will leave both sides vulnerable to foreign exploitation.

Described from the perspective of the colonial settlers as savage monsters who occupied the land before English arrival. They represent the initial obstacles the early colonists displaced to build their settlements. Their removal is framed by the speaker as part of the fated process of clearing the New England territory for British cultivation.