MrPresident
Anglo-Saxon Liberal
There are a lot of myths surrounding the American war for independence (or the revolutionary wars). Often these myths are still in American school books. After reading the following I hope some people can begin to distinguish between fact and fiction. Or at least stop bringing it up whenever I meet an American. Damn colonists. Anyway.....
The Battle Of Bunker Hill did not take place on Bunker Hill but the nearby Breed's Hill.
A common misconception is that the Americans were fighting to secure freedom. They weren't. They were fighting to preserve it. It is true that they didn't have a representative in Parliament but consider the fact that large thriving cities such as Liverpool and Manchester had no directly elected Member of Parliament. A lot is said about the taxes colonists were forced to pay despite this lack of representation. However the average American, in the 1760s, paid about sixpence a year in tax. This is compared to the average Briton who paid 25 shillings. That was 50 times as much. And in any case, the Americans seldom paid their taxes. The Townshend duties raised just 295 pounds and cost 170,000 pounds to implement. The Stamp Act duties were never collected at all. And finally the principle aim of these revenue-raising measures was to fund the protection of the colonies. It is hardly beyond reason to expect the colonists to make a contribution towards the cost of their own defence.
Now onto the famous quotes.
- 'Taxation without representation is tyranny'.
James Otis, the person this phrase is commonly attributed too, appears not to have said any such thing. These famous words were not ascribed to him until 1820, nearly 40 years after he died.
- 'If this be treason, make the most of it'
Patrick Henry is supposed to have made this defiant cry in the Virginia House of Burgesses in May 1765. However the clerk of the convention made no notes of Henry's speech and none of those present gave any hint in their correspondence that Henry's remarks had been particularly electrifying that day. According to one surviving eyewitness account - written by a French hydrologist - Henry did make some intemperate remarks, but, far from being defiant, he immediately apologised to the House of Burgesses if 'the heat of passion might have led him to have said something more than he intended'. In fact his brave and eloquent challenge to the monarchy was invented 41 years later by a biographer named William Wirt, who had never met, seen or heard him. Thomas Jefferson, who was there, offered the opinion that Wirt's effort was 'a poor book, written in bad taste, and gives an imperfect idea of Patrick Henry'. Also there is no evidence that Henry uttered the other famous quote 'I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death'.
The Boston 'massacre'. The mythical image of this is that British Redcoats attacked a small, startled gathering of colonials in broad daylight. While it is true that 5 colonists died it did not happen anything like that. For a start it was at night. 20 British soldiers were repeatedly taunted, jostled, pelted with stones and other missiles and generally menaced by a drunken, ugly and very much larger mob. By the standards of the day, the British troops were eminently justified in replying with fire. This is shown by the fact that John Adams defending them at trial securing the acquittal of all but two of them; the convicted pair had their thumbs branded, a light punishment in a murder trial.
The story of Betsy Ross and the creation of the first American flag. The story goes that George Washington entered Mrs Ross's upholstery shop in Philadelphia in 1776, showed her a rough sketch of a flag and asked her to whip up something suitable for a new nation. However this story was not voiced until 96 years after the supposed event by one of her grandchildren. It has never been substantiated. However as common sense would tell us George Washington had rather more pressing matters that finding a seamstress for a national flag. In any case, at the time of thos story America was still flying the Grand Union flag, a banner that had alternating red and white stripes like the modern American flag, but contained a Union Jack where the stars now go. Not until June 1777 did Congress replace the Union Jack with stars. But even then, such were the emotional tires to Britain, many flag makers arranged the stars in a Union Jack pattern.
Now thats a history lesson.
The Battle Of Bunker Hill did not take place on Bunker Hill but the nearby Breed's Hill.
A common misconception is that the Americans were fighting to secure freedom. They weren't. They were fighting to preserve it. It is true that they didn't have a representative in Parliament but consider the fact that large thriving cities such as Liverpool and Manchester had no directly elected Member of Parliament. A lot is said about the taxes colonists were forced to pay despite this lack of representation. However the average American, in the 1760s, paid about sixpence a year in tax. This is compared to the average Briton who paid 25 shillings. That was 50 times as much. And in any case, the Americans seldom paid their taxes. The Townshend duties raised just 295 pounds and cost 170,000 pounds to implement. The Stamp Act duties were never collected at all. And finally the principle aim of these revenue-raising measures was to fund the protection of the colonies. It is hardly beyond reason to expect the colonists to make a contribution towards the cost of their own defence.
Now onto the famous quotes.
- 'Taxation without representation is tyranny'.
James Otis, the person this phrase is commonly attributed too, appears not to have said any such thing. These famous words were not ascribed to him until 1820, nearly 40 years after he died.
- 'If this be treason, make the most of it'
Patrick Henry is supposed to have made this defiant cry in the Virginia House of Burgesses in May 1765. However the clerk of the convention made no notes of Henry's speech and none of those present gave any hint in their correspondence that Henry's remarks had been particularly electrifying that day. According to one surviving eyewitness account - written by a French hydrologist - Henry did make some intemperate remarks, but, far from being defiant, he immediately apologised to the House of Burgesses if 'the heat of passion might have led him to have said something more than he intended'. In fact his brave and eloquent challenge to the monarchy was invented 41 years later by a biographer named William Wirt, who had never met, seen or heard him. Thomas Jefferson, who was there, offered the opinion that Wirt's effort was 'a poor book, written in bad taste, and gives an imperfect idea of Patrick Henry'. Also there is no evidence that Henry uttered the other famous quote 'I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death'.
The Boston 'massacre'. The mythical image of this is that British Redcoats attacked a small, startled gathering of colonials in broad daylight. While it is true that 5 colonists died it did not happen anything like that. For a start it was at night. 20 British soldiers were repeatedly taunted, jostled, pelted with stones and other missiles and generally menaced by a drunken, ugly and very much larger mob. By the standards of the day, the British troops were eminently justified in replying with fire. This is shown by the fact that John Adams defending them at trial securing the acquittal of all but two of them; the convicted pair had their thumbs branded, a light punishment in a murder trial.
The story of Betsy Ross and the creation of the first American flag. The story goes that George Washington entered Mrs Ross's upholstery shop in Philadelphia in 1776, showed her a rough sketch of a flag and asked her to whip up something suitable for a new nation. However this story was not voiced until 96 years after the supposed event by one of her grandchildren. It has never been substantiated. However as common sense would tell us George Washington had rather more pressing matters that finding a seamstress for a national flag. In any case, at the time of thos story America was still flying the Grand Union flag, a banner that had alternating red and white stripes like the modern American flag, but contained a Union Jack where the stars now go. Not until June 1777 did Congress replace the Union Jack with stars. But even then, such were the emotional tires to Britain, many flag makers arranged the stars in a Union Jack pattern.
Now thats a history lesson.
That's worse than a $700 hammer! The English should have been the ones revolting 
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