Originally posted by Duantalus
It wasnt until July 4, 1776 when all 13 of the colonies declared, with a single voice, that they would not allow injustice. They would not permit a small class of royals to command them; they would not succeed to the power of a corrupt system. They raised up in a single voice and demanded not requested but demanded that they be given life, that they be given liberty and that that have the right and privilege to pursue their life as they, as individuals, saw fit. They proclaimed, as one, that they would no longer tolerate the destructive and selfish government that commanded their daily lives. They demanded that they be given their freedom, or they would destroy anyone and anything that tried to stop them.
The war went on for some time after that, and much time passed before the rest of the world accepted what Yankees had to say, but they were resolved, and victory was no longer a question of if, but when. Government would follow, treaties would follow, and even the eventual surrender of the British Empire would follow, but that belief that would attract the worlds most determined and assertive through the gates at Ellis Island was the most powerful weapon in the arsenal freedom-, and on July 4, 1776 America offered it to the whole world.
....er....except if they were black slaves, or Native American Indians of course.
We want freedom from oppression....but we also want to oppress others
Hypocritical?
No war has so many myths, distortions, and outright falsehoods as that of the American War of Independence. Who was it that said tell a lie often enough, and people will eventually think that it is true? I would just like to remind people of some of the real truths concerning the causes of this conflict.
Taxation: it has been estimated that the average American colonist of the 18th century paid no more than sixpence a year in taxes, while the average English taxpayer paid some 25 shillings, or 300 pence a year
.hardly oppressive!
There were two ways of gathering taxes at this time; indirect taxation levied on exports (which affected the rich and the entrepreneurial middle class businessmen), and direct taxation (which affected everybody). Smuggling was rife in America, making the collection of indirect taxes from exported goods so inefficient that it cost £8,000 in order to collect £2,000 worth of customs duties in American ports! So, in a misguided and heavy-handed fashion, the foolish British government of that time tried to impose direct taxation, such as Stamp Duty, which of course failed as well.
Oppression: the population in the American colonies at this time was two and a half million, of which some half a million were black slaves. The British maintained some 10,000 soldiers in America, partly to protect the colonists from the French, and partly to protect them from Native American Indian attacks.
You see, in 1763 the Indian chief Pontiac, fearing that his ancestral lands would be overrun by white settlers, organised a concerted attack which captured many frontier forts and plundered the settlements along the frontier. As any government which failed to protect its citizens would not stay in office for very long, what the British did was to establish the Proclamation Line along the Appalachian Mountains in order to prevent the whites from antagonising the Indians. From the colonists point of view, these 10,000 soldiers were stopping them from stealing the Indians land
.and the British government expected the colonists to pay for them! Intolerable!
Interestingly enough, some 200,000 colonists emigrated to Canada after the Americans gained their independence. Why? Did they like being oppressed?
The truth is that something like a third of the colonists wanted to break with Britain (mostly the rich middle classes), about a third of them wanted to stay British, and the rest didnt care either way.
So what were the REAL reasons for this conflict?
Why didnt the colonists in Canada fight for their own independence?
Why did so many of them emigrate rather than be free?
The answer lies in the character of the people who made up the colonies.
Many of them settled in America in order to escape the tight constrains of European society, to have a bit more free choice in their lives. And the sons and daughters of these settlers, who had seen their parents creating new farms and businesses in what had been a wilderness, had no loyalty to some distant country that they had never visited. So when this distant government, which had let them get on with it for over a century, and had largely been powerless to impose direct control due to the lack of infrastructure in this wild wilderness, suddenly began to tell them to pay their taxes, they quite naturally rebelled.
They hadnt had to worry about taxes before, as Britain had mostly left them alone, so why should they pay now?
(Of course, once America became independent, their taxes became MUCH higher than what the British had asked them to pay. But at least they had the illusion that they had some control over what the new tax rate would be)
In fact, this rebellious spirit is still part of modern American culture today, what with Survivalist Groups, Waco type religious cults, and the National Rifle Associations old fashioned fanaticism with guns, when it is quite obvious that stricter gun laws would make their society a much safer place (over 11,000 deaths a year, according to the Bowling for Columbine documentary film).
All these groups, plus many others, seem to show a deep dislike of governmental authority, be it the Federal Government, or even the United Nations
.which America formed in the first place!
Please dont think that I am being anti-American, which some people seem to think means criticising ANYTHING American, especially the myths of their distorted history. Citizens of todays United States have every right to be proud of many of the things that their ancestors did which made this nation the world superpower that it is today, although it is up to future historians to decide if todays generation is to be looked back on with pride or embarrassment.
Its just that not being an American myself, I can see the wood for the trees, or look past the flag if you will.
For all their faults, I for one freely admit that I would sooner live under an American dominated world, imperfect as it is, rather than that of the Nazis or Communists.
