250th anniversary of the United States? Not at all.

Americans love to take quotes out of context rather than look at the whole picture.

Also, the period between 1775 (and maybe earlier) to 1790 is not much of anything since the Articles of Confederation were what was running the show. It also means that the "United States" didn't really exist until the Constitution was ratified. That's another section of ignorance in US history which needs much greater study. 

In fact, thinking about it the early republic wasn't in too hot a condition with a low level civil war that finally broke out into a full scale one in the 1860s.

Perhaps, rather than pretend that the war for independence created a country, we should look at what it was actually created by war. The US should look at how its bellicose nature has put it into the current mess it is in.

This is a real case where war is not the answer and the real one needs to be found. 

America’s Revolution Was Built on a Secret Deal

I have to admit that I've been beginning to believe this was the case. Lots of lofty language, yet very little follow through. Toss in that the French Revolution scared the crap out of the powers that be in the United States.

The real impetus for the war for independence wasn't lofty ideals: it was the British victory in la Conquête. This victory got rid of any French influence in North America, but ending up causing friction with the colonies.

Which could have been solved early on by making the colonists pay for their defence during la Conquête. 

 

Anyway, this doesn't make the War for Independence seem like such a lofty cause if all the talk of liberty was just a cover for law breaking.

Just remember that Tory means conservative. And that Canada is North America had it sought its independence through lawful means. And that doing it lawfully would have saved a lot of lives.

We shouldn't be celebrating America, we should be mourning it!

This is Rev. Mather Byles, a Boston Loyalist known for saying “Which is better — to be ruled by one tyrant three thousand miles away or by three thousand tyrants one mile away?” Yes, there were Loyalists in Massachusetts.

And being a tory didn't mean they were adverse to independence, but that they preferred that it come peacefully and thoughtfully. After all, there is a British North America for those who want alternate history: it's called Canada.

The really interesting question would be what would North America be if the "French and Indian War" ("La Conquête") gone the other way?

An aside, an additional stanza sung second was previously part of the standard lyrics to "God Save the Monarch" in the UK:

O Lord our God arise
Scatter his enemies
And make them fall
Confound their politics
Frustrate their knavish tricks
On thee our hopes we fix
God save us all

It fell out of favour with Queen Elizabeth the Second of England (First of Scotland).

But it sums up the current state of US politics very well.

And I'm sure the good reverend is smirking at the current state of affairs up in heaven as the founders look at the nation in horror.

(There's a reason I couldn't participate in a "No Kings" Rally...)

 

What they don't tell you about the War for Independence

Ever wonder why the story about the war for independence seems incomplete? I mean it goes from Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill to the ratification of the Constitution. It's pretty obvious that the film is missing a lot from the {history} book. 

That's because it IS incomplete! The war for independence was a GMFU! Someone should have pointed out that they got into the whole mess because of a war (French and Indian, Seven Years, La Conquête, Le Grand Dérangement, etc.). Starting another one is a BAD idea, but no... 

Anyway, one of those poor broke American soldiers was my ancestor (or ancestors) who was (were) in the Pennsylvania line at Morristown. They served because some rich kid bought his way out of militia service.

And remember that according to Franklin, the main reason the Albany Plan of Union proposed in 1754 was rejected was that “The colonial assemblies and most of the people were narrowly provincial in outlook, mutually jealous, and suspicious of any central taxing authority.”

And those clowns thought they could fight a war. Them and what army?

Oh, yeah, the French, the Spanish. and having the war become a world war (look it up).