Posted on 07/06/2015 3:37:38 AM PDT by the scotsman
Remembering one of the nation’s most important banners — the Grand Union Flag.
We all know the story of American independence, don’t we? A rugged frontier people became increasingly tired of being ruled by a distant elite. A group calling themselves Patriots were especially unhappy about being taxed by a parliament in which they were unrepresented.
When, in 1775, British Redcoats tried to repress them, a famous Patriot called Paul Revere rode through the night across eastern Massachusetts, crying “The British are coming!” The shots that were fired the next day began a war for independence which culminated the following year in the statehouse in Philadelphia, when George Washington and others, meeting under Betsy Ross’s gorgeous flag, signed the Declaration of Independence.
It’s a stirring story, but it’s false in every aspect. Neither Paul Revere nor anyone else could have shouted “The British are coming!” in 1775: The entire population of Massachusetts was British. (What the plucky Boston silversmith actually yelled was “The regulars are out!”) The overall level of taxation in the colonies in 1775 was barely a fiftieth of what it was in Great Britain, and the levies to which Americans had objected had been repealed before the fighting began. The Boston Tea Party, which sparked the violence, was brought about by a lowering of the duty on tea. George Washington wasn’t there when the Declaration of Independence was signed.
The flag that the Patriots marched under was not, except on very rare occasions, the stars-and-stripes (which probably wasn’t sewn by Betsy Ross) but the Grand Union flag.'
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...
We were taught “The Redcoats are coming!” back in the early ‘70s. He rode through every Middlesex, Village and Farm.
"Bring me four fried chickens and a Coke"
If Brian Williams and Hillary Clinton hadn’t dodged that sniper fire at Trenton, it would have all been for naught.
(Seriously, thanks for posting this. Daniel Hannan is always worth reading.)
Cheers!
http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/gb-eic.html
East India Company - EIC (United Kingdom)
From 1707 to approximately 1800, Wilson shows the Honourable East India Company ensign with the British Union flag.
(same as this flag)
George Washington was not in Philliadelphia in July 1776.
LOL...
Isn’t that when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?
graphic?
what good is the thread with no illustration?
As Daniel says, this aspect of history has been almost entirely forgotten. America was fighting for what it saw as its rights, most recently and emphatically restated in the Glorious Revolution of 1689.
They saw British oppression as intended to bring back the bad old days before the GR. They were almost certainly mistaken in this belief, as the British government simply had no such intentions, but it is why Americans fought.
It is often forgotten that our Revolution was also our first civil war. I believe more Americans served under British colors (colours?) than in the Continental Army.
The flag in question is waving at the head of the NRO page.
There was simply no nation called the “United
States of America,” and no one fought in 1776 to facilitate or prevent the
creation of such a nation. The Articles of Confederation made that clear in
Article II: “Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right, which is not by this Confederation expressly delegated to the United States, in Congress assembled.” The articles weren’t even drafted until 1777 and didn’t come into force until 1781, nearly five years after the declaration of independence. Finally, it was not until the military conquest of the Confederate States by the United States in 1865, that one first begins to see references to the “United States of America” as a singular as opposed to a plural noun.- Menschenrechte
Confederate States.....
George Washington did not sign the Declaration of Independence. So...I guess "we all" don't know the story of American independence. At least Daniel Hannan doesn't.
You need to keep reading.
More likely he yelled “e Regulars are out and coming for our guns!”
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