[thecodont]

It [American history] really started with Queen Anne's War (The War of Spanish Succession).

Hmmm, interesting. Looking at this, QAW effectively began the process of homogenizing British control of North America (driving out the French and Spanish from what would later become the U.S.) and settling out conflict with the Indian tribes, right? It was the beginning of the end, from what I can read here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Anne%27s_War

http://www.usahistory.info/colonial-wars/Queen-Annes-War.html

[muawiyah]

Spain, as a peculiarly Spanish concern, lost interest in most of North America. They even settled any issues they had with Russia ~ and I think part of that was because NOBODY had come up with a major gold strike in about half a century (in North America).

British colonial standards were imposed with vigor from one end of their zone of control to the other and you found the British colonies coming up with the immediate predecessor to Manifest Destiny ~ they began claiming land from Sea to Sea!

The Buel family (which spelled its name a million ways), with roots in the earliest Spanish forays into the New World, actually "went over" to America, if not England ~ they could be depended on for the next century and a half to subvert lingering Spanish interests in what became the United States.