Myths of the American Revolution

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/myths-of-the-american-revolution-10941835/?all ^ | JANUARY 2010 | John Ferling

[100American]

Link to Article: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/myths-of-the-american-revolution-10941835/?all

Throughout its deliberations, North’s government agreed on one point: the Americans would pose little challenge in the event of war. The Americans had neither a standing army nor a navy; few among them were experienced officers. Britain possessed a professional army and the world’s greatest navy. Furthermore, the colonists had virtually no history of cooperating with one another, even in the face of danger. In addition, many in the cabinet were swayed by disparaging assessments of American soldiers leveled by British officers in earlier wars. For instance, during the French and Indian War (1754-63), Brig. Gen. James Wolfe had described America’s soldiers as “cowardly dogs.” Henry Ellis, the royal governor of Georgia, nearly simultaneously asserted that the colonists were a “poor species of fighting men” given to “a want of bravery.”

Still, as debate continued, skeptics—especially within Britain’s army and navy—raised troubling questions. Could the Royal Navy blockade the 1,000-mile-long American coast? Couldn’t two million free colonists muster a force of 100,000 or so citizen-soldiers, nearly four times the size of Britain’s army in 1775? Might not an American army of this size replace its losses more easily than Britain? Was it possible to supply an army operating 3,000 miles from home? Could Britain subdue a rebellion across 13 colonies in an area some six times the size of England? Could the British Army operate deep in America’s interior, far from coastal supply bases? Would a protracted war bankrupt Britain? Would France and Spain, England’s age-old enemies, aid American rebels? Was Britain risking starting a broader war?

After the Continental Congress convened, King George III told his ministers that “blows must decide” whether the Americans “submit or triumph.”

Hmmmmm...

Gun rights and a whole lot more, informational and a good read

Enjoy

[ETL]

Strange. They are to me too. They weren’t before.

In any case, try them here:

Liberty! The American Revolution Part 3
(EPISODE 3: “The Times That Try Men’s Souls” 1776-1777)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSAtHAb1xC4

Liberty! The American Revolution Part 5
(EPISODE 5: “The World Turned Upside Down” 1778-1783)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suiPcydMBd8

[ETL]

EPISODE 1: “The Reluctant Revolutionaries” 1763-1774
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jR_lTDD6jpw

EPISODE 2: “Blows Must Decide” 1774-1776
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIT_GL-Y5hQ

EPISODE 3: “The Times That Try Men’s Souls” 1776-1777
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSAtHAb1xC4

EPISODE 4: “Oh Fatal Ambition” 1777-1778
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ae6XknOqceI

EPISODE 5: “The World Turned Upside Down” 1778-1783
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suiPcydMBd8

EPISODE 6: “Are We to Be a Nation? 1783-1788
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-PShTiGk9g

Note: should any of these episodes be removed or otherwise inaccessible, try this link to the Y.T. search results for the series.
https://www.youtube.com/results?lclk=long&filters=long&search_query=liberty!+the+american+revolution

[Sam Gamgee]

From me you get a Canadian perspective, but really from a Canadian interested in the truth, not what our royalist education teaches us. From what I can understand there initially was major support for George among the Parliament and at least some support from the population after various insults from the colonists. But the excitement quickly waned with the public who wondered whether the cost was really worth it. Many Whig thinkers were already against it and more joined those ranks as they were truly alarmed by the unilateral action of their King. Eventually Parliamentarians pushed out the pro-George faction in the Cabinet. I am sure English schools teach a very different version of the American Revolution, probably skewed towards Tory beliefs, and later, generally anti-American sentiment.