As rubbish as America is today, you're out of your goddamn mind if you don't think the British have been the bad guys throughout most of their imperialist past, including during the American revolution.
So you know a driving force for the colonies wasn’t taxes but it was not being allowed to expand over the Appalachians and the troops living in their homes
Which makes it odd that you would bring up colonialism
Also we can look at Britain destroying their economy to offset the costs of others to not use slave labour, although this happened later anyone would know the Americans were the bad guys at the time
The American war for independence was hardly a revolution, more like an under new management. For the average citizen, material conditions didn't change at all. Most institutions were carried over with slight rebranding. The democracy was limited and the constitution had a pound of protection for the ownership class for every ounce of franchise doled out to merchant class men.
Liberty and democracy are for 3^rd^ grade textbooks. The truth is that the ownership class was sick of taking royal orders and tired of paying franchise fees. The crown foolishly defeated the other colonial and native powers on the continent, sapping royal strength while removing British utility to the Americans.
Next up are the Industrial Revolution, Manifest Destiny, and America as the 'land of the free,' which came as a surprise to the slaves
What the 'rebels' wanted was to be able to build infrastructure and trade among the different colonies. If someone wanted to travel from New York to Charleston, it was faster for them to catch a ship to Bermuda and then wait for another ship heading to Charleston. No direct roads between the two cities, because the last thing the Crown wanted was competition from American factories.
Bridges, roads, and canals were the things they wanted; which makes the party of 'small government' look even more hypocritical.
Thank you! Whenever I see new interactions of this meme, its annoying rather than entertaining now because it propagates the very same misperceptions about history that you debunk here.
Ultimately, the quintessential history of the US taught to the youth in the US (and reinforced in pop media for adults) is a fairy tale.
The short version is that it was about the transfer of power from hereditary nobility to a different elite consisting of wealthy merchants and "gentlemen" farmers. This transfer was already happening anyway throughout the British Empire, the Americans just wanted to speed it up and codify it.
That's why Ontario became a thing. People who just wanted to live as is were forced to flee for their lives as rednecks conned into rebelling by the rich elites threatened their lives.
Loyalists were definitely a thing then. Also called Tories, Royalists, or King's Men.
Prominent Loyalists repeatedly assured the British government that many thousands of them would spring to arms and fight for the Crown. The British government acted in expectation of that, especially during the Southern campaigns of 1780 and 1781. Britain was able to effectively protect the people only in areas where they had military control, and in return, the number of military Loyalists was significantly lower than what had been expected.
Came here to say this, so thank you for the coverage. Also interesting, I mean, aren't crown loyal people still called Tories or some such? Forgive my ignorance, I'm West Atlantic (omg, I just made that up to say American, and I think I'm sticking with it.)
"It may just be my poor, West Atlantic education, but..."
In the UK we still use Tories as a nickname for the conservative party, one of the two main parties in our political system and a kind of pound store republican party. They do indeed still feign royalism when it suits their purposes, some things never change.
That still sounds accurate to the modus operandi of what I'm used to from a Conservative Party.
Though it infuriates me that a party can literally call themselves and be regularly referred to as "The thieves who want to eat your baby!", by EVEN THEIR SUPPORTERS, and still not only be considered a viable party, but have more or less become the majority party of their country......
It's got real "They call themselves Decepticons and you thought they'd honor a deal?" energy
I mean, in Norway we have the Pirate Party (that's their official name) and they seem like an alright bunch. It's a political party trying to champion online privacy.
Tories nowadays is typically used to describe a party which supports the establishment the most. So in the United Kingdom's the Tories typically support the Crown the most. In Commonwealth countries the Tories are usually synonymous with right-wing parties who are typically the most nationalist. However in many Commonwealth countries the right-wing is often more left leaning than the American left. This is of course trying to describe a wide array of political beliefs in broad strokes so I may be accurate but I'm sure as hell not precise.
