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In reply to the discussion: 20% of colonists supported the British during the Revolutionary War. [View all]NNadir
(35,132 posts)6. Your point is well taken. Slavery was definitely an issue. It's in the Declaration.
It contains this odious clause:
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
"Domestic Insurrections" is about slavery of course, and we don't have to go too far to understand "Indian Savages" a reflection of extreme racism on the part of the author(s).
This said, I believe that establishing a Democracy that lasted up to now (although it is under severe attack by "domestic insurrections" by right wing savages) I am not entirely sure that it was the worst outcome for the world.
The British set up the slave system and only abolished it 30 years before the US. This extra 30 years was brutal, to be sure and millions of human beings suffered terribly as a result. But it is possible also that the existence of the United States from 1776 to 2016 reduced the sufferings of humanity over all. Those times are gone, but these are my views on our history.
The issue as I see it, was largely about a voice in home rule, which of course, in the 1770's was not standard anywhere in the world. Overall, recognizing the complexity of the situation, I believe the American Revolution - by being one of the only successful anti-colonial actions of that time and setting the stage for self determination elsewhere - was a good thing, at least as "good" as a violent war can be.
The fact that it extended "inalienable rights" only to white men, and then really only to white men with property, was fortunately vague, and created an avenue for future generations to expand the definition to include all human beings. That, I think, was the value of America, at least until the recent destruction of America's value and greatness in the world.
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20% of colonists supported the British during the Revolutionary War. [View all]
byronius
May 2020
OP
Actually, the figure was probably higher for loyalists in North America in the 1770's.
NNadir
May 2020
#2
Your point is well taken. Slavery was definitely an issue. It's in the Declaration.
NNadir
May 2020
#6
So you are saying that America was NOT the influence of many anti colonizational movements?
SQUEE
May 2020
#24
I am saying the reality on balance has been slathered in the blood of innocents, with the actual
Celerity
May 2020
#25
The king didn't have complete authority -- Parliament held the purse strings.
whathehell
May 2020
#30
I've always thought that Republicans would have been on the side of the British...
somaticexperiencing
May 2020
#5