Many histories of the Revolution, IIRC, trace a steady growth of resistance from the Stamp Act through the Townshend Acts through the Boston Massacre through the Boston Tea Party through the Intolerable Acts to Lexington and Concord and on to the Declaration of Independence. Maybe so, but Breen positions the Intolerable Acts as the straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back. What Britain accurately but inadequately called the Coercive Acts turned ordinary, respectable farmers, lawyers, craftsmen, and housewives from angry — but loyal! — British colonists into an outraged force of active, uncompromising, and sometimes ruthless American insurgents.
One thing that struck me as I read was that both sides labored under delusions in the months leading up to the passage of the Acts in the spring of 1774. After the Boston Tea Party on December 16, 1773, American colonists, especially in Massachusetts, held their breath. They knew punishment would come, but not what form it would take. Because most information about British politics arrived in the form of imported and re-posted newspaper articles, colonists believed the British people were sympathetic to their cause and therefore that punishment would be limited and probably focused only on the guilty.
That was their delusion. Or one of them. They also held a long-cherished a belief that they were the legal, intellectual, and moral equal of any Englishmen, and that their fellow Englishmen saw them in the same light as they saw themselves.
They didn’t realize how implacably — if ineptly — British power brokers were against them. They didn’t realize that much of the English public, and especially the elite, looked down on them as being barely steps above the “savages” they lived among.
She then uses this history lesson to compare to today's Cold Civil War. She lays out today's delusions that both sides suffer under. Yes, it's long - almost Borepatchian in length. But this is a very, very important post, and I cannot encourage you too strongly to go and read it all.
BP, I am a Canukistanie on the outside of this looking in. I am also an acolyte of The Z Man and his deplorable dissident friends. I fear I may be a new fan for Claire too.
ReplyDeleteBut:
Do you see the hand of (((the guys in funny hats))) in any of America’s worsening political climate? I fear that this is rapidly becoming a pertinent question to ask… and I am not liking the answers that seem to be shaping up…
Yes. Duh. Has been for a century now.
DeleteIf you don't believe me, go watch "South Pacific" and read the bios of the authors. Among tons of other evidence, like the ADL and SPLC defining terrorism and hate speech. Plus the ACLU. Plus the Frankfurt School, etc.
ReplyDeleteGlen, I fear you are going to be involved like it or not. If there is a revolution here, your country will be annexed. Its too much if a risk of Chinese or UK subversion otherwise and frankly its a lot of underused resources.
Two things. Please do note I still blog, shared between Liberty's Torch and Granite Grok (the latter should have one by me tomorrow).
ReplyDeleteAlso, got a dad joke for you:
Why does the Swedish Navy have bar codes on every ship?
So it can Scan Da Navy In.
I'll show myself out. :D