Oooh, Now *THIS* is my flavor of Patriotism

July 4, 2006 11:55 AM

In early 1777 Gen Burgoyne assumes command of the northern Redcoat column marching from Canada. On June 20, 1777 he issues his infamous Proclamation of how & why he's coming down to kick Rebel behind. History records one unknown patriot's snark-filled reply that July. By October, Burgoyne's flying column is bottled up and defeated at Saratoga. Here ends the history lesson. Have a great 4th, peeps.
posted by Heywood Mogroot (17 comments total)

Ah, if only people still wrote like our anonymous patriot.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 12:05 PM on July 4, 2006

BURN!
posted by wfrgms at 12:17 PM on July 4, 2006

Now, are we sure it was a good idea that England lost that particular war? I'm a little up in the air about this. I mean, if Washington had been defeated, the English probably would have freed the American slaves around 1830. And having the "good" part of North America would have made her so decisively the ruler of the world, that we might have avoided World War One, and all that horror that followed (not to mention America's little wars of imperialism.) A British America might have been a better thing for the world. Maybe.
posted by Faze at 12:28 PM on July 4, 2006

Yeah, but looking at the advances we've made in dentistry it's probably a wash.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 12:31 PM on July 4, 2006

What-ifs are fun, but I think it's agreed that the recriminations and soul searching following the English defeat was the making of modern Britain. Think how unbearable a triumphant Hanoverian aristocracy with its army of mercenaries would have been. An English victory would have been a disaster for England, not to mention France whose revolution followed shortly afterwards.
posted by grahamwell at 1:48 PM on July 4, 2006

Foxxe Newse reports: Why can these insolent rebels offer only insult and insubordination, and proffer no plan of action? Truly the authors of this scurrilous screed are the Nabobs of Negativity, out of the "main stream" of our great Society.
posted by RylandDotNet at 1:53 PM on July 4, 2006 [1 favorite]

A British America might have been a better thing for the world.

It certainly might have, how do we know all the good stuff from improved dentistry to rock 'n roll to democracy and maybe more wouldn't have happened anyway? Would've been the same people, with the same resources, the same type of economic system... the situation wouldn't have remained static without the revolution, it would have developed and changed in ways we can only speculate on today.

the recriminations and soul searching following the English defeat was the making of modern Britain.

Er, well... with all due respect to the Glorious 4th, the American revolution is part of a rather larger historical context. The rest of the Empire unravelling, and the effects of two World Wars had something to do with it as well.
posted by scheptech at 2:20 PM on July 4, 2006

Now, are we sure it was a good idea that England lost that particular war?

yes ... for one thing it gave my ancestors a place to escape from english tyranny and starvation
posted by pyramid termite at 2:30 PM on July 4, 2006

we might have avoided World War One, and all that horror that followed (not to mention America's little wars of imperialism.)

Yes, because the English have never been known for their imperialism.
posted by papakwanz at 2:41 PM on July 4, 2006

Don't forget the other plus point of treaties with the Native Americans that would likely not have been abrogated or ignored.
posted by A189Nut at 3:01 PM on July 4, 2006

Ahem.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 3:09 PM on July 4, 2006

(In reference to Great Mother Britain's wonderful history of treaties with Indians, of a different sort.)
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 3:10 PM on July 4, 2006

Maybe we'd be better off since by now the Brits would've evolved beyond Imperialism whereas the Americans are still working it out?
posted by scheptech at 3:45 PM on July 4, 2006

Don't forget the other plus point of treaties with the Native Americans that would likely not have been abrogated or ignored.

Yeah, judging from the way they treated the people of India, the Native Americans would have been in for a treat.
posted by RylandDotNet at 6:25 PM on July 4, 2006

"Don't forget the other plus point of treaties with the Native Americans that would likely not have been abrogated or ignored."

Once gold had been discovered in California (or any other resource - oil in the south west for example) that would have changed.
posted by PenDevil at 1:14 AM on July 5, 2006

Maybe we'd be better off since by now the Brits would've evolved beyond Imperialism whereas the Americans are still working it out?

Who said Britain was out of the Imperialism business? Argentina says no!
posted by Atreides at 5:05 AM on July 5, 2006

improved dentistry

Are American dentists literally more skilled than British ones?
posted by Firas at 1:34 PM on July 5, 2006