Today we celebrate our Independence Day

The 4th always reminds me of this Seagal banger.

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Lots of proud West-Englishmen here I see. :)

Sometimes I wonder how different the world would have turned out if King George had said "This is a reasonable point and I shall allow the Colonies to have a contingent in the House of Commons" rather than "LOLno and here's the Army in your face, you uppity Colonial plebeians" when the Colonies first presented their grievances.
 
Sometimes I wonder how different the world would have turned out if King George had said "This is a reasonable point and I shall allow the Colonies to have a contingent in the House of Commons" rather than "LOLno and here's the Army in your face, you uppity Colonial plebeians" when the Colonies first presented their grievances.

King George had very little power.

In the Declaration of Independence , Thomas Jefferson paints the King as a central, oppressive monarch personally responsible for colonial suffering.

In reality, George had very little say on what was happening. By the mid-1700s, Britain was a constitutional monarchy. The King could influence, but not directly govern policy. Power lay mostly with Parliament, especially the House of Commons.

The colonies needed a unifying villain and the king was perfect for that role.
 
I don't really think Britain gave a fuck. They were preoccupied with India and wanted the existing riches than the untold promise of the Americas.


Then when they should have gone back the French were a bigger issue with what then became Napoleon


And well you can see there was never ending wars in Asia tying up their forces.

The war of 1812 was ironically stopped by the UK because of taxes, when independence was started by America because of taxes.

With hindsight it's obviously the wrong choice, especially with the industrial revolution destroying India's textile riches.
 
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