British Reacts To The American Revolution - OverSimplified (Part 2)

[@feralvulcan7955]

We, in the US, still refer to traitors as Benedict Arnold.

[@catlady443]

Like Trump

[@denisestahl2796]

@@catlady443TDS is rotting your brain.

[@PastLifeVillian]

@@catlady443 You're obsessed

[@charleysgarage]

@@catlady443more like Joe and Hunter

[@kassandratorres1463]

I approve this message@@charleysgarage

[@vizzy9302]

After the Americas were "discovered" by the Europeans, Britain sent many of its citizens over to establish colonies in the "New World". The first was Virginia in 1607. The settlers were (mostly) British nationals, and considered themselves to be British in all aspects, with the task of creating lands for the Crown. The Native Americans were not great in number, many died out from European diseases that they had no immunity against, and others tragically died in wars as the British colonists grew in number. Depending on the tribe, they allied themselves with either/both sides of the Revolution, but the war wasn't fought between native Americans and British invaders. That relationship was established over a century earlier. After about 160 years, the UK had 13 separate colonies in the Americas, but due to time and distance, the colonists (many of whom are now 4th and 5th generation "American" and had no real connection to the motherland) had developed their own culture and form of governance. But they still considered themselves British, loyal to the King. Then the 7 Years War happened (known as the "French and Indian War" in the U.S.), the U.K. went into debt, looked upon the colonists as prospering due to the actions of the British military, and decided to refill its coffers by enacting a series of taxes on the colonists. However, there were no seats in Parliament reserved for any of the colonies, the King refused to approve any, and Americans began to believe London considered them as second-class citizens. The phrase "Taxation without representation is tyranny!" was the catch-phrase of the Americans. But the colonists still thought of themselves as British, and simply tried to get the King and the Parliament to concede on granting them greater political and economic autonomy. As the disputes turned to violence, the war started. With the belief that the differences could not be reconciled, the colonists no longer considered themselves to be loyal British subjects, but rather independent American citizens. By 1776 the breach was final, and by 1783 the U.K. finally acknowledged an independent United States. So it can be seen as a revolution (colonists overthrowing the British monarchy in favor of an American representative democracy), but in many ways it was also a Civil War among British nationals; those wanting to remain loyal to the king against those saying "screw it, we're going our own way." Hope that helps, and forgive my length.

[@darlacurry149]

Wow! That was an excellent explanation of those events!

[@Happyface1981]

It was not free land to take. There were millions of native people living here for centuries already. It was “discovered” by Europeans. Who both by disease and slaughter wiped out millions of people. This is the part of the story where the all of newcomers are fighting for control over the newly “discovered” land.

[@shrekeatscupcakes3918]

​@@FaceAway-xb9hdhe put it in quotes bc they actually didn't discover it

[@BrooklynPhenixRising]

​@@FaceAway-xb9hdis it possible for someone you don't know to drive in to your driveway and Discover your house and claim it for their own? I mean they Discovered it right? Yes it's yours, but since they didn't know your house was there they can discover it claim it and all the possessions in it now belongs to them... You good with that?

[@kenhartin2654]

Well in some states that is happening by squatters.

[@nicole06964]

John Paul Jones is such a badass dude. He’s called the father of the American navy and his body and tomb are at the naval academy in Annapolis, Maryland

[@rodneysisco6364]

I was a professional wine taster and buyer ,as well as being a student of history . In the south of France , I called upon a French wine producer in the appellation of Beaumes de Venise ,whose name was the Marquis de Grasse . When I asked him if he was a descendant of the Marquis de Grasse who commanded the French Caribbean fleet and blocked off the mouth of Chesapeake Bay to help force Cornwallis' surrender and end the Revolutionary War he was surprised and delighted that I knew some of the history of his family .

[@MeMyself_andAI]

As a chesapeake bay native from Maryland who grew up in a small fishing town on the water, i love hearing the name of my beloved Chesapeake being spoken of, especially on the other side of the world. Doubly so from my brothers and sisters in France.

[@rodneysisco6364]

When my father was in the Navy we lived in Norfolk for 4 years when I was a kid . We lived right across the street from the Chesapeake Bay and spent a lot of time on the beach there@@MeMyself_andAI

[@corinnem.239]

I hope you thanked him for his ancestor's help.

[@rodneysisco6364]

@@corinnem.239 Yes I did

[@QueenDarkChocolate]

How did his family survive the French Revolution? So many aristocratic families did not make it make it thru that period.

[@ericbadertscher6978]

The United States colonies were part of the British empire. So when Britain and France went to war, for people living in British North America, they were basically at war with France. After the war ended, then the US Colonies start war with Britain. And because France was very bitter about losing the war to the British, they joined forces with the American colonies.

[@iKvetch558]

Obviously, the comments section of part 1 of this reaction filled you in on the details, so I hope by the time you read this comments section, you understand that the 13 Colonies in America WERE British territory, as far as Britain was concerned, and the people there were subjects of the British Crown. When the American Revolution happened, only about half of the people in the American Colonies were in favor of Independence, and the rest of the people that wanted to remain a part of Britain were referred to as "Loyalists."

[@darreljones8645]

Many Loyalists moved to Canada after the war ended.

[@PeteQuad]

I'm pretty sure it was significantly less than half.

[@RogCBrand]

@@PeteQuad More like 1/3 loyal, 1/3 rebel and 1/3 that "didn't want to get involved".

[@PeteQuad]

@@RogCBrand no more like 20%, 40% and 40%. But no way they were winning if the apathetic 40% didn't at least sympathize with the patriots.

[@Clasi4t3hwin]

Yeah most of the colonists identified as English or British. So much so, in fact, that Paul Revere actually said "The regulars are coming!" referring to the regular British infantry, because if he'd said the misquote everyone would have been confused because they mostly considered themselves British. It wasn't until the American civil war that a national 'American' identity would become popularized.

[@jonathanpatten8703]

To this day "Benedict Arnold" is synonymous with traitor.

[@jasonmead570]

The confederate flag is not synonymous with traitor

[@Sputterbug]

​@@ippos_khloros6163traitor to humanity maybe. it moreso symbolizes losers and slave owners

[@jasonmead570]

@wafflemonster7183 so we can say the states that have claimed to be sanctuary states are in rebellion and thier flags are for losers, but then again what can you expect with a weak president like Biden and the sheep that voted for him

[@vespista1971]

@@jasonmead570Rose up against the US and we’re defeated - Traitors. Period.

[@AdvancedGamer-]

@wafflemonster7183lol? But Benedict Arnold was mistreated imo

[@walkerlocker6126]

Fyi, the "stereotypical villain with a British accent" Tarleton is alluding to a movie called The Patriot, set during these times (though not really historically accurate). The bad guy in that movie is based on Tarleton and played by Jason Isaacs

[@Master_Yoda1990]

That's true that, much like Mel Gibson's other "historical" movies, The Patriot was littered with inaccuracies. Saying that Tarleton did use brutal strategies against the colonists where he could easily be depicted as a villain like his use of "scorched earth" tactics, but his movie counterpart was far more brutal and I'm sure Tarleton wasn't as significant in the war effort as the movie depicts either.

[@clarenancy77]

Someone may have answered this, but "Why didn't they attack from all sides?" Topography was part of it. Much of that area in the western portion of the blue on the map is quite mountainous and difficult to travel across, especially with big guns and such.

[@lyndaabbott7608]

RIght! Just because the map of the Revolution shows areas in red (meaning claimed by the British crown) doesn't mean that there were a lot of British people who lived there. You asked about the early days -- and you're right, Lewis, it's important! In the beginning (starting with the Jamestown, Virginia colony in 1607 and the Massachussets colony in 1628,) all of the eventual 13 British colonies in America were set up with charters, mostly given to minor nobles in Britain hoping to make money out of the deal, and those charters generally specified how the colony that was being granted a charter was to be governed. Almost none of the nobles granted these charters actually came to America (Sir Walter Raleigh was an exception, and he was just visiting, he didn't stay here). Instead, the charter holders (i.e, nobles or rich people) basically stayed in England but appointed others to be the rulers of the colony, pretty much following normal British laws. However, time passed. About 150 years later (in the time leading up to the Revolutionary War,), all of those charter nobles were dead and their heirs or business managers in Britain were managing the colonies, but many of them really didn't know much about how much what had started as small, poor, scraggly settlements to begin with had grown, and meanwhile how there were now several generations of "British colonials' who had been born in the colonies and who were used to dealing with things themselves, not through the British crown's official personnel. Before the Revolution, most colonials (meaning Americans) considered themselves loyal British subjects -- but as time went on, the colonials felt that the British government was not listening to them, didn't care about them, and eventually that the crown (or its representatives) was oppressing them. As the conflict escalated, the colonials began to switch sides, with many of the former "loyal subjects" of Britain deciding that they were better off being free of the crown and being their own independent country, even though that was a very risky venture indeed! Nobody had ever done that successfully (like Ireland, Scotland, etc.). Specifically, before the Revolution, like in the "French and Indian War" (1754-1763), the British Army that was in America didn't number all that many troops and the British government relied on the British colonials (i.e. soon to become "Americans") to join in and help them fight the French and their Indian allies. The British and colonials won, and the British crown took over the majority of French lands in Canada. As far as many soon-to-be Americans (i.e. British colonials) were concerned, they'd done their part for king and country in that war. However, back in England, the crown needed money. There were problems with the French (weren't there always?) and the crown decided that their army had performed a service for "the colonials" and that therefore those "colonials" should pay for that service. (By the way, you do remember, Lewis, that King George III was -- at times -- totally off his rocker, right? Even in the cartoon "oversimplified" about the revolution, he was shown with arms bound (like in a straight jacket). This was really a critical time -- and the king was either having a "mad" period or he (and Parliament) was just totally out of touch and were not realizing what was going on in the colonies. They "forgot" or overlooked that these were British colonials, who considered themselves British citizens, and expected to be treated in the same manner that people in Britain at that time were. (Like, Magna Carta and all that.) That's what the "oversimplified" narrative shows, emphasizing the breakdown in communications. The British crown (and the governors, Parliament, etc.) just didn't get it. They never for a moment considered that the colonials had always been loyal subjects and they expected that they were valuable to the crown and that they would be listened to. Nope. Didn't happen. But here's the deal. The British Navy was the strongest in the world. The British army was arguably the best. The crown thus assumed that they could just force the colonials to do as they said -- but the math had changed. There were far more American colonials than British troops that could be sent to "subdue" them -- and at that point, the American colonials were not willing to be subdued, even if they got killed (Famous quotes by Americans from that period: "Give me liberty or give me death!" "I regret I have but one life to give for my country." etc.). For every colonial that fell in battle, many more were available and all of the colonials were used to using firearms, used to navigating the forest terrain, etc. It took at least four months for the British to ship over another soldier to replace each one of theirs that fell. No one had ever pulled off a "revolution" like this before -- and it was a bit of a miracle that it even worked at all! But the Americans had a major advantage that this was their home and they knew the land, etc. The crown kind of left them no choice when it tried to "punish" the Americans in ways that they felt was an existential threat. It also helped tremendously that the French sent money, nobles (like Layfayette), and ships (like the fleet that helped trap the British at Yorktown), but the Americans were determined -- all or nothing! They were determined to govern themselves entirely (as they pretty much had increasingly done for 150 years or so) because they felt that the crown was not willing to listen to or act in their best interest. That part of our national character (the start of the "can do" spirit) hasn't ever really changed.

[@feralvulcan7955]

Alot of the land that Britian claimed, was in name only. Most of the interior land was still controlled by the native Americans.

[@pamelalandon2423]

Some British people and Colonists had passed thru and mapped it. That is were the term "King of all he Surveyed" comes from.

[@katy5467]

Oh, I just watched who do you think you are about Tim McGraw. Interestingly, it was brought up that George, Washington as a 16 year old surveyed the America land at age 16 as he kept a journal.

[@patmanchester8045]

@@pamelalandon2423 Whaington was on of those surveyers.

[@hannoverfist5628]

Fun story….those hessian mercenaries…..is exactly where the legend of sleepy Hollow was born….

[@GodelFishbreath]

A close read of the Legend of Sleepy Hollow shows that the main and often missed point of that story is that there was (for at that time) a surprising amount of change in what seemed like only a few years.

[@AdamNisbett]

10:40 though yes, the British claimed all the red area, the western portions of it were extremely sparsely populated by the British at that point. It was mostly the native Americans living there who as others have commented, had lost the vast majority of their population to disease much earlier, so as you go away from the coast, it was essentially uninhabited wilderness nominally claimed by Britain, but with no real forces or infrastructure there.

[@revgurley]

So old, you won't see this, but you really should look into Schoolhouse Rock. It was an "educational" mini-show (or long commercial?) from the 1970s. Subjects were English, Math(s), Civics, History. Made super easy to understand and remember because the songs are so catchy and the drawing is iconic.

[@bobbarnaby7390]

kzbin.info/door/1yty6F-2neYfwE8xc1A72Q

[@bobbarnaby7390]

Schoolhouse Rock

[@mrcvictor]

Wow I'm old I haven't heard that name in 40 years

[@starmnsixty1209]

👍👍👍 Three cheers for Schoolhouse Rock. Today's youth could use something like that again.

[@courtneyraymer6586]

I didn’t discover Schoolhouse Rock until I had “retired” from teaching ninth grade English to raise my kids. Whenever “Conjunction Junction, what’s your function?” slips into my mind, it takes an eon to slip out again.🤯😉

[@tomatogap8970]

Fun Fact for anyone who’s see this; one of the main reasons the British Navy was able to grow so strong was because of the Naval Stores(Wood for ships) sent over by the American colonist in the New England Colonies(The Northern colonies of the original 13).

[@ImperatortotiusHispaniae]

There's much to discuss about this war and the events that lead to it. An important thing to understand this was very much a civil war. In many parts you had neighbors and families fighting each other because of the beliefs.

[@starman5754]

Most of the red area to the West was still mostly unexplored wilderness, "Indian" territory. Even though the Brits, French and Spanish had laid claims to the area, it was essentially useless to anyone.

[@crystaldbj]

Did you really not know about the 13 British colonies prior to the War of Independence? I come from Marblehead MA, incorporated in the 1630's, but there were fishermen settlements there in the 1500's. This means that for about half of our total history we were British. Nice to be remembered....

[@ericcooley9407]

3:40 Benjamin Franklin got France to completely fund the continental army. It is warranted to say France's revolution was caused by how broke they were because of spending on American revolution.

[@kathybouziane5269]

True. Louie and Marie probably lost their heads because America refused to repay France. The french had the Revolution because they saw the royals living big and thought they blew thru all the $. More or less. Keep in mind the French and the British fought each other for centuries.

[@elizabethlovett4318]

Agreed. That and the french nobility wouldn't budge in their extravagance. If they did it may have saved the french monarchy. It's hard to say but like any elite of any time or country, they considered themselves untouchable. The only thing I can say for sure is that the revolution of France was a result of multiple things. And after the war between Britain and the American colonies, America decided to trade with Britain over France. Oof!

[@sandrad9695]

The “Americans” were British citizens. We were British colonies. When the British parliament wanted to tax us without giving us any say in it, among other things, we fought back. And that turned into the American Revolution.

[@susanalfieri4487]

Right! There ARE NO AMERICANS prior to 1776, when the colonists (British subjects) declared their independence from Britain (and King George III) for taxing them unfairly. ("No taxation without representation" was the complaint.) And then the colonists fought the British with the help of the French to become the new country of the United States of America. Before that, we were Brits who had settled in the New World.

[@richwiedeman3128]

Another part to clear up his confusion, is that the Americans while all being British subjects, had politically minded alignments called Loyalists and independence minded Patriots. Eventually the Patriots won and Loyalists had to leave for England, British Canada, or independent Vermont.

[@sandrad9695]

@@richwiedeman3128 Yep.

[@lindiharris-axon8167]

Oddly, we had as much representation as many people in England, Wales and Scotland. Although representions for all people had begun to spread there, whole areas were not represented by specific people in the House of Commons and the House of Lords, was, well the House of Lords. But American colonial legislatures were more evenly represented - unless, of course, you consider women, blacks, Native Americans, indentured servants and in many cases, non-property owners, Otherwise we have always been the land of the free. (propertied white men).

[@sandrad9695]

@@lindiharris-axon8167 How could we have as much representation in the colonies as people in England, Scotland and Wales did when we had none in the English parliament? Are you telling me that no one in England, Scotland or Wales had representation in the English parliament? That doesn’t make sense. Who were the MPs representing then? Having local representation in colonial legislatures was completely different than having representation in the English Parliament. And that was the point. The fight wasn’t about representation in any other legislature than the parliament in Westminster. The only time the colonial legislatures came into it was when England tried to shut ours down, dissolve them, without the authority to do so.

[@dorothytucker9305]

I didnt see this between the 2 comments but our flag. Is based off of the British flag but each star represents the states and the stripes represents the colonies we came from. Hope this helps

[@subplays2778]

I love your reaction and I’m from the states much love

[@L3WGReacts]

Glad you enjoyed!!:)

[@TeacherinTraining39]

You folks have chickens on your side of the pond, and you can make waffles. Just make waffles, make fried chicken, and get some maple syrup from wherever you have to. Chicken and waffles is great, and you should absolutely try it.

[@phoenixfire124]

Roughly 1/3 of the population in America were for Independence, 1/3 wanted to stay British subjects (loyalists), and 1/3 were undecided. Yes we do learn the basics of the American Revolution....but not many know more than this video. 😢 if you want a great overall history of America with great detail in the important events you should check out "A Patriot's Guide to American History ".

[@dionysiacosmos]

For a quick, easy, fun read I recommend The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. It's short, so most publishs also add a series of letters he wrote as a young man. His older brother owned a printing press and newspaper. Benjamin, under a woman's name, wrote satirical letters. In that time a respectable title for a married women was Good Wife, often shortened to Goody. Franklin quite old when the revolution came. He was part of the defense in The French and Indian War, and offers some really good insights into the problems the British commanders had adapting to the wilderness. Mostly, they just wouldn't listen to the locals.

[@patmanchester8045]

OH yes!! there are biographies of many of the founding fathers One is called Founding Brothers. John Adams was an interesting character...So was Abigail.

[@rodneysisco6364]

My family at that time were already 6th generation American , some of them, like my grandpa 8 generations back , fought against the British , he was with Washington that awful winter at Valley Forge and was given a land grant in Kentucky by Continental Congress for his service . Another branch of the family were British loyalists who lost their 90,000 acre farm along the Hudson River and had to move to England after the British lost

[@ericcooley9407]

Its been many years since i was I was in school. We touch on the history in our middle school years (normally grades 6-8) then really focus on it for a most of a semester in high school (grades 9-12). Though "American history" isn't much from 1492 until 1760s when everything heats up. That semester usually ends right before the world wars. WW1 to present was the 2nd semester.

[@brandonflorida1092]

The British established colonies in America. The French established some forts and enlisted the aid of native Americans to help them. BTW, the treatment of Franklin is a misinterpretation. Franklin understood immediately, something that John Adams didn't understand, that his sole tool to get French assistance was to be liked, personally. So when he want to a party, he might or might not be having fun, but he was working.

[@brandonflorida1092]

@@robman6583 Yes.

[@bettyir4302]

@@robman6583 He was the ambassador to France so lived there for 5 years which isn't that long for being away from home during those times. He and his wife constantly wrote each other. His "kids" were grown adults by that time and his grandson accompanied him to France as his secretary.

[@Clasi4t3hwin]

Yeah most of the colonists identified as English or British. So much so, in fact, that Paul Revere actually said "The regulars are coming!" referring to the regular British infantry, because if he'd said the misquote everyone would have been confused because they mostly considered themselves British. It wasn't until the American civil war that a national 'American' identity would become popularized.

[@maybenaught]

10:35 Just because you own the territory doesn't mean it's a source of manpower. All that red land around the US-controlled colonies was a lot of wilderness or land primarily controlled by indigenous peoples.

[@sandirobinson6966]

There were Loyalists (didn't want to go against the King of England) and there were Patriots, who wanted Independence from England. All living next door to each other, and all British subjects.

[@puglove]

So there is actually this whole, very accurate and well researched series called Liberty Kids that is about these kids who are under Benjamin Franklin's wing as journalists who go around talking to both British and American soldiers alike to get the whole truth and story of the American Revolution. It's really good and I would absolutely recommend it! 👍

[@marvelous7465]

The people in America before was the Native Americans but French Spain and The United Kingdom sailed over

[@L3WGReacts]

ohhhh right!!

[@catlady443]

Abd while spread out over a lot of land there wew more imdians than all the peole in england

[@JenniferKitchens123]

The British didn’t attack from all sides because of geography. The Appalachian Mountains run along a good portion of the Western part of the blue area.

[@robetheridge6999]

I love that it seems like every video has you coming around to food. You're my kinda mate.

[@burtmacklin6443]

3:19 "Poor Benedict" a phrase has never been so shortly lived. Only someone who knows nothing of the history of The United States could utter such a phrase.

[@scotty7364]

I think you missed the sarcasm.

[@burtmacklin6443]

@@scotty7364 I can assure you he was not being sarcastic. At that point in the video, he had no idea who Benedict Arnold was. He was constantly asking who the settlers were. He explained they were never taught about the American Revolution in school. I wish it was sarcasm but it was not.

[@staciepoole8161]

I can’t speak for everyone, but I had to learn US history AND World history where we had to learn about other countries and their wars, victories and defeats. FYI I completely HATED history classes. It was my worst subject in school. ☹️

[@saraedmonds1809]

When I was in High School in the late 70s, we took one year of World History, one year of US Hist, and one year of Western Civilization (European History from the Middle Ages to WWII).

[@jasonmead570]

By 1993 I had 4 years of US Naval Science and a full year of American history. The American history teacher was a JFK conspiracy nut so the kids in class used that to derail any learning beyond the JFK assassination. Naval history was taught by Sergeant Major of the marine corps and my last year of Naval science was independent study and teaching 1 class a month to lower classemen so all of Naval Science studies the complete History of the US Navy and physical training in the high-school I went to.

[@karlketamine8172]

Well "protect" is a nice term for defining yourself, also there was solitary neglect where the colonies basically ran themselves and once you give someone freedom they aren't receptive to having taken away

[@pur756]

We are taught about it. The focus is on the biggest of the battles and how the French and (some) Indian forces joined the US. So some of these battles are new to me too.

[@dalemac614]

I live a mile from where the battle of Guilford courthouse took place. I live in Guilford County in Greensboro named after Nathaniel Greene

[@dawnyoung2294]

The British. And the French allied with the natives . They fought a war all together. And those that won , no matter what nationality you were , were after that American . We were still fighting the British in 1812

[@TheBaldr]

11:21 Cornwallis entered North Carolina in Charlotte and got into a bunch of heavy skirmishes. He later called Charlotte a "hornet’s nest of rebellion". Today Charlotte still used the nickname the Hornet's nest(which you see on police cars) and the NBA Basketball team is called The Charlotte Hornets.

[@stevenscott8784]

friedrich steubens lessons are still used today, every modern soldier is issued a "blue book" in honor of the pamphlet steuben passed on to the american soldiers which at the time were printed on blue paper covered boards.

[@Darkmanext]

The 'Carolinas' Have British Royalty Roots. 'Georgia' Was Inspired by a British King. 'Maryland' Was Named After a British Queen. The 'Virginias' Were Named for a Virgin Queen.

[@patmanchester8045]

Plymouth is a British cats that we seem to be obsessed with naming our cities after.

[@christypriest30]

I was going to say that to this day calling someone a Benedict Arnold is still an insult

[@starmnsixty1209]

Nice reaction, young man. My Great x etc., Grandfather was a veteran of the Revolution, and took part in the battle of Guilleford Courthouse. He was present at Yorktown as well after being wounded awhile before. You should watch the 2000 movie The Patriot starring Mel Gibson, which features a version of the Guilleford Courthouse battle. Its a harsh film, but well worth seeing.

[@brentmorris7780]

I love how enthusiastic you are about this despite being super lost the entire time😂

[@AndJusTIceForRob]

5:40 absolutely! They poke fun at this notion in the movie The Patriot. The main character was notorious for certain actions against the French in the French & Indian War. And then he becomes close friends with the French officer who helps the Americans in the Am Revolution.

[@danielmcgraw7908]

The most important observation you should remember, from this, the history is written by the winners.

[@errolldoss4243]

During the French & Indian War (as it's known here in America), America wasn't America. They are still English colonists. However, over the centuries since 1607 when the first permanent English settlement was established, at Jamestown, Virginia, the English over here had become very independent minded. That's a big reason they rebelled against all the taxes imposed by the British Parliament.

[@JustMe-dc6ks]

It wasn’t the taxes so much as that the English parliament wouldn’t listen when they told them that having to pay them in cash would cripple their economy.

[@courtneyraymer6586]

That’s the way it was taught to me. They were killing the goose that was laying their golden eggs. Or another animal analogy, we were their cash cow. I always wondered about the intelligence of George III and Lord North.

[@AutumnGracy]

If you are interested in learning more in depth about the Revolutionary War and what led up to it, there are some fantastic documentaries made by PBS about it. For example I watched the ones directed by Ken Burns about Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, and the American Revolution (respectively) and they were amazing. I don't know if you can find a place to watch them in the UK but you should be able to buy a dvd of them directly from PBS and hopefully it would work in your regional format. If not, well. there are ... *other* ways of finding the documentaries online, probably.

[@vincentlavallee2779]

To answer your question, the American colonies were basically British, meaning that the people either came directly from Britain, or that their ancestors did. Of course, this is obvious, but as you get closer to the Revolutionary War, the American residences took side - some wishing to remain British subjects, and others wanting to be completely independent, and be have their own country, ruled exclusively by themselves. So, those who wished to remain as British subjects were called 'Loyalists', and the other were called 'Revolutionists'. This often split families, like it did during the US Civil War, like brother against brother, or father against son. In this latter case, Franklin became estranged from his own son, who remained a loyalist, and after the war, Franklin's son move to England. In fact, after the war was over, most of the loyalists.moved to either Canada or back to England. The other thing you mentioned was what did happen to the French royalty after the US became an independent country. Some of what happened was a direct consequence of France helping the US, with lots of money and supplies and soldiers given in the effort to assist the Americans. The French Revolution lasted from 1789 until 1799. The Revolution precipitated a series of European wars, forcing the United States to articulate a clear policy of neutrality in order to avoid being embroiled in these European conflicts. During this period, the French royalty were beheaded with the guillotine, the same royalty that assisted America in its fight against Britain! These factors resulted in the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars in April 1792, abolition of the French monarchy and proclamation of the French First Republic in September 1792, followed by the execution of Louis XVI in, January 1993, later joined by his wife, Marie Antoinette, in October 1993.

[@WilliamJohnson-h2b]

Some of the earliest British colonists in what would one day become the U.S.A., were the Puritans. They came to North America in 1492 to practice their religion without persecution. At that time, the Church of England was the official religion in England, and other religions had to meet in secret.

[@bettyir4302]

Cough, 1620.

[@LlyleHunter]

John Paul Jones was a mad warrior. That’s why the bassist from Led Zeppelin took the name as his stage name. You see, fully comprehensive history in schools is lacking because it used to be taught on both sides of the pond or I nor John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin would not have known it.

[@hondo341979]

We were British at the time. Some were loyal to the British and others wanted to make a new country.

[@manxgirl]

You might want to check out "The Patriot" (2000). It's a very well acted fictional story taking place during the Revolutionary War. Although, some of the characters were based on real people.

[@kelbel769]

I have ancestors from England that came to America on the Mayflower. 1600's. The French, Spain, Portugal also had claims to land. America is huge.

[@tracieh215]

if you want to know how all this started, I recommend reading "Europe: A History" Just make sure you do some curls and back exercises. It starts in the ice age and goes up to 1992. It's a huge tome, and it's simultaneously great for education as well as home protection!

[@SamanthaTollstam]

And yes we're all taught this in school... and there are reenactments you can get tickets for usually around the areas where wars were. Civil War reenactments too.

[@bonniestonerock2521]

America was mainly settled by people from Britain. When the war started, the Patriots were British descendants but wanted representation in your parliament like all British citizens had. This caused a split in the people in America. Many people remained loyal to Britain and were called Royalists. They didn't want to break from Britain. The Patriots wanted freedom from the stifling rule of the monarchy. That is basically the two sides of the war and ultimately the Patriots won as seen.

[@swilli3476]

Oh and by the way the first colony also know as place the first child born in America (Virginia Dare), vanished without a trace, the leader headed back to British to get supplies, there was war going on there!! So he was delayed in returning to America!! When they got back they found nothing and nobody, only one carving in a tree, which I'm too tired to remember what it said!! Everything and everyone was gone..till this day nobody has clue what happened to them..

[@tweter2]

No, at the very beginning King gave out charters to establish colonies (countries of the realm). So each colony had a governor (or person whom the charter was given to). Eventually every colony had a governor, legislative body, and judicial system. Each colony had an armed militia. The legislative bodies decided to send delegates to a national convention (a congress) and to use their state militias (equivalent to the national guard) to fight the federal government army (the royal army). Just like any legislative election, there are people from different political parties. In this case the central issue was the independence leaning people who wanted to form their own federal government and the loyalists who wanted to keep the UK federal government.

[@GingerUmstattd]

I highly recommend you watch the musical, 1776, which came out around 1976, our 200th national birthday. It was the era when the American musical was beginning to die as outdated, so a lot of it is silly-making fun of the genre, really funny. Yet, it is surprisingly accurate, based on documents of the making of the Declaration of Independence. You will love it, and learn so much! ❤🇺🇸

[@AutumnGracy]

Make sure to watch the part of it that Nixon tried to ban (“Cool, Cool, Considerate Men”)! The director's cut released in 2002 restored the song (despite Nixon literally trying to get the director to shred the original negative of it).

[@courtneyraymer6586]

Watch it the first time to get the “big picture’” before you focus on the details. There’s a lot of history to process, but it’s fun.

[@davidnicholas7516]

The 13 colonies of North America were settled by a variety of different people. There were religious dissidents, called "Puritans" and religious dissidents from the Puritans, called "Roger Williams" (he founded Rhode Island); Pennsylvania was founded by William Penn, who had a charter to set up a colony of Quakers; Maryland was founded by a Catholic, and named after a Catholic Queen of England, while the founder named the main city (Baltimore) after himself. All of those groups were English. New York was originally "New Amsterdam" and was a Dutch colony, but the Dutch lost an island full of spices in the South Pacific to the Brits and traded New Amsterdam to said Brits in return for getting their spicy island back. Georgia started out as a penal colony, with thieves and such from Britain "transported" there rather like Australia a century later. The rest of the colonies generally were peopled by folks from England who felt there were no opportunities to improve their lives in England. There were some tribes locally in various parts of those 13 colonies when the colonists arrived; some got along with the colonists and others didn't, but between wars they typically lost and the spread of disease that non-Europeans hadn't built up an immunity to, those tribes were extinguished or driven Westward by the expansion of the colonies inland. The map is actually a bit misleading, in that much of the "territory" controlled by one or the other of the powers was only theirs nominally. There were no troops there, etc. French and Spanish colonial models were very different from the British one, with the French only sending over a few settlers, who traded with the local natives, typically for furs, while the Spaniards sought gold and did little else other than enslave the natives. The big hurdle for the Brits during the war was feeding the army 3000 miles from England. They bought food locally, or stole it when they could, but of course the Americans figured that out and made it hard for them. The logistics of the war were very tough on both sides. As for slavery, it's worth noting that pretty much everyone thought slavery was going to be a dead letter within a few years, as it was in New England. By 1775 one of the Minutemen, at Lexington actually, was a slave. Supposedly he was fighting because although he was a slave, his children were born (in Massachussetts by law) free. By 1805 or so slavery was illegal in the Northern half of the country, while in the Southern half it was used to grow tobacco. Pretty much everyone thought that wouldn't last, because tobacco depletes the soil of nutrients quickly, and while it was a good crop when the economy was stable, as a luxury good it was subject to fluctuations in price. Then along came the cotton gin, which made growing cotton feasible economically, and there was a new incentive for slavery, which hadn't existed during the time of the Founding Fathers...

[@PhantomSavage]

Revolutionary war, what happened in the prequel: Spain discovers lots of really cool stuff in a far off land with a bunch of people that are easily killable in massive numbers. Britain and France, the other two world superpowers at the time, both go "Ooooh, good idea, mate!" and then land in eastern and northern parts of the American continent and start doing the same thing, taking up huge swathes of land in their Nation's name and killing lots and lots of Indians. Britain and France, as always, inevitably bump heads whenever their borders and militaries are within close proximity with each other, and so the two engage in war with each other like they had done hundreds of times before until they, again, both got tired out and stopped. Spain continued to genocide whatever Native population they came across as they conquered massive amount of territory to the south and west relatively unimpeded with Britain and France had their little spat in the east. During this time, to solidify the claim to the lands all three of the Superpower Nations were conquering, they would send colonists, or otherwise immigrants comprised of families, workers, and tradesmen from their native shores off into the newly conquered lands of the "new world" to build small towns and societies that their father nations hoped would eventually bloom into big population centers under their direct control. Cities like Boston or New Orleans started as British or French colonies that were populated by no more than a handful colonists that rapidly achieved growth through skill, labor, and trade. However, once it became clear to everyone that spreading the entirety of your countries resources on land acquisition thousands and thousands of miles away from the center of your government would put your country into bankruptcy, everyone experienced some major problems... Britain tried to solve their finance problems by making their colonists pay for it, and in aggressively demanding so they got a full-on rebellion that blew up in their face in return, leading to the birth of the US. France tried to recover from their bad investment by selling massive amounts of their conquered lands directly to the now new Americans for pennies on the dollar, but they blew it all on continued extravagance for their royals while their people couldn't even get a loaf of bread, and they lost all their heads for it. Spain held on a little longer, but had ultimately spread themselves too far and too thin to be able to effectively govern, and they eventually had a number of their own revolutionary problems with some of their former Spanish colonies either petitioning to join the US or choosing to become fully independent entities of themselves, like Mexico did. TL;DR The three biggest Super Powers in the world at the time discovered the western hemisphere exists and they spent all their money on committing genocide and taking land that ultimately none of them were able to keep. Except Canada... for awhile.

[@jasonrasberry2439]

It was torn. People who originally came from Great Britain still had loyalty to the crown. We were split down the middle.

[@slickstretch6391]

I'm honestly more surprised they didn't teach you about the French revolution than I am about the American one.

[@lindiharris-axon8167]

The British and French had lots of wars up through the 1800s and much earlier on, dispute over land. Even in WWI and II, when they were allies, they called each other name a lot and competed with each other.

[@bettyir4302]

The 3 countries were still fussing in the War of 1812.

[@suepall5425]

At the start, the colonists were considered British citizens, however they were not given representation in Parliament and this is where the trouble began. The taxes became egregious angering the beleagured English colonists. Most colonists did not want to separate from the "mother" country, England and they were called loyalists. The number of loyalists dwindled as the taxes grew more and more unreasonable. However, some did remain and for good reason you might think. These people thought it was impossible to win a war against England and they feared the repercussions of armed conflict which they felt was a lost cause. Hope this helps explain away some of the confusion.

[@allysinlombard]

Gotta watch The Patriot! In the US, half of Americans still wanted to still be British!

[@lindaaumiller174]

I'm here for this. I enjoy your reactions.

[@robinhoogewerf6712]

My ancestors on my dad's side were pirates who helped the Americans win the Battle of Portsmouth.

[@kelseydulaney3118]

How king George acted is why we have freedom of speech and guns to protect it

[@patmanchester8045]

Remember George the 3rd, was mad. His porphyria is what they think caused some of it. He was VERY manic, as well.

[@Sputterbug]

guns were actually made legal to fight against invasion not to fight specifically for freedom of speech

[@kelseydulaney3118]

Made legal? They were made illegal to be declared illegal. Invasion isn’t why, tyrannical government foreign AND domestic. Invasion defense squarely falls on the federal government in the principal rationale to bind republics and commonwealth states together. Mostly it was for financial stability but founding principal was alot like the EU. State nations “uniting” for strength and stability, then England succeeds from the nation, ring any bells? Think state size, England is the size of Pennsylvania, Germany size of Texas, same with France. EU doesn’t want state nations divided on another war so foreign policy becomes domain of a United governance.

[@lmbrtshrry]

Have you seen anything from the Hamilton play? That's really cool. When I was in college I had a crush on Alexander Hamilton. I know he was already dead, but my history teacher made him seem so cool. I was really depressed when he got to the part where he was killed in a dual.

[@lasandrenstormewalker5432]

One of my direct ancestors was captured in the Battle of Trenton and he was the Hessian Soldier on my mother's side on my father's side The Rutledge brothers from South Carolina signed the Declaration of Independence

[@lynnw7155]

The blue on the map are the original 13 colonies. The red beyond them is still claimed by Britain, but is wilderness...very few people there.

[@theresamnsota3925]

North America had British, French, and Spanish colonies. The European rulers of course battled over the boundaries of said colonies. Oh and Russia had colonies in North America, most notably what is now Alaska.

[@philparisi9175]

Before the revolutionary war, they were no American. They were only British subjects however, all of them were not loyal to the crime, but even before that they just consider themselves British, and they were living in a new area that France was trying to overtake, so Britain was just protecting the area they had already taken. It wasn’t like they were protecting Americans. They were protecting themselves. Until enough Americans decided they didn’t want Britain’s help anymore.

[@Mr.Bigfoot-e2q]

The Americans were British. frist got passed off and started rebellion against them, but some still loved the British throughout the war.

[@patricequinn7733]

The Declaration of Independence is the best depiction of the situation at that time.

[@lasandrenstormewalker5432]

Jamestown was a Colony founded by the British and 1607 and the Americans considered themselves British subjects until 1775

[@Wud-f2r]

They didn’t attack on all sides at once because there weren’t enough British to do it, even today it takes about 12-14 hours just to drive the length of the original colonies from north to south. It was a huge area.

[@nlcauble]

The battle of Guilford Courthouse was fought on my ancestors’ land

[@cinemasq2825]

The red area in the map was the frontier. The wilderness. Unsettled.

[@Dante.-]

Most the natives died from disease once the British and French colonist arrived. The demographics of the east coast at that time were thus mostly British and some French with very little natives. Even today most Americans who’s family existed here since colonization are British, and a few US costal towns still have British accents

[@L3WGReacts]

thats actually really interesting! thanks:)

[@LadyIarConnacht]

And most of the colonists also died - they were not immune to each other's diseases at that time.

[@rnk482]

I just got done watching part 1 of your reaction and I'm at the beginning of part 2. I thought by now you would have realized that this was all British territory. Americans weren't Americans yet, they were all British subjects. And there was a lot of colonists that wanted it to stay that way.

[@michaelgeorge4614]

Once the land (USA) was found by Chris C. Britain asked their citizens to volunteer to settle the new land, called the American colonies. These are British people. France also has some in Canada. About 20,000 years ago this land was settled by the native people, which we call Native Americans. The French and Native Americans were battling the British settlers/colonies. The war was British citizens against the British crown. You should read the Declaration of Independence. It explains why the colonies were seeking their independence from the British.

[@shawnb4938]

There were 3 factions in the Revolution. Loyalists, Revolusionists, and Neutrals.

[@ritakelley7166]

Make yourself some waffles and fried chicken. Don't forget the maple syrup.

[@KR15nAK]

I haven't been in school for over 20 years, so I may have some facts incorrect, but from what I recall, it's something like this: 2:03 many of the colonists that owned the larger portions of lands owned them thanks either in part, or fully, to the British. Not wanting to loose their wealth, they deemed it wiser to stay loyal to Britian rather than rebel. Also remember all the colonial territories were British territories before the war.

[@docdeadsailor7865]

If you like the lesser known (at least popularly) side tales, the story of George Washington’s Masonic chair has all the Don’t F with us Americaness to it. You can find it yourself but basic summary; British stole GW’s chair, set sail for England in a squad of 5 military ships. 2 American ships chased them down, sank 3, took back the chair and one of the remaining ships and came home. Thus succeeding in their mission as well as adding a full 50% to our number of ships back then.

[@kelbel769]

Many Civilians stayed loyal to the Crown. They were called Loyalists or Torrey's. Civilians not loyal to the crown were rebels. When the war was over Loyalists were treated horribly and many fled to Canada.

[@hyperlmao1725]

keep up the good work

[@terrypaige4917]

At the start of the war and the end also. About 1/3 of yhe colonists were loyal to the king, 1/3 was in rebellion, and the last 1/3 didn't care they saw no benefit either way. At the beginning the colonist didnt want to pay gor the 7 yr war. Which was fought in Europe, Asia, and North America.

[@AutumnGracy]

Our partnership with the French during the Revolutionary War really culturally influenced the US. We borrowed a lot of their styles of fashion, architecture, entertaining, military sensibilities, etc. To this day there is STILL a version of the West Point cadet uniform that resembles the French military uniforms from the 1700's, shako and all.

[@stevedavis5704]

Don’t worry about not learning this in school because frankly we didn’t learn a lot of this in school. The colonists rebelled we fought a while Benedict Arnold betrayed the colonists Valley Forge sucked and we won. This was mostly how it went. No mention that the British didn’t consider us the winner, they just had to put us on the back burner because other colonies were getting uppity. Especially India which frankly was much more important to England economically so they for sure didn’t want to lose it. This uncertain ending was what led to the War of 1812 which settled the question once and for all.

[@courtneyraymer6586]

Well said! It’s so expensive trying to maintain an empire. England had to worry about India and when Napoleon became emperor, France’s coffers were so empty that he had to sell real estate to us that doubled the size of the country for pennies on the acre.

[@trentthehehim3936]

Also, you talked about the British navy. I’m sure you know who John Paul Jones was. They had a statue of him in England. I’m not sure if you do anymore.

[@lmbrtshrry]

It was actually a British civil war. Most of the colonists were British and some people stayed loyal to Britain. The British protected the land that England claimed from being taken by the French. Also Benjamin Franklin did spend most of his time womanizing.

[@michellelewis7665]

We were all still British subjects but most of us were pissed at Britain for trying to assert their authority without allowing us any say in it. There were still some people that were loyal to the king but the rest of the people wanted Independence from Britain.

[@KR15nAK]

10:43 most of the continental colonies eastern border runs along the Appalachian mountain range. Never seen them myself, but I'm sure they played a factor in why invasion points were limited.

[@markedgood]

+ fried chicken and waffles is a great combo.

[@Sputterbug]

chicken n waffles is amazing. it's easy to make. just make some fried chicken, make a couple waffles. top with butter and syrup