MrStoff1989

Good Morning Class, My name is Admiral Stoff and I will be your lecturer this morning. Please enjoy.

*lights go down* Ahem




Lets get down to the fact of the matter
When all faith and liberties go under the ladder
The British wanna take away our unalienable rights
and we ain't goin' down here without a fight
So call up G.W. and set up a date
Cause we're takin' us a country gonna rock this place.

They issue proclamation in '63
say we're good where we are and "if you please"
don't move out west, just stay your route
App. Mountain exploration is totally out.
Don't move past the mountains, or you will see
them savages'll kill you and ruin your familes.

(Finish Later)

Belisarius

All right, I'll bite.

Just what "unalienable rights" were we trying to take away from you poor colonial boys?

heikstheo

Well, the right to take Indian lands that we fought and died for for nine years in the French and Indian War!

Fromage

Basically the right to ignore the King, because he was a tyrant (in their eyes anyways). But by the same logic, states should be able to secceed from the Union if they don't like the way the President is running things.

I think it all came down to the taxes. And possibly sour feelings because the Americans tried so much to recreate English society, but were never seen as "real" Englishmen.

Belisarius

When you say "we" you realise "we" were all British then, and I wasn't aware the French and Indian war was one of conquest, I thought it was to defend the existing colonies.

Lucius

Belisarius,

You make a good point - one which a third of the English colonists would have agreed with. Another third would have been listed under the category, "no opinion".

Sometimes strict interpretation of the law has to be adjusted for pragmatism's sake. In retrospect, I think it's obvious that the seating of American MPs in Parliament would have been preferable to what happened instead. They were Episcopalians after all, not Hindus. It was not a totally outlandish idea. Wasn't there some sympathy for that idea in the Parliament then?

Belisarius

There was considerable sympathy for this idea in some quarters, but by the time it was ready to be seriously considered, the hard liners on both sides had taken over and war was inevitable. I think Pitt proposed the idea of a native American Parliament, that would acknowledge British Sovereignty by sending an agreed portion of its domestic tax revenue to Britain, so solving the "no taxation without representation" issue. Unfortunately he died soon after.