•”Strictures Upon the Declaration of the Congress at Philadelphia.
Thomas Hutchinson’s anonymously published rebuttal to the Declaration of Independence (and fisking of its charges against George III).
Related, with quotes from the above, is this Radish article; also, Part 2 of Moldbug’s A gentle introduction to Unqualified Reservations.
•William Bernstein on the Boston Tea Party in this EconTalk podcast (circa 25 minutes in). The takeaway: it was essentially the “first anti-globalization riot”, with smugglers like Samuel Adams protesting a reduction in taxes that was undercutting their business.
Related: Historynet’s Debunking Boston Tea Party Myths
An exerpt:
Resistance leaders also launched a new wave of negative propaganda that played to anti-foreign sentiments: Tea from the East India Company was packed tightly in chests by the stomping of barefoot Chinese and was infested with Chinese fleas. In turn, a vast number of colonists vowed to protect American business from foreign competition, even if that business was smuggling. Beware of products from China, buy America, wage war on drugs, down with corporations—all these messages, as well as their better-known cousin, no taxation without representation—amplified the response to Parliament’s Tea Act of 1773.
•”American Loyalists“: Buried History of the American Revolution.
•Handle: “Suppressing Tories”
•A quote:
Sir, As the Committee of Safety is not sitting, I take the Liberty to enclose you a Copy of the Proclamation issued by Lord Dunmore; the Design and Tendency of which you will observe, is fatal to the publick Safety. An early and unremitting Attention to the Government of the SLAVES may, I hope, counteract this dangerous Attempt. Constant, and well directed Patrols, seem indispensably necessary.
Patrick Henry, in a pamphlet written to county lieutenants throughout Virginia concerning the Earl of Dunmore’s proclamation offering emancipation to slaves of Patriots who escaped and joined the Royal forces. (See also Lord Dunmore’s Ethiopian Regiment).
•Somerset v. Stewart — 3.5: Thirteen Colonies and United States.
•Tangentially related, particularly the comments threads: The Economist “Why the first world war wasn’t really” on the Seven Years’ War — and its American theater, the “French and Indian War“/”La guerre de la Conquête” — as the actual first world war. (See also the Battle of Jumonville Glen.)
Update: Nick B. Steves has created a permanent page for “Strictures upon the Declaration of Independence” over at The Reactivity Place.
Tags: 4th of July, Battle of Jumonville Glen, Boston Tea Party, Declaration of Independence, Earl of Dunmore, Independence Day, Loyalists, Patrick Henry, Patriots, Tea Party, The Economist, Thomas Hutchinson, Tories
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