Saving this because it’s a perfect demonstration of how the point of the American revolution was for burger factions to take over the colonial project from the British crown. They love saying it was taxes and representation that brought things to a head but the crown prohibiting settlers from land-grabbing past the Appalachians was a HUGE bone of contention for the colonists who felt entitled to conquer those indigenous lands after the French-Indian war. Not to mention that Britain was beginning to entertain abolition (partly since they had gotten most of their value out of slavery by then).
didnt the nascent US elite already have the “west” (beyond the 13 colonies) carved up for real estate speculation even before the revolution broke out?
I think so but the outcome of the Seven Years’ War treaties was to allocate that land for indigenous use:
(Note that if it had been less expensive to keep a military presence there, the British would have been as eager as the Americans to keep genociding in that region as well)
oh yeah, the brits just signed those treaties as a temporary measure while they did other stuff, they would’ve come back eventually, kicked the treaties over and taken the land.
but the US elite couldnt wait that long. they wanted the land NOW.
Exactly lol there’s no way the British were going to actually honour and safekeep their land forever. They’d have just bided their time and invaded later. Guess that wasn’t soon enough for the heroic founding fathers.
I didn’t even know about this specific case but wow, nice catch. So yeah I rest my case lol. Unless maybe it was just a weird coincidence that the vast majority of the founding fathers’ wealth rested on enslaved people’s labour.
Saving this because it’s a perfect demonstration of how the point of the American revolution was for burger factions to take over the colonial project from the British crown. They love saying it was taxes and representation that brought things to a head but the crown prohibiting settlers from land-grabbing past the Appalachians was a HUGE bone of contention for the colonists who felt entitled to conquer those indigenous lands after the French-Indian war. Not to mention that Britain was beginning to entertain abolition (partly since they had gotten most of their value out of slavery by then).
didnt the nascent US elite already have the “west” (beyond the 13 colonies) carved up for real estate speculation even before the revolution broke out?
I think so but the outcome of the Seven Years’ War treaties was to allocate that land for indigenous use:
(Note that if it had been less expensive to keep a military presence there, the British would have been as eager as the Americans to keep genociding in that region as well)
oh yeah, the brits just signed those treaties as a temporary measure while they did other stuff, they would’ve come back eventually, kicked the treaties over and taken the land.
but the US elite couldnt wait that long. they wanted the land NOW.
Exactly lol there’s no way the British were going to actually honour and safekeep their land forever. They’d have just bided their time and invaded later. Guess that wasn’t soon enough for the heroic founding fathers.
i’ve always wondered how much this english court ruling influenced the founding fathers of the US to rebel: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somerset_v_Stewart
a lot, apparently. this article’s been expanded since i last looked at it, lol.
I didn’t even know about this specific case but wow, nice catch. So yeah I rest my case lol. Unless maybe it was just a weird coincidence that the vast majority of the founding fathers’ wealth rested on enslaved people’s labour.