American Revolution Documentary
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I've made it through four episodes so far. It's fascinating how small the armies were compared to subsequent wars (5,000-10,000 vs. 50,000-100,000 during the Civil War). I had never followed the revolution that closely; so, much of this information has been a revelation. Washington did a lot of losing but he did keep his army intact.
donbosco
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Posting this on the politics thread, just because.
Really looking forward to this one. I’m sure Ken Burns did his usual masterful job putting this together. He’s doing some events, conversations with the public and pre-screenings all over the nation leading up to a November release on PBS (my favourite TV programming). He just did one in Raleigh yesterday - did anyone go check it out?
Really looking forward to this one. I’m sure Ken Burns did his usual masterful job putting this together. He’s doing some events, conversations with the public and pre-screenings all over the nation leading up to a November release on PBS (my favourite TV programming). He just did one in Raleigh yesterday - did anyone go check it out?
The American Revolution | Coming Fall 2025 | PBS
The American Revolution, a landmark documentary by Ken Burns, Sarah Botstein, and David Schmidt, is coming Fall 2025.
www.pbs.org
The American Revolution was at once a war for independence, a civil war, and a world war. It impacted millions – from Canada to the Caribbean...
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Is this a discussion of the first one to free us from British rule or the upcoming second one to free us from Russian rule?
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In re RIck Atkinson: I once had a brief e-mail correspondence with an active-duty Army Officer who had written a history book that was getting good reviews and some buzz as maybe a Pulitzer nominee. And then, as he put it, "Rick f***ing Atkinson" released Book 1 of the Liberation Trilogy, "Army at Dawn," and once he read it, he said that not only did he have no shot at a nomination but that he didn't even deserve to be nominated. I think I replied with some nonsense about not comparing his book to "Army at Dawn," but some of Akinson's earlier books. His response was that if I was talking about "The Long Gray Line," then I wasn't helping.
donbosco
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MAGA mad...just a sample of the work the trumpers are doing on X
A attempt at a balanced discussion of the level of 'wokeness' condemned...by John Riley ( Who is John Riley? John Riley Project – John Riley Project )
A attempt at a balanced discussion of the level of 'wokeness' condemned...by John Riley ( Who is John Riley? John Riley Project – John Riley Project )
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When I was watching the series, I assumed there would anger by MAGA world at the way the 'Patriots' were portrayed. According to MAGA, the Patriots were all saints, and the British and Native Americans were the bad guys, nothing more, nothing less. Which is nonsense.
lawtig02
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If set in 2025, MAGA would absolutely be the Loyalists, and Trump would be King George III.
donbosco
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As I have written elsewhere...utterly unprompted, several of my students upon reading the Declaration of Independence and the 27 grievances against King George listed the ones that they saw trump as guilty of as well.
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He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
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www.archives.gov
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He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
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Declaration of Independence: A Transcription
Note: The following text is a transcription of the Stone Engraving of the parchment Declaration of Independence (the document on display in the Rotunda at the National Archives Museum.) The spelling and punctuation reflects the original.
www.archives.gov
Centerpiece
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Exactly.
And this is what angers them so. They finally get a chance to look in the mirror and see that they are on the wrong side of history. They are the furthest thing from being a patriot. A co-opted the tea party moniker for themselves… They keep calling themselves patriots as if they really know what that means or what it meant back in the 1700s, and now for the first time they can see themselves for what they are. They’re on the wrong side of history again just like they were in 1860 and in 1954 and in 1965 and so on.
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donbosco
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So they say...
www.washingtontimes.com
Conservatives cried ‘woke’ and Ken Burns made a correction in his new documentary
Ken Burns had to correct a “woke bomb” in his new documentary series about the Revolutionary War.
www.washingtontimes.com
Centerpiece
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Having watched most of the documentary (been watching in bits and pieces… not binge), I’m beginning to think the wrong side won.
(NOTE: if I were alive back then I probably would’ve sided with the rebels - the Patriots - not the loyalists. But who knows?)
However, looking at how things played out - and especially looking at our country today - i’m not at all convinced that we would not have been better off all this time.
Canada and their system doesn’t seem too bad right now and there’s no reason to think we wouldn’t have the same or similar system here today.
Think:
Slavery may have been abolished the same time it was done away with in England, 1833. Perhaps there would have been no Civil War. No Jim Crow. No “separate but equal” bull shit. Civil Rights would have occurred and been the norm long before 1965. No Lynchings. No red-lining.
We would have similar healthcare as does Canada today.
The genocide and murder of native indigenous peoples may not have happened. (Recall, most of the Indigenous Nations sided with the Brits). Perhaps we would have handled things a bit differently in that regard. Who knows? (Yes, Canada had their shortcomings in dealing with indigenous peoples back in the 1800s, but they did not murder them the way we did)
How would things have played out in WWI?
WWII would definitely have played out differently… we would have entered that war in Sept 1939, not waiting around til 1941. Pearl Harbor may not have happened. Who knows? Japan may still have attacked. But perhaps not, if we were already engaged and War-ready.
I don’t know. Canada looks pretty good to me these days (always has really). I’ve only been to the Canadian side of Niagara Falls and Toronto for a cuppa coffee… but I do have a lot of friends from Canada and spent a lot of time with them.
But I have no doubt that we as a nation would not have gone through all that Civil War shit, and it’s aftermath. And I seriously doubt we would be living through all this Trump and Maga bull shit.
I think we would have ended up more like Canada or perhaps even Australia. I was there for an entire month. I could live in Adelaide just fine and be happy as a hell right now. Toronto seems like it would be just lovely too.
(NOTE: if I were alive back then I probably would’ve sided with the rebels - the Patriots - not the loyalists. But who knows?)
However, looking at how things played out - and especially looking at our country today - i’m not at all convinced that we would not have been better off all this time.
Canada and their system doesn’t seem too bad right now and there’s no reason to think we wouldn’t have the same or similar system here today.
Think:
Slavery may have been abolished the same time it was done away with in England, 1833. Perhaps there would have been no Civil War. No Jim Crow. No “separate but equal” bull shit. Civil Rights would have occurred and been the norm long before 1965. No Lynchings. No red-lining.
We would have similar healthcare as does Canada today.
The genocide and murder of native indigenous peoples may not have happened. (Recall, most of the Indigenous Nations sided with the Brits). Perhaps we would have handled things a bit differently in that regard. Who knows? (Yes, Canada had their shortcomings in dealing with indigenous peoples back in the 1800s, but they did not murder them the way we did)
How would things have played out in WWI?
WWII would definitely have played out differently… we would have entered that war in Sept 1939, not waiting around til 1941. Pearl Harbor may not have happened. Who knows? Japan may still have attacked. But perhaps not, if we were already engaged and War-ready.
I don’t know. Canada looks pretty good to me these days (always has really). I’ve only been to the Canadian side of Niagara Falls and Toronto for a cuppa coffee… but I do have a lot of friends from Canada and spent a lot of time with them.
But I have no doubt that we as a nation would not have gone through all that Civil War shit, and it’s aftermath. And I seriously doubt we would be living through all this Trump and Maga bull shit.
I think we would have ended up more like Canada or perhaps even Australia. I was there for an entire month. I could live in Adelaide just fine and be happy as a hell right now. Toronto seems like it would be just lovely too.
Centerpiece
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But then again, had the Brits won - and there was indeed no Civil War, then Ken Burns would not have done any of his documentaries. 
donbosco
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7 American Revolution Alternative History Books
I try to stay away from "What If" History...I have a hard enough time with what actually happened.
I try to stay away from "What If" History...I have a hard enough time with what actually happened.
Centerpiece
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Just trying to make some sense of what's going on today, and what I've learned from the Burns doc. ... At this point in time, I'd rather live in a "what if" world if I had my druthers.