Without any shadow of a doubt, it is clear that the Colonists, ably supported by France in particular, but also the Dutch and Spanish, gave the United Kingdom a bloody nose in the latter part of the eighteenth century.
Like all things historical, and however well-documented they are, there remains the question of "What if?"
What if the result had been different? What if Britain had prevailed?
History is the re-telling and study of what happened. It is quite common that many events turn on circumstance, and America nearly didn't happen. The French, for example, almost bankrupted their country, and they might easily have pulled out of that expensive foreign campaign. Result ... America 0 United Kingdom 1
So what kind of America might we now have?
This Diary is simply a personal, reflective piece. On man's view of an alternate scenario. What I would be most interested in are the comments and other alternate views that readers might like to share in the comment thread.
My Birthday is the 4th of July. No, really, that is the day I was born, in a small Maternity Hospital in Huddersfield, Yorkshire, England. The year was 1959 which, I believe, makes America 183 years older than me, to the day.
Indeed, my short fifty-odd years on this Earth represents roughly one quarter of the time that America has existed as an independent nation. Where I come from that is a mere blink of an eye.
To put it into perspective, the house my parents last owned was built in around 1450. The High School I attended was founded in 1630. The Parliament of my Home Country can trace its roots to 1215, and even back to 1066 if one cares to count the Advisory Council formed by William of Normandy.
So what has the United States achieved in 236 years?
Well, that very much depends on who you ask. From the point of view of the winners in this country, a great deal has been gained. A mighty military machine quite capable of, in the immortal words of Toby Keith "putting a boot in your ass, it's the American Way". Charmed, I'm sure. The comments below that linked video are ... educational!
More than that, men walked on the Moon. Sporting legends strutted their stuff around the world, even if some of them may have had the help of Big Pharma. While we are on that subject, US industry and innovation has been spectacularly productive and successful, and the sporting cheats are far from uniquely American.
In many spheres of human endeavour, America has led the World. Not so much as some Americans think, but enough. It has been a success.
Now the churlish might argue that it was to be expected. I mean, a vast new land covered in about ten feet of fertile soil. Forests from coast to coast, wildlife plentiful and perfect weather for growing things. How could they fail? Just the small matter of the folk already here to deal with, and the settlers were all set to conquer the world.
I am not here to argue the wrongs and wrongs of that. It's an internal matter that others represent exceptionally well. What happened to the Indian Nations is only part of what happened to all Americans not blessed with wealth and privilege. Whether they be slaves, freed slaves, Black Americans, Hispanics, Working Poor of any colour, Lesbian, Gay, Transgender. Anyone who is not rich, and currently not sharing the spoils of the labour they provided. I accept that there is cross-over, in that there are rich folk who are gay, black, etc.
The Americans who built this country were not the entrepreneurs. Sure, they too contributed, but this country was built by its people, all of them. Built with hand tools. Carved out of the landscape with sweat and ingenuity, and it is the fate of those Americans that concerns me here. I do not dismiss the wealthy, and I do not underestimate their contributions, but they can and do speak up for themselves quite effectively. They don't need me to advocate for them.
You see I am from the same stock as the vast majority in this great nation. My Grandfathers were a coal miner and a teacher, my Grandmothers a stay at home Mom and a wonderful woman who performed a whole heap of unskilled labour. My Mum was a textile worker who left school at about thirteen to help raise her siblings, and my Father a factory worker. I am from a "modern" family, and my Stepfather was a skilled Toolmaker. Not a college degree among them, except the teacher. They went underground to put food on the table, or they built things, tangible things, or they educated the future entrepreneurs and workers ... or they raised the kids. In short, they are you.
But there is a difference too.
For all of their adult lives my parents have enjoyed cradle to grave (they aren't there yet), Health Care, free at the point of delivery. They also benefited from strong Trade Unions, and as a result enjoyed hard won and comprehensive employment protections. My parents spent their working lives fighting for social justice, and achieving a great deal. My paternal Grandfather, the teacher, was respected all his working life and had a comfortable retirement with a decent pension. My Maternal Grandfather retired early to care for his disabled son, my uncle. He was compensated for an accident, not enough but still there was free healthcare, etc.
Fast forward to 2012 and while Britain may indeed be suffering the ravages of an ill-advised austerity program, the basic Welfare State remains largely intact. The Conservatives would love to dismantle parts of it, but they dare not, so are reduced to perpetual tinkering. It's annoying but we can throw their arses out, lock, stock and barrel if we want to. In the UK, as in Canada and Australia, the benefits of a Parliamentary system remain as clear today as they ever did. A Parliamentary system America would ultimately have had, had you not adopted the Constitution. All is not rosy in the garden, but let's jump back over to Left Pond and do some comparing ...
In the US, undoubtedly the wealthiest nation the world has ever seen, the inhabitants had a good period between the end of the Second World War and the early Seventies. Not coincidentally that was also the period where all that Socialist stuff was established. The GI Bill, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and basic unemployment benefits. College and Healthcare remained affordable, probably for most although not all.
It was a golden era and those Americans are the ones now enjoying a prosperous retirement. The rich were still rich, as they are in other industrial nations, but the spread was less. The Captains of Industry, while still extremely wealthy, were not obscenely wealthy in the way they are now.
What of the common herd, of which I include myself? Well it's not so good, is it? Health Care has all but disappeared for many, and the Affordable Care Act will not change that substantially anytime soon. College is getting out of reach for the children of the poor. If they do make it, the loans will cripple them until they are almost grandparents themselves.
What employment protections were won are being stripped away, callously and systematically. The uber-rich are even demanding that we pay them MORE to do this, and what remains of the Middle Class seems happy to allow this to happen. It doesn't surprise me that the demographic of Progressive enclaves like DailyKos, and others is predominantly white, male, well-educated and well paid. It's almost inevitable that this would happen. Those less well-educated and therefore less well paid are used as a tool to divide, by the Oligarchs and their paid-for media. The problem will worsen with the attack on Public Schools. The under-educated will remain the majority, and be taught to remain grateful for the scraps from the Master's Table.
I do accept, by the way, that not all Progressives fit that neat stereotype, simply remarking that they are the majority.
What makes this all worse is that the more the Middle Classes are squeezed, the less likely they are to try to resist, and the Churches, in themselves a political power structure, and the media, and their employers will do all they can to prevent any change. There would be a tipping point. A point where the mass of the population screams "Enough", and throws off the shackles, but the Right reads history too. They have heard about the October Revolution, and that will not be allowed to happen here. They are venal, but they are not stupid.
So I ask ... Who won the War of Independence?
Despite being able to point our fingers at the discord in Canada, Australia and the UK, are they really worse off than their American cousins?
What would the average British worker think if offered a chance to live here? Would they be attracted by the low pay, the exorbitant cost of healthcare, even with decent insurance? The complete absence of employment protections? The out-of-control Banks who can legally steal their homes?
Would they be impressed by the racism, the homophobia, the lack of any real Freedoms? That's ironic ... Americans continually tell me about their "Freedoms", while at the same time freely giving most of them up and criticizing that "Socialist Europe". Just more stoopid writ large on Facebook, and Fox News.
Of course it is futile to speculate like this. America won that war and gained its independence. That would have happened anyway, after we had hanged George Washington and a few others.
It's not the winning of the independence that really matters to most people. It's what you did with it.