“The Colonies will no longer need Britain’s protection. She will call on them to contribute toward supporting the burdens they have helped to bring on her, and they will answer by striking off their chains.”
Comte de Vergennes at the close of the French and Indian War
Myth 1: Americans were the subject of intense British propaganda to retain colonial fealty to the crown.
Actually, the opposite was true; American patriots portrayed events in their best interests to rattle the masses to their way of thought. Patriots, from the starting gate of agitation with the mother country, proved incredibly adapt at ‘spinning’ their own take on events to their fellow countrymen, even strumming up support in England. They had to be because the patriots were a minority, with over two thirds of the colonial population either loyal to England or indifferent. These eighteenth century ‘spin doctors’ became masters at presenting their cause as just and righteous. Once hostilities erupted, they extracted victory out of military defeat and exaggerated infrequent battlefield success as herculean triumphs. At times all they had to fight with was propaganda. Misinformation and exaggeration of events became vital to draw more numbers of colonialists to their banner as well as demoralize England’s war effort which even prior to the outbreak of war, was never all that popular among the British people.
Myth 2: The British Parliament implemented crushing policies of taxation upon the colonists.
Simply put, taxes were far less draconian than the patriotic movement portrayed – much lighter than what Englishmen were paying on English soil. Most revenue levied in America’s colonies were ‘external’, customs and tariffs. The majority of colonials were of the middle to lower social class. They were pretty self-sufficient and were not much affected by fluctuations in trade costs. The wealthy and shipping merchants who dealt with large quantities of imports and exports were really the only ones who felt their purses lightened. And for the most part, smuggling was so rampant along a coast line hundreds of miles long, virtually unenforceable, that the overall effect was trifling. ‘Internal’ taxes were felt by all, but they were very slight and basically covered the cost of local assemblies which colonialists felt no pains in paying. In fact, not until the internal taxes were pointed out by ‘Sons of Liberty’ rhetoric as being oppressive, most Americans didn’t give it a second thought. The British government eventually shot itself in the foot when they implemented acts that, in the people’s mind, with the help of an elaborate propaganda machine fueled by the upper society and landed gentry, added revenue to internal taxes normally obtained through external taxes, or combined the two taxes into one. The Stamp Act was a dream come true for the established ‘money’ men of the colonies. With it they could arouse the masses with ready-made rhetoric that would go beyond mostly insignificant taxes and tie it all in a neat package of protecting ones’ liberty.
Myth 3: American patriotism was born from a love of liberty after centuries of British oppression.
During most of the colonial period, right up to the opening salvos of aggression, those settled in American colonies enjoyed an independent system of self-governance in all but name. The British appointed a governor who presided over an elected council headed by a local, influential man. Provided that the colony paid lip service to England, Parliament rarely interfered in how the colonist governed themselves, exerting virtually no power over elected local assemblies.
As to the cause of revolt centering on the love of liberty, yes, it was present, but one, among many factors to sway support for rebellion. Others included economic self-interest (especially among the landed and established gentry), American society’s transformation into materialistic wealth (the lower classes in America were far better off than similar classes in Europe), and recent immigration that challenged the old social order. Lastly, and perhaps most interesting, was the means by which the most wealthy eighteenth century equivalent of the present day 1% was able to divert the lower social classes woes away from policies in which they pulled the strings. They launched a crusade to vilify British rule. From 1750, beginning in New York and New Jersey, riots were staged against large wealthy American landowners; 1766 saw a tenants’ revolt repressed by force, the 1764 Paxton Boys demanded representation in Philadelphia assemblies, the 1768 ‘regulators’ movement of small western farms rebelled against South Carolina gentry and were soundly defeated at the Battle of Alamance – British soldiers defended wealthy American landholding interests. During this tumultuous period, landowners and the established order saw the writing on the wall. They made a concerted effort to place themselves at the head of the revolutionary movement – making England the scapegoat. Some argue that had they not done so, their heads may have rolled as the aristocratic class of Frenchmen learned in another revolution some years later.
Myth 4: Americans were victorious in the Revolutionary War because they were valiant and determined over bungling British oppressors.
The fog of war was too cloudy to lay the blame or success on one side’s performance under arms. Militarily, both sides displayed incredible courage and spunk, at times against insurmountable odds, as well as incompetent stupidity. More often the British were successful in victory after victory including acts of restraint, skill, and intelligence. In a guerrilla war over a vast territory where support for the war effort waned after years of enormous costs and expanding lack of interest at home, England found itself sickening of the whole bloody mess. They looked more closely to its economic interests in Europe and the West Indies(which was a more economically important than the American colonies) and decided it was time to tie things up and let America go.
Myth 5: Custom fees were unfairly levied, hindering American merchants and commerce.
Custom fees, or ‘external’ taxes, were well below what merchants, agents, and shippers living in England normally paid. Regardless, in America, the fees and subsequent penalties for failure to pay were often unenforced; the bulk of America’s trade was in contraband smuggled along a vast coastline. Bostonian and President of Congress, John Hancock, wealthiest man in New England and perhaps all the colonies, understood this fully, having owed over a 100,000 £ in duties, debts, and penalties at the start of the war – all erased by a declaration of independence that eventually blossomed into a new nation.
Myth 6: The Boston Tea Party was caused by yet one more tax piled on top of others. Also, England held a monopoly on tea, forcing colonists to pay an exorbitant price for the same tea as served in England.
For a complete analysis of this myth, see Boston Tea Party: Patriotism and Good Economics in Revolutionary War Journal. By the time Bostonians dressed like Native Americans and dumped East Indian tea into the harbor, all other attempts at taxing Americans to help pay England’s debt fighting a war that began in America by an overzealous major of militia, George Washington, had been abandoned. King George had insisted on at least one tax to claim the right to tax. They chose tea. And for those patriots who did not want to pay a tax, any tax, it was cause to grab their tomahawks. The same tea dumped in Boston’s Harbor that cold night on December 16, 1773, cost less in America than it did in England. It is true that the East India Company held a monopoly on tea in America. It was rewarded to the company to help offset possible bankruptcy. To stimulate sales in America, the tea was subsidized by the British government – this made the tea cheaper than that served to Londoners who may have agreed that the colonists were getting away with ‘bloody murder.’
Myth 7: America was in deep economic trouble by 1775; mainly caused by British policies extracting fortunes in revenue from colonists.
America’s economy by 1775, after having weathered a downturn shortly after the French & Indian War, was anything but in trouble, it was booming. Americans lived a fuller, healthier, prosperous lifestyle with less financial woes than those in mother England and throughout Europe. Though many colonists lived as tenant farmers of large, landed gentry, the vast majority lived in rural farming villages on their own property.
Approximately 10% resided in cities. Slums of extreme poverty that were common in London and continental cities had a far lesser presence in America. Even New York City’s red light district, known as the Holy Ground, in which most of the city’s poorer and working class resided, was laced with wooden structures, neatly maintained with tenant leases that were eventually owned by the residents. European visitors to the colonies prior to the war universally commented on the immaculate and well preserved farms with neat and tidy villages dotting the landscape. When German Hessians arrived to assist British forces, they were amazed to see the colonists living well beyond their homeland’s means; why so many deserted. Note: after General John Burgoyne surrendered his army at Saratoga on October 14, 1777, most of the rank and file remained prisoners for the rest of the war. After a treaty in 1783, only a small portion of the more than thousand German prisoners accepted passage back to Europe, choosing to remain in America.
Prime Minister North’s judgement of the American question of unfairly taxed was stated in a pragmatic and simple, while perhaps harsh, summation of facts: “The annual taxes born by the people of Great Britain amounted to ten millions sterling; and the number of inhabitants I supposed to be eight million, therefore every inhabitant paid at least 25 shillings annually. The total taxes of the continent of [North] America amounted to no more than 75,000 £; the inhabitants were three millions, therefore an inhabitant of America paid no more than sixpence annually.” When confronted with such mathematical logic, the average Englishman in the British Isles would agree with the Americans that taxes were unfair, for those on English soil who had been for years, footing the massive debts of a war that began in the colonies.
Myth 8: The British had maintained a strong and oppressive military presence in the colonies during the decades leading up to the American Revolution.
The reason the colonies had such a strong, ready made armed militia by 1775 was the fact that the British never had an established military force in America; except when fighting the French alongside American militiamen during the French and Indian War, and the few years leading up to the American Revolution. From the earliest settlements in North America, dating back to the early sixteen hundreds, England knew they could not afford to equip and maintain a standing army over such a vast landscape three thousand miles from home. Certainly not when there was a continuance of wars in Europe that demanded their armies’ presence. England would let the colonists protect themselves. They supplied weaponry, allowed self-governance, and organized a structured militia that required all male participation. It proved to be the best cost productive way of providing protection against foreign invasion and Native Americans.
With the advent of the Seven Years War, French and Indian War in America, England transported a considerable number of troops from European theatres to battle the French on colonial soil. After all, the war erupted when Major George Washington messed up big time. He decided to attack a detachment of French soldiers on a peace mission, killing their commander and many of his troops. It proved the spark to ignite a world war. After the war, most of the British troops returned home, leaving a scattering of troops who were barely visible until the rebellion gathered steam.
Myth 9: The militia was a strong, unified fighting unit that could take the place of a standing army.
When studying militia effectiveness during the American Revolution, it is like reading movie scripts featuring Abbot and Costello, Laurel and Hardy, and more to the point – the Keystone Cops. All comedy duos or in the last case, a group of fumbling misfits bested by Charlie Chaplin. Best said militas were dismal. Untrained, undisciplined, whose skill at marksmenship placed them in the same category of failing to hit a barn door at five paces. At Lexington and Concord, thousands of shots were fired for every one that actually hit a redcoat. Even at less than fifty paces. For more detail on this, see Minuteman and Militia: Lousy Shots Who Indeed Could Not Hit the Side of a Barn in Revolutionary War Journal.
As far as standing up to shot. A single enemy volley sent them scampering for home faster than a ‘scalded cat. When reading through General George Washington’s correspondence, it was obvious his respect for these bands of citizen warriors was pretty much knee high to a gnat. There were dozens of examples where the militia left the field in a panic, leaving the Continental troops high and dry to slug it out with the charging British steel. The most famous case in point was the Battle of Camden where the North Carolina and Virginia militia bolted for the safety of their behinds with the first British volley. The Delaware and Maryland Continentals were left to fight the whole British force for over an hour before they were overwhelmed.
Militiamen were so untrustworthy, that it became expected they would collapse under fire. General Daniel Morgan used this to his advantage at the Battle of Cowpens. He put his militia up front – expecting them to run – but in turn draw the charging British into a trap when his second line was hardened Continental troops. General Greene did likewise at the Battle of Gilford Courthouse. American General Israel Putnam did give militia credit for one thing: on open field, facing their enemy, they were useless but, when behind a stone wall with their legs protected, they will fight with the best of them.
The most ironic outcome of America’s romance with militias resulted in the Second Amendment that allowed its citizens to own guns for the purpose of forming militias. This stemmed from the fact that with the end of war, there was still a huge distrust in a standing army. Therefore the new United States put all it’s military emphasis on continuing militias as a defense. The end result was when 2,000 British troops threatened to attack and burn Washington DC during the War of 1812; over 40,000 American militiamen turned tail and ran for the hills, leaving the city torched.
Myth 10: Americans overwhelmingly rallied to the patriotic cause to resist British governance.
Untrue. Totally. The number of Americans who joined the rebellion was equally offset by those who chose to remain loyal to the crown. The largest majority of Americans chose to remain indifferent, supporting neither side. As the vicissitudes of war affected public opinion, support for the patriot cause actually declined throughout the colonies. Just prior to the Battle of Yorktown that convinced England to consider the peace table, Washington and many of his subordinates worried that the army would not be able to sustain one more year of the conflict. They ran low on everything, money, weaponry, supplies, soldiers threatening to go home because they had not been paid, and most important, the overall decline in the moral of the army and folks at home. During the war, many loyalists formed their own military units and either joined the British forces, or fought on their own. The south had erupted into complete civil war with just patriots and loyalists battling each other, resulting in horrendous atrocities afflicted on both combatants and civilians. After the war, estimates calculate that as much as 8 % of the population, mainly former loyalists, faced extreme hardships when they chose not to remain in the newly formed United States.
Myth 11: The Continental Congress was chosen By the People and represented all of America.
Representatives to Congress were chosen by elite and outspoken members of the patriotic cause against Great Britain. They represented less than a third of the population in which an equal number remained loyal to England. The largest majority of colonialists, content by economic and social stability, remained indifferent.
Myth 12: War started with Americans desiring complete independence from England.
The Declaration of Independence did not signed until August 2, 1776. Some of the most destructive battles in number of casualties had already been fought. However, right up to its signing, many of the delegates, most of the military leaders, and the masses of colonists had been holding out that some kind of compromise could be worked out. Most looked to King George to sort out their predicament and blamed Parliament for the whole mess, labeling the British force in America a ‘ministerial army.’ Before the declaration became public, only the small population of extremists, like Samuel Adams, wanted a complete break with their mother country.
Myth 13: England was universally united in their support of the war.
Like the colonies, the English people fractured into groups that, with many degrees of intensity, either supported or opposed the war in America. The vast majority of Englishmen were indifferent at the start. As the war bogged down and the cost of protracting the war in casualties and money grew, so did the opposition. One may assert that the colonies were eventually lost to England because the masses gave up. In a country where the middle classes were given the vote and Parliament held power, not the king, public opinion was dominant. By war’s end, few Britons thought America was worth all the fuss.
Myth 14: British oppression restricted American business and trade.
Eighteenth century America’s economy was booming, attracting a large immigration from Europeans seeking a better life. In 1688, Americans exported 24 million pounds of tobacco to England. By 1771 that increased to 105 million pounds. From 1725 to 1774, eight times as much rice was shipped from South Carolina. In general, exports to England increased seven-fold in seventy five years. Imports also rose sharply throughout this same period, but at a slightly slower rate. If England enacted policies against the colonies that were oppressive to trade, then they didn’t work because trade flowed in spite of any perceived oppression. In fact, evidence shows that the British were highly beneficial to colonial business.
Myth 15: Taxation without representation was a major cause of the revolution.
The granddaddy of all American Revolution myths was saved for last. That remarkably some scholars still hackle over. One side effectively disputes that it was a clear case of the tail wagging the dog. In February 1765, just before the cursed Stamp Act was passed, a disaster by Prime Minister Grenville which was later withdrawn, Benjamin Franklin and loyalist Jared Ingersoll traveled to London to try and press the case against the action. They argued that only the colonists could tax themselves. If not, then the British government would be at odds with elected local officials. Grenville cordially listened and asked a direct question; how much would each assembly contribute towards their own defense. In other words he called their bluff, querying if they were prepared to tax themselves. Franklin had no response. The colonists never considered it. Internal taxes just paid some of the expenses for self-governing assemblies. They never devised plans to raise taxes by themselves to cover the cost of military protection. Their true objection was less to the principal of being taxed by England in which they were not represented than to being taxed at all – otherwise they would have had a plan in place for self-taxation.
True, the colonists had no representation in Parliament, but this was also true for all the major industrial areas of Great Britain. It was corrected fifty years later by the Great Reform Bill, this without a revolution. The British government’s right to impose ‘external’ taxes, customs and tariffs, had always been accepted by the colonists. One reason this was never an issue was that duties went without being paid. It was easy to evade custom fees through smuggling along America’s vast coastline. Therefore, for decades, the principle of taxation without representation had already been conceded by the Americans with the acceptance of both external taxes (which affected mostly the wealthy) and internal taxes, which paid for local governments – whatever the popular patriotic rhetoric claimed. England believed strongly that Americans who paid very low ‘internal’ taxes to their own assemblies of self-governance should pay some further tribute to Great Britain to offset the previous war’s expenses and the continued cost for protection. This is where the real trouble began and gave the patriotic movement – supported by landed gentry and wealthy merchants – a topic to exploit.
The real issue that ate at the psyche of America in which the rich and lower classes agreed was the expansion of the colonies. Large landowners salivated over the prospect of expanding their empires and the lower social order were hungry to settle ‘Indian land’ and what was most important, they did not want to subsidize British troops who were blocking this westward expansion. The cry rose by the patriotic propaganda mechanisms to reject all taxation, both external and internal, and the lack of representation was the corner stone that supported the rhetoric towards rebellion.
Taxation without representation became a powerful slogan in a skillful use of propaganda to entice and channel American frustrations with England – little more than that. The proof of its powerful magnetism to colonialists struggling to understand the intricacies of government and seeking a simple answer is how much it still works to this day. Ask most Americans about their thoughts on taxation without representation and they will point to British oppression and inflexibility in dealing with a fair and logical request by their forefathers.
Bonus Myth: The Battle of Saratoga was the turning point of the American Revolution.
Saratoga was not militarily fatal to Britain. Technically it was not a meaningful defeat for the entire British army, including its German contingency, who were promised a safe passage home to fight British battles in other regions of the world – freeing up other forces to be sent to America. The cynical and unexpected American betrayal of that promise did ultimately upset England’s military machine.
The surrender of Burgoyne’s reduced army of just over seven thousand men provided a pretext for France to jump into the war, something England had been preparing for some time. This meant that the American conflict would no longer be foremost in the Englishman’s focus – the war now expanding to global proportions. For the next four years after Saratoga, America was on the verge of losing the war, mainly through lack of colonial interest and the main fuel for military might – money. Washington’s army outside of New York City, after two years of inactivity and waning recruits, dwindled down to a fraction of its former size. Congress was broke and the army’s supplies were near ruined. Soldiers had not been paid for years and were near mutiny. British southern campaigns proved successful with the capture of Savannah and Charleston. Up to the time Cornwallis penetrated deep into guerrilla held territory and made the epic blunder of allowing his army to be trapped on the Yorktown peninsula, four years after Saratoga, Americans had thought that they had pretty much lost the war.
