OT: Happy 247th Birthday to the United States of America
🫡 🇺🇸 Happy Fourth Of July! God Bless America 🇺🇸 🙏
I've always thought Lincoln said it best: "It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."
Whatever your politics, it was, and remains, a transformational ideal... a nation governed by and for the people. May we all endeavor to make and keep it such a place.
Abe's speeches should be required reading every couple years. His to-the-point messages are works class prose.
#1 all time on the Top 247 Nations Composite
Ha. I saw 247 in the title and assumed it had to be about recruiting.
M’urica is obviously a 5* omg shirtless recruit.
Just wait until Herbert gets working with this young stud
America was the exact opposite. The reason why Britain let it go and no one else swooped in is because America was the colonial equivalent of a 2-star, D-III prospect.
America was the Duncan Robinson of colonies. No one had a clue it’d blow up like it did and every poser and their dog has been scrambling to say “I knew all along” ever since.
Still trying to prove we're "not just a shooter" though
Eh. Europeans knew that this was a rich, fertile land from the get go. That is why they fought for it so hard.
Britain’s issue was that they were spread thin. The “sun never setting on the empire” in real terms meant an empire that was costly and really difficult to maintain. It was unsustainable as most empires tend to be.
Like I was saying about posers. . .
Yeah, so fertile it was abandoned multiple times, and when the Brits left no one jumped to take their place.
It took the English decades to get any of its American colonies even up to self-sufficient, in no small part because natives (whom we eventually betrayed and massacred) taught us about "New World" crops. That's not to say it wasn't profitable by the late 18th century, but religious kooks -- under persecution by the Anglican Church -- came here for a reason; America was largely left alone because it wasn't lucrative enough to micromanage.
Outside America, the European powers kept right on with colonization well after 1783, all the way to the early 20th century when everything finally shattered. But by then, imperialism had been pretty darn stable (not to mention profitable) for several centuries. Edwardian era, anyone?
Again, everyone misread the tea leaves. Quite an underdog story, really.
Something can be profitable and unsustainable. Yes, some European countries made gigantic sums of money from the colonies. At the same time they also has to deal with the endemic rivalries that have plagued Europe forever.
The costs of fighting each other and maintaining the colonies was too much. Thus, the collapse in the first half of the 20th century.
Wealth from the slavery-based agricultural economy was immense. Losing the colonies was a huge blow to the British who offset it by expanding eastward into Asia.
What colony or region was more desirable? Disease made anything tropical unmanageable.
Boston.
Been dominant in recruiting for centuries, really; it's just sometimes Admissions and Recruiting aren't on the same page
I'm currently reading 1776, for which you can surmise the subject. There's a lot of good detail, obviously, that I didn't realize. It's only just started the battle for New York in summer, 1776, so still a ways to go. It's amaizing to me that we actually won that war - it didn't start out so well...
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, 'MURICA!!!
We assuredly must be in the running for “Best Upset Winner” of any war ever?
But also “Worst Upset Loser” of any war ever, too (‘Nam) (Russia pushing hard for that title tho this season).
So App St. wasn't the first Horror?
We assuredly must be in the running for “Best Upset Winner” of any war ever?
I don't know. We had significant geographical advantages, fighting on home soil, an ocean away from Great Britain. We received a steady stream of weapons and money from France, then made a formal alliance with them - and then later, Spain and the Dutch also started fighting the British.
The Revolutionary War demonstrated how difficult it is to project power on a large scale across an ocean. Over the next 50 years Spain, France and Portugal similarly failed to hold on to most of their colonial possessions.
I would say the Dutch Republic winning its independence from the Spanish Habsburgs was a bigger upset. (Incidentally, the Dutch Act of Abjuration was an inspiration for our Declaration of Independence.)
The chapter in 1776 when Washington wakes up over Boston Harbor which is suddenly packed with HMS ships of war is amazing. Sure we had some built-in advantages, but we were so fortunate to have men like Washington leading the troops.
yep, washingtons will and his penchant for tactical retreats were huge factors. add in some tough as nails farmers, french help, plus the brits stretched too thin across the globe = new monarch-free western republic.
mccullough did some great work. i enjoyed his adams bio too which hbo did excellent job turning it into a series
Fighting on home soil is worth at least 3 points.
I read 1776 many years ago and was stunned to read about the opening battle of the war, in which Washington and his troops had prepared traditional defenses and were so badly routed that the American Revolution nearly died in the cradle. Men were throwing down their weapons and fleeing for their lives.
If not for a fog that blew in at just the right moment and covered up the Hudson River, preventing British ships from preventing Washington’s escape…we’d all be eating fish and chips today, driving on the left side of the road, drinking tea and watching soccer (and there would probably be no college football as we know it)
That is a great book, it’s hard to believe we actually won the war after reading it.
I've got to read 1776. Today I did read Frederick Douglass's 1852 Fourth of July speech.
I'm a big fan of audiobooks due to the length of my daily commuting. And one thing I've learned about them is that the author should not narrate his own book. Unfortunately, the historian that wrote 1776, David McCullough, also narrates it. So if you listen, be prepared to hear a droll monotone that makes it exceedingly difficult to make the distinction between a quote of something actually said/written by a character and the written text of the author. A good historian and writer, but not a good narrator.
Note to authors: DO NOT READ YOUR OWN BOOKS!!!!
Fortunately, I don't read my own books because I can't read.
If you truly study it, we won very few battles and essentially just out lasted them. Time has shown it is very difficult to occupy another country over time unless you are willing to be absolutely ruthless, like the Monguls. George Washington’s approach, whether you believe it was purposeful or not, was perfect to extend the war and drain British resources. At the time we were not the most valuable colonies, far behind most of the Caribbean islands in value, and payed very little taxes compared to others in the British empire. It’s not surprising they gave up the fight.
The American "Revolution" ought to be seen in the proper context, as simply one theatre in the Western European powers' struggle for global hegemony. It was a big event for Americans, sure, and why wouldn't it be? But in terms of players and resources America was, at the time, a sparsely populated colony with few resources and divided loyalty. America just needed to win a battle on their own to convince France (and by extension, Spain) that it could be pried loose, and remarkably, it did at Saratoga. But France and Spain didn't help out of generosity; they helped because they were longtime enemies with Britain, and the latter losing a colony would damage its image as an unassailable empire.
And France, for once, didn't double down and try to make America their own. They were going through their own problems (the French Revolution started only six years after the American one concluded) and didn't have Britain's navy, but this was a remarkable anomaly in history. They wisely realized it made little sense to invade America themselves, whereas nations have certainly made far stupider moves -- including, eventually, America itself.
Agreed. India was much more desirable to the British than tax money from the colonies and just cut bait in North America thanks to French and allies that disdained the British . The history of our independence is complex and very interesting.
The 13 colonies were actually pretty densely populated for their time - they had about 2.5 million people, which was more than a lot of European countries, and about 1/3 the population of the UK.
France never had any interest in conquering them. The last thing they would have wanted was to have a ton of rebellious Protestant subjects overseas. In fact, they didn’t even want to get New France back (which had been mostly a money pit). But they did hope to form a permanent military alliance with the new USA.
1/3 of the population of the UK, spread out over a MUCH bigger area = sparsely populated. I guess I should’ve clarified though.
David McCullough was a great historian and writer. He had a way of bringing you into the story that I really enjoy. I re-read 1776 every few years because I enjoy it so much.
Highly recommend it to everyone.
I like those sentiments. Enjoy the holiday everyone! Make it through with all of your fingers intact! 🧨🧨
12 score and 7 years ago
Score 20 for the comment. (See what I did there?)
I regret I didn't notice last year was 246, a mathematically / aesthetically pleasing number.
Happy 4th all!
I spent the day yesterday celebrating with a bunch of Hispanic immigrants and they absolutely love being in the US. Hearing their stories of where they came from and why they are in the US reminds me that I sometimes take for granted living in the US.
I wonder if she'll make it to 250.
Geez, show me on the doll wheredid Putin touch you.
That pic is weird because Putin looks so different back then; he's had a lot of work done on his face!
Remember the bicentennial? That was great as a kid. I hope we do something cool for 250.
I drove cross country in NY State yesterday. Every time I do I see at least one confederate flag. (Different places). I am not in the South. I hope America survives.
I have to admit that we live in an exciting time. We just lived through a global pandemic. Who knows if Russia will start a nuclear war? Good chance the white people will start a race war. AI will probably replace most jobs before the terminators start mowing us down. Space Aliens are evidently real. Will they wipe us out before the terminators? Did they ever make an Alien vs terminator movie? Can an alien incubate in a cybernetic organism? Will the confederates get wiped out first? Like I said exciting times.
So much wrong with these comments. Very political and should be deleted. Not the place.
Are you on the side of the white supremacists, Russians, aliens or terminators?
Maybe the Confederacy?
Not to be that guy, but the OP was political. Pretty tame political, but political all the same. The 4th of July gives us all an opportunity to contemplate our nation, warts and all.
There’s always one.
Keep driving into the Atlantic.
Awesome telling someone to kill themselves is a great American activity.