The successful 1776 revolt against British rule in North America has been hailed almost universally as a great step forward for humanity. But the Africans then living in the colonies overwhelmingly sided with the British. In this trailblazing book, Gerald Horne shows that in the prelude to 1776, the abolition of slavery seemed all but inevitable in London, delighting Africans as much as it outraged slaveholders, and sparking the colonial revolt.
Prior to 1776, anti-slavery sentiments were deepening throughout Britain and in the Caribbean, rebellious Africans were in revolt. For European colonists in America, the major threat to their security was a foreign invasion combined with an insurrection of the enslaved. It was a real and threatening possibility that London would impose abolition throughout the colonies―a possibility the founding fathers feared would bring slave rebellions to their shores. To forestall it, they went to war.
The so-called Revolutionary War, Horne writes, was in part a counter-revolution, a conservative movement that the founding fathers fought in order to preserve their right to enslave others. The Counter-Revolution of 1776 brings us to a radical new understanding of the traditional heroic creation myth of the United States.
It should be added that the British forcibly forbade settlement west of the Ohio River.
I know it doesn't mean much, but every 4th, I listen to James Earl Jones recite Frederick Douglass's speech, and at the end of the day, I burn an American flag.
Excellent. The Revolutionary Communist Party is really good at burning the flag in public. US patriotism is a disease imho. We need millions to stop thinkinkg like Americans and start thinking about humanity!
Your comment "Remarkable Prose!" after sharing Frederick Douglas's speech is but slightly incorrect. I agree that as prose it reads very well. But I'm sure it was a speech and so not prose, but oratory. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend the works of Joe Romm regarding oratory. You posted remarks about some writing revelations you've gained by preparing remarks that you record. My comment is in the same vein, I suppose. Finally, I loved your latest column. Thank you!
Another indispensable history
The Counterrevolution of 1776
The successful 1776 revolt against British rule in North America has been hailed almost universally as a great step forward for humanity. But the Africans then living in the colonies overwhelmingly sided with the British. In this trailblazing book, Gerald Horne shows that in the prelude to 1776, the abolition of slavery seemed all but inevitable in London, delighting Africans as much as it outraged slaveholders, and sparking the colonial revolt.
Prior to 1776, anti-slavery sentiments were deepening throughout Britain and in the Caribbean, rebellious Africans were in revolt. For European colonists in America, the major threat to their security was a foreign invasion combined with an insurrection of the enslaved. It was a real and threatening possibility that London would impose abolition throughout the colonies―a possibility the founding fathers feared would bring slave rebellions to their shores. To forestall it, they went to war.
The so-called Revolutionary War, Horne writes, was in part a counter-revolution, a conservative movement that the founding fathers fought in order to preserve their right to enslave others. The Counter-Revolution of 1776 brings us to a radical new understanding of the traditional heroic creation myth of the United States.
It should be added that the British forcibly forbade settlement west of the Ohio River.
My 2014 review of Horne's book: https://www.paulstreet.org/the-racist-counter-revolution-of-1776/
I know it doesn't mean much, but every 4th, I listen to James Earl Jones recite Frederick Douglass's speech, and at the end of the day, I burn an American flag.
Excellent. The Revolutionary Communist Party is really good at burning the flag in public. US patriotism is a disease imho. We need millions to stop thinkinkg like Americans and start thinking about humanity!
Thanks!
Your comment "Remarkable Prose!" after sharing Frederick Douglas's speech is but slightly incorrect. I agree that as prose it reads very well. But I'm sure it was a speech and so not prose, but oratory. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend the works of Joe Romm regarding oratory. You posted remarks about some writing revelations you've gained by preparing remarks that you record. My comment is in the same vein, I suppose. Finally, I loved your latest column. Thank you!