Nia_Nia

How does everybody else deal with the smug Boston Tea Party Jibes?
If anybody starts moidering me about it I usually say 'well if America is so 'independent' where is your language? You can bastarise the English language all you want mate, but it will never be your own'


That usually shuts them up.

Rushman

Had all this the other day in another thread.
See for yourself

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...4&page=6&pp=15

Chorlton

Wow, it got a little heated in there!
I saw an interesting show on the History Channel at the weekend about a "massacre" in Boston which was supposed to have set it all off. I turned out that the British troops involved had been provoked and were partially acting in self defence, and the "patriots" were shouting "Fire!" at them, which they took as an order....Another war built on lies?
And how about the declaration of independance? It was basically just a declaration of war, not a treaty or armistice date, and it wasnt even signed on the 4th!
Okay, rant over.
Oh hey, I'm kinda new so go easy

Pigtails

Who is that TA5 moron??? :scared:

gruffbrown

His profile used to read 'wanker' (his own words)

Angry White Pyjamas

I think hes an American republican fanatic.

Pigtails

Must be my alter-ego

gruffbrown

No, that's Pigtails

Pigtails

Hey! I resemble that remark!

Manc

what a great thread that was!

Chorlton

Hey , I tried

cindyabs

And do you know who defended the British soliders in the subsequent trial-John Adams, one of the Founding Fathers. He knew he would be about as popular as leprosy to some folks for doing so, but he did it anyway.

Semantically speaking, a declaration of independence would be declaring independence. No, it wouldn't be a treaty or an armistice.
The Declaration of Independence, was influenced no doubt by the Declaration of Arbroath and the Magna Charta.

Chorlton

I guess I should have been clearer. You would think that Independence day would be the day when something was won (treaty etc) or achieved (it wasnt even fully signed on the 4th). It just makes more sense to me to celebrate the day Independence was won.

cindyabs

From the Wikipedia:

Quote:

Why the 4th?
Though the Fourth of July is almost iconic to Americans, some claim the date itself is somewhat arbitrary. New Englanders had been fighting Britain since April 1775. The first motion in the Continental Congress for independence was made on June 8. After hard debate, the Congress voted unanimously (12-0), but secretly, for independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain on July 2. The Congress reworked the text of the Declaration until a little after eleven o'clock, July 4th, when twelve colonies voted for adoption and released an unsigned copy to the printers. (New York abstained from both votes.) Philadelphia celebrated the Declaration with public readings and bonfires on July 8. Not until August 2 would a fair printing be signed by the members of the Congress, but even that was kept secret to protect the members from British reprisal.

John Adams, credited by Thomas Jefferson as the unofficial, tireless whip of the independence-minded, wrote his wife Abigail on July 3:

The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epocha in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward for evermore.

Adams was off by two days, however. Certainly, the vote on July 2 was the decisive act. But July 4 is the date on the Declaration itself. Jefferson's stirring prose, as edited by the Congress, was first adopted by the vote of the 4th. It was also the first day Philadelphians heard the official news of independence from the Continental Congress, as opposed to rumors in the street about secret votes.


End quote.

Chorlton

Yeah, I can read Wikipedia too. I just dont happen to agree with their way of thinking.