The American Revolution was the first successful, large-scale revolt against autocratic rule. There have been small-scale examples of people who ruled themselves, but nothing on the size of the 13 American colonies. The Dutch Revolt in 1566 and the English Revolution in 1640 were uprising against oppressive autocratic rule, but both were half-measures. While they wanted to rid themselves of a half-witted or malevolent despot, they were not ready to give up hope for the veneer of intelligent, benevolent despotism. They tried to limit monarchic rule but not eliminate it. They were not quite prepared for anything like American republican democracy.
Background
Until the French and Indian War in 1763, most American colonists proudly considered themselves British citizens. Problems began to arise over the cost of defending the colonies, but the relationship between the colonies and the motherland was relatively cordial.
Over time the colonists realized that a small island in the British Isles controlled a large land mass on the coast of North America. They slowly realized that England treated the colony as a pawn in a global power game, extracting maximum wealth from their colonial subjects. A series of events led to increasing conflict between the colonists and Mother England. As fate would have it, a 22-year-old named George William Frederick ascended to the throne of Great Britain and Ireland in 1760 as King George III. He was the third Hanoverian monarch but the first to be born in England and to use English as his first language.
American history generally paints King George III as that crazy king that “lost America.” However, England had many great successes during his 60-year reign. We also tend to forget that the British Crown was not an absolute monarchy by 1760. The Parliament and the role of the Prime Minister provided significant checks and guidance for the Kingdom. Thus, King George III did not lose the American colonies alone, but he was the figurehead for the loss. He might also have an excuse for his erratic behavior since he seems to have been inflicted with what is now known to be bipolar disorder.
Many people today portray the American colonists as radicals and extremists. However, most early Revolutionary leaders were calm, well-educated men of the Enlightenment. They read and followed many European Enlightenment thinkers such as Jacques Rousseau, Voltaire, Montesquieu, John Milton, and David Hume.
In today’s parlance, our founding fathers were WOKE. [Woke: Being aware, well-informed, up-to-date.] They were aware of the major themes of the Enlightenment and the systematic inequality between the British colonists and their motherland. The colonists were required to pay taxes but were not represented in the British Parliament. British mercantilism forced colonists to sell their colonial products at a low price but purchase British products at a high price.
Their Enlightenment backgrounds caused most of our Founding Fathers to support religious freedom and tolerance. They understood the irrational and explosive results of mixing politics and religion. Their study of the religious wars in Europe and the Middle East proved that state-sponsored religion or religious-influenced government were recipes for never-ending misery. They believed the new country should be a place for people of all peace-loving beliefs.
In the context of the horseshoe magnet metaphor, our Founding Fathers thought that Americans should reduce the intensity of the magnetic poles for and against particular religions. They believed each American should have the right to their own magnetic compass and that religion should be a matter for the individual. They did not think that any government at any level should force individual moral compasses to point to a particular extreme of a religious pole. Finally, they recognized that allowing minority religious thought to be forced on the majority could result in irrational and chaotic events that harm the peace and tranquility of society.
A Distant Magnet Has Little Effect
England was very powerful during the 60-year reign of King George III. England defeated France in the Seven Years’ War (the French and Indian War) and became the dominant European power. At the end of his reign, England defeated France and Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. In terms of the magnet analogy, Britain’s magnet was powerful.
Despite possessing the world’s greatest navy, there was one major problem for Great Britain vis-à-vis North America. It was relatively easy for them to keep the other European powers in check because they were nearby. However, controlling many independent-minded British citizens in North America with access to similar technology was difficult because of the distances. The political and military magnets of Great Britain lost their field strength over the Atlantic Ocean. Sending ships, supplies, and men to keep the North American colonists aligned with the British magnetic field was expensive. Likewise, it was hard to know what was happening or what was needed nearly 4,000 miles away in the age before modern communication.
George Washington, the Father of the Country
As any student of American history knows, there were many Revolutionary leaders. These leaders faced not only the enmity of Great Britain but also many colonials who wished to remain loyal British citizens. About 40% were reluctant to break away from Britain at the onset of America’s Revolutionary War. By the end, between 15% and 20% remained British Loyalists. Most Loyalists fled to Nova Scotia, Quebec, Prince Edward Island, and Florida (then a Spanish colony.) I will not list or recount the many heroes of the American Revolution. Instead, I will focus on two men who understood the need to remain calm under pressure.
As previously indicated, George Washington and the original William of Orange had much in common. They began as loyal subjects to the monarchy, but after witnessing their fellow countrymen’s harsh, uncaring treatment, their political poles reversed. Likewise, they led proto-nations consisting of populations with divided loyalties. In both cases, there were significant regions that did not favor revolution. Despite being thrust into a whirlwind of conflicting forces, these two men calmly conserved their resources under unrelenting pressure to fall into traps and be annihilated by a superior force. They and their fellow compatriots fought against more powerful foes; their main advantage was their motivation. They fought for their homeland and freedom from oppression with a rag-tag, amateur military force against professional soldiers and sailors. In the long run, both men succeeded, although William of Orange didn’t live long enough to see it. General Washington not only helped to win the war, but he also served as the nation’s first President.
We can only imagine the disgust of George Washington if a time machine had brought him to his namesake city on January 6, 2021. Aside from the conflict, he would be disgusted by the willful ignorance and fanaticism of the thousands of domestic terrorists using American flags as weapons.
Benjamin Franklin, the Quintessential Practical American
Modern American extremists tell us to follow them because they completely understand the Founding Fathers’ thinking. However, their rigid thinking and lack of understanding of the Founding Fathers reveal that they are inventing a past that never was and preparing us for a scary future that, hopefully, will never be.
Extremists attempt to align their target audience’s magnetic and magical thinking into believing that anything that smells like a different extreme movement spells the doom for American civilization. Their targets are told that THEIR extreme doctrine is the only truth. In their thinking, no other extreme dogma will do. This extremist thinking is the complete opposite of the thought of Founding Father Benjamin Franklin.
Benjamin Franklin was one of the critical masons who laid the American foundation of compromise, practicality, and a non-sectarian moral philosophy. Franklin was America’s original pragmatist. To this day, many foreigners disparage America for this reason or that, but most grudgingly admit that Americans will eventually do the correct, practical thing.
Among Franklin’s famous quotes (mainly from Poor Richard’s Almanack) are:
- “Well done is better than well said.”
- “No gains without pains.”
- “When you’re good to others, you’re best to yourself.”
- “Pardoning the Bad is injuring the Good.”
- “Glass, China, and Reputation, are easily crack’d, and never well mended.”
- “Haste makes Waste.”
- “He that falls in love with himself will have no rivals.”
- “There never was a good war or a bad peace.”
- “He that lies down with Dogs, shall rise up with fleas.”
- “Do not anticipate trouble, or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight.”
- “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
- “Diligence is the mother of good luck.”
Franklin, like Washington, was not an extremist. Extremists use magical thinking and expect instant results by bashing heads. Franklin, Washington, and the other Founding Fathers realized that winning America’s freedom required compromise, patience, military supplies, and friends. Not only was it necessary for the thirteen colonies to cooperate, but they also needed foreign friends to assist them. The most prominent and apparent potential friend for the American colonies was England’s nemesis, France. In October 1776, Benjamin Franklin set sail for France to be America’s diplomat to the court of King Louis XVI. He was 70 years old when he sailed from Philadelphia and returned from France when he was 79.
Franklin patiently learned how to operate within the French system. A year after arriving, he achieved the diplomatic victory of official French diplomatic recognition for the United States of America. He later cajoled the French to supply the Americas with the goods needed to defeat the British since the French were motivated by revenge after their recent defeats at the hands of the British. Finally, working with John Adams, the Treaty of Paris was negotiated in 1783, and the war with England ended.
It is said that Franklin extracted 13 billion dollars (in today’s dollars) worth of supplies from France for the American cause. Ironically, France stumbled into debt during the American Revolution, which further exacerbated France’s political instability. In 1789 the more chaotic French Revolution began, which led to the demise of the old French regime, including the beheading of King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette. Oops, another reason for dictators and despots to hate America and Democracy.
