tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post4788777150593761284..comments2024-03-28T04:26:30.557-05:00Comments on Boston 1775: Britain's American Revolution: was it a Good Thing?Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-18401073834262923532007-07-10T13:21:00.000-05:002007-07-10T13:21:00.000-05:00I haven't read that Gould essay (though I did get ...I haven't read that Gould essay (though I did get to hear him at the Massachusetts Historical Society a year or so ago). I'll put it on my list of things to track down.<BR/><BR/>I sensed in Rose's essay the underlying belief that the British Empire was a Good Thing. Therefore, anything that helped to strengthen that empire, such as Pitt's military and imperial reform, was also a Good Thing. <BR/><BR/>We could just as easily say that democracy and respect for individual liberties were a Good Thing. The crackdown on political reform efforts within the United Kingdom since the ministry didn't want to do anything that the French Revolutionaries were doing would therefore be a Bad Thing. As would the takeover of India, the trade wars with China, &c.<BR/><BR/>Of course, Rose had only about 700 words to make his case, like any US op-ed writer. In a different, more expansive forum, he might recognize his assumptions or biases and be able to make a case for them.J. L. Bellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15405157000473731801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-19681112555155789962007-07-10T12:53:00.000-05:002007-07-10T12:53:00.000-05:00I don't know if you've read Eliga Gould's article ...I don't know if you've read Eliga Gould's article "American Independence and Britain's Counter-Revolution" (Past and Present, Feb. 1997), but he makes the exact opposite point: the British defeat encouraged the emergence of a strongly nationalistic imperial identity, and it suppressed progressive reform movements which had been gaining ground for some time. After all, it took another half-century for the Reform Bill to pass.Greg Afinogenovhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13529073439919307693noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-63172007920266131042007-07-05T14:45:00.000-05:002007-07-05T14:45:00.000-05:00I think your reactions are spot-on here. Rose's pi...I think your reactions are spot-on here. Rose's piece is a bit flawed and makes some fairly broad assumptions.MRhéhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14242292553950803837noreply@blogger.com