that’s all i ask for, a moment. On this most important of USA is #1 holidays, a persistant question enters my mind: what would life be like if we had lost the revolutionary war? That question itself is rather loaded, for it assumes race. Who is ‘we’? Well, the British claimed that all slaves would be freed if the revolution were to fail (providing the slaves with incentive to revolt against the colonists). So it would appear that the slaves were, in fact, losers in the American Revolution.
And had the colonists lost, we could assume that the war of genocide against first nations people would at least have slowed down, since immigration and expansionism would have also slowed significantly. So are first nations people also losers?
We can assume that the Mexican-American war would not have been fought, meaning what is now the southwest US would still belong to Mexico. I guess we can chalk up Mexico as a loser, too.
While Britain would have remained an imperialist power, the US would have remained a colony. Which not only means that we would not have moved on to de facto colonization of the Philipines, the Caribbean, and Latin America, but it also means that we quite possibly may have gained a since of solidarity with other colonized nations around the world. I’m not so sure that’s likely considering the individualist protestant work ethic that defined the colonists, but its something to think about. How would things be different if we gained our independence during the 20th century move towards decolonization rather than in the 18th century?
And had the slaves been freed and the first nations people allowed to exist, race would have a completely different meaning today than it currently does. What that definition would look like, i’m not sure, but perhaps some folks in appalachia could clue us in.
That’s what i’ve been thinking about on this “Independence Day”. Independence for whom? Unlike many other independence days throughout the world, the US does not celebrate the independence from colonizers, it celebrates the independence of colonists. And because of that fact, i can’t help but wonder if things would be better off if our fate had been different in 1783.
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Or, I suspect, the US might look a lot like Canada.
But your question makes me wonder what Canada would look like if the US won the war of 1812. Would we look more like America? Hmm… Would we have reinstituted slavery? Would we still be an officially bilingual country? Would we believe in “melting pot” multiculturalism instead of a more mosaic multiculturalism? Would we still have socialized health care?
Melissa said, “Or, I suspect, the US might look a lot like Canada.”
My thoughts exactly.
I think things would be different, but the tide of colonialism was so powerful that we probably would have continued on. Britain’s promises to slaves were truly empty promises; I don’t think the colonist were great friends of enslaved Africans, but the colonial relationship would have still “necessitated” slavery because the crops being raised to send off to Britain would still need to be produced from the British perspective.
If this whole colonialism thing didn’t start, there would have been no slaves, and no Mexicans (who of course the produce of colonialism too). We also would be talking about “Indians” or “first nations.” We would talk about each individual ethnic group.
I guess I think whether the US won the revolution or not colonialism had already made an indelible mark on the world.
Oops, it should read, “We would NOT be talking about “Indians” or “first nations.”
you know, you’re both probably right on. we’d probably look more like canada. never thought of it like that. and i know that britains promises were hollow. hell, they didn’t even abolish slavery on their own soil for, what, sixty years? and they maintained slavery in colonies well after that. but i like to pretend governments are honest sometimes. i know, i know, its just a little fantasy of mine:)
and i wasn’t talking about a land without colonialism. obviously colonialism had already shaped the world. i was just wondering how things would have been different if one of the world’s largest imperialist powers remained a colony.