The American Revolution/Revolutionary War

We have topics for the Civil War and World War II, so now here's a thread for the American Revolution. Also, you can discuss your beliefs regarding American patriotism.

Feel free to share anything interesting you've learned regarding the Revolutionary War and founding of America, even if it's not something we're going to debate.

I'm sort of writing two books about it; one about a boy whose mother is Quaker; his father isn't. His father got captured in the Battle of Bunker Hill.
The other is about a girl who pretends to be a boy so she can fight. I'm not very far in it. I'm planning on it being like a short little book.

That sounds hard, but fun.

Yeah. It was terrible at first, because for the one about the boy and his father got captured, I totally messed up a battle and then I had to change it all. XP

I have to do lots of researching… that part's not fun either.

oh

'Kay, since this is getting nowhere, lemme ask the provocative question that I thought would have been asked by now. xP

Were the U.S. colonies right to rebel against English rule? Is tyranny and mistreatment a valid reason to usurp authority? Or should they have submitted to their government authorities as established by God? Should they have submitted to their masters, even if they were cruel, according to the principles of biblical exhortations toward servants/slaves?

Wish I had more time to study these things. And I know you might laugh because you think I already do have lots of time to study history, but never as much as I like, since there is so much history I'm interested in. Those are some good, thought-provoking questions, that maybe someday I'll be able to give time to think about. xP

I do not laughhhh. I know your time is precious just like mine is, and that you do as much as you can with it. ;) I honestly haven't had time to think through those questions much either. All I know is that John MacArthur raises them and falls on the side that we should not have revolted. So that makes me at least want to know what the arguments are for that side.

Okay. Yeah, I really haven't done much studying regarding the American Revolution, other than the stuff I covered in BJU textbooks in high-school. But none of my own studying on the topic. And just because of my other experience with BJU beliefs regarding WW2, I'm not ready to agree with them, whatever their case is, at this moment. I just wanna study it all out for myself one day…

Good, interesting question, and one we don't often think about today. Personally, I think some of the wars Americans have gotten involved in were right, some were wrong, and some were somewhere in-between (that is, I haven't quite decided). Whereas I think the Spanish America and Mexican American wars were wrong and World War II and the War on Terror were, at least initially, right, I think that the Korean War, World War I, Vietnam, and others are harder to decide on.

The American Revolution falls on that middle ground area for me. I general, I tend to lean on the scale toward pacifism; I am not a war-monger who thinks every offense is worth killing someone over. That being said, sometimes there is an important enough reason to fight and war becomes necessary (or at least an urgent option). With regards to July 4, 1776, in my modern America mind, I would not automatically say that the actions of Britain were worth killing over. It was just quartering of soldiers, an improper, biased justice system, the forcible impressment of some Americans, and the unfair favoring of British Canadians over Americans (at least, that was the perception) that was at stake. Notice I did not mention taxes; that is primarily because it was not the major issue for them at all (look how far down the list of grievances that complaint is at in the Declaration of Independence). What they saw that was worth fighting over was a consist pattern of tyranny that began to grow worse since the Great War for Empire, or the French and Indian War. Because the Americans were only represented virtually, and did not have an actual representative, this steady encroachment of power could not even be properly complained against in Parliament. In essence, they saw this almost as a pre-emptive revolution. If Britain continued down her path, she would soon disarm the colonists. This put them at the mercy of a power they could do nothing to stop. When they thought of the wrongs that future generations would have to face, they saw this problem as too great, and so they went to war to go back to the way it was before the Great War for Empire: autonomy and independence free from tyranny. It was a pre-emptive war.

Whether they were correct about the dangers of Britain's encroachments is where the chief debate seems to lie, at least on my account. I go back and forth on this. Ultimately, I am glad that America was founded, but I would feel better if I was sure that we were founded rightly, according to the Scriptures and Just War Theory.

Good questions!

I've always thought that the Americans were totally right to rebel… but I never thought about it very much.