The Dangerous Book of Heroes Read Free Page B

the catchphrase. It’s true that there was little direct representation in Parliament, but each colony had had its own legislature and elections for more than 100 years—some for more than 150 years—and conducted its own affairs.
    Despite the protests and anger, it wasn’t taxation that led to war. That was an argument put forward afterward by France. If that had been the cause, the Canadian colonies with their stronger French background would also have joined the thirteen colonies’ move for independence. As the radical Thomas Paine explained, taxation was merely the spark that ignited the fire.
    The root cause of the Revolutionary War was land. After the French had been kicked out, there was no threat at all to the American colonies. Therefore, the colonialists argued, there was no need for a British garrison. Without a British garrison, the colonialists would be free to expand westward across the Appalachians, across the 1763 proclamation border, into Native American territory.
    Western expansion had never been a goal of the British government—it had enough empire elsewhere—but it had become of major importance to the colonial governments. During the 175 years of British settlement the concept had entered the psyche of the thirteen colonies. It remained so for a further hundred years, until all the western American nations had been conquered.
    If the British parliament would not support or allow the colonies’ expansion, the colonies would go it alone. In fact, their militias could handle resistance by Native American warriors better than the British regulars. And triggered by the Age of Enlightenment, English-speaking peoples everywhere were demanding more independence.
    George Washington and Ben Franklin were pro-British, against independence, and hoped that war with Britain—civil war—would not happen. Yet if it did, both saw their allegiance being to the colonies and acted accordingly. Franklin, in fact, had earlier proposed a federated government of the mainland American colonies, responsible for local defense, frontiers, and Indian affairs, under British rule. Parliament had not been hostile to the idea, but none of the colonial governments had shown any interest whatsoever and it had lapsed. So, as in most wars, step by small step the factions differed, separated, and became opposed to the point of confrontation.
    In December 1773, consignments of East India Company tea were thrown overboard from ships in Boston Harbor; in 1774 Britain temporarily closed the port. A meeting of the colonies was called, the First Continental Congress, and trade sanctions were imposed against British goods. On April 19, 1775, Massachusetts minutemen made a surprise attack on small British garrisons at Lexington and Concord. Rebellion was spoken of openly.
    At the Second Continental Congress held that May, Washington was elected, although not unanimously, to command the combined militia of the colonies. He was reluctant, had himself recommended General Lewis for the command, and said: “I beg it may be remembered that I…do not think myself equal to the command I am honored with.” Yet he was seen as the man, perhaps the only man, who could unite the patriots throughout the thirteen colonies. He took command of the forces outside Boston and, that June, defeated Britain at the battle of Bunker Hill.
    It was an extraordinarily dangerous appointment for Washington to accept. Looking back, with the outcome known, we see it as just another step in history. Yet at the time, like Oliver Cromwell 136 years earlier, Washington made a decision that was literally traitorous. Hewas leading an armed insurrection against the democratically elected parliament and its king; there would be a rope around his neck if he was captured. Further, the elected legislatures of the thirteen colonies were divided about a rebellion; there was no consensus. About half the colonialists were ambivalently neutral,