The Whore, The Runaway, And The Fathers of Our Freedom: Unorthodox views

» BuckyRea - Unorthodox views

Russ, he certainly seems to have a unique take on the revolutionary period. I'd be surprised if anyone studies this time period and doesn't come out with somewhat of a pro-Washington viewpoint. But some of these other ideas you say Lussier expresses seem strange.

For instance, it'd be hard to form a single characterization of all the common citizenry. It was, after all, a divided populace that fought the revolution--particularly early on in the conflict when no more than a third of the people were aligned against Parliament, and a good deal less than that could have imagined a call for full independence. But this also begs the question of who all the "common folk" consisted of. If you mean the folks who owned no property, you might be talking of as few as 15% of white males (albeit along with 99% of everyone else).

I've never, in all my studies on the period, ever seen a claim that the leaders of the opposing factions were considered "peas in a pod" (identical?), altho certainly some among the working classes were less interested in the war's outcome than in its eventual cessation.

While some "brother to brother" type fighting occurred, particularly in the South, the preponderance of the fighting on the Loyalist side was done by British Regulars and German mercs. American Loyalists were more likely to hunker down and wait it out or, at most, act as spies for the Brits.

Since the Patriot factions tended to dominate the period's media (the penny papers), the Patriot cause unquestionably held the moral high ground in the battle for public opinion. There's no record of, for instance, British troops getting the types of public parades and accolades such as Washington and the rebellion's leaders got frequently.

The idea that John Adams aspired to wear a crown is ludicrous. He admired the regularity and stability of the British system and in the 1780s he thought the presidency needed a bit more pomp than what Washington favored. But his record is of an avowed and reliable republican and when he became president the most "kingly" thing he ever did was wear a ceremonial sword once in a while.

Some Republicans (Jefferson's supporters) tried to start rumors that Adams was a monarchist. But those were the ugly whispers typical of the day (parallel to whispers that Jefferson was a Jacobite and would oppress the Christian religion). Lussier would have to be a real ignoramus to believe such rumor mongering holds even a kernel of truth.

-- posted by BuckyRea