Colonial America And The Stories Of History
I have just returned from Williamsburg Virginia, also called Revolutionary City. I stepped back into history by watching reenactments, touring recreated buildings, and doing a lot of thinking. I know other countries probably teach this same history very differently. I believe we get as much myth and legend as we get real history. I am glad to be an American, but would we be better off, if we had stayed part of England as Canada has done? Who knows and who wants to share their facts or opinions?
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Rose , I haven’t been to Williamsburg in along time and would love to go back down there . It is a wonderful place to visit . Glad your were able to go there. 🙂
Annemarie. I am glad to hear from you. It requires a lot of walking and standing, but you can really feel like you are back there in their day. We had perfect weather every day It was great.
Your considerations come, sorry for me to say, 300yrs to late Rose. But the door for a change is still open for you! It takes you a 7hrs flight only. But please watch Wartime Farm on you tube first before you come and you will see the positive elements of English people. Michael
I have been to England and I like the people and they were very nice to me. It is our mother country, or that is what we are taught.
Canada is not part of England. It is a sovereign nation which maintains links with the United Kingdom (Note:- NOT just England. Scotland Ireland and Wales are in there too) by remaining a member of the Commonwealth.
Waylander, I am slowly beginning to understand some of this. Has it always been like this or have there been changes?
Canada was a British colony until it was granted independence (not sure of the year). Once granted this made Canada independent, but they chose to remain within the commonwealth. this is a talking shop where the members get together to agree preferential trade agreements etc. between them. Most old British colonies are members as it gives them preferential duty rates for their goods exported to UK.
Waylander, thank you for your help. I googled some history. It has been a long complicated process of Canadian Independence.
Canada officially became a country in July 1, 1867 when it signed the British North America Act or BNA Act. This was called Confederation,
It slwoly became independent, first signing treaties with Britain’s permission, and in the 1920s, we decided we wouldn’t automatically send our troops into conflicts where the British were involved.
However, we weren’t fully independent because we still had to ask Britain if wanted to change our Constitution. In 1922 we started to try doing this. However it took a long time because no one could agree. Finally in 1982, the British or Queen Elizabeth the 2nd and Pierre Trudeau, then PM of Canada signed the Constitution Act, 1982. This act allowed Canada to change its Constitution without asking the Brits. This was called Patriation or bringing the Constitution home.
jsmile. Is the Queen of England still the Queen of Canada? If so, what rights or powers does she have?
Here is one take on “what if” America was still under British rule according to
Paul Pirie, a former historian
The easiest way of assessing whether the United States would have been better off without its revolution is to look at those English-speaking countries that rejected the American Revolution and retained the monarchy, particularly Canada, which experienced an influx of American refugees after the British defeat. The U.S. performance should also be assessed against the ideals the new country set for itself — namely, advancing life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
The new republic started advancing life and liberty by keeping a substantial part of its population enslaved. (This, at least, proves the frequent British put-down that Americans don’t have a sense of irony.) By contrast, in British-controlled Canada, the abolition of slavery began almost 20 years before the War of 1812, sometimes called America’s “Second Revolution.” A good number of free blacks fought with the British against the United States in that conflict, even participating in the burning of Washington. And if, as some scholars argue, the Civil War was the unfinished business of the American Revolution, then Americans — like the Russians — paid a very high human cost for their revolutions.
jsmile, thank you.We Americans, at least some of us, know of a gap between our stated values and the actual facts. We did build a great and powerful country in a short time and we did dispense with the idea that some people are just born better than others. We are still working on civil rights for minorities, which includes women.