48
votes
Accepted
Why didn't Great Britain give the colonies voting rights?
I think there were two basic issues here:
First off, it had never been done before in England. This was effectively the first colony outside of the British Isles peopled almost entirely with ...
- 118k
47
votes
Accepted
Did active frontiersmen really eat 20,000 calories a day? How does this compare to other highly-active people in recorded history?
The 10,000 calorie figure - or perhaps slightly lower - is about right as a ceiling for maintaining muscle mass over months of hard work with downtime only to sleep. Across the centuries, workers with ...
- 8,918
46
votes
Why were Civil War battle techniques so bloody, if the US had learned guerrilla fighting in the Revolutionary War?
I do not think it is accurate to say that guerilla techniques weren't used in the Civil War. What did Stonewall Jackson do in the Shenandoah Valley?
But guerilla tactics are limited. First, they are ...
- 4,338
41
votes
Accepted
When did Britain learn about the American Declaration of Independence?
The news reached London on the 10th of August. It was, of course, known by British officials in the colonies much earlier, but
It is astonishing how casually the Declaration was first reported to
...
- 108k
34
votes
Accepted
Why were Civil War battle techniques so bloody, if the US had learned guerrilla fighting in the Revolutionary War?
Whilst it's an interesting topic, unfortunately, the questions, answers, definitions and many facts are entirely incorrect.
Lets address some of the inaccuracies first and see if we can drill down to ...
- 3,175
33
votes
Why didn't Great Britain give the colonies voting rights?
Great Britain considered the colonies represented through virtual representation and as James Macpherson wrote in 1775
Had the Americans, instead of flying to arms, submitted the same supposed ...
- 2,066
31
votes
Why did Loyalists go to Canada during the American Revolution
Loyalists who lived in the 13 colonies fled to Canada because Canada was part of the British Empire. In Canada they could still be British. If they stayed in the colonies they would be traitors to ...
MCW♦
- 32.4k
28
votes
Why were Civil War battle techniques so bloody, if the US had learned guerrilla fighting in the Revolutionary War?
This article on the civil war's more advanced rifles highlights that:
Most American army officers in 1861 had been schooled in obsolete Napoleonic tactics, especially since many of them had served ...
- 23.2k
28
votes
Accepted
Was the Somerset Decision in 1772 in England the real underlying cause of the American Revolutionary war?
He's not 100% wrong that the desire of slaveholders in the States to protect their "property" and the institution itself has been drastically underplayed by Americans in talking about their own ...
- 118k
26
votes
Accepted
What is the London Enemies List 1775?
The London Enemies List seems to have been a list of 59 men who were considered to be a danger to the crown. I found a couple of sources that suggest the list was drawn up by London Tories, but these ...
- 77.4k
26
votes
When did Britain learn about the American Declaration of Independence?
Not repeating info in the other answer(s), but it should be realized that by the time the Declaration of Independence was written, the Battles of Lexington and Concord were already more than a year ...
- 118k
23
votes
Why didn't Great Britain give the colonies voting rights?
Because residents of Great Britain also had "taxation without representation". Britain in the 1700s was not a democracy. Members of Parliament were not members of the general public, and were not ...
- 2,429
20
votes
Why were Civil War battle techniques so bloody, if the US had learned guerrilla fighting in the Revolutionary War?
My understanding (which could be wrong) is that armies in the U.S. civil war were "bloody" in the sense that soldiers did not retreat or were sent directly into fire, until one side was wiped out. If ...
- 1,098
17
votes
Accepted
What happened to the British convicts transported to America after the American Revolution?
Transported convicts weren't imprisoned in the North American colonies. Much like the convicts transported to Australia after the loss of Britain's American colonies they were set to work. American ...
- 77.4k
15
votes
Accepted
Why was the Declaration of Independence handwritten, rather than printed with a printing press?
Remember that it takes several times longer to typeset a page (by hand, as in 1776) than to hand-write it; and that the typesetter still requires a hand-written fair copy to set from. So you don't ...
- 72.3k
15
votes
Accepted
What was the Victorian opinion of the American Revolution?
SHORT ANSWER
Probably the most widely expressed view on American Independence from Britain was that it was inevitable. Whig historians, in particular, also say the revolution was justifiable and that ...
- 108k
15
votes
Accepted
Did Continental Army officers wear wigs or keep their hair white like their British Army counterparts?
It's important to note here a key distinction between British (army) officers and Continental officers.
The former, overwhelmingly, had purchased their commissions into a specific regiment; and were ...
- 72.3k
14
votes
Why didn't Great Britain give the colonies voting rights?
Attempting to answer the actual question, Giving the colonists seats in Parliament would not have suited the aims of the parliamentarians and therefore it did not happen.
In contrast to the ...
- 141
12
votes
Was the Somerset Decision in 1772 in England the real underlying cause of the American Revolutionary war?
I think that there were probably a great many factors that led to the American Revolution. Concerns about the growing anti-slavery movement in the UK were undoubtedly among them.
Although it is true ...
- 77.4k
12
votes
Accepted
Why was Independence Day in America established on July 4?
You answered your own question in the very first line. That is because the US declaration of Independence was ratified/approved on 4th of July. What you say is correct, the declaration itself was ...
- 8,185
11
votes
How heavily were the British taxing their American colonies?
It is rather difficult to find an exact number for how much colonists paid in taxes
This article on PBS Newshour says:
the average British citizen who resided in Britain paid 26 shillings
per ...
- 692
11
votes
Accepted
Britain's Vietnam - the US Revolt?
It was a former Prime Minister, William Pitt the Elder, who understood the cost and warned in Parliament:
"I know that the conquest of English America is an impossibility. You cannot, I venture to ...
- 104k
11
votes
Accepted
Did Washington like or dislike the monarchical styles of address proposed by John Adams?
The dialog on HBO is obviously dramatised, but Washington did privately profess to disapprove of such titles. In a letter to David Stuart dated 26 July 1789, Washington wrote that:
It is to be ...
- 97.5k
11
votes
What happened to the colonial estates belonging to loyalists after the American Revolution?
In many (perhaps most) cases, their estates were seized by the states which had passed various forms of Confiscation Act.
The page Dispossessing Loyalists and Redistributing Property in Revolutionary ...
- 77.4k
11
votes
Did active frontiersmen really eat 20,000 calories a day? How does this compare to other highly-active people in recorded history?
A lot of information concerning the caloric intake of 18th century travelers in the Canadian wilds can be gleaned from a journal article published in Arctic Anthropology in 1993, "Always with ...
- 38.7k
10
votes
Accepted
Is the "refuse" side of this American Revolutionary War document really empty?
Your list of signers goes on for several pages. The 'refused to sign' section is at its end, on pg 336.
- 38.7k
10
votes
Did any country threaten war on the US because they didn't pay their debt after the Revolutionary War?
The direct portion of your question seems to reference 'did any country threaten war on the US because they didn't pay their debt after the Revolutionary War?' Whether relevant to your test question ...
- 38.7k
10
votes
Accepted
What was the perception of the average British person of the Boston Tea Party?
On the events of the 16th of December 1773 in Boston Harbor, the Boston Tea Party Historical Society article British View vs. American View, states that the incident was
Scarcely noted in the ...
- 108k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible