Was the American Revolution really just about a bunch of aristocratic, slave-owning, middle-aged white guys?
More or less – George Washington had twelve black slaves in his house. Although it is true to say that John Adam was entirely opposed to slavery, most of his contemporaries were either in favour of it or else could not be bothered with it. Exactly the same attitudes towards slavery prevailed here in UK at about the same time. For the UK the Slave Trade was big business and it made a lot of people very very wealthy indeed. In c1776 the slave colony of Jamica was actually worth many times more than all the 13 American colonies put together. No wonder the Brits just gave it up -all those troublesome people with ‘opinions’ on just about anything and everything, constantly spouting on about Liberty. “The best form of taxation is a lottery, since only the willing will pay.” Ben Franklin. “Wonder what happened to that idea?
