• homes@piefed.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    91
    ·
    edit-2
    1 day ago

    We didn’t quit paying taxes. We just quit paying unfair taxes to the Crown.

    • TallonMetroid@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      29
      ·
      1 day ago

      A reminder that the taxes in question were levied to recoup the costs of French and Indian War, which the colonists started.

      • merc@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        10
        ·
        17 hours ago

        And, which was largely fought (and won) in a way that dramatically benefitted the colonists.

        Ever wonder why there are so many places with French names just slightly inland from the original 13 US colonies have French names?

        • Bayou La Batre, Decatur, Lapine, Leroi, Mon Louis, Dauphin Island, etc. Alabama
        • Louisville, Paris, Versailles, Montpelier, etc. in Kentucky
        • Leroy, Napoleon, Montpelier, Saint Croix, etc. in Indiana
        • Bellaire, Bellefontaine, Louisville, Marietta, etc. in Ohio
        • Dubois, Duquesne, Labelle, Fort le Boeuf, Eau Claire, etc. in Pennsylvania
        • The name “Michigan” itself (originally Ojibwe, but interpreted into French), and a whole lot of parts of that state, including Detroit
        • Ozark (aux arcs), Benoit, Bellefontaine, D’Iberville etc. in Mississippi

        New France went from the Gulf of Mexico north, included all the Great Lakes, and kept going up to Hudson’s Bay. American settlers couldn’t go west without entering New France, so England fought a war to allow the expansion west. It won that war. The resulting treaty gave the British colonists in the Americas a huge amount of territory they could expand into, leaving only a small amount behind for France and its native allies.

        The British colonists in the Americas were asked to help pay for the war that gave them that opportunity to expand west, and they rebelled. And then, after the rebellion, they decided they didn’t need to abide by the terms of the British treaty with the French and took over most of the remaining land that France had been left after that war.

      • CommanderCloon@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        21 hours ago

        Didn’t the boston tea party start because they lowered the price of legally imported (and thus taxed) tea, undermining smugglers?

        • ohulancutash@feddit.uk
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          edit-2
          12 hours ago

          Yes, but it was also a grudge match between rivals. In one connected incident a locally-owned ship was burnt to the waterline to take out a competitor.

          The tea party was hugely damaging to the rebel cause, and leadership was furious. Just the sort of lawlessness the rebels were accused of standing for. It’s only several decades later that it was recast as an act of rebellion against the crown.

      • Big Baby Thor@sopuli.xyz
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        14
        ·
        1 day ago

        “No taxation without representation”. If the colonies got representatives in Parliament, that flag would look mighty different.

        • merc@sh.itjust.works
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          8
          ·
          18 hours ago

          Except that the British were offering that concession, and the negotiators for the colonists didn’t want to take it because really the taxes and lack of representation were just an excuse.

          • PapaStevesy@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            7 hours ago

            The British were also being ruled by someone with a genetic blood disease that makes you irrational and some form of major personality disorder, not exactly the most trustworthy negotiators.

            • merc@sh.itjust.works
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              6 hours ago

              How directly was he involved in the negotiations? Often the king is the ultimate authority in a country, but they don’t actually make many decisions themselves.

              It’s well known that the colonists were looking for a reason to break away, and that the taxation issue was a convenient excuse. After all, taxation without representation was the norm. It wasn’t like all of England had the vote and had representatives in parliament. Entire cities had zero representation but were still taxed. Ireland had been part of the British empire for ages and it didn’t have representation.

              • PapaStevesy@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                1
                ·
                3 hours ago

                Well, having a verifiably insane monarch sure couldn’t have helped.

                It’s obviously foolish for anyone to try and argue exactly what happened when for which reasons, we weren’t in those rooms having those conversations so we’ll never really know. We do know that the colonists hated what they considered overreaching British control (it was kind of the reason they left in the first place), and we know that the British were broke af and desparate to wring every penny they could out of the colonies to pay for wars on the other side of the ocean (sounds familiar). But you bring up a good point in Ireland, they were famously treated so well by the British and therefore were predictably loyal and peaceful subjects of the Crown 🤣🤣🤣

    • GarboDog@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      10
      ·
      1 day ago

      We just like how the “un fair taxes” they teach is actually way lower than the taxes US citizens have now adays.

      • ftbd@feddit.org
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        11
        ·
        1 day ago

        It really depends on what you’re getting in return. If your taxes paid for your healthcare and education, things would be different

        • GarboDog@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 day ago

          Neither did… well the K-12 education was paid, but it wasn’t the best of qualities. Having to relearn a lot of history and economics in EU now lol.

          Also off topic; was gonna say US had a specific year for when education was free but checking the history, it was really spotty when implemented and heavily disorganized. Aaaand wow found out California broke a treaty against Mexico in 1998 with Proposition 227, where it’s illegal for teachers to speak Spanish (ir any other bilingual language) in public schools. It was heavily lobbied by Californian multimillionaire Ron Unz. We don’t know if that still holds up, cuz what if the kids only speak Spanish?? Or its Spanish class??? Or the teacher is Spanish themself and are trying to find the right words to something and are like ¿cómo se llama esto? faaaahhhh”???

          Anyways USA only has the education part and it’s spotty af lol

      • homes@piefed.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        1 day ago

        The checks were unfair because they went to the crown rather than back to the American people who are paying them in the first place

        • merc@sh.itjust.works
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          4
          ·
          edit-2
          15 hours ago

          And paid for wars that were fought for the benefit of the colonists. Similar to how US taxes today are paid to the state and are used to pay for wars that the government claims are for the benefit of the American people.

        • JustEnoughDucks@slrpnk.net
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          8
          ·
          1 day ago

          So what is different now?

          Is Israel, Trump’s ministers’ pockets, insurance company executives, and the military industrial complex executives considered “the american people”?

          • TachyonTele_Esq@piefed.social
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            12 hours ago

            Normal the difference is the larger pool of people, and this more money for non citizen things.

            Right now… who the fuck knows