A continent stretches away to the West, and no one is entirely sure what is to be found there.

This is not necessarily a good thing in an army.Īmerica now has a future of boundless possibilities. This spirit of independence is a source of strength: it is an idea worth defending! It is also a source of weakness, for Americans cherish the right to do as they think best. In its wake, the revolution left a new kind of nation, a republic where men choose their own destinies, and are not subject to the whims of kings. The struggle split counties, cities, towns, even families, but it united the nation. The British responded with political stupidity and military ineptitude.Īided, once they had rebelled, by the French Bourbons (who, for reasons of their own, had every wish to see Britain pre-occupied with war and then humiliated by seditious rebels), the Americans faced down Britain.

After all, those colonial fellows enjoyed the benefits of peace, protected by Britain’s expensive soldiers and sailors. The United States of America is a nation forged in the fires of revolution and rebellion against a British monarch seen as distant, foreign and tyrannical.Īfter the French and Indian Wars, the British government took an entirely unreasonable line: the American colonists should pay taxes to contribute to the navy and army that helped defend them.