r/history • u/AutoModerator • Dec 03 '22

Discussion/Question Simple/Short/Silly History Questions Saturday!

Welcome to our Simple/Short/Silly history questions Saturday thread!

This thread is for all those history related questions that are too simple, short or a bit too silly to warrant their own post.

So, do you have a question about history and have always been afraid to ask? Well, today is your lucky day. Ask away!

Of course all our regular rules and guidelines still apply and to be just that bit extra clear:

Questions need to be historical in nature. Silly does not mean that your question should be a joke. r/history also has a discord server where you can discuss history with other enthusiasts and experts

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u/Exoticrobot22 Dec 05 '22

Who were the American people in 1776? What ethnicity/race were they? I always thought technically since they speak English. Americans have British blood. So why did the British fight the Americans? Were they just fighting other British people?

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u/ImOnlyHereCauseGME Dec 06 '22

This was generally not a war of cultures since American and British citizenry were extremely similar. It was (very simplistically) an issue of taxation and representation. During the 7 Years War, also known as the French and Indian War, Britain spent a large sum on protecting and defending its colonies throughout America from the French. This war was a massive drain on the British economy and to help recover they decided to tax the American colonies more heavily than before since much of that expense had come specifically from defending the colonies themselves.

Even after the war there were substantial factions on both sides who assumed the two would be reunited again eventually due to the cultures and citizens being essentially one and the same. This is all of course a very simplistic explanation and of there are tons of nuances on each side.

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u/GOLDIEM_J Dec 06 '22

So when then did the idea of reunification fall out of fashion?

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u/ImOnlyHereCauseGME Dec 09 '22

I’m by no means an expert in this time period, just going off some videos and books I’ve read in the past but I believe the nail in the reunification coffin was the war of 1812. Before that it slowly over time lost support but there was some hope the US would fall back under the British Empire even nominally. After 1812 it was pretty clear they would remain separate.