• wjrii@lemmy.world
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    10 hours ago

    Fun couterfactual to consider: how many MPs would “the colonies” have needed to blunt popular support for the revolution?

    Probably can’t go very high, but maybe one per charter? If not that high (Scotland only had 45, I think), then what would have been enough “representation” to preclude the American elites from making a compelling case, or what paths to personal status would have tempted enough of them that there wouldn’t have been a critical mass of will and resources?

    The British colonized the Americas, particularly North America, very differently than Spain and France did, but didn’t seem to think of the purpose or integration of colonies as any different.