Re: Regarding the American Revolution, the ArticlesofConfederation, the

["Alan Bradley" <abradley1@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

> From: "Charles Brown"
> CB: This issue was in the context of discussing the American colonies as
> not uniting into a federal system ( retaining the Articles of
> Confederation). Isn't it much more likely that the British could defeat
> individual colonies as opposed to the federalized total of 13 ?  The War
> of 1812 was a real contest. What would likely have happened if the British
> were fighting only one colony ?  There would have been no "Washington",
> the federal capital.

The colonies managed to cooperate during the Revolutionary War, before
either the Articles of Confederation or the Constitution.

While it is conceivable that short-sightedness and petty self-interest might
have prevented the colonies from cooperating in the face of a British
attack, it seems unlikely.

There is a serious point here, however, in that the more centralised state
established by the Constitution did allow a standing army and navy to be
established.  Putting a bunch of separate little armies together wouldn't
have been as efficient.  Incidentally, didn't the US intervene in north
Africa in the early 1800s?

And while we are on this kind of topic:  the Australian armed forces have
their origins in the forces of the separate pre-Federation colonies.  The
Queensland Defence Force was established during the American Civil War, when
it looked like Britain might be about to go to war with the US, on the side
of the Confederacy.  There was a fear that US commerce raiders might be able
to sneak through a British naval blockade and hit shipping in Australian
waters.  In the end, of course, Confederate raiders were able to visit
Australian ports and recruit crew members, despite this being technically
illegal.

It's ANZAC day.  It's time to remember that the Australian military was
established in sympathy with slavery.  Goddamn fascists.

Alan Bradley
abradley1@xxxxxxxxxxx










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