Quotes - nick Bunker Flashcards
Fort de Chartres and the Imperial system
‘By the early 1770s, it was slipping into ruin like the rest of the imperial system to which the base belonged.’
Fort charters the symbol
‘The fort was built on weak foundations, the British had acquired it without a cogent plan for its future, and in time it was bound to collapse…. the post symbolised Great Britain’s plight in North America as a whole, a continent she did not comprehend and could not hope to rule in its entirety’
Number of redcoats
‘the redcoats in North America amounted to fewer than six thousand me, half as many as the British kept in Ireland.’
Tea for understanding
‘Only when they learned of the destruction of the tea did the British begin to see the situation in America as it really was’
Confusing system worked
‘The system was confusing, but it seemed to work, so long as you were white and Protestant and free’
Puritan ideas
‘Old Puritan ideas about rebellion and self-rule always found advocates among Americans who knew their history’
7 years war
‘Global was that raised new questions about every element of British policy toward the nation’s empire’
Make believe empire
‘In America the British had only a make-believe empire, a loose mosaic made from tiles without a pattern’
Boston massacre
‘The massacre became a symbol of tyranny and resistance, to be remembered every year like the Mayflower or the Glorious Revolution’
Easy to forget
‘And because the colonies were far away, it was all too easy to forget about them during the intervals when they appeared to be tranquil’
Tea and flaws
‘However bizarre it might seem that tea could cause a revolution, the Boston Tea Party took place as a consequence of fundamental flaws in the system that the British had created’
