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Sure by the time there is a huge population of basically nations on Mars that may be the case but that isn’t in the foreseeable future. The New World existed a

Sure by the time there is a huge population of basically nations on Mars that may be the case but that isn’t in the foreseeable future. The New World existed as colonies for centuries before it had the ability to become independent and even then that more to do with Napoleon for South America and the rest of the world wanting to take Britain down a peg for. The US.

pdonis 5y ago
> The New World existed as colonies for centuries before it had the ability to become independent No, many of the British colonies had the ability to become independent fairly soon after being colonized. The key variable wasn't how capable the colonists were but how interested Britain was in controlling them, and that varied widely from colony to colony, depending on who in Britain had to exercise the control. Some, like the British peers who had ownership interests in New York and Virginia, were control freaks and wanted to exercise all sorts of detailed micromanagement of their colonies. Others, like Penn with Pennsylvania, basically let them do whatever they wanted and didn't bother much about it. And even in colonies like New York and Virginia, once you got away from the coastal cities or river ports that were easily accessible to British ships, the level of British control dropped drastically. The British couldn't do much at all about up-country backwoods farmers and trappers, who basically didn't care what the British or the colonial governments did since it couldn't really affect them. What didn't crystallize until the 1770s was the political unity between the colonies behind an explicit declaration of independence. Which was, in large part, a product of the British, after the end of the French and Indian War, deciding that the colonies had already gotten too independent and needed to be reminded that they were still British subjects. Which didn't work out very well. > that more to do with Napoleon for South America and the rest of the world wanting to take Britain down a peg All of which happened after the US had already become independent. So it's irrelevant when looking at how the US became independent. It is true that the British were still dealing with the French in Europe and that this limited their ability to project power in America during the US revolution. (The Americans also took full advantage of this by allying with France.) But that just illustrates my point: empires aren't omnipotent and can't just magically project power whenever and wherever they want to.

pdonis 5y ago

> The New World existed as colonies for centuries before it had the ability to become independent No, many of the British colonies had the ability to become independent fairly soon after being colonized. The key variable wasn't how capable the colonists were but how interested Britain was in controlling them, and that varied widely from colony to colony, depending on who in Britain had to exercise the control. Some, like the British peers who had ownership interests in New York and Virginia, were control freaks and wanted to exercise all sorts of detailed micromanagement of their colonies. Others, like Penn with Pennsylvania, basically let them do whatever they wanted and didn't bother much about it. And even in colonies like New York and Virginia, once you got away from the coastal cities or river ports that were easily accessible to British ships, the level of British control dropped drastically. The British couldn't do much at all about up-country backwoods farmers and trappers, who basically didn't care what the British or the colonial governments did since it couldn't really affect them. What didn't crystallize until the 1770s was the political unity between the colonies behind an explicit declaration of independence. Which was, in large part, a product of the British, after the end of the French and Indian War, deciding that the colonies had already gotten too independent and needed to be reminded that they were still British subjects. Which didn't work out very well. > that more to do with Napoleon for South America and the rest of the world wanting to take Britain down a peg All of which happened after the US had already become independent. So it's irrelevant when looking at how the US became independent. It is true that the British were still dealing with the French in Europe and that this limited their ability to project power in America during the US revolution. (The Americans also took full advantage of this by allying with France.) But that just illustrates my point: empires aren't omnipotent and can't just magically project power whenever and wherever they want to.