Sunday, August 30, 2020

Leaving the Scotch-Irish out of the story of the American Revolution

This is a really interesting interview, but I am surprised at the assertion that the concepts of individual liberties, and that revolution is justified, only emerged out of the blue in 1765 with the Stamp Act. A basic understanding of the role of the Scotch-Irish in the Revolution, their ideology and their inherited communal memory and experience makes them perhaps the key 'people group'* from the Old World who could easily defy the tyrannical crown and assert their community's rights and independence. They had done so before many times over, they gloried in those memories, and were willing to do so again if they had to. They had been pushed across the Atlantic and were willing to go further. Liberty before Loyalty is the core concept of the Ulster-Scots, from at least 1500s Scotland and perhaps much earlier. They took it with them to America.


* PS the English non-conformists had similar experiences, but not to the same extent

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