Thread: Who's Side Would You Be On?

This is a question I've thought about a lot over the past few years. While anyone is welcome to respond, I suspect most replies will come from the US. As a history buff, I've read a lot about the American Revolution and I sometmes wonder what I would have done under those circumstances. If you were living in America in the 1770's, would you have sided with the Loyalists or the rebels? What would have motivated you to make that choice? The question may seem a no-brainer to some, but think of the risks and sacrifices either choice would mean. What would you do?

It would probably come down to what you had to gain/lose.

It is easy to look back and say, "America, fark yeah! I would take on every red coat on the planet!!!!!"

Originally Posted by leadduck

This is a question I've thought about a lot over the past few years. While anyone is welcome to respond, I suspect most replies will come from the US. As a history buff, I've read a lot about the American Revolution and I sometmes wonder what I would have done under those circumstances. If you were living in America in the 1770's, would you have sided with the Loyalists or the rebels? What would have motivated you to make that choice? The question may seem a no-brainer to some, but think of the risks and sacrifices either choice would mean. What would you do?

Do you side with the free staters or with the state? If with the free staters, then I would imagine that you would be counted as part of the rebels.

Tough question...

If I were in America at the time, I would have probably been against the whole taxation-representation thing, and I would have resonated with lots of the things being said at the time by the soon to be founders.

That said, I probably wouldn't have been very confident that a war against the British would have been a successful venture.

I mighta hid behind a tree and sided with the winner

Originally Posted by TheGeek

I mighta hid behind a tree and sided with the winner

I suspect that's exactly what most folks did.

I was surprised to read that George Washington remained a loyalist for a long while before the King's actions finally turned him to the other side. No idea where I would have been had I lived back in those days. It would have depended on my circumstances and beliefs I suppose.

I'm Canadian. From that perspective, I would say the Loyalists. Seeing as Canada had to defend ourselves from the rebels and then once it was all over, decided to just ask Britain for our independence, there needed not be so much blood shed.

Yes, as a Canadian I would think you would have remained loyal to the king. Especially after your country came under attack by rebel forces. However, teh US would never have acheived independence simply by asking for it. The war didn't begin as a war of independence. Colonists were fighting for their rights to be upheld. Right up until congress agreed to issue the declaration, many were still hoping to reconcile with England. Even General Howe, commander of the British forces in America had hoped for reconciliation and had objected to the war.

Great question, Leadduck. I'm not American, but in such a situation, with the limited resources available to the unfortunate citizens at the time, which I think most of us would have been, I would either have been heavily influenced by the Govt propaganda or would have run off into the woods somewhere and tried to get by by myself.

Another point is, from what (little) I know about US history, it seems the government has always been primarily concerned with developing ties and promoting development of the wealthy and excessively industrious, so those of us just doing an ordinary job would be the pawns in such an undertaking and as such would be ending up either dead, severely injured, or waiting for payment that would never come.

I think an interesting question is - knowing what we do now, would you have joined/participated in the Vietnam war?