Re: More Simple Questions About Which Side Was Right


From: mtgriffith1@yahoo.com


<<< This is not exactly correct. The war had actually been going on about a year when the Declaration of Independence was signed. The war started in 1775 and the Declaration was in 1776, so there were thousands of British soldiers in the colonies and there were already bloody battles being fought. >>>


One, it is a fact that at the time the colonies declared their independence, there were no British forces in the colonies. If the British had not invaded but had let the colonies go in peace, there would have been no war. That was and is my central point.


Two, it is also a fact that, as I said in my post, "the actual war, with large battles and heavy casualties," began when the British invaded the colonies after the Declaration of Independence was issued. Prior to that time, there were some skirmishes, but those involved very few casualties and were not fought by formally organized colonial forces. The one exception was the siege of Boston, which involved organized colonial forces and the battle of Bunker Hill. But this was only a single battle–the rest of the siege was mainly an intermittent exchange of artillery fire followed by the British agreeing to leave the city after the Patriots occupied Dorchester Heights. The fighting that occurred before the British invasion was minor compared to the fighting that occurred after the invasion–that’s my point as far as the combat that occurred.


Also, even after Bunker Hill, there were still some voices among the Patriots who argued for some kind of reconciliation with England. In fact, even after the end of the siege of Boston, which concluded in March 1776, there were still Patriot leaders who believed reconciliation with the British should still be sought. That’s why there was so much debate over Richard Henry Lee’s resolution for independence, which he introduced on June 7, 1776.


The war as such–between the colonies as self-declared independent states and England–did not begin until the British invaded New York soon after the Declaration of Independence. Again, though, the main point is that if the British had not invaded after the colonies declared their independence, there would have been no war.


Mike Griffith
Civil War website
http://ourworld.cs.com/mikegriffith1/id163.htm