What if the colonies had not rebelled?

What I'm wondering is if Great Britain would be willing to take us back. We could apologize for breaking away and promise to never do it again.

 

Americans before …

“We secede!”

Americans after …

“But you can’t secede from us!”

 

Yes, I know that.

 

What's in a name? You seem to be.

 

We'd have more than 2 major political parties and I'd be sipping on some earl grey as I type

 

I’ve already gone on record as declaring Putin my president. Frankly, I don’t know what else I have to do.

 

We’d be Canada. Oh, wait.

 

Did the pondering continue late into the night? Was it dreary at midnight? Were you weak and weary as you pondered?

I think that Britain had to give up control over Canada, after they granted independence to all of their far-flung colonies that they could not protect during WWII (Singapore, Malaysia, etc.). The second tallest building in the world is almost finished in Kuala Lumpur, and it is dedicated to Merdeka, which is when their local leader demanded independence. (They tried to shape the building with these angles to indicate a man with one hand raised demanding independence.)

I don't know how you can say that there never would have been a Civil War. It is fairly likely that the Civil War would have started in 1834 instead of 1861. The wealthiest people in the country in the 1840's were plantation owners between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, so they were well on their way to developing that wealth in the 1830's. No way they give up without a fight. The fight might not have lasted very long if there were not enough slave owners throughout the rest of the south at that time to support it (of course, there probably wouldn't be much of a colonist militia or an British Army presence to oppose them, either). But there would be a fight. Maybe the question is whether the Virginia slave-owners would have coordinated with the Louisiana slave owners or fought separately. Most likely, after the slave owners were defeated, wealthy farmers would have packed up and left to return to England or Europe, and the country probably would have reverted to a scarcely populated backwater (at least, until Sutter's Mill). The mechanization of farming and the development of trains really helped the country take off later in the 19th century, but that might not have happened under your scenario.

 

We would all be soccer fans terrorizing European cities?

 

I think one of the big flaws here is that England would have outlawed slavery in the Colonies. England valued the Colonies because they produced such cheap and voluminous goods. And England had a history of allowing the Colonies to get away with acts not tolerated in the rest of the Kingdom. I think, when we calculate the impact of greed, it is entirely plausible slavery would have been permitted here, even if outlawed everywhere else.

Yet another reason to toast July 4!!

 

But not to England, dammit!

 

I think you're right, with a small nuance. England may well have outlawed slavery in all of its colonies, but lacked the will (or desire) to enforce it. They almost certainly would not have gone to war over it. They went to war over America's independence because it threatened England's access to resources, income and prestige.

 

I’ll be damned. Sounds like a country we know.

“They went to war over America's independence because it threatened England's access to resources, income and prestige.”

 

Visit Putin and grovel at his feet?

 

Why ? He’s just a man. Albeit, a better man than we’ve got.

 

Better in the sense that he's more Hitler-like? You enjoy his bullet diplomacy, right?

 

Another question worth pondering is what would have happened if the natives realized that their bows and arrows were far more accurate than the muskets of the English. The story has it that in one of the early meetings of colonists and natives, that one of the younger pilgrims challenged the natives to a shooting contest. The natives shot first, hitting a tree 30 yards away right on target with multiple arrows. When one of the leaders (Myles Standish?) saw this, he stopped the contest, realizing that an English musket could not come anywhere near the accuracy of the native bow. Had he let the contest proceed, the natives would have realized that they could get rid of the Europeans whenever they felt like it.

 

guy with veins

 

Bad food???? Are you referring to Great Britain or Germany?