Friday, January 23, 2009

Parallel History Thoughts: What if there was no American Revolution?

Revisiting the American Revolution:

What would America's history have looked like over the past 200+ years had there never been an American Revolution? A giant version of Canada that stretched from the Mexican border to the Artic Circle? Perhaps Russia would have thought twice about selling us Alaska? Would our current government be a Parliamentary vs a Representative Republic? Perhaps slavery would have ended without a bloody Civil War given the efforts of Wilburforce in the UK in the early 19th century? Perhaps Hitler would have thought twice about invading the UK isles if he knew that that the resources of America would be brought to bear? Without the American revolution would we have had a Washington, Franklin, Adams, Jefferson or Madison? What about Lincoln? What of the Indians? What of the 'Wild West' and 'Manifest Destiny'. 

Parallel history discussions are always fascinating in that they give you fresh canvas for exploring a whole new set of 'what-ifs' based on a set of knows. Perhaps everything would be exactly the same.

Let me know your thoughts. 

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