Samuel Adams and Creative Destruction
February 9, 2010 at 4:09 pm
I watched a historical documentary the other day about colonial Boston, Samuel Adams and the events following the French-Indian war.
In short, the British had just successfully waged a long (7 year) and expensive war against the French in order to expand their imperial holdings inward, from the coastal 13 colonies into the great “Northwest”. This meant that the American colonists suddenly more than doubled the land available for settlement, across the Appalachians into the Ohio valley and into the Great lakes region.
The British government, in order to pay off its debt, naturally suggested that the colonists help defray the expense and passed the “Stamp act”. This was paid via purchased stamps that would be applied to all commercial documents, the revenues being expatriated to the Royal treasury.
Samuel Adams, the lesser known cousin of our second president, was a Bostonian ne’er-do-well who had found his calling as a local agitator, railing against the injustices of British government. The passage of the Stamp act gave him the perfect issue to launch a popular revolt, which quickly turned ugly. The stamp collectors, employees of the government, were beaten, tarred and feathered.
Fast forward 300 years and this time our government has just completed an expensive war, in a foreign land. The underlying cause for the war was economic while it was again financed via debt. In fact, our government purposely reduced revenues by simultaneously doling out tax cuts.
A few years later, the fiscal tornado lands … and the people revolt. A loose collection of misfits gathers throughout the land, with impassioned pleas of tyranny and over-taxation by government.
Samuel Adams’ greatest act of civil disobedience was, of course, the Boston Tea Party, which turned out to be the last straw for the British. Many of our citizens are now inspired to remember this heroic act against an oppressor.
The problem with adopting this as mascot, however, is that this time, we got ourselves into this mess. There is no external power to revolt against.
And, when the tea party is over, we will be left with an even bigger mess to clean up.
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Samuel Adams and Creative Destruction
February 9, 2010 at 4:09 pm
I watched a historical documentary the other day about colonial Boston, Samuel Adams and the events following the French-Indian war.
In short, the British had just successfully waged a long (7 year) and expensive war against the French in order to expand their imperial holdings inward, from the coastal 13 colonies into the great “Northwest”. This meant that the American colonists suddenly more than doubled the land available for settlement, across the Appalachians into the Ohio valley and into the Great lakes region.
The British government, in order to pay off its debt, naturally suggested that the colonists help defray the expense and passed the “Stamp act”. This was paid via purchased stamps that would be applied to all commercial documents, the revenues being expatriated to the Royal treasury.
Samuel Adams, the lesser known cousin of our second president, was a Bostonian ne’er-do-well who had found his calling as a local agitator, railing against the injustices of British government. The passage of the Stamp act gave him the perfect issue to launch a popular revolt, which quickly turned ugly. The stamp collectors, employees of the government, were beaten, tarred and feathered.
Fast forward 300 years and this time our government has just completed an expensive war, in a foreign land. The underlying cause for the war was economic while it was again financed via debt. In fact, our government purposely reduced revenues by simultaneously doling out tax cuts.
A few years later, the fiscal tornado lands … and the people revolt. A loose collection of misfits gathers throughout the land, with impassioned pleas of tyranny and over-taxation by government.
Samuel Adams’ greatest act of civil disobedience was, of course, the Boston Tea Party, which turned out to be the last straw for the British. Many of our citizens are now inspired to remember this heroic act against an oppressor.
The problem with adopting this as mascot, however, is that this time, we got ourselves into this mess. There is no external power to revolt against.
And, when the tea party is over, we will be left with an even bigger mess to clean up.
Like this:
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