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Okay, um, yall know about the FIRST American Revolution? The good one?
In 1741 black slaves, irish refugees, & spanish pirates, inspired by the diggers in the English Civil War, conspired together to rise up, defeat the British, and turn New York into a commune. They almost won. https://twitter.com/anthonyvclark20/status/1300850691729129474
In 1741 black slaves, irish refugees, & spanish pirates, inspired by the diggers in the English Civil War, conspired together to rise up, defeat the British, and turn New York into a commune. They almost won. https://twitter.com/anthonyvclark20/status/1300850691729129474
It's not a story a US nationalist would tell you, but you can read about it in Linebaugh & Rediker's infamously good The Many Headed Hydra.
I should nuance that in the preceding decades there had been something like 80 insurrections and revolts across america, but this one...
I should nuance that in the preceding decades there had been something like 80 insurrections and revolts across america, but this one...
This one had many hallmarks of a full blown revolution.
You see, it wasn't just a riot that burned down large chunks of New York, it was -- by serious accounts -- a true conspiracy.
A daring plan to loot a fortress and ally with a pirate fleet against the British navy.
You see, it wasn't just a riot that burned down large chunks of New York, it was -- by serious accounts -- a true conspiracy.
A daring plan to loot a fortress and ally with a pirate fleet against the British navy.
Imagine an America built as an proto-anarchist commune, a union between african slaves so rebellious they were shipped to the cold north so they couldn't maroon in the carribean, indentured Irish refugees from genocide, and the rebel pirate crews that overthrew their masters.
On St Patrick's day, in honor of the saint who abolished slavery in Ireland, these americans -- truer partisans of freedom than any 'founding father' of our current despotic regime -- burned down Fort George, one of the the strongest military installations of the British Empire.
The full story of this revolution is one of happenstance tragedy, impatience and misalignment in naval response times, a love story between an irish sex worker named Peg and a rebellious african slave named Gwin, an insurrection of astonishing scale and aspirations.
Seriously go read The Many Headed Hydra -- the story of the 1741 American Revolution That Failed is but one chapter in a great book.
If you must look back for inspiration, side with the slaves & refugees that almost made this country, not the slave owners that ultimately did.
If you must look back for inspiration, side with the slaves & refugees that almost made this country, not the slave owners that ultimately did.
Anyway, the white ruling class of 1700s America DID put down those insurrectionaries honestly seeking liberty. They executed them and sliced their bodies up, they enslaved them, they deported them.
Then a few decades later they seized control over another riotous uprising...
Then a few decades later they seized control over another riotous uprising...
