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The Jan. 6 committees work is sowing doubts about Donald Trump on the right. | Chet Strange/Getty Images

SOME GOOD FOURTH OF JULY NEWS N.Y. Mag: Someone Finally Turned Nathans Hot Dogs Into Ice Cream

SOME BAD FOURTH OF JULY NEWS WSJ: The average cost of a summer cookout rose 17% from last year.

MORE DOUBTS ABOUT THE FRONTRUNNERS Its going to take a long time to process the events of June 2022. Two monumental storylines unfurled last month that will shape politics for the foreseeable future: the Supreme Courts transformational decisions on guns, climate regulation and abortion and the Jan. 6 committees evidence of potential criminality by DONALD TRUMP.

On Friday, we looked at how the Supreme Courts flurry of decisions pushing the country rightward is sowing doubts about Biden on the left.

For more on that, check out these two numbers in the latest Harvard CAPS/Harris poll:

64% of registered voters think Joe Biden is showing he is too old to be President.

71% of registered voters say Bidenshould not run for a second term.

But today we want to look closer at how the Jan. 6 committees work is sowing doubts about Trump on the right. The same poll reports:

61% of registered voters say Trumpshould not run for president.

The reasons?

He's erratic: 36%

He will divide America: 33%

He's responsible for Jan. 6: 30%

Two must-read pieces are chock-full of on-the-record quotes from Republicans who want to move on from the former president:

Via APs Steve Peoples and Thomas Beaumont:

Youd be hard-pressed to find people in this area who support the idea that people arent looking for someone else, said DAVE VAN WYK, a transportation company owner. To presume that conservative America is 100% behind Donald Trump is simply not the case.

People are concerned that we could lose the election in 24 and want to make sure that we dont nominate someone who would be seriously flawed, CHRIS CHRISTIE said.

His approval among Republican primary voters has already been somewhat diminished, Maryland Gov. LARRY HOGAN said in an interview. Trump was the least popular president in American history until Joe Biden.

Republican activists believed Donald Trump was the only candidate who could beat Hillary, MARC SHORT said. Now, the dynamic is reversed. He is the only one who has lost to Joe Biden.

If it looks like theres a place for me next year, Ive never lost a race, Im not going to start now, NIKKI HALEY told reporters. Ill put 1,000% in and Ill finish it. And if theres not a place for me, I will fight for this country until my last breath.

I just dont know if [Trumps] electable anymore, [KATHY DE KONING of Iowa] said.

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Via NYTs Michael Bender, Reid Epstein and Maggie Haberman:

Republicans want to win badly in 2022, and it is dawning on many of them that relitigating the 2020 election with Trumps daily conspiracy diatribes are sure losers, said DICK WADHAMS, a Republican strategist and former chairman of the Colorado Republican Party.

Theres some evidence that some Republican voters are trying to slow-walk from Donald Trump, said SCOTT JENNINGS, a Republican strategist. Jennings said he was not surprised by Mr. Trumps eagerness to jump into the presidential race. If youre in his shoes, you have to try to put that fire out. Because the more it burns, the more it burns.

Ms. Hutchinson would be the star member of a womens Republican club a committed conservative, no reason to say anything but the truth, said Senator BILL CASSIDY of Louisiana, who voted to convict in Mr. Trumps second impeachment and has been a target of Mr. Trumps since. He was one of the few lawmakers who spoke on the record. It gives power to a testimony that allows Americans to judge for themselves.

There will be a number of Republicans who many Republicans feel cannot only unite the party but would govern with strong, conservative policies, said JASON SHEPHERD, a former NEWT GINGRICH aide who is a Georgia Republican Party state committeeman.

Theres just too many people who dont really like him, [NICOLE] WOLTER said. We want everyone to kind of rally around him and be able to get the independents, and I just think that if he ran, he wouldnt be able to pull that off.

Wishful thinking by the usual GOP suspects? Or evidence that something has really changed?

More: NBCs Marc Caputo on how Trumps fear factor shows signs of waning as 2024 Republican hopefuls jockey.

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Good Saturday morning. Thanks for reading Playbook. If you try hot-dog ice cream this weekend, drop us a line and tell us about it: Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza.

WEEKEND LISTEN: TIM MILLER and ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN sat down with Ryan this week to discuss their respective journeys navigating Trumpism and what CASSIDY HUTCHINSONs testimony could mean for the future of Trumps grip on the Republican Party.

Why is MIKE PENCE letting Cassidy testify? Mike Pence knows about all this stuff better than anybody, Miller said. And he's not going to be the president. If anybody knows how derelict Donald Trump was on that day, it's Pence. Listen to Playbook Deep Dive

BIDENS SATURDAY: The president has nothing on his public schedule.

VP KAMALA HARRIS SATURDAY (all times Eastern):

12:10 p.m.: The vice president will depart Los Angeles en route to New Orleans.

5:15 p.m.: Harris will attend the 28th ESSENCE Festival of Culture, where she will participate in a fireside conversation with KEKE PALMER.

8 p.m.: Harris will depart New Orleans to return to Los Angeles.

PHOTO OF THE DAY

WNBA star Brittney Griner is escorted to a courtroom for a hearing in Khimki, just outside of Moscow, Russia, on Friday, July 1. | Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP Photo

ALL POLITICS

TRUMP VS. HOGAN Dems meddle in Trump-Hogan proxy war in Maryland, by Zach Montellaro: DAN COXs campaign for governor of Maryland got an early endorsement from Donald Trump last fall. And now, Democrats want Republican primary voters to know all about it.

The Democratic Governors Association launched a new ad Friday blasting Cox, a state lawmaker, for his ties to Trump, for being 100 percent pro-life and for refusing to support any federal restrictions on guns. But the end goal of the ad is not to sink Cox. Instead, Democrats are hoping to boost him in the July 19 Republican primary for governor, which has turned into a tight battle for the nomination with former state Commerce Secretary KELLY SCHULZ term-limited GOP Gov. LARRY HOGANs preferred successor.

KNOWING MARKWAYNE MULLIN He was prepared to kill Jan. 6 rioters. Now MAGA voters may give him a Senate seat, by WaPos Paul Kane in an analysis piece on the Oklahoma GOP representative.

JAN. 6 AND ITS AFTERMATH

THE NOT-SO SECRET SERVICE Jan. 6 inquiry thrusts Secret Service back into center of controversy, by WaPos Carol Leonnig: The new depiction of the Secret Service which has endured a decade of controversy from a prostitution scandal and White House security missteps during the Obama years to allegations of politicization under Trump has cast new doubt on the independence and credibility of the legendary presidential protective agency.

Accounts of Trump angrily demanding to go to Capitol on January 6 circulated in Secret Service over past year, by CNNs Noah Gray and Zachary Cohen

ABORTION FALLOUT

HEADS UP Texas Supreme Court blocks order that resumed abortions, by APs Paul Weber, Anthony Izaguirre and Stephen Groves: It was not immediately clear whether Texas clinics that had resumed seeing patients this week would halt services again. A hearing is scheduled for later this month.

SOMETHING TO WATCH House GOP women are a crucial piece to partys next move on abortion, by WaPos Marianna Sotomayor: There are 32 women in the House GOP conference, the largest number in history. And their ranks are expected to grow in a midterm year.

THE DEM DONOR REACTION Democrats swiftly raised $80M after court overturned Roe, by APs Brian Slodysko

IN THE STATES As Ohio restricts abortions, 10-year-old girl travels to Indiana for procedure, by the Indianapolis Stars Shari Rudavsky and Rachel Fradette

TRUMP CARDS

FOR YOUR RADAR Trump hires former 9th Circuit judge Kozinski for Twitter court fight, by Reuters Jacqueline Thomsen and Mike Scarcella

WHERE ARE THEY NOW She helped get Trump elected. Now shes raising crypto for Ukraine, by WaPos Steven Zeitchik: BRITTANY KAISER, the provocative Cambridge Analytica veteran, has become critical to the government of Volodymyr Zelensky. Not everyone is enthusiastic.

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CLICKER The nations cartoonists on the week in politics, edited by Matt Wuerker 15 funnies

GREAT WEEKEND READS, curated by Ryan Lizza:

How Do You Prepare for a School Shooting? by NYTs C.J. Chivers, with photos and captions by Lindsay Morris and Jake Nevins: In a gruesome new American ritual, mass casualty simulations confront first responders with agonizing choices they would face in a real attack.

The Other Cancel Culture: How a Public University Is Bowing to a Conservative Crusade, by ProPublicas Daniel Golden and Kirsten Berg: With a rising national profile and donor base and relatively little state funding, Boise State University should be able to resist pressure by the Idaho Legislature. Instead the university, led by a liberal transplant, has repeatedly capitulated.

Did This Trump-Loving, Leopard-Hunting Dentist Kill His Wife? by Rolling Stones Matt Sullivan: Larry Rudolph built an empire in strip-mall suburbia, and a reputation as a gun-culture hero. Then came the love triangle, the allegations of fraud, and a mysterious death in Africa. Was it a tragic accident? Or murder?

Unsettled, by The Verges Makena Kelly: The Afghan refugee crisis collides with the American housing disaster.

He was acting strangely. Then he vanished into the Virginia wilderness, by WaPos Lizzie Johnson: The disappearance of 18-year-old Ty Sauer set off a frantic search in a densely wooded area of Shenandoah National Park.

Leonard Cohens Hallelujah Belongs to Everyone, by The Atlantics Kevin Dettmar: What is it about the once virtually unknown song that inspires so many musicians to make it their own?

Jason Brassard Spent His Lifetime Collecting the Rarest Video Games. Until the Heist, by Vanity Fairs Justin Heckert: The porn trilogy for Nintendos. Atari games from the 1980s. Pristine nostalgia, potentially worth millions, gone in a night.

Pete Buttigieg educated his Twitter followers about flight cancellations.

Elon Musk broke his Twitter silence on Friday, posting a photo with Pope Francis.

Jerry Hall has filed for divorce from Rupert Murdoch.

Enda ODowd, an Irish Times video journalist, documented the lowlights from the Arizona GOP gubernatorial debate.

WELCOME TO THE WORLD Kristen Soltis Anderson, founding partner of Echelon Insights and a CNN contributor, and Chris Anderson, software engineering manager at Sweetgreen, on Tuesday welcomed Eliana Christine Anderson. Pic

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Playbooks own Setota Hailemariam Jonathan Capehart Reps. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), Doug LaMalfa (R-Calif.) and Randy Weber (R-Texas) Eric Fanning of the Aerospace Industries Association Brad Todd of On Message POLITICOs Cristina Rivero The Verges Brooke Minters Scott McGee of Kelley Drye Derek Gianino of Wells Fargo Matthew Dybwad of Xandr Jenny Beth Martin of Tea Party Patriots Courtney Geduldig of Micron Technology Matthew L. Schwartz Snaps Gina Woodworth Arkadi Gerney ... Sam Nitz ... Emily Stanitz Reed Howard former New Hampshire Gov. John H. Sununu former Rep. Mike Castle (R-Del.) Luci Baines Johnson Jeremy Garlington (53) NBCs Tom Llamas and Keith Morrison Abbey Rogers of Rokk Solutions Billy Constangy of Rep. Richard Hudsons (R-N.C.) office Collin Davenport of Rep. Gerry Connollys (D-Va.) office TikTok's Brooke Oberwetter

THE SHOWS (Full Sunday show listings here):

ABC This Week, anchored by Martha Raddatz: Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.). Panel: Alex Burns, Molly Ball, Mary Bruce and Brittany Shepherd.

FOX Fox News Sunday: Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves John Kirby. Panel: Marc Thiessen, Mollie Hemingway, Howard Kurtz and Juan Williams.

CBS Face the Nation: DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) Henning Tiemeier German Chancellor Olaf Scholz Jan Crawford Debora Patta.

CNN State of the Union: South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.). Panel: Bakari Sellers, Linda Chavez, Jess McIntosh and Scott Brown.

CNN Inside Politics: Jill Dougherty. Panel: Jonathan Swan, Jackie Kucinich, Laura Barrn-Lpez, Christopher Cadelago, Camila DeChalus and Ariane de Vogue.

NBC Meet the Press: Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra Danny Cevallos. Panel: Matthew Continetti, Jeh Johnson, Marianna Sotomayor and Ali Vitali.

MSNBC The Sunday Show: Linda Villarosa Deborah Watts Kurt Bardella Judith Browne Dianis.

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Send Playbookers tips to [emailprotected] or text us at 202-556-3307. Playbook couldnt happen without our editor Mike Zapler, deputy editor Zack Stanton and producers Setota Hailemariam and Bethany Irvine.

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POLITICO Playbook: Growing doubts about Trump and Biden in '24- POLITICO - POLITICO

July 4, 2022 - ByJeff Jardine-Granted, this was more prevalent in the days before electronic digital signatures, but youve probably heard the term at some point:

Sign your John Hancock right here!

The famous signature.

As we celebrate the United States of Americas 246thbirthday, no signature on the Declaration of Independence our first Hallmark moment stands out bigger, bolder and with more flair than that of John Hancock. In fact, he was the first of the 56 men who signed the document that told King George III and England to take a hike, and no doubt wanted emphasize his dedication to the revolution and defiance.

After all, breaking away from Englands grip required the will of brave men and women who knew they were, in essence, declaring treason against the Crown. They didnt just sign Americas most famous piece of parchment. They signed what would have been their death warrants had England ultimately prevailed.

Such explains why the Declaration might be dated July 4, 1776 two days after the first founding fathers signed it the last of the names werent signed until November of that year.

By signing first and with such flourish, Hancock made himself a target publicly. By that time, however, hed already ruffled the British in many other ways. In 1773, three years before the revolution began, Hancock revved up the angry mob at a Sons of Liberty meeting prior to the Boston Tea Party, telling them Let every man do what is right in his own eyes.

John Hancock

They dumped tea into the Boston Harbor to protest the tea tax foisted upon them by the Crown. Hence, the battle cry of No Taxation without Representation was born.

Hancock further infuriated the British by raising money for the Revolution, recruited troops for the Continental Army and also helped assemble ships to create naval power.

When British troopswent to Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts toconfiscate stored militia armamentin April 1775, they also wentlooking for Hancock and his good friend, Samuel Adams. The British hadwarrantsout for their arrestsduring the battles in those towns that began theRevolutionary War.However, bothmenescapedandwent to Philadelphia, where theysigned the Declaration a year later.

Indeed, Hancocks became the most celebrated signature in the nations history so perfect and artistic that National Handwriting Day is celebrated on Hancocks birthday, which is January 23.

All because he signed his John Hancock right there, big, boldly and defiantly as a new nation was born.

Happy birthday, U.S.A.!Source: CalVet

Original post:
CalVet: He Signed His John Hancock Right There, On The Declaration Of Independence - Sierra Sun Times

When it comes to playtime, letting your kids take the lead is always entertaining. Especially when they want to play with makeup and have a tea party with dad (The Rock knows all about this). Dont get me started on how sexy it is to see men fully engaged in silliness with their kids! Unfortunately, some people have a problem with pure joy and fun, and one mom on Reddit was lectured by her mother-in-law for the way she teaches her daughters about gender roles. The kicker? It was all because her husband aka, the MILs son was playing dress up with his daughters.

In the Am I The Ahole? subreddit, a mom of 5- and 2-year-old daughters posted about her amazing husband, named Chris.

Chris is an amazing dad, and I think he is especially suited to being the dad of daughters, the mom wrote. He is not afraid of girly things or grossed out by periods, period products, etc. Ever since our oldest was 2 he has been more than willing to dress up as a princess and have tea parties with her. Its my daughters favorite thing to do with her dad and he owns so many of those costumes now lol.

Ill be the first to say men shouldnt be praised for doing the bare minimum, but still. This man is a unicorn and seems like such a good dad.

She continued, They still dress up together and now our youngest is involved too. Hes even worn makeup done by our daughter lol. Its the sweetest damn thing.

The mom wanted to share these special moments with her family, as you do, so she posted photos of them playing together on social media. Shockingly, she got backlash from her in-laws.

They accused me of humiliating my husband and of treating him like a woman vs the man that he is, she wrote. Huh? Men can dress up, wear makeup, or whatever they please. How is posting pictures of her husband playing with his kids treating him like a woman? The mom was confused, too, and she had the best response.

I fired back that my husband does it of his own free will and they needed to unbunch their panties because it shows how comfortable he is with himself that he will jump in eagerly to play dress up with his kids. Preach, sister!

Because bullying her daughter-in-law on social media didnt work, the mother-in-law then decided to confront her in person. With all the problems going on in this world, she is still holding a grudge about a damn tea party?!

MIL then pulled me up over it a week ago saying that Chris is a man, and boys/men do not wear dresses and wear makeup, that the girls are going to see him as their mother some day, and he is going to be shamed publicly, the mom wrote. She told me I should never have broadcast those photos and I am teaching my daughters some pretty sketchy things about gender and the roles everyone plays in families.

Its a lot to unpack, isnt it? I asked her what she meant and she said they would expect all men to do that, when its very unrealistic and unhealthy to try and get men to act like women and that they need a strong father figure in their lives and how her son deserves to be the man he truly is.

So let me get this straight. This mom should tell her husband not to play dress up with his daughters so that their daughters dont grow up with unrealistic reflections of men. So, basically, teach your daughters that they will never have a man who respects them or loves their kids? And also, what does a strong father figure even mean to this mother-in-law? Because someone who is confident in himself as a father and spending time with his kids sounds like a wonderful example of a father to me.

The mom wrote, I responded that her son is exactly who he wants to be and he is amazing and wonderful and is adored by his children. Good for her for sticking up for her husband! Even though its a little weird that this mother-in-law was so upset, yet didnt even bring her concerns to her son once.

Because no brave, confident woman goes unpunished, the mother-in-law had more to say. She mentioned how tough life would be for the girls if both Chris and I died because nobody is going to keep that up for them or teach them that it was okay, the mom added. I told her she didnt have to worry because I would never let her raise my daughters. This started somewhat of a chain reaction with her yelling at me, then her yelling at Chris, and telling the whole family what I said. The consensus is Im an AH. Chris told them to f*ck off because she was spewing bullsh*t at me and I shouldnt have to take it.

Whoa! So when a private dressing-down didnt work, the mother-in-law switched gears and decided to play the victim instead, screaming and making a scene about how awful her daughter-in-law is. Its a wonder her son turned out as amazing as he did with that as his example!

Reddit had thoughts about this one. What those kids will learn is that their father loves them and is amazing, one person wrote. Those will be special memories but there is no world where they are confused about who has what role I guarantee.

NTA your husband sounds wonderful and has created memories with your daughters that will last a lifetime, another person said. Your MIL on the other hand is so worried about the opinions of others that shes taking it all out on you. I would not want someone who disagrees with my world view to raise my children either.

Other moms are sharing their sweet stories about awesome dads in their life (also proving that this isnt an unrealistic example of parenting).

NTA when my son was 3yrs old he loved Frozen, someone wrote. We got invited to a friends kids birthday party that was dress up, they didnt have many friends with kids so adults were expected to dress up too. My son and his dad went as Elsa and Anna and everyone loved it, pretty dresses and all. Keep being awesome parents, he is doing everything right and so are you!

Others are coming for the mother-in-law for taking her complaints to her daughter-in-law instead of her son. I love how shes complaining to YOU about HER grown adult son dressing up like a princess, one person said. Why didnt she talk to him about it? It seems like she might feel like your husbands behaviour (playing dress ups) is a negative reflection of her parenting, especially given her clearly strong views on men are men, men get dirty and work on cars etc. IMO, congrats to the both of you for being fantastic parents to your kids. NTA.

Its a miracle your husband turned out so cool, another wrote. Yeah playing dress up doesnt make people women, does make your husband a trans woman (though we love a queen) it just means he has fun with his daughters. The most masculine thing you could do is be okay with your body and choices regardless of what other people expect your masculinity to look like. And I wouldnt want them raising your kids either. She was out of line, she fucked around and found out what for. She asked and you delivered. Have an extra flamboyant tea party just for fun!!!!

This is such a good point. Gender roles are so stupid and damaging for the LGBTQ+ community, and for anyone who wants to raise kind human beings. Who decided men and boys cant play with dress up, do makeup, or enjoy some delicious tea, anyway?

This person summed up our feelings: NTA. Keep being awesome parents. We couldnt agree more!

These celebrity LGBTQ+ families are proving that love is love.

Go here to see the original:
Reddit Has Big Feelings About This Sexist Mother-in-Law - SheKnows

When Great Britain emerged victorious from the Seven Years War in 1763, most of its American colonists celebrated the event as ardent British patriots. They were proud to belong to the Protestant commercial empire and they honoured their king and queen. But the end of the war with France also exposed problems in North America that proved difficult to resolve. Amid a postwar economic depression, the continents settlers, enslaved labourers and indigenous peoples faced an uncertain new world.

For decades, many indigenous Americans had been able to play British and French interests against one another, but the departure of the French had changed the equation. The British empire no longer depended as heavily on its Native allies and the ministry hoped to reduce its expenses. After General Jeffrey Amherst scaled down the gifts that were a crucial ingredient of frontier diplomacy, a confederation of northern Native peoples attacked several British forts, from Fort Michilimackinac on the Great Lakes to Fort Pitt on the Ohio River. Amherst retaliated with biological warfare, distributing smallpox blankets among Native Americans around Fort Pitt.The American colonists, meanwhile, eagerly schemed to seize the land beyond the Appalachian Mountains for themselves. The ministry knew that further settlement would continue to provoke warfare with indigenous people, and the country could afford neither the blood nor treasure that such conflicts would entail. The king issued the Proclamation of 1763, which prevented the colonists from claiming western lands. This arrangement left squatters to themselves and frustrated the speculative land schemes of men like George Washington and Benjamin Franklin.

The colonists frustrated ambitions contributed to their sense of grievance. Great Britain had also incurred massive debts from its war for empire, and the Treasury shouldered further expenses by stationing troops in the North American interior. Rather than place the entire tax burden on subjects in Britain, parliament hoped to derive some revenue from its colonies, particularly in South Asia and North America. They passed a series of laws for the American colonies, including the Sugar Act of 1764, to discourage the act of smuggling molasses from foreign Caribbean islands; the Stamp Act of 1765, which raised the costs of newspapers, playing cards and legal documents; and the Revenue Act of 1767, which taxed imports of items such as glass, lead, paper, paint and tea.

A fierce clash between colonists and British troops in Boston on 5 March 1770 resulted in the deaths of five people, including black protester Crispus Attucks. (Image by Getty Images)

The colonists raised a constitutional objection to being taxed without their consent, and they responded with petitions, printed screeds, street protests and boycotts of overseas goods. Leaders such as Samuel Adams, John Dickinson and Thomas Jefferson emerged to articulate colonial grievances. Men gathered in taverns and called themselves Sons of Liberty, while women participated by joining in efforts to limit consumption of overseas goods.

Colonists wanted to be able to trade freely, which would enable them to pay low prices for imports and fetch high prices for their produce. They wanted the British to respect them as fellow subjects, but instead found that many people in the mother country disdained them for their provinciality, their dissenting religious views, their military performance and their historic association with slavery, transported convicts and ethnic pluralism.

Black people in the Atlantic world heard these cries for liberty. Some joined local protests against parliament, such as Crispus Attucks, a man of African and Wampanoag (indigenous) descent, who was slain along with four other men in a fracas between Bostonians and British soldiers on 5 March 1770. Some, like Felix Holbrook, began to point out the discrepancy between the American spirit of freedom and the oppressions of slavery.

Black activists forged alliances with small numbers of Quakers and evangelicals on both sides of the Atlantic. James Somerset, who had been enslaved in Virginia and Massachusetts and brought to England, sued for his freedom and won in 1772; the Lord Chief Justice ruled that slavery had no legal foundation in England. Phillis Wheatley, brought to Boston as a girl, published poems that raised consciousness about the injustice of slavery.

Parliament repealed the Stamp Act in 1766 and most of the Revenue Act duties in 1770, but it kept the tax on tea in place, and it insisted on its right to make laws for the colonies in all cases whatsoever. In 1773, the ministry followed up with the Tea Act, allowing the East India Company to sell directly to the colonies. The colonists worried that parliament was trying to entice them into paying taxes without their consent, for the benefit of a favoured charter company. On 16 December, a group of Bostonians protested by dressing as Native Americans and dumping 46 tonnes of the companys tea in the harbour.

On 16 December, a group of Bostonians protested by dumping 46 tonnes of tea in the harbour

By this time, parliament was so angry with protest actions in Boston that they passed a series of laws known as the Coercive Acts in 1774. They closed the port of Boston until it repaid the East India Company for its losses. They restricted Massachusetts town meetings and deprived the assembly of its voice in choosing provincial councillors. They protected British officials who were accused of capital crimes.

Meanwhile, the Quebec Act granted religious freedoms and western jurisdiction to Quebec, which struck the land-hungry Protestant colonists as a betrayal. Over the summer, local committees in 12 mainland colonies resolved to send delegates to a Continental Congress in September.

The resistance movement was particularly popular among the Congregationalists of New England, southern Anglicans and Scots-Irish Presbyterians in the backcountry. Dissenters and low church Anglicans both feared the appointment of a bishop in America and called for civil and religious liberty.

The Boston Tea Party of 1773 sparked an angry reaction from the British government, which passed a series of restrictive laws known to colonists as the Coercive Acts. (Image by Getty Images)

Other Americans distinguished themselves as friends of government throughout the years of political resistance and would support the Crown during the war. Many colonists didnt trust the leading patriots for political, economic or religious reasons, or they predicted that violence would be ruinous. Many had benefited from their economic connections to the British empire and believed in the superiority of English liberty. British officials and many Church of England ministers were, of course, vocal loyalists. A number of minority groups were cool to the revolution, such as Highland Scots, French Canadians and non-evangelical Dutch and German Protestants who owed their privileges to the Crown. Pacifist sects such as the Quakers and Moravians also argued against violent rebellion.

Many enslaved black people took advantage of political unrest and fled from their American owners. Although some black men, particularly in New England, would eventually enlist with the Continental Army as a path toward emancipation, many more, particularly in the South, would join the British Army in exchange for freedom (so long as they fled from masters who were rebelling against the Crown). Most Native American groups feared the land hunger of the white settlers: some, such as the Stockbridge or Catawba, made alliances with the colonists, but many more confederacies, such as the Shawnee, Delaware, Miami and Wyandot, aligned themselveswith the British.

To calm the rebellion in New England, the ministry sent General Thomas Gage to serve as governor of Massachusetts in 1774, along with 3,000 soldiers. (Bostononly had a population of about 16,000 people at the time.)

General Thomas Gage was tasked with calming the rebellion in New England, but his efforts to seize patriot weapons ended up sparking the battles of Lexington and Concord. (Image by Getty Images)

As early as 11 September, George III wrote, the dye is now cast, the Colonies must either submit or triumph. Parliament prohibited arms shipments to Americaon 19 October. Finally, the king declared New England in a state of rebellion on 18 November, concluding blows must decide whether the colonists would choose obedience or independence.

From his headquarters in Boston, Gage quickly realised he had to keep gunpowder out of the hands of the New Englanders. His preventative measures almost touched off a revolt on 1 September, with thousands gathering in Cambridge, Massachusetts, believing that the rebellion had begun, until cooler heads prevailed. On 26 February 1775, the people of Salem, Massachusetts, forced the 64th Regiment to retreat empty-handed.

Gages spies told him that the rebels were storing weapons in Concord, where an illegal provincial congress had previously met.

After receiving orders from the ministry to confiscate the rebels weapons and arrest their leaders, Gage sent 700 grenadiers and light infantry under Lieutenant-Colonel Francis Smith to Concord on 18 April.

The British expedition encountered resistance at Lexington in the early morning hours of 19 April. No one knows who fired the first shot, but the gunfire left eight colonists dead and wounded other men on both sides. After the British detachment pressed onward to Concord, another battle at North Bridge led to three British soldiers killed and two colonists.

New Englanders rose up en masse. Militiamen fired on the British column during the retreat to Boston. In the coming weeks, both sides blamed one another for committing acts of butchery, and 20,000 New Englanders surrounded the British garrison at Boston. The war had begun. Within months, Washington would take his place at the head of a Continental Army in rebellion. A year later, 13 colonies formally declared their independence from the Crown.

Benjamin Carp is associate professor and Daniel M Lyons chair of history at Brooklyn College, and an expert on the American Revolutionary War. His books include Defiance of the Patriots: The Boston Tea Party and the Making of America (Yale University Press, 2010)

This article first appeared in the May 2022 issue of BBC History Revealed

Excerpt from:
How Did The American Revolution Begin? | HistoryExtra - BBC History Magazine

David Wolfford| Opinion contributor

The Declaration of Independence makes for a glorious story. A united front of downtrodden colonists, through Thomas Jeffersons quill, challenged tyrannical King George III. When commemorating the United States birth, we may revel too much in a patriotic, School House Rock tale of good and evil. This story is more nuanced.

Public opinion on separating from Britain was divided throughout the crisis and as late as July 1776. The American-British relationship had declined, and Parliaments Coercive Acts of 1774 to punish Boston for the Tea Party brought about the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia. Delegates included radicals leaning toward separation, moderates, and conservatives loyal to the Crown; the latter two wanted a peaceful political solution without separation. On the ground in revolution-prone Boston, one historians measure reveals a divided merchant class. Of 318 merchants, 118 became committed loyalists, 37 remained neutraland 163 actively sided with the patriots. In New York, merchants overall favored loyalty.

British soldiers, hostilitiesand essayists changed minds. The king sent more troops to enforce new law. The armies faced off in nine battles or skirmishes with over 1,000 American casualties. Common Sense persuaded. In Congress, in a preliminary tally on the day before the vote to declare independence, Pennsylvania and South Carolina voted "No,"Delawares delegation was split and New York abstained. The next day, the late arrival of a key Delaware radical, the conspicuous absence of a conservative Pennsylvanian, and a shift by South Carolina resulted in a 12-0 vote. New York still abstained.

Thomas Jefferson was not the sole author, and his draft was not the final draft. It began as a three-sentence resolution introduced on June 7, 1776. Congress still debated and created a committee to explain the possible separation. Jefferson, a published critic of Britain, became the obvious draftsman. Ben Franklin and John Adams made 26 alterations to Jeffersons work before submitting it to Congress. Most were simple changes in phrasing. They added to Jeffersons list of accusations three new paragraphs accusing the king of dissolving colonial legislatures, pushing oppressive trade lawsand impressing sailors into the British navy.

Jefferson included a paragraph-long critique of slavery and blamed King George. He has violated "the persons of a distant people …captivating and carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere." He also commented on the deadly Middle Passage and on the hypocrisy of George only granting slaves their freedom to win a war. How the slave-owning Jefferson writing in Philadelphia could criticize slavery while over 100 slaves labored back at Monticello is a question suitable for another day. Other southerners wouldnt have it, others thought it went too far to pin slavery on George. Congress deleted the passage.

Conditions in the colonies werent that bad, and the king takes a disproportionate brunt of the blame. The average citizen residing in Britain paid 26 shillings per year in taxes to the Crown, the average New Englander one shilling. The colonists enjoyed a higher standard of living with larger incomes and more purchasing power than fellow Britons. The economic and trade regulations the Parliament put on the Americans were rather mild.

Unpopular British policy inevitably originated in Parliament or in the kings council. Through most of the conflict, the Americans viewed him as their protector, a taming check on Parliament and his scheming counselors. There was little direct personal criticism of George between the 1766 Stamp Act repeal and the Coercive Acts. Even the Congress referred to him politely in debate and in the pre-Declaration documents. But published pamphlets and discourse moved from explicit expressions of loyalty to suggestions of rebellion.

Some argue the king is a bit of a fall guy. Though the Tea Act, the Townsend Acts, and the Coercive Acts so riled the revolutionaries, "Parliament"is nowhere directly named in the Declaration. "What they needed was a fundamental presupposition against kings in general," wrote historian Carl Becker a century ago. Andrew Roberts, Georges biographer from across the pond, more recently accuses Jefferson of "padding the brief," with exaggerations, overgeneralizationsand complaints of a British law-and-order response to colonial violations. I guess its all a matter of perspective.

So when you celebrate the Red, Whiteand Blue this Fourth of July, cherish the natural rights, representation and liberty that conceived the United States, but remember our countrys birth wasnt that black and white.

David Wolfford teachers at Mariemont High School and is author of "Advanced Placement U.S. Government and Politics" (AMSCO/Perfection Learning).

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Opinion: Story of America's birth is more nuanced than usually told - The Cincinnati Enquirer