So, American kids learn about the Revolutionary War from the American perspective: the mean English king taxed the colonies to pay for his imperial conquests without even giving the colonists a voice in parliament. But this isn't really the whole truth.
The American colonists were eager to expand. This meant attacking Native American tribes, killing their people, and seizing their lands by force. The crown, though unconcerned with atrocities against indigenous peoples, nonetheless found this inconsistent with its own geopolitical interests, and attempted to restrain these conquests. The harsh taxes were imposed to pay for the soldiers necessary to restrain the colonial aggressors. And this was the real reason underlying the American Revolution: the colonists wanted to invade Indian lands, and the British wouldn't let them.
Once the American colonies secured their independence from Britain, they were free to move westward across the Appalachians and complete the Native American genocide. This is what the militias were for. This is what the guns were for. And as this compelling new history argues, this is what the Second Amendment was written for.
Sadly, America culture has never recovered from its glorification of the armed white frontiersman and the celebration of his violence. Neither, pathetically, have our laws.
Educate yourself on the gun debate. Read this book.
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