America’s Revolution: The Prequel

The New York Times ^ | 02 July 2010 | Adrian Tinniswood

[Palter]

Bath, England

Picture the scene: Out of the dawn mist, a fleet of longboats glides across the water, packed full of musket-wielding patriots and weather-beaten Massachusetts militiamen. Standing in the prow of the lead boat, like Washington crossing the Delaware, is a man with long flowing hair and a blood-red banner emblazoned with two words: Vincit veritas. Truth Conquers.

But it’s not Washington, and it’s not the American Revolution. In fact, it’s not even America. This daring amphibious assault by Col. Thomas Rainborowe and his regiment of New Englanders took place 3,000 miles away, in old England, and in 1644, more than 130 years before those famous shots were fired at Lexington to herald what we Brits insist on calling the War of American Independence.

It is a fact rarely discussed on either side of the Atlantic that American colonists played a crucial role in the English Civil War, the bitter struggle between King Charles I and Parliament that tore England apart in the 1640s. The English Revolution — and that is just what it was — can be interpreted in all kinds of ways: as a religious fight between pathologically earnest Puritans and the Catholic-leaning bishops of the Church of England; as an uprising by a nascent merchant class determined to throw off the shackles of medieval feudalism; as right-but-repulsive Roundheads bashing the wrong-but-romantic Cavaliers.

It was all those things. But it was also a battle against the arbitrary tyranny of the crown that prefigured America’s own struggle for independence. And hundreds of American colonists cared enough about that struggle to sail back across the vast Atlantic, to build a city upon a hill — not in the frightening, alien landscape of Massachusetts but in the familiar fields and townships of England

[ARepublicanForAllReasons]

Bump for history buffs.

I had never heard of the Rainborowes, nor of the New Englanders who gave up everything and risked their lives to fight against the tyranny of Charles I. It is easy to forget that right up until the Declaration of Independence, New Englanders considered themselves English subjects and citizens.

[SunkenCiv]

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	Gods Graves Glyphs	Wow, nice find!!! This daring amphibious assault by Col. Thomas Rainborowe and his regiment of New Englanders took place 3,000 miles away, in old England, and in 1644... It is a fact rarely discussed on either side of the Atlantic that American colonists played a crucial role in the English Civil War Thanks ARepublicanForAllReasons for the ping, and thanks Palter for the topic! To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother, and Ernest_at_the_Beach
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[hellbender]

The English Civil War was recent history to the Founding Fathers, and even more recent was the Glorious Revolution, in which the Brits finally got rid of the Stuart dynasty with its belief in the divine right of kings. That's why the Declaration of Independence was worded as an indictment of King George. The Founders feared that Britain was sliding back into absolutism.

The origin of the U.S. as a limited govt. republic would not have happened if the population had not consisted overwhelmingly of Protestant Englishmen.

[ForGod'sSake]

I didn’t know that! I think I’ll coing a Yogiism: If you live long enough you’ll learn something every day. ;^)

[thecodont]

“They were idealists, who went to extraordinary lengths and traveled extraordinary distances to fight for the chance to build a fairer society.”

This reminds me of Americans going over to fight in the Spanish Civil War.

[afraidfortherepublic]

the arbitrary tyranny of the crown Obama... There, I fixed it.

[BnBlFlag]

This reminds me of Americans going over to fight in the Spanish Civil War.

The only problem with that is that most of those “Americans” were Communists, fellow travelers or useful idiots.