[muawiyah]

Getting beyond Edward I it is inescapable that it was George III who really screwed the pooch. Through the simple expedient of incorporating all the American colonies within the United Kingdom political structure (giving everybody a vote in Parliament) Scotland would have been reduced to a minor nuisance.

Instead, the pleadings of the Continental Congress were ignored and the gnomes in the Exchequer continued to drive Britain's American Policy.

Of course, had things gone better before the War England itself, would be a minor nuisance too ~ but emigration to America would be so much easier eh!

[Verginius Rufus]

I don’t recall hearing that there was ever any serious demand on the part of the 13 colonies that they have representatives in Parliament—it wouldn’t have done them a lot of good (they’d be greatly outvoted, and the people they sent could easily be co-opted by the other members of Parliament and forget the wishes of the people back home)...and it would justify Parliament laying taxes on the colonists.