WEBVTT 00:00:00.619 --> 00:00:04.160 So, ah, picture this. It's 1758. A young George 00:00:04.160 --> 00:00:07.280 Washington is just, he desperately wants to win 00:00:07.280 --> 00:00:09.279 this local election for the House of Burgesses 00:00:09.279 --> 00:00:12.140 down in Virginia. And, you know, so he does what 00:00:12.140 --> 00:00:14.039 literally any self -respecting founding father 00:00:14.039 --> 00:00:16.530 would do. He goes out and buys... 39 gallons 00:00:16.530 --> 00:00:19.489 of rum. Naturally. Naturally. He throws this 00:00:19.489 --> 00:00:22.510 massive, just completely chaotic party for the 00:00:22.510 --> 00:00:26.429 local voters. And he wins the election by an 00:00:26.429 --> 00:00:28.870 absolute landslide. It's a great story. It really 00:00:28.870 --> 00:00:31.190 is. And, you know, welcome to the deep dive, 00:00:31.429 --> 00:00:34.469 everyone, because today we are taking you way 00:00:34.469 --> 00:00:36.549 past those traditional textbook paintings, you 00:00:36.549 --> 00:00:39.829 know, like the ones with the perfectly orchestrated 00:00:39.829 --> 00:00:42.799 Symphony of Men and pristine powdered wigs standing 00:00:42.799 --> 00:00:44.880 in those tidy little rows exactly like they're 00:00:44.880 --> 00:00:47.119 all just reading from the exact same sheet music 00:00:47.119 --> 00:00:50.000 of liberty and unity We are we're tearing up 00:00:50.000 --> 00:00:53.259 that mythology today to uncover the actual complex 00:00:53.259 --> 00:00:55.899 incredibly diverse and well rebellious Society 00:00:55.899 --> 00:00:57.960 that laid the real groundwork for the United 00:00:57.960 --> 00:01:00.439 States It is just a phenomenal story when you 00:01:00.439 --> 00:01:02.140 look the actual historical records you've gathered 00:01:02.140 --> 00:01:05.500 for us to discuss but I mean, to truly understand 00:01:05.500 --> 00:01:07.620 it, we really have to look at the entire ledger. 00:01:07.700 --> 00:01:10.500 We're examining a very wide range of human experiences 00:01:10.500 --> 00:01:13.739 here. And some of the mechanics of how this early 00:01:13.739 --> 00:01:16.840 society function are, frankly, incredibly dark. 00:01:17.560 --> 00:01:20.659 Which brings us to the core mission of today's 00:01:20.659 --> 00:01:23.620 Deep Dive. To really understand this era, we 00:01:23.620 --> 00:01:25.859 have to look impartially at the historical accounts 00:01:25.859 --> 00:01:28.640 you've shared with us. And that means confronting 00:01:28.640 --> 00:01:31.879 some brutal realities, like chattel slavery, 00:01:32.519 --> 00:01:34.799 the colonial expansion that deliberately displaced 00:01:34.799 --> 00:01:38.519 Native American populations, and the intense, 00:01:38.760 --> 00:01:40.900 bloody political violence between patriots and 00:01:40.900 --> 00:01:43.000 loyalists. Right, and it's important to state 00:01:43.000 --> 00:01:45.319 that we are not here to judge or endorse any 00:01:45.319 --> 00:01:48.140 of these historical viewpoints or actions. Absolutely 00:01:48.140 --> 00:01:50.819 not. Our job today is just to help you, the listener, 00:01:51.159 --> 00:01:53.200 understand the mechanics of how this society 00:01:53.200 --> 00:01:55.599 actually functioned, exactly as it was recorded 00:01:55.599 --> 00:01:58.340 in the history. Okay, let's unpack this. Because 00:01:58.340 --> 00:02:01.040 we usually think of the 13 colonies as this one 00:02:01.040 --> 00:02:04.879 big unified monolith. But the records break them 00:02:04.879 --> 00:02:07.319 down into three distinct regions that really 00:02:07.319 --> 00:02:09.259 could not have been more different in their motives. 00:02:09.500 --> 00:02:11.840 Yeah. Totally different worlds, really. I like 00:02:11.840 --> 00:02:15.020 to think of them as three totally different types 00:02:15.020 --> 00:02:18.039 of modern startup hubs. Oh, I like that framing. 00:02:18.580 --> 00:02:21.639 How are you defining the different hubs? Well, 00:02:21.719 --> 00:02:23.939 so first you have the New England colonies. That's 00:02:23.939 --> 00:02:25.280 Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New 00:02:25.280 --> 00:02:27.879 Hampshire. And looking at their origins, they 00:02:27.879 --> 00:02:31.409 operate... almost exactly like a strict, ideologically 00:02:31.409 --> 00:02:34.509 -driven, non -profit organization. Right, because 00:02:34.509 --> 00:02:36.469 of the religious aspect. Exactly. You have the 00:02:36.469 --> 00:02:39.449 Pilgrims arriving in 1620, and then the Puritans 00:02:39.449 --> 00:02:41.669 establishing the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 00:02:41.669 --> 00:02:45.189 1628. They didn't cross an entire ocean looking 00:02:45.189 --> 00:02:47.629 for quick cash. No, not at all. They literally 00:02:47.629 --> 00:02:50.909 moved to build a completely new, ideologically 00:02:50.909 --> 00:02:54.150 pure society, because they believed the Church 00:02:54.150 --> 00:02:57.469 of England's corporate culture was deeply corrupted. 00:02:57.960 --> 00:03:00.939 And, you know, like many radical, ideologically 00:03:00.939 --> 00:03:03.780 -driven organizations, they were incredibly strict 00:03:03.780 --> 00:03:05.319 about their mission statement. Well, yeah. I 00:03:05.319 --> 00:03:07.580 mean, they were seeking a religious haven for 00:03:07.580 --> 00:03:10.300 themselves, but they had absolutely zero interest 00:03:10.300 --> 00:03:12.919 in religious tolerance for anyone else. Wait, 00:03:13.159 --> 00:03:16.740 really? None? Basically none. If you didn't adhere 00:03:16.740 --> 00:03:19.460 to the exact Puritan doctrine, you were pushed 00:03:19.460 --> 00:03:22.319 out. Roger Williams is the perfect example of 00:03:22.319 --> 00:03:24.400 this in the sources. Oh, the Rhode Island guy? 00:03:24.620 --> 00:03:27.539 Exactly. He had to flee Massachusetts in 1636, 00:03:27.539 --> 00:03:30.740 and he founded Rhode Island specifically because 00:03:30.740 --> 00:03:32.639 he was banished for preaching the separation 00:03:32.639 --> 00:03:35.300 of church and state. Oh. Yeah, he essentially 00:03:35.300 --> 00:03:37.979 had to go found a rival splinter startup just 00:03:37.979 --> 00:03:40.580 to survive. That is wild. OK, so that's your 00:03:40.580 --> 00:03:43.439 rigid nonprofit hub. Then you pan down to the 00:03:43.439 --> 00:03:46.360 southern colonies, Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia. 00:03:46.719 --> 00:03:49.560 If New England is a nonprofit, the South is a 00:03:49.560 --> 00:03:52.740 mass. profit -obsessed agricultural conglomerate. 00:03:52.800 --> 00:03:55.659 100%. Right. Janestown, the very first permanent 00:03:55.659 --> 00:03:58.400 English settlement in 1607. It wasn't founded 00:03:58.400 --> 00:04:00.800 by religious zealots. It was funded by the London 00:04:00.800 --> 00:04:02.819 Virginia Company. They were investors looking 00:04:02.819 --> 00:04:05.759 for gold. Exactly. And when they didn't find 00:04:05.759 --> 00:04:09.139 precious metals, they executed this massive corporate 00:04:09.139 --> 00:04:12.879 pivot to Teco as a cash crop. The entire region 00:04:12.879 --> 00:04:15.159 was basically built from the ground up for aggressive 00:04:15.159 --> 00:04:17.839 economic expansion. And the Carolinas operated 00:04:17.839 --> 00:04:20.740 on a very similar wavelength. That province was 00:04:20.740 --> 00:04:24.300 a private venture financed by English Lords proprietors. 00:04:24.620 --> 00:04:27.500 Sounds fancy. It was. To use your startup analogy, 00:04:27.879 --> 00:04:30.519 imagine the King of England literally giving 00:04:30.519 --> 00:04:33.339 a massive piece of North America to eight of 00:04:33.339 --> 00:04:36.600 his wealthy friends to just run as a private 00:04:36.600 --> 00:04:39.420 profit -making fiefdom. That's insane. It is. 00:04:39.600 --> 00:04:42.160 They were heavily export -oriented from day one, 00:04:42.279 --> 00:04:44.500 focusing entirely on extracting maximum wealth 00:04:44.500 --> 00:04:46.899 through cash crops. So we have the zealots and 00:04:46.899 --> 00:04:49.939 the agricultural conglomerates and then Wedged 00:04:49.939 --> 00:04:52.139 right in between them, you have the middle colonies. 00:04:52.800 --> 00:04:55.360 New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware. 00:04:55.560 --> 00:04:58.160 Merchants. Yeah, this region feels like a chaotic, 00:04:58.540 --> 00:05:00.379 incredibly diverse international trading floor. 00:05:00.500 --> 00:05:01.899 I mean, New York wasn't even English to begin 00:05:01.899 --> 00:05:04.720 with. Right, it was New Netherland. Yes. Founded 00:05:04.720 --> 00:05:07.220 by the Dutch West India Company specifically 00:05:07.220 --> 00:05:10.240 for the global fur trade. The Swedes even had 00:05:10.240 --> 00:05:12.839 a colony in Delaware for a while. It was this 00:05:12.839 --> 00:05:16.319 polyglot, highly commercial melting pot environment. 00:05:16.639 --> 00:05:18.949 Extremely diverse for the time. But see, here 00:05:18.949 --> 00:05:21.709 is the mechanism I don't quite understand. If 00:05:21.709 --> 00:05:23.810 they were so fundamentally different in their 00:05:23.810 --> 00:05:27.089 business models, strict religion, massive agriculture, 00:05:27.269 --> 00:05:30.230 and international trade, how did they ever function 00:05:30.230 --> 00:05:32.769 under one single empire? Well, the secret to 00:05:32.769 --> 00:05:34.990 their coexistence was that London didn't actually 00:05:34.990 --> 00:05:37.649 try to force them into a single uniform business 00:05:37.649 --> 00:05:40.389 model. Really? They just let them be? Sort of, 00:05:40.470 --> 00:05:43.449 yeah. Beginning in 1660, the colonies were theoretically 00:05:43.449 --> 00:05:45.769 governed from London through a committee of the 00:05:45.769 --> 00:05:47.790 Privy Council. It was called the Board of Trade 00:05:47.790 --> 00:05:50.410 and Plantations. OK. But practically speaking, 00:05:50.629 --> 00:05:53.000 there was a massive ocean between them. A letter 00:05:53.000 --> 00:05:55.779 took months to cross the Atlantic, so their destinies 00:05:55.779 --> 00:05:57.959 were dictated much more by their initial charters 00:05:57.959 --> 00:06:00.980 and their local geography rather than micromanagement 00:06:00.980 --> 00:06:03.240 from the Crown. Makes sense. Geography is destiny, 00:06:03.279 --> 00:06:06.800 right? Exactly. New England's rocky soil was 00:06:06.800 --> 00:06:09.899 terrible for massive plantations, but their deep 00:06:09.899 --> 00:06:13.079 harbors and dense forests made them a total powerhouse 00:06:13.079 --> 00:06:15.420 for timber and shipbuilding, and the southern 00:06:15.420 --> 00:06:17.680 climate was perfectly engineered for cultivating 00:06:17.680 --> 00:06:20.579 tobacco, rice, and indigo. while the middle colonies 00:06:20.579 --> 00:06:23.199 leveraged deepwater ports like Philadelphia and 00:06:23.199 --> 00:06:26.740 New York to become the merchant middlemen. The 00:06:26.740 --> 00:06:30.120 British crown Allowed all these different forms 00:06:30.120 --> 00:06:34.860 of local government provincial proprietary Charter 00:06:34.860 --> 00:06:37.199 to just exist simultaneously because they were 00:06:37.199 --> 00:06:39.420 all successfully funneling wealth back to the 00:06:39.420 --> 00:06:41.740 Empire So the overarching parent company basically 00:06:41.740 --> 00:06:44.660 ignored the day -to -day operations as long as 00:06:44.660 --> 00:06:47.220 the quarterly profits kept rolling in precisely 00:06:47.220 --> 00:06:49.699 the dynamic and You know regardless of whether 00:06:49.699 --> 00:06:51.500 they were building ships in Boston or growing 00:06:51.500 --> 00:06:54.519 tobacco in Virginia all three of these regions 00:06:54.519 --> 00:06:58.519 shared one undeniable characteristic. An explosive, 00:06:58.699 --> 00:07:01.240 almost unprecedented population boom. Oh, yeah. 00:07:01.420 --> 00:07:03.699 The demographic data you shared is just staggering 00:07:03.699 --> 00:07:06.579 to look at. I mean, in 1625, the estimated colonial 00:07:06.579 --> 00:07:09.120 population was less than 2 ,000 people. But by 00:07:09.120 --> 00:07:12.560 1775, just on the eve of the revolution, that 00:07:12.560 --> 00:07:15.560 number had skyrocketed to 2 .4 million. It's 00:07:15.560 --> 00:07:17.939 a phenomenal rate of growth, and it requires 00:07:17.939 --> 00:07:20.660 us to look at the daily realities of colonial 00:07:20.660 --> 00:07:23.240 life. It wasn't just birth rates. What else was 00:07:23.240 --> 00:07:26.610 it? Well, if you could survive the initial brutal 00:07:26.610 --> 00:07:29.069 ways of colonial diseases, things like malaria, 00:07:29.389 --> 00:07:32.029 diphtheria, yellow fever. Your life expectancy 00:07:32.029 --> 00:07:34.350 was actually significantly better in the colonies 00:07:34.350 --> 00:07:37.050 than it was back in Europe. No way. Really? Yeah. 00:07:37.269 --> 00:07:40.230 Land was abundant, food was plentiful, and the 00:07:40.230 --> 00:07:41.910 cities weren't yet choked with the industrial 00:07:41.910 --> 00:07:44.730 pollution of London. That's wild. And the ethnic 00:07:44.730 --> 00:07:47.310 makeup completely shatters that textbook myth, 00:07:47.610 --> 00:07:50.269 too. By 1775, the English only made up about 00:07:50.269 --> 00:07:53.829 49 % of the population. You had massive influxes 00:07:53.829 --> 00:07:56.480 of Germans pouring into Pennsylvania. the Scots 00:07:56.480 --> 00:07:58.519 -Irish pushing out onto the dangerous Western 00:07:58.519 --> 00:08:01.100 frontiers, and the Dutch maintaining a really 00:08:01.100 --> 00:08:03.160 strong cultural hold in New York. It was incredibly 00:08:03.160 --> 00:08:05.939 diverse. But when we look at this demographic 00:08:05.939 --> 00:08:08.560 data, it also reveals the darkest engine of this 00:08:08.560 --> 00:08:12.980 prosperity. Because by 1775... 20 % of the colonial 00:08:12.980 --> 00:08:16.139 population was African, and chattel slavery was 00:08:16.139 --> 00:08:19.720 a legal practiced institution in all 13 colonies. 00:08:20.240 --> 00:08:22.620 Yes. The historical records point out that about 00:08:22.620 --> 00:08:26.600 287 ,000 enslaved people were imported into the 00:08:26.600 --> 00:08:30.779 13 colonies over a 160 year period. Wow. And 00:08:30.779 --> 00:08:32.820 there's a grim mechanical difference here compared 00:08:32.820 --> 00:08:35.240 to the sugar colonies in the Caribbean or Brazil. 00:08:35.519 --> 00:08:38.320 How so? Well, in those places, the labor conditions 00:08:38.320 --> 00:08:41.350 were so universally lethal that the enslaved 00:08:41.350 --> 00:08:43.750 populations had to be continually replenished 00:08:43.750 --> 00:08:46.500 through the transatlantic trade. In North America, 00:08:46.659 --> 00:08:48.720 the enslaved population grew rapidly through 00:08:48.720 --> 00:08:51.019 natural reproduction. And the legal framework 00:08:51.019 --> 00:08:53.179 the colonists built to ensure that reproduction 00:08:53.179 --> 00:08:55.799 benefited those agricultural conglomerates is 00:08:55.799 --> 00:08:58.639 just chilling. It really is. The historical notes 00:08:58.639 --> 00:09:01.440 cite William M. Wychick, who outlines the four 00:09:01.440 --> 00:09:04.039 specific legal characteristics of American slavery 00:09:04.039 --> 00:09:06.220 that these colonies engineered. Right, let's 00:09:06.220 --> 00:09:08.399 go through those. So first, it was defined as 00:09:08.399 --> 00:09:10.899 a lifetime condition. Second, it was based entirely 00:09:10.899 --> 00:09:14.200 on racial identification. Third, legally, an 00:09:14.200 --> 00:09:16.720 enslaved person was defined as chattel personal, 00:09:16.919 --> 00:09:18.940 meaning they were treated as movable property, 00:09:19.279 --> 00:09:21.159 basically no different than a plow or a horse. 00:09:21.500 --> 00:09:24.120 But the fourth characteristic is, frankly, the 00:09:24.120 --> 00:09:26.779 most insidious. It was made heritable through 00:09:26.779 --> 00:09:29.740 the mother. That specific legal innovation is 00:09:29.740 --> 00:09:32.899 crucial to understand. By making slavery heritable 00:09:32.899 --> 00:09:35.360 through the mother rather than the father, as 00:09:35.360 --> 00:09:38.139 was actually common in English common law, the 00:09:38.139 --> 00:09:40.860 plantation owners guaranteed themselves a perpetual 00:09:40.860 --> 00:09:44.120 self -replenishing labor force. Any child born 00:09:44.120 --> 00:09:46.480 to an enslaved woman was automatically born into 00:09:46.480 --> 00:09:48.759 slavery and thereby became the property of the 00:09:48.759 --> 00:09:51.639 enslaver, regardless of who the father was. It 00:09:51.639 --> 00:09:54.379 was a cold, calculated legal mechanism designed 00:09:54.379 --> 00:09:56.500 to secure generational wealth for the elites. 00:09:56.700 --> 00:09:59.440 Which leads me to a glaring, almost philosophical 00:09:59.440 --> 00:10:02.500 paradox. How could a society that was so visibly 00:10:02.500 --> 00:10:04.740 obsessed with the rights of Englishmen, with 00:10:04.740 --> 00:10:07.179 religious freedom and liberty, simultaneously 00:10:07.179 --> 00:10:10.019 invent and codify such a brutal system of absolute 00:10:10.019 --> 00:10:12.419 unfreedom? What's fascinating here is how the 00:10:12.429 --> 00:10:15.830 historical accounts explain this transition through 00:10:15.830 --> 00:10:18.870 the harsh lens of labor economics. Okay, unpack 00:10:18.870 --> 00:10:21.809 that. In the early days, these colonies relied 00:10:21.809 --> 00:10:24.750 heavily on indentured servants from Europe. These 00:10:24.750 --> 00:10:27.169 were people who sold their labor for a set period 00:10:27.169 --> 00:10:30.190 of years in exchange for passage across the Atlantic. 00:10:30.350 --> 00:10:32.570 Right, the classic indentured servitude model. 00:10:32.809 --> 00:10:35.950 Exactly. But as economic conditions slowly improved 00:10:35.950 --> 00:10:38.470 in Europe and the intense religious persecutions 00:10:38.470 --> 00:10:41.029 began to ease up a bit, European labor became 00:10:41.029 --> 00:10:44.730 incredibly difficult to recruit. Ah, so the labor 00:10:44.730 --> 00:10:46.850 pool dried up exactly at the moment when the 00:10:46.850 --> 00:10:49.029 demand for labor was skyrocketing. That is the 00:10:49.029 --> 00:10:51.330 exact friction point. The southern colonies had 00:10:51.330 --> 00:10:54.330 successfully engineered these vast export oriented 00:10:54.330 --> 00:10:58.009 plantation economies. And tobacco, rice, and 00:10:58.009 --> 00:11:01.049 indigo are incredibly labor intensive crops to 00:11:01.049 --> 00:11:04.389 cultivate. So to fuel this massive economic engine 00:11:04.389 --> 00:11:06.870 without a steady supply of European servants, 00:11:07.529 --> 00:11:09.710 the colonists turned entirely to the transatlantic 00:11:09.710 --> 00:11:13.070 slave trade. The paradox you mentioned, where 00:11:13.070 --> 00:11:15.370 the profound freedom and prosperity of some was 00:11:15.370 --> 00:11:17.590 built directly on the absolute subjugation of 00:11:17.590 --> 00:11:20.259 others, That became the foundational economic 00:11:20.259 --> 00:11:22.200 reality of the American colonies. And we have 00:11:22.200 --> 00:11:25.879 to remember this massive labor driven economic 00:11:25.879 --> 00:11:28.279 engine wasn't just enriching the colonists. It 00:11:28.279 --> 00:11:31.519 was feeding an entire global empire. Absolutely. 00:11:31.899 --> 00:11:34.679 So you have these vastly different colonies generating 00:11:34.679 --> 00:11:37.559 unprecedented wealth. But London isn't just going 00:11:37.559 --> 00:11:39.539 to sit back and let the colonists keep all that 00:11:39.539 --> 00:11:42.179 profit. I mean, they needed a system to siphon 00:11:42.179 --> 00:11:44.419 that wealth back across the Atlantic. Which brings 00:11:44.419 --> 00:11:46.840 us to the British economic policy of mercantilism. 00:11:46.840 --> 00:11:49.909 Right. was the reigning economic philosophy of 00:11:49.909 --> 00:11:53.190 the 18th century. The core tenet of mercantilism 00:11:53.190 --> 00:11:56.730 is that global wealth is finite. Therefore, a 00:11:56.730 --> 00:11:59.049 nation's power depends on accumulating as much 00:11:59.049 --> 00:12:01.710 gold and silver as possible by exporting more 00:12:01.710 --> 00:12:03.889 than it imports. Let's bring back our startup 00:12:03.889 --> 00:12:06.950 metaphor for a second. If the colonies were the 00:12:06.950 --> 00:12:10.679 startups, Mercantilism was basically London acting 00:12:10.679 --> 00:12:13.960 as this predatory venture capital firm with a 00:12:13.960 --> 00:12:16.799 terrible corporate non -compete clause. That's 00:12:16.799 --> 00:12:19.299 a great way to look at it. Right. The basic idea 00:12:19.299 --> 00:12:21.639 was that colonial trade had to be exclusively 00:12:21.639 --> 00:12:24.620 concentrated within the British Empire. The colonies 00:12:24.620 --> 00:12:27.080 were treated as captive markets. They were forced 00:12:27.080 --> 00:12:29.740 to supply all their raw materials, timber, fur, 00:12:29.980 --> 00:12:33.480 tobacco directly to Britain at a discount. Then 00:12:33.480 --> 00:12:35.779 they were legally prohibited from manufacturing 00:12:35.779 --> 00:12:38.519 their own goods. forcing them to buy finished 00:12:38.519 --> 00:12:41.240 products back from Britain at a massive markup. 00:12:41.519 --> 00:12:44.379 It was a deliberately closed loop. The British 00:12:44.379 --> 00:12:46.659 Parliament even passed a series of laws called 00:12:46.659 --> 00:12:49.240 the Navigation Acts to enforce this. I've heard 00:12:49.240 --> 00:12:51.639 of those. Yeah. The mechanics of these acts were 00:12:51.639 --> 00:12:54.940 very strict. Certain valuable colonial goods 00:12:54.940 --> 00:12:57.100 could only be shipped on British vessels. They 00:12:57.100 --> 00:13:00.259 had to be manned by British crews and sold exclusively 00:13:00.259 --> 00:13:03.320 to British merchants. It was entirely designed 00:13:03.320 --> 00:13:05.440 to block the Americans from trading with the 00:13:05.440 --> 00:13:08.240 French, the Spanish, or the Dutch. But, I mean, 00:13:08.799 --> 00:13:11.080 the colonists didn't just passively accept this 00:13:11.080 --> 00:13:13.360 closed loop, did they? They looked at the Navigation 00:13:13.360 --> 00:13:16.220 Acts and essentially turned smuggling into the 00:13:16.220 --> 00:13:18.559 ultimate colonial side hustle. Oh, smuggling 00:13:18.559 --> 00:13:21.799 became an absolute way of life. The colonists 00:13:21.799 --> 00:13:24.299 realized there were incredibly profitable trade 00:13:24.299 --> 00:13:26.480 partners sitting right next door in the Caribbean. 00:13:26.779 --> 00:13:29.899 Right. So Boston and New York merchants started 00:13:29.899 --> 00:13:32.700 illegally trading colonial foodstuffs and wood 00:13:32.700 --> 00:13:36.220 for French and Dutch West Indian sugar and coffee. 00:13:36.220 --> 00:13:40.779 They built vast illicit fortunes simply by circumventing 00:13:40.779 --> 00:13:43.740 London's mercantilist policies. And the British 00:13:43.740 --> 00:13:46.580 government's response to this massive open secret 00:13:46.580 --> 00:13:48.940 smuggling ring is where the friction really starts 00:13:48.940 --> 00:13:51.500 to spark. Yeah, the crackdown. To fight the smugglers, 00:13:51.799 --> 00:13:53.919 royal officials started utilizing what were called 00:13:53.919 --> 00:13:56.299 writs of assistance. And the mechanics of these 00:13:56.299 --> 00:13:59.230 are Very controversial. They weren't like modern 00:13:59.230 --> 00:14:01.269 search warrants where you have to prove probable 00:14:01.269 --> 00:14:03.929 cause to a judge for a specific location. They 00:14:03.929 --> 00:14:06.889 were open -ended general warrants. A British 00:14:06.889 --> 00:14:08.830 customs official could just search any ship, 00:14:08.909 --> 00:14:11.110 kick down the door of any warehouse or tear through 00:14:11.110 --> 00:14:14.129 any private home at any time looking for smuggled 00:14:14.129 --> 00:14:16.289 goods. Just imagine the psychological impact 00:14:16.289 --> 00:14:19.269 of that. You are a wealthy, influential merchant 00:14:19.269 --> 00:14:23.389 in Boston and suddenly a low -level royal appointee 00:14:23.389 --> 00:14:26.750 has the absolute legal authority to ransack your 00:14:26.750 --> 00:14:29.409 property without any specific evidence. It's 00:14:29.409 --> 00:14:32.190 crazy. The colonists viewed this as a massive, 00:14:32.649 --> 00:14:35.610 tyrannical overreach that completely violated 00:14:35.610 --> 00:14:38.169 their rights under English common law. The records 00:14:38.169 --> 00:14:41.649 highlight a specific moment in 1761. A Boston 00:14:41.649 --> 00:14:43.929 lawyer named James Otis fought against these 00:14:43.929 --> 00:14:46.190 writs in court, and he argued that an act against 00:14:46.190 --> 00:14:48.809 the Constitution is void, even if passed by Parliament. 00:14:48.889 --> 00:14:51.210 A bold claim at the time. Very bold. He actually 00:14:51.210 --> 00:14:53.370 lost the case, but a young John Adams was sitting 00:14:53.370 --> 00:14:56.100 in the courtroom taking notes. Adams later reflected 00:14:56.100 --> 00:14:58.639 on Otis's passionate argument, writing, then 00:14:58.639 --> 00:15:01.059 and there the child independence was born. If 00:15:01.059 --> 00:15:03.799 we connect this to the bigger picture, the distinction 00:15:03.799 --> 00:15:06.580 James Otis and the colonists were making is critical. 00:15:07.539 --> 00:15:09.419 The historical data notes that the colonists 00:15:09.419 --> 00:15:12.779 generally didn't actually mind the British regulating 00:15:12.779 --> 00:15:15.370 their external trade on the high seas. Wait, 00:15:15.710 --> 00:15:17.649 they didn't? No, they understood they were part 00:15:17.649 --> 00:15:20.450 of a broader empire and accepted the Navigation 00:15:20.450 --> 00:15:23.029 Acts in theory, even if they smuggled to avoid 00:15:23.029 --> 00:15:26.570 them anyway. Uh, okay. What they vehemently opposed 00:15:26.570 --> 00:15:29.269 was internal overreach, when the enforcement 00:15:29.269 --> 00:15:31.669 mechanism physically entered their hometowns, 00:15:31.909 --> 00:15:34.110 the local businesses, and their private homes. 00:15:34.350 --> 00:15:36.570 They were fiercely protective of their local 00:15:36.570 --> 00:15:39.169 economy and their personal property. And you 00:15:39.169 --> 00:15:41.370 can see how that fierce protection of their own 00:15:41.370 --> 00:15:44.470 money naturally bled into their uniquely American 00:15:44.470 --> 00:15:47.690 brand of local politics. Yes. The political culture 00:15:47.690 --> 00:15:50.549 that developed in these 13 colonies was entirely 00:15:50.549 --> 00:15:52.740 distinct from what existed back in Europe. This 00:15:52.740 --> 00:15:54.600 part of the research completely blew my mind. 00:15:54.700 --> 00:15:56.679 I mean, when we think of early democracy, we 00:15:56.679 --> 00:15:59.879 usually picture these highly dignified philosophical 00:15:59.879 --> 00:16:02.039 debates in grand halls. Right. The powdered wigs 00:16:02.039 --> 00:16:05.659 again. Exactly. But the records describe early 00:16:05.659 --> 00:16:09.720 American elections as absolute chaotic carnivals. 00:16:10.159 --> 00:16:12.340 To understand the mechanics of why these elections 00:16:12.340 --> 00:16:14.879 were so wild, you really have to look at how 00:16:14.879 --> 00:16:17.379 voting was tied to land ownership. OK, break 00:16:17.379 --> 00:16:20.299 that down. In Britain, The political system was 00:16:20.299 --> 00:16:22.860 entirely dominated by a hereditary aristocracy. 00:16:23.559 --> 00:16:26.340 Land was scarce, so the wealthy gentry owned 00:16:26.340 --> 00:16:30.179 almost everything. As a result, roughly 19 out 00:16:30.179 --> 00:16:32.440 of 20 British men were politically controlled 00:16:32.440 --> 00:16:34.659 by their landlords and had no right to vote. 00:16:34.940 --> 00:16:37.919 19 out of 20. Yes. The British insisted that 00:16:37.919 --> 00:16:40.100 colonial voters also had to hold an interest 00:16:40.100 --> 00:16:42.740 in society to vote, which legally meant owning 00:16:42.740 --> 00:16:45.350 real estate. But the British accidentally broke 00:16:45.350 --> 00:16:47.350 their own system because of the geography. In 00:16:47.350 --> 00:16:50.429 the colonies, land wasn't scarce. It was cheap 00:16:50.429 --> 00:16:53.029 and violently abundant, usually taken from native 00:16:53.029 --> 00:16:55.769 populations. Exactly. Because land was so accessible, 00:16:55.929 --> 00:16:58.590 instead of a tiny 5 % fraction of men being able 00:16:58.590 --> 00:17:01.570 to vote, you had between 50 and 80 % of white 00:17:01.570 --> 00:17:04.230 men owning enough property to be fully eligible 00:17:04.230 --> 00:17:06.430 to vote. The voter base was massive compared 00:17:06.430 --> 00:17:09.210 to Europe. Massive. And there were no hereditary 00:17:09.210 --> 00:17:12.529 aristocrats in America. No. However, The political 00:17:12.529 --> 00:17:15.390 culture still emphasized a concept historians 00:17:15.390 --> 00:17:19.069 call deference. The men who ran for political 00:17:19.069 --> 00:17:21.769 office were almost always the local wealthy elites 00:17:21.769 --> 00:17:24.009 like the successful merchants or the massive 00:17:24.009 --> 00:17:27.210 plantation owners. But here's the catch. Because 00:17:27.210 --> 00:17:29.609 the voting base was so incredibly wide, those 00:17:29.609 --> 00:17:32.069 wealthy elites still had to appeal directly to 00:17:32.069 --> 00:17:34.690 the common dirt farming landowner. There were 00:17:34.690 --> 00:17:36.829 no organized political parties yet to manage 00:17:36.829 --> 00:17:39.450 campaigns, just these sort of ad hoc coalitions. 00:17:40.150 --> 00:17:43.009 So election days became these massive rural parties. 00:17:43.289 --> 00:17:45.829 Everyone came to town to eat, drink, and gamble. 00:17:45.950 --> 00:17:48.549 That was fun. Right. Which brings us right back 00:17:48.549 --> 00:17:51.230 to our opening story. George Washington knew 00:17:51.230 --> 00:17:53.849 he had to swill the planters with bumbo, bumbo 00:17:53.849 --> 00:17:56.609 being rum. He literally bought his way into office 00:17:56.609 --> 00:17:59.809 with 39 gallons of alcohol. Here's where it gets 00:17:59.809 --> 00:18:01.869 really interesting. Does this mean the elites 00:18:01.869 --> 00:18:03.950 were actually terrified of the common farmer? 00:18:04.529 --> 00:18:07.329 Was early democracy just one big frat party to 00:18:07.329 --> 00:18:09.950 keep the masses happy? Well, it's a bit more 00:18:09.950 --> 00:18:11.509 nuanced than that, but you were hitting on a 00:18:11.509 --> 00:18:14.970 profound power dynamic. Elections were the one 00:18:14.970 --> 00:18:16.670 day of the year where the traditional social 00:18:16.670 --> 00:18:19.490 restraints were completely relaxed. OK. For that 00:18:19.490 --> 00:18:21.950 single day, the wealthy elite and the common 00:18:21.950 --> 00:18:25.619 farmer were effectively equal. It was a uniquely 00:18:25.619 --> 00:18:28.480 American blend of aristocratic leadership and 00:18:28.480 --> 00:18:31.700 glass roots populism. The elites held the offices, 00:18:31.980 --> 00:18:35.019 but they served at the pleasure of a very loud, 00:18:35.380 --> 00:18:38.440 very demanding electorate who literally voted 00:18:38.440 --> 00:18:41.460 by shouting their choices aloud in the town square. 00:18:41.859 --> 00:18:43.920 If you didn't buy them rum and listen to their 00:18:43.920 --> 00:18:45.940 grievances, they would shout for your opponent. 00:18:46.089 --> 00:18:47.829 Okay, so let's put all these pieces together. 00:18:48.130 --> 00:18:50.710 You have this massive population of fiercely 00:18:50.710 --> 00:18:53.430 independent, self -governing people. They are 00:18:53.430 --> 00:18:55.869 used to running their own local startups, smuggling 00:18:55.869 --> 00:18:57.769 goods past the authorities, breeding their own 00:18:57.769 --> 00:19:00.049 captive labor forces, and shouting down their 00:19:00.049 --> 00:19:02.269 politicians in the town square. A volatile mix. 00:19:02.609 --> 00:19:05.369 Very. And then, suddenly, they are forced to 00:19:05.369 --> 00:19:07.809 deal with the heavy hand of the British military. 00:19:08.059 --> 00:19:10.500 Which brings us to the real catalyst for the 00:19:10.500 --> 00:19:13.319 revolution. Right. That tipping point was the 00:19:13.319 --> 00:19:16.119 French and Indian War, which raged from 1754 00:19:16.119 --> 00:19:19.799 to 1763. Which was actually just the North American 00:19:19.799 --> 00:19:22.059 theater of the massive global conflict known 00:19:22.059 --> 00:19:24.619 as the Seven Years War. Yes. The sources note 00:19:24.619 --> 00:19:27.599 a fascinating reversal here. Previous colonial 00:19:27.599 --> 00:19:30.140 wars always started over in Europe and eventually 00:19:30.140 --> 00:19:33.059 bled over into the colonies. But this specific 00:19:33.059 --> 00:19:36.160 war started in America, in the Ohio Valley, and 00:19:36.160 --> 00:19:39.220 spread outward to engulf Europe. It was an existential 00:19:39.220 --> 00:19:41.420 conflict between Britain and France for control 00:19:41.420 --> 00:19:44.900 of the continent. And crucially, it forced these 00:19:44.900 --> 00:19:49.339 13 disparate squabbling colonies to truly collaborate 00:19:49.339 --> 00:19:51.930 for the very first time. Wow. Really the first 00:19:51.930 --> 00:19:54.569 time. Pretty much. Colonial militias had to fight 00:19:54.569 --> 00:19:56.750 side by side with the professional British army. 00:19:57.190 --> 00:19:59.569 Men travel hundreds of miles across the continent 00:19:59.569 --> 00:20:02.130 fighting alongside people from entirely different 00:20:02.130 --> 00:20:04.950 colonies, which began to foster a very nascent 00:20:04.950 --> 00:20:07.309 shared sense of being American. That makes a 00:20:07.309 --> 00:20:09.650 lot of sense. It's also where colonial officers, 00:20:09.849 --> 00:20:12.369 most notably George Washington, received elite 00:20:12.369 --> 00:20:14.750 military training directly from British generals. 00:20:15.210 --> 00:20:17.829 So Britain and the colonies win the war together. 00:20:18.349 --> 00:20:21.180 Francis Bush out. And Britain gains control of 00:20:21.180 --> 00:20:24.140 all this incredible territory east of the Mississippi 00:20:24.140 --> 00:20:26.660 River. You would think everyone would be thrilled. 00:20:26.819 --> 00:20:29.259 You would think. But the war left the British 00:20:29.259 --> 00:20:33.140 Empire in massive crippling debt. So the British 00:20:33.140 --> 00:20:35.160 Parliament looks over at the colonies and decides, 00:20:35.359 --> 00:20:37.740 hey, we just spent an absolute fortune deploying 00:20:37.740 --> 00:20:40.059 our army to defend you. It's time you chipped 00:20:40.059 --> 00:20:43.180 in. The tax era begins. Yeah. They start passing 00:20:43.180 --> 00:20:46.599 taxes. They passed the Sugar Act in 1764, the 00:20:46.599 --> 00:20:50.079 Stamp Act in 1765, the Townsend Acts, and the 00:20:50.079 --> 00:20:53.220 Tea Act. Which provoked absolute outrage across 00:20:53.220 --> 00:20:55.559 the colonies. Remember, the colonists had spent 00:20:55.559 --> 00:20:58.099 a century forming their own local assemblies 00:20:58.099 --> 00:21:00.779 and managing their own internal affairs. They 00:21:00.779 --> 00:21:03.720 immediately insisted on the principle of no taxation 00:21:03.720 --> 00:21:06.839 without representation. Let me play devil's advocate 00:21:06.839 --> 00:21:08.599 for a second here, looking at the British data. 00:21:08.880 --> 00:21:11.220 From London's perspective, the British elite 00:21:11.220 --> 00:21:13.299 were the most heavily taxed people in Europe 00:21:13.299 --> 00:21:15.380 at the time. Very true. They looked across the 00:21:15.380 --> 00:21:18.039 ocean at the Americans who were incredibly wealthy, 00:21:18.319 --> 00:21:21.380 generally healthier and barely paying any imperial 00:21:21.380 --> 00:21:24.460 taxes at all. Weren't the British entirely justified 00:21:24.460 --> 00:21:26.940 in asking for a little return on investment to 00:21:26.940 --> 00:21:29.359 pay for the army that literally just saved the 00:21:29.359 --> 00:21:32.319 colonies from the French? This raises an important 00:21:32.319 --> 00:21:34.380 question, and it's exactly how the parliament 00:21:34.380 --> 00:21:38.279 in London viewed it. It highlights a tragic unbridgeable 00:21:38.279 --> 00:21:41.519 disconnect between the two sides. How so? Well, 00:21:41.920 --> 00:21:43.619 the British felt the colonists were behaving 00:21:43.619 --> 00:21:47.019 like ungrateful, rebellious children. But the 00:21:47.019 --> 00:21:48.880 colonists felt they had already paid for the 00:21:48.880 --> 00:21:52.099 war in blood. They had sent their own sons to 00:21:52.099 --> 00:21:54.240 die in a conflict they felt ultimately served 00:21:54.240 --> 00:21:56.880 London's imperial interests more than their own 00:21:56.880 --> 00:21:59.880 local security. Furthermore, they drew a hard 00:21:59.880 --> 00:22:02.140 line between external tariffs, which they accepted, 00:22:02.579 --> 00:22:05.339 and internal taxes. Like the Stamp Act. Exactly. 00:22:05.759 --> 00:22:07.920 When Britain passed the Stamp Act, which placed 00:22:07.920 --> 00:22:10.240 a direct tax on every piece of printed paper 00:22:10.240 --> 00:22:12.500 used inside the colonies, from legal documents 00:22:12.500 --> 00:22:15.200 to playing cards, the colonists saw it as a fundamental 00:22:15.200 --> 00:22:17.619 violation of their rights as English subjects 00:22:17.619 --> 00:22:20.240 to be taxed only by their own elected representatives. 00:22:20.539 --> 00:22:23.599 And that philosophical disconnect rapidly escalated 00:22:23.599 --> 00:22:26.579 into physical violent action. It did. You get 00:22:26.579 --> 00:22:29.099 massive boycotts of British manufactured goods. 00:22:29.579 --> 00:22:32.019 You get the Sons of Liberty executing the Boston 00:22:32.019 --> 00:22:35.960 Tea Party in 1773, destroying thousands of pounds 00:22:35.960 --> 00:22:38.779 of East India Company tea to protest the Tea 00:22:38.779 --> 00:22:42.240 Act. And Britain responds with the sledgehammer. 00:22:42.680 --> 00:22:45.420 Intolerable acts. Yeah. They practically stripped 00:22:45.420 --> 00:22:47.640 Massachusetts of its right to self -government, 00:22:47.880 --> 00:22:50.210 closed the port of Boston, and allowed British 00:22:50.210 --> 00:22:52.950 soldiers to be quartered in civilian homes. And, 00:22:52.970 --> 00:22:55.250 you know, it shows how quickly loyal, prosperous 00:22:55.250 --> 00:22:57.369 subjects can turn into violent revolutionaries 00:22:57.369 --> 00:22:59.569 when their local autonomy and economic engines 00:22:59.569 --> 00:23:03.349 are threatened. By 1774, the colonies convened 00:23:03.349 --> 00:23:05.950 the first Continental Congress. Right. It's important 00:23:05.950 --> 00:23:08.029 to note they aren't actually asking for full 00:23:08.029 --> 00:23:10.650 independence yet. They are asserting that they 00:23:10.650 --> 00:23:13.049 owe allegiance to the king, but they completely 00:23:13.049 --> 00:23:15.369 reject Parliament's authority to legislate their 00:23:15.369 --> 00:23:18.180 internal lives. But London isn't willing to negotiate 00:23:18.180 --> 00:23:20.640 with startups they view as subordinates. The 00:23:20.640 --> 00:23:23.359 British military governor in Massachusetts sends 00:23:23.359 --> 00:23:26.339 troops to seize Patriot arsenals, which leads 00:23:26.339 --> 00:23:28.759 directly to the battles of Lexington and Concord 00:23:28.759 --> 00:23:33.660 in April 1775. The shooting starts. There's no 00:23:33.660 --> 00:23:36.839 going back then. No. The Second Continental Congress 00:23:36.839 --> 00:23:39.500 forms the Continental Army, puts George Washington 00:23:39.500 --> 00:23:43.119 in charge, and by July 4, 1776, they issue the 00:23:43.119 --> 00:23:46.339 Declaration of Independence. The chaotic, disparate 00:23:46.339 --> 00:23:49.319 hubs had officially merged into a unified rebellion. 00:23:49.599 --> 00:23:51.940 And ultimately, with massive financial and naval 00:23:51.940 --> 00:23:54.460 assistance from France and, to a lesser extent, 00:23:54.599 --> 00:23:56.880 Spain and the Dutch Republic, they managed to 00:23:56.880 --> 00:23:59.279 defeat the British military, securing their formal 00:23:59.279 --> 00:24:01.839 independence with the Treaty of Paris in 1783. 00:24:02.140 --> 00:24:03.980 So what does this all mean for you and me today? 00:24:04.220 --> 00:24:06.180 When we look back at the actual records, it's 00:24:06.180 --> 00:24:08.359 abundantly clear that the 13 colonies weren't 00:24:08.359 --> 00:24:11.279 born as a unified nation with a single pristine 00:24:11.279 --> 00:24:13.839 vision of liberty for all. Not even close. They 00:24:13.839 --> 00:24:17.740 were a messy, diverse... rum drinking, smuggling 00:24:17.740 --> 00:24:21.279 group of distinct regions. They operated on completely 00:24:21.279 --> 00:24:23.900 different business models. They relied heavily 00:24:23.900 --> 00:24:26.680 on the brutal engineered machinery of chattel 00:24:26.680 --> 00:24:29.400 slavery, and they fiercely protected their local 00:24:29.400 --> 00:24:31.799 power. Very fierce. They were only pushed together 00:24:31.799 --> 00:24:34.819 into a unified front by intense economic pressure 00:24:34.819 --> 00:24:37.720 from their imperial parent company and a shared 00:24:37.720 --> 00:24:40.619 deep seated desire for local self -governance. 00:24:41.059 --> 00:24:44.119 It is a profound, messy transformation. And to 00:24:44.119 --> 00:24:46.660 leave you with one final fascinating fact from 00:24:46.660 --> 00:24:48.900 the historical data that I think puts this entire 00:24:48.900 --> 00:24:51.420 narrative into a wild perspective. Oh, late on 00:24:51.420 --> 00:24:54.059 me. We always focus on the 13 colonies that rebelled. 00:24:54.440 --> 00:24:57.940 But in 1776, Britain actually had another dozen 00:24:57.940 --> 00:24:59.960 colonial possessions in the Americas. Wait, really? 00:25:00.240 --> 00:25:02.700 A whole dozen more? Yes. Places like Jamaica, 00:25:02.960 --> 00:25:05.220 Bermuda, the Bahamas, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, 00:25:05.759 --> 00:25:08.220 and even East and West Florida. These colonies 00:25:08.220 --> 00:25:11.099 experienced the exact same British empire, they 00:25:11.099 --> 00:25:13.859 operated under the exact same mercantilist policies, 00:25:14.160 --> 00:25:16.460 and they answered to the exact same parliament. 00:25:17.200 --> 00:25:20.079 Yet when the shooting started, they stayed completely 00:25:20.079 --> 00:25:22.480 loyal to the British crown throughout the entire 00:25:22.480 --> 00:25:25.319 Revolutionary War. That is wild to think about. 00:25:25.400 --> 00:25:27.799 It invites you to explore a really compelling 00:25:27.799 --> 00:25:31.000 historical puzzle on your own. What was it about 00:25:31.000 --> 00:25:34.420 those specific 13 colonies that made them the 00:25:34.420 --> 00:25:37.279 rebellious exception? rather than the imperial 00:25:37.279 --> 00:25:39.859 rule. It certainly makes you look at that perfect 00:25:39.859 --> 00:25:41.640 powdered wig symphony in a totally different 00:25:41.640 --> 00:25:44.160 way. Next time you picture the founding of the 00:25:44.160 --> 00:25:46.960 country, don't think of a neatly trimmed, predictable 00:25:46.960 --> 00:25:50.019 lawn. Think of that overgrown, chaotic, wildly 00:25:50.019 --> 00:25:52.259 diverse garden that somehow managed to produce 00:25:52.259 --> 00:25:55.000 a revolution. Thank you for joining us on this 00:25:55.000 --> 00:25:57.200 deep dive. Keep questioning the myths and we'll 00:25:57.200 --> 00:25:57.819 catch you next time.