The Birth of a Nation: the American War of Independence and its Aftermath1750 to 1820

by Peter Atkinson

The presentation will start with a review of the events and ideas, principally tax-related, that led 13 colonies to rebel against the Crown and resulted in the founding of the United States of America.  We’ll follow the course of the war, focusing on the main strategic and political threads rather than on the detail of individual battles, one of which was very close to home for those of us from Yorkshire, the Battle of Bridlington.  

We’ll cover the principal events that shaped the new nation in its early years: the drafting of the Constitution and the creation of Washington DC; the Louisiana Purchase, which gave impetus to westward expansion; and the War of 1812, which resolved the remaining differences between the USA and Britain (and which Lonnie Donegan sang about).

Along the way, we shall meet some interesting people, some enlightened and some not.  Among many others, these include, on the American side, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and John Paul Jones.  Among the Brits are George III, Lord Frederick North and William Pitt.  And important French aristocrats include Louis XVI and the Marquis of Lafayette.