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[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by August

[We reject French culinary terms at our peril...

Point taken. I'd hate to see the United States invaded by France.

As for the side driven on, it's my understanding (meaning somebody told me a long time ago, and I've never found any reason to challenge it...never found any reason to believe it either, but that's a different story) that the English knights would ride their horses to the left so the sword hand would be facing a potential enemy.

Americans drive on the right mainly because the British drive on the left.:p

[seafarer]

Originally Posted by mrbeast

Hmmm slight bending of the facts there me thinks :hmm:

Really? In what way (speaking broadly)? The colonies unilaterally severed their ties with the British Empire in 1776. The Treaty of Paris in 1783 was merely Great Britain's reluctant acceptance of the sovereignty of the 13 Colonies and the ceding of the colonial territory (everything between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River) to the new independent States.

Since Britain ceded the territory after military defeat, how can they now "revoke" American independence? Since the act of revocation implies they actually have either the authority or capacity to undo, or annul the Treaty of Paris and the Declaration of Independence? How do you revoke a 225 year old acceptance of defeat? How does any one party to a treaty revoke it? They can contest it, they can ignore it, they can violate it - they can do all sorts of things to it, but revocation ain't one of 'em.

And how can they possibly revoke independence, when it was independently declared by other parties in the first place?

Just saying that there is nothing to literally revoke, not by any definition of the word I know of.

[Sailor Steve]

I hate to see this turn into an actual political debate, but I have to add to seafarer's comments.

Cornwallis was forced to surrender to Washington at Yorktown partly because he desperately needed reinforcements, and French admiral De Grasse's fleet kept that from happening by defeating the fleet of admiral Graves. Cornwallis, realizing his position was now untenable, claimed illness and sent his second in command, general O'Hara, to surrender. O'Hara tried to surrender to French general Rochambeau. Rochambeau indicated that it was Washington's victory, not his. He then attempted to surrender to Washington, but Washington indicated that the hapless O'Hara would have to surrender to his second, general Lincoln.

Those facts are unbendable, and I think there was taunting aplenty going around.

[DavyJonesFootlocker]

What's all the fuss is about it's rather very simple to bring down an empire like Lord Vader's United States of Amigos...just let in all the Mexicans. Think I'm gonna play 'God Save The Queen' by The Sex Pistols. Johnny Rotten is still alive isn't he?:rotfl:

Recently I watch The Patriot with Mel Gibson and I got to say that dude has a mental problem. How can one hate the UK with so much passion it actually shows in that movie when he overkills the British soldiers.

[seafarer]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

I hate to see this turn into an actual political debate, but I have to add to seafarer's comments.

Cornwallis was forced to surrender to Washington at Yorktown partly because he desperately needed reinforcements, and French admiral De Grasse's fleet kept that from happening by defeating the fleet of admiral Graves. Cornwallis, realizing his position was now untenable, claimed illness and sent his second in command, general O'Hara, to surrender. O'Hara tried to surrender to French general Rochambeau. Rochambeau indicated that it was Washington's victory, not his. He then attempted to surrender to Washington, but Washington indicated that the hapless O'Hara would have to surrender to his second, general Lincoln.

Those facts are unbendable, and I think there was taunting aplenty going around.

I wasn't trying to pick a fight, or even stir the pot. And I get the humor in the original posting. It's just that the joke shouldn't have used the word revoke, since it does not apply. You cannot revoke something that you never gave in the first place, and the Declaration of Independence was just that, an autonomous declaration, which those declaring it made legitimate by force of arms.

[UnderseaLcpl]

As incompetent as we are, what happened to your empire?

[Schroeder]

It became to expensive, so it was outsourced.

[Q3ark]

Originally Posted by UnderseaLcpl

As incompetent as we are, what happened to your empire?

We had to give it all back after WW2 because the country was flat broke, the war realy crippled us.

I recently saw a documentry about this on tv, we where so close to complete financial collapse right up untill the end of the 50's. Infact we have only just recently finished repaying the U.S. for all the lend lease and other aid we received during the war.

Oh and the OP funny as hell :rotfl: (wonder what Bush would do if he saw it? Anyone got his email?)

[DavyJonesFootlocker]

That's quite correct. In fact the irony of WW2 is that my country, a former British Colony, had Hitler to thank for. The war bled Britain's resources to the point that sustaining the colonies was impracticable.