L
Londoner
Guest
Yes. In fact, not just the east coast. At one time Britain controlled what is now roughly the eastern third of the contiguous United States as well as the whole of what is now Canada. People are usually more focused on the east coast because those were the Thirteen Colonies that originally formed the United States.
Yes, Independence Day in the USA celebrates the Thirteen Colonies declaring their independence from Great Britain.
I still feel that this is the wrong way round. When you say, “the British Empire was defeated”, you make it sound as though the people who waged, and won, the American Revolutionary War were not themselves British. I think that it is probably accurate to say that the American Revolution was unique in the history of the British Empire in that I think that it is the only instance in which British subjects who had been born in Britain or were descendants of people born in Britain revolted against their own government to declare themselves independent of the British Crown.* It was not the indigenous people of America who sought independence from Great Britain, but the British settlers themselves. Some people have gone so far as to call it the British Revolution, albeit one that took place thousands of miles away from the island of Great Britain.
*One could not say the same about the Rhodesian unilateral declaration of independence, partly because white Rhodesians comprised only about 5 percent of the population and partly because the prime minister, Ian Smith, never considered himself to be anything other than a loyal minister of the Crown—even if the reigning monarch thought otherwise.
I wouldn’t say that it’s pedantic at all. @englands123 definitely seems to be a bit unsure of the chronology of north American history.