And now, from alexandria virginia, the closing session from the emerging revolutionary war symposium. A panel of historians summarize their thoughts from the day and discuss the causes of the American Revolution. All right, cool, thank you all for coming out today. Thank you to alexandria for hosting and for the happy hour after this. We are trying to keep it as close to 4 00 as possible so we cannot get our beer we are looking forward to afterwards. You know, this is the first inaugural emerging revolutionary war symposium so we also thank cspan for coming out here to film this and, you know, its going to be an annual event so keep your eye out for next years symposium. To keep up with a movie emerging revolutionary war and everything we are doing, please check out our blog and you can also follow us on facebook and twitter to find out everything we are up to. You can also check out our books, rob and phil wrote a book about battles, in concord and i myself wrote a book and we got a couple of books coming out later this year, early next year about valley forge and about battle monmouth. Keep up with us. This, im really glad that we chose alexandria to have our inaugural symposium because not only is it my hometown but it was also George Washingtons hometown. Alexandria, you can go to cities, new york, philadelphia, charleston, everywhere you go there are plaques and monuments and things put up. George washington slept here, George Washington spent the day here, George Washington spent a couple of hours here. This was his hometown. He spent more time in this town then most others as they said, getting his suits here, walking the streets, were shipping here so its really a great place to have this inaugural symposium in addition to i mean, washington literally serving streets as you walk out of this building. There are a lot of other revolutionary war stories here. You have the carlile house where young George William carlile was 17 years old and killed in the battle of utah springs. Its also the home of colonel Johnson Fitzgerald who was an aide to George Washington, an Irish Catholic immigrant here and it was also the home of light course harry lee who, you know, he lived here later in life and its probably more famous today as being a father of confederate general, robert lee and he was a great revolutionary war soldier and hes also famous for being the guy who coined the phrase for George Washington as being, first and war, first in peace, and first in the heart of the countryman. So alexandria, and the building we are actually in right now, luyceum constructed in 1839 in this was constructed specifically for this persists purpose, lecture, knowledge about important subject so this is an awesome place to hold this symposium and talk about the revolutionary war. Thank you all and thank you all to all the panels. I think everyone learned a lot today. Each topic was interesting in its own way. This symposium is called, before they were americans. Im going to ask a couple of questions, i want to get you guys involved too so if you have questions as well, feel free to walk over to the microphone, you can stand in line there and throwing some questions for all the panelists as well. For a first question, after listening to all these different talks and seeing how, you know, the american columnist started this progression from being british to being american, my first question is how would you all defy being british and how would you define being american and how did they view it back then . We only have two microphones, so dont ill jump in their at once but you all can see if you have a good answer for that, maybe from something from your talk today when. Is that too vague of a question, i dont know . Its kind of a big question. Its the one Common Thread that goes through all these different talks whether its the smallpox. I what point do they stop being british and start being american . Is there an actual event that you can trace back to that . I just say they accepted being british because thats all they had known, was being british. They were born into it, their parents, were grandparents were and they believed at that time that was the extent of freedom for them. Freedom lives in the minds and hearts of all men and women. The greatest desire for anything that lives in this world is to be free. Its just what extent of freedom is. The oppressor will say, king george the third telling them its the extent of your freedom. Someone became selfconscious and that more freedoms is tangible than that and its about having the guts to take that and pitch it, turn it into a movement, into a revolution, politically and ideologically and thats what then turns into the military conflict. Its that military conflict that then secures that ideology. I want to push back on your question. Im sorry, mark. I think the question its a question that we can ask in 2019 but i think its a complicated one because by asking that question, worst human that everybody wanted the revolution, that everybody wanted to be american versus british, versus Something Else and so i think its important to take a step back and realize that, as we know, wed like to say that things were split down and three, right . There is a part of the 13 rebelling colonies, some people did have a political ideology that would somehow to political ideology that floated towards being loyalists and being loyal to the king, to the crowned of parliament and some just wanted to be left out altogether. Others still, im thinking about enslaved African Americans, do they want freedom . Absolutely. Did they want freedom individually . Yeah. Do i care so much about what venue, what avenue to freedom gets me the freedom that i need . You have African Americans on his proclamation to be free, to find freedom. Clinton later. Washington after that. I think this idea of when did we want to be americans verses, or english versus Something Else really calls into question. I just think we have to change the question or at least come up with different parameters for the question. Thats what i would say. Im also going to kind of turn that question on its side. For the people that i study, obviously study loyalist in the smallpox epidemic, for them its not necessarily when do you become american versus when are you a british subject . For me its, are you american . They realize very quickly that they are having their sense of virginia taken away from them based on a political ideology so they come in, like james parker, i talked desperately trying to integrate into Virginia Society and because he is an immigrated scott merchant, the people surrounding him refused to take on that sense of american or virginias that the plan to really were so proud of. For him, it wasnt necessarily when or when i might not a bridges subject but one of my american and he never found the answer to that and that is why he is a loyalist. At least from my scotts merchants, the backcountry virginias, thats very different. Can i just say, i agree with everything . One of the things to grapple with is that identity with been British American or when you study the civil war and youre a virginian, south carolinian and now im born in maryland and someone says, what are you . Im american. I think its interesting throughout our ahold history we try to figure out what we are and what were not, or whatever grad school we took. I took a class called being african in america. Some are african, theyre not american, they dont know which side will for me, i mean, when did it all happen . Personally, to put myself in the shoes, its probably when i pick up a musket and fire at a british soldier and maybe up not as british as i thought. If im not if im a loyalist and im still a British American until the day i die. So its a personal thing and when you put him in the categories we keep changing our identity and we will leave it at that before we get into the 21st century discussion about identity. Yeah, i think it depends on the person know, what that persons choices or the familys choice in the community or the general stroke on. I think self identity plays a big role in all this. You mentioned firing, i mean, i think it was in concord where there is a man saying an englishmans home is its hassle and firing in the british, so some people still held on to this identity of being english and british and they at the same time, now, throughout the revolution coming to grips with im in america now but they also here that im a virginian, how do you identify yourself . I think its interesting, you see how different people throughout different stories try and do that. Going back to this process thats happening, do you think the revolution was inevitable . Or do you think along this process, you know, there was some point where this could have not happened in a way we tend to view the revolution as the boston massacre, boston tea party, lexington concord war began, we became free and we become americans. Was this inevitable in your opinion or could it have taken a different turn . Any thoughts around that . That is a tough question because its the type of revolution that it is, its a Political Revolution more so than any kind of social revolution. Political grievances could usually be settled by, in this case, it wouldve been the parliament. With things like the American Civil War and how that becomes just it was a border to preserve the union and forge a new union by saying that i mean ending slavery. Slavery was something that couldnt be settled in the halls of congress so the civil war i would say its inevitable. When it comes to the revolution, i dont know because we were talking about earlier today that a lot of the things that the colonists had grievance about was miniscule. Its almost like they were looking for a way to break away somehow. If those small grievances were actually settled in parliament, with the americans, would we be appeased or would we have found Something Else to try and spark revolution . I dont know. I have a problem with the question. No, i picking up from your point i think its important to remember the American Revolution or the years leading up to it, none of this happened in a vacuum. The colonists in the rebelling or soon to be rebelling 13 north american colonies, british colonies, were not the only people having these revolutionary conversations. Im thinking about, i think its john wilcox whos having a problem with freedom of the press in parliament or with parliament. Is this ring a bell for anybody . I think its john wilts. Theres a freedom of the press conversation happening in london and in parliament at the time. There are really incredible conversations about liberty with john lock and things like that. If you come and visit me in the Revolution Museum in new york town, virginia. We have this really gorgeous silver spoons and its called pick sure back spoons. The back of these spoons have this engraving, that say i love liberty and its over a picture of the bird fleeing an open cage. The story that we tell with the spoons in the galleries, you think these are made in 1774 1775. No theyre not theyre made in london in 1770. It goes to show you the ideals, and the conversations of liberty, what it means to have freedom. And what those freedoms are. That is something happening on both sides of the atlantic. I think it is more interesting, to say why didnt it happen in and around london. Its just a thought. Another question why did it happen here, feel sorry wrote about boston and saying theres something about why boston. Do i answer the why boston question or . What do i answer. And what you want. I have a bit of a trouble with the term revolution, i think that you know is it really a revolution, youre on the way of a revolution like the french revolution, its a rebellion. The United States and talk to congress, and they dont want to change the complete rules of the game, because they took their whole life getting to the top that game. So they want to figure out who is going to be in control of certain aspects of money etc and so on so forth. So that question has to be answered, whos going to control the taxes, whos going to control the former government. And what ties the bond to it. Now we are also, if you look as soon as the french and so forth, enter into the war. And britain starts pulling it their troops out of the the colonies to defend their empire. Its you no shows at least 13 colonies are important. Is it an eventual conflict, i believe yes. Because these questions have to be answered. You have, john wilcox, who was imprisoned i think, in 1760, because his language is picked up by these colonists. These pamphlets immaterial. And if sam adams, had their way,. Theyre trying, it just happens and you know what, maybe they send the troops down the wrong road in lexington, and that is the straw that breaks the camels back. Would it happen, yes there were questions on both even on the british side. How do we tax colonist, how do we control the empire. How do we keep the peace. There is an interesting point, theres three threes in American History. Decides the american frontier, the american boundary, and its all decided in paris, without americans decision that the moroccans of a bubble for the decision and present. So it is the powderkeg being started, somewhere along the way. So after that a bunch of people in boston, had the system in place, that when it did happen, they were very well organized. What happened on april 19th, and they had to get the message out on time. They were defending their homesteads, and it was the british who are the aggressors. And the flip happened in the civil war, when lincoln, invading the southerners to open file first to show that they were the aggressors of war. Im going to start with my question, we have so many questions here. Everything being considered, what was going on in the caribbean colonies, and what was going on in north america, and what factors, the colonizers, usually on the extraction of natural resources, what of a disappointment to get out of north america. And how did that play in the future of the british colonies. There is no gold and silver. Im not sure i know how to answer your question, but i did want to point out, that someone mentioned earlier that George Washington, was pretty revered, in england after the war. There was no hard feelings. So its something that was interesting to think about, is the way that cornwall us is defeated at your town. And the end of the British Empire in north america. How that turns the lens, to india. And when you hear the phrase, the sun doesnt set on the British Empire. That British Empire is india. And all of those complications. Its not the north american, its not the colonies the 13 colonies. I think thats an interesting way of looking at that question. I think years was about what was lost, in the north american colonies but how does that shift to the other side of the world. And what is gained over there. She is right about that too because if you actually look at, india a lot of folks they argue whether or not that the british kind of have have half a heart in the American Revolution because india was such a big deal at that point. And maybe they should be focusing more on that. And when you look at cornwall us in the United States, you know losing at the battle of your town, but really he is revered in england because of india. In fact a lot of loyalists instead of heading up in nova scotia and new brunswick, they jump on top of the corn wallace and head to india. And many end up staying there for the rest of their life. The British Empire, they had their sights set and really wasnt the american colonies anymore was india. Bringing it back to the caribbean, and the whole whats lost or gained. If anyone has ever been to the island of barbados, the only place where washington leads. They have assigned their, that says we st. We saved washington before he saved the United States. But if you travel right outside, but if youre on a tour they bring through the tunnels, and the british had done complete tunnels at underneath the island of barbados, to protect it from the french. A big enough to get a cavalry a horse, and a soldier to go through the tunnels. And even before that, the smuggling in some of the realm and the sugar and molasses, and everything else. So and the preservative salt. So would we have strike lumber here, what we thought we have done here. For, and we brought that to great britain. But the islands in the caribbean, are so valuable, that when they have to put like 4000 soldiers, to support it. The fighting that went on there, its the first and phoebe us landing. And thats when the colonists try to raid the bahamas. In 1775. Yes i think the rest is whats gained or lost, their islands are very important, and if you go today you can still see the forts, that the british built on these islands to protect them. Yes thats the same reason, by the french really gave up in the french indian war as well. It really wasnt worth defending canada. For all the overseas position that they had. You know just a few acres of snow. Thats the title of the book isnt it . We have another question . So do you have any other questions from anybody else . Okay im going to close this up i have one last question i want you each to answer. And since merging revolutionary war, a lot of the food where the history actually happens, is there a place that you think, is the best place to go visit somewhere and about how we became americans. Or this early part of the revolution or if you could place the visits along that. I cannot obvious one . Whats an obvious one . Astoria alexandra . Lets see. I like to say, i travel a lot. An oldie but a goody but mount vernon, just up the road, recently theyve done a fantastic job of a lot of the renovations theyve done, we have not seen their new exhibit on the enslaved and an slaved individuals who lived at