Last year saw the revival of Politically Incorrect Guides from Regnery Publishing, particularly The Politically Incorrect Guide to Catholicism by John Zmirak and The Politically Incorrect Guide to Jihad by William Kilpatrick.
This year is no different, because right now The Politically Incorrect Guide to the American Revolution by Dave Dougherty and Larry Schweikart is available in bookstores.
In their book, Dougherty and Schweikart point out that, contrary to what some leftists claim, the American Revolution was not a rich man’s war and a poor man’s fight. In fact, it was a war based on the principles of liberty.
The authors even compare and contrast the American Revolution with subsequent revolutions, particularly the French Revolution and Russian Revolution- the difference being that the American Revolution led to the creation of an independent and politically stable country, whereas all the other revolutions resulted in more revolutions, coups, wars, and dictatorships.
Dougherty and Schweikart also mention that revolution had been brewing in the American colonies long before 1776. The Glorious Revolution of 1688 had spawned a series of insurgencies taking control of colonial governments, thus sowing the seeds for revolution in the decades to come.
Here are some other facts the authors mention in their book:
• One of the causes of the American Revolution was a tax cut.
• Not wanting to jeopardize British assistance against Indian attacks, Georgia sent no representatives to the First Continental Congress.
• Paul Revere never said “the British are coming!” (since the colonists considered themselves to be British subjects).
• Two of Washington’s best officers started out with only book knowledge of the military.
• Thomas Jefferson said the editing of the Declaration of Independence was the worst thing he ever went through.
• Benedict Arnold set out for Quebec with more than 1,000 men and reached it with only 510 (note: this was part of an attempt to get Canada to join the patriot cause).
• George III was the first Hanoverian king of England whose native tongue was English rather than German.
• Emanuel Leutze’s famous painting of Washington Crossing the Delaware included an African-American because Leutze was an abolitionist.
• Attempts to stop war profiteering with wage and price controls were a dismal failure.
• Benedict Arnold had no official role in the American Army during the victory at Saratoga (for which he received credit).
• The Valley Forge winter of 1777-78 was actually the warmest in years (but winter in Pennsylvania is bitterly cold nonetheless).
• Fighting for America, the French Navy miraculously defeated the British Navy at the Battle of the Chesapeake — then went on a long losing streak against the British Navy.
• The original American Navy under John Paul Jones had a total of five ships.
• British forces in the South could win battles and hold coastal cities, but not control the backcountry.
• Tories recruited in the North could commit atrocities in the South without fear of reprisals on their own families.
• Harsh British military policy in the South contributed to Southerners’ hatred of Northerners and Indians and likely to their attachment to slavery.
• Benedict Arnold captured Richmond for the British and nearly caught Thomas Jefferson.
• Yorktown wasn’t the final battle of the Revolutionary War.
• The peace negotiations were complicated by John Adams’s visceral hatred of Benjamin Franklin.
• The American Revolution may have been the deadliest war, per capita, in U.S. history.
So be sure to check out The Politically Incorrect Guide to the American Revolution.
Image: Fair use; Excerpted from: https://www.regnery.com/books/the-politically-incorrect-guide-to-the-american-revolution-2/
