Maybe that's it: the Americans fought a big war with the English, and so won't romanticize them (at least, not in the same way) so they romanticize the Scots instead, making them fellow-victims.
Which is utter victim-complex bollocks, and reveals how warped their knowledge of history is. They fought the British, which includes Scots, with (at the time) an army that was about a quarter Scots (officers and men) and also with a goodly proportion of Irish. Scots were loathed by the American rebels as they were prominent in the colonial administration, and Jefferson was especially nasty about them. Highlanders were also prominent in the Loyalist forces in New York State and in the south. I'm reminded of the primary school history teacher I met at King's Mountain, who asked, re: Pattie, "What was a Scotsman doing fighting for the British?" I had to explain Britain to her as a concept…
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2007-12-12 06:25 pm (UTC)Which is utter victim-complex bollocks, and reveals how warped their knowledge of history is. They fought the British, which includes Scots, with (at the time) an army that was about a quarter Scots (officers and men) and also with a goodly proportion of Irish. Scots were loathed by the American rebels as they were prominent in the colonial administration, and Jefferson was especially nasty about them. Highlanders were also prominent in the Loyalist forces in New York State and in the south. I'm reminded of the primary school history teacher I met at King's Mountain, who asked, re: Pattie, "What was a Scotsman doing fighting for the British?" I had to explain Britain to her as a concept…