Donald F. Johnson

On the whole, Donald Johnson is to be congratulated on finding a new angle on why the British ultimately failed to keep their authority in the 13 Colonies, in that he plays up how the sheer experience of occupation was corrosive of that authority. This is between the British military leadership being played by a Loyalist leadership who wanted retribution for the travails they suffered in the run-up to 1775, the reality that there were never enough crown troops to really maintain security for those inclined to cooperate, the economic misery induced by the experience of occupation, and the inevitably friction of an overbearing British military culture that mostly only saw the Americans as subjects to be brought into line. The real eye-opening finding that Johnson has is how this whole experience was essentially glossed over in post-war accounts, as those who were not too implicated in the British war effort (such as hardcore Loyalists and black Freedmen) were more concerned about rebuilding social relations than exacting retribution.… (más)