Post #3632839

2026-07-06 16:32 UTC

During the US revolutionary war, two things happened that gave us the political disaster that currently faces the US. The first is that the Continental Congress, the wartime governing body of Britain’s rebellious American colonies, borrowed a lot of money to finance the war. Some of this was borrowed from European lenders, but much of it came from wealthy Americans. Some of it was also issued to Continental soldiers, who received promissory notes in lieu of pay. The second is that colonial elites needed to mobilize popular support for the revolution, and so they made all sorts of concessions to the US public to win their support. These concessions included radically democratic governments in the various colonies. 1/

Replies (3)

@HeavenlyPossum@kolektiva.social 2026-07-06 16:39

By “radically democratic,” I mean: more widely representative of all adult white men, rather than just propertied elites, and highly responsive to that public of adult white men. The revolutionary-era government of Pennsylvania, for example, featured a single legislative house, an executive committee rather than an individual executive, the abolition of property requirements for voting and holding office, and the direct election of judges. Local governments of this period often featured short terms in office—perhaps just a year for legislators—as well as the power by voters to recall representatives. 2/

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@guyjantic@infosec.exchange 2026-07-06 20:46

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@guyjantic@infosec.exchange 2026-07-08 13:39

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