King Charles Gives a History Lesson

King Charles’ quip that “if it wasn’t for the British, Americans would be speaking French,” was a humorous nod to the French and Indian wars fought against British colonists.  

Of course it went right over the head of Trump, and most Americans, who are quite convinced the world was created the day they were born, and will disappear the day they die.

Most Americans do not know, or have not considered the fact that the United States was assembled from four European colonies “owned” by England, France, Spain, and Russia.

Land that was bought for cash includes the Louisiana Purchase (bought ON THIS DAY in 1803 from France for $15 million, or about 3 cents per acre), and Alaska (bought from the Russia Empire in 1867 for $7.2 million or about 2 cents per acre).

Lands acquired through war and treaty includes lands owned by Britain and Spain.  

The first map shown here greatly under-represents the Spanish claims, which extended up to Oregon (82nd parallel) under the Adams–Onís Treaty of 1819, and also much farther north and east (even into Canada).  

Basically all of the land that was NOT Oregon and Washington State was claimed by Spain (aka “New Spain”) right up to the line of the Louisiana Purchase.

France “owned” the land we now call “The Louisiana Purchase (then called “New France”) up until the secret 1762 Treaty of Fontainebleau, where France ceded Louisiana to Spain to prevent it from falling to Britain.

The land that became the Louisiana Purchase was owned by Spain (Spanish Louisiana, see third map) up to 1801, when it was sold or traded back to France (Napoleon) after the defeat of France by the British in the French-Indian Wars.  

Within a few years, the cash-strapped Napoleon decided to sell the Louisiana Purchase to the U.S., after it became clear France did not have the forces to hold it against the British, the native tribes, or the United States.

So far as I can tell, the only part of the US that has *never* been a claimed Europen colony is Oregon and Washington State.

Spain lost “New Spain” in 1821 when Mexico won independence.

Spain and Mexico’s claims shrunk considerably under the “Mexican Cession” which was forced by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which officially ended the Mexican–American War of 1846–1848.

The Mexican–American War, of course, was sparked by American illegal aliens entering Mexico and subsequently creating “The Republic of Texas” in order to create and maintain chattel slavery in their newly-claimed “independent” territory. 

The cry “Remember the Alamo” is, in fact, the first secessionist cry of what was soon to become the U.S. Civil War, which was **entirely** about slavery, as can be seen by reading the Articles of Secession written by the leaders of the Confederate States themselves.

The defeat of Mexico in the Mexican-American War, monumentalized by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, gave the United States control of the area that is now Texas, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, and Arizona, as well as parts of Colorado, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Wyoming.  Up until then, this was all land claimed by Mexico.

The Spanish–American War of 1898, between Spain and the United States, resulted in the U.S. acquiring sovereignty over Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines, and establishing a protectorate over Cuba.