Brett Evill wrote:
>> In article <360d9538.613536 at news.mv.net>, junkmail at moreira.mv.com (Alberto
> Moreira) wrote:
>> >There has been no event that was more influential to so many people as
> >the American Revolution.
>> Only an American could say that. It looms large in your world, mate.
I'd agree with above, having visited the 'States' 7-8 times and lived there
for a 3 month period fairly recently. Most studies (eg. National Geographic)
give US citizens the lowest ranking of any OECD country when it comes to
general knowledge of the world, and an extraordinary percentage (>10%) of one
study sample could not even identify the USA on a map of the planet!
> But there are a lot of us out here where it has had little effect.
Not entirely true! The "kick the Brits in the arse" (or at least up to
Canada ;-) ) certainly did Australia a favour, excluding the native
Aborigines of course. It was the loss of the Nth American colonies in 1775
that caused the Empire to look for alternatives, and the big block of
"unoccupied" land that James Cook had named New South Wales loomed large.
Hence the First Fleet of 1787/1788, Botany Bay, Sydney, etc. etc.
Also, the Australian parliment (Reps + Senate) is an amalgm of the Commons
for the lower house with the Senate structured on the US model. The
Australian High Court is also structured on the US Supreme Court model and
has similar powers. The people who developed the Aussie constitution
certainly picked over the US one in fine detail!
Tony