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  • The British Have Invaded Again!

    Back in the summer of '05, my parents and I went to South Dakota on vacation.
    Quite exciting as it was my first time on a plane/seeing buffalo/in the mountains.

    We were lounging around in the hotel after a busy day of sightseeing at the Crazy Horse Monument, and my mother sent me down to the front desk to buy some stamps to mail letters to her mom.

    Having passed American History in the 7th grade only months prior, what happened next amused me. The lady wasn't rude, or annoying, but she might have had a temporary brain malfunction.

    M: Me
    L: Lady at the front desk getting the stamps.
    CW: Lady's co-worker sitting next to her.

    M: Hi, can I get some $(however much the stamps were, can't remember) stamps?
    L: Sure. *Takes my money, gets stamps*
    (To CW) How much is tax on stamps?
    CW: *blank stare* There is no tax on stamps.
    L: *turning red, realizing what she had just done* Oh, right...
    M: *trying not to snicker* Thanks.

    When I got in the elevator, I cracked up.
    "We were put on this Earth to fart around, and don't let anyone ever tell you otherwise." -Kurt Vonnegut

  • #2
    Quoth Gawdzillers View Post
    (To CW) How much is tax on stamps?
    CW: *blank stare* There is no tax on stamps.
    L: *turning red, realizing what she had just done* Oh, right...
    Wonder how bad she'd have felt trying to get a cup of Darjeeling in Boston?

    Great laugh, and great first post!!
    Not all who wander are lost.

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    • #3
      Quoth PuckishOne View Post
      Wonder how bad she'd have felt trying to get a cup of Darjeeling in Boston?
      *Local pointing out the harbor*: "Go get it yourself!"
      "My mother always said, 'Feelings are like treasures...so bury them.'"

      Comment


      • #4
        I have to ask - was she British? Being a Limey with only a sketchy interest in the US hisotry, I have to ask what the relevance is. I know about Boston, and it was a waste of fine tea, but tax and stamps?

        Rapscallion

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        • #5
          I'd like to think that I know a thing or two about history, but if I'm wrong, feel free to tell me so:

          During the 1760's and early 1770's, the British raised taxes/created new taxes on many items that the Americian colonists needed-tea, refined cotton, (Most raw cotton was shipped to England to be processed) spices, manufactured goods, etc. One new tax that the British created was one on stamps-but not the type of stamps that we know of today. (the US didn't have a postal service at the time.) They were the type of stamps that were dipped in ink and used to put a mark on a peice of paper. They were mostly used by businessmen, who tended to be wealthy, who tended to have a bit of power-and when you and have power and a complaint; you get your message out. This led to even more unrest amongst the general population.

          FUN FACT TIME!!

          Despite what you may have seen in The Patriot, most historians know that it wasn't a majority of the people that wanted change. As is the case with most revolutions, it started by a group of well-educated and well-organized men. In general, about one third of the people supported the war, one third supported the English, and one third didn't have one preference over the other.
          I pray for the strength to change what I can, the inability to change what I can't, and the incapacity to tell the difference -Calvin, Calvin & Hobbes

          Being a pessimist and cynical wouldn't be so bad if I wasn't right so often!

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          • #6
            Quoth Spiffy McMoron View Post
            I'd like to think that I know a thing or two about history, but if I'm wrong, feel free to tell me so:
            For being "historically inaccurate", you seem to know a lot about history.
            Sometimes life is altered.
            Break from the ropes your hands are tied.
            Uneasy with confrontation.
            Won't turn out right. Can't turn out right

            Comment


            • #7
              The Stamp Acts of 1965 and the Townshend Acts of 1767 (?) enacted a tax system so that the American colonists could help pay back cost of the troops who had fought and died for them during the French and Indian War (aka the 30 Years War).

              Due to huge pressure and non-compliance, Parliament revoked all of them except the duty on tea, which was reduced to a pittance. Parliament did this as face-saving measure hoping that the colonists would comply (it's only a tiny little tax and nobody is going to give up their tea for just a tiny little tax) and, by their compliance, acknowledge that Parliament had a right to tax the colonists.

              To put it bluntly, it backfired. In most cities tea cargos were simply blocked from unloading and the ships sailed back with their cargo. Since the tea didn't go through customs, no duties could be paid on it.

              In Boston in December 1773, the royal governor took it a bit further. He made it quite plain that anyone interfering with the unloading of the cargo would run afoul of the law and would not let the ships leave without unloading.

              It was a stalemate. A special public meeting was held to decide what to do and the rest is history. This meeting was mostly for show. The Sons of Liberty had pretty much decided that the tea was going into the harbor beforehand.

              ETA: It looks like Spiffy beat me to posting. He is 100% right about the popularity of the revolution. Most folks would have glady paid the tiny little tax and had their tea. They didn't because they were legitimately afraid of running afoul of the mobs.
              Last edited by Dips; 10-20-2006, 08:11 PM.
              The best karma is letting a jerk bash himself senseless on the wall of your polite indifference.

              The stupid is strong with this one.

              Comment


              • #8
                Quoth PuckishOne View Post
                Wonder how bad she'd have felt trying to get a cup of Darjeeling in Boston?

                Great laugh, and great first post!!
                Why, thank you.
                "We were put on this Earth to fart around, and don't let anyone ever tell you otherwise." -Kurt Vonnegut

                Comment


                • #9
                  Quoth Rapscallion View Post
                  I have to ask - was she British? Being a Limey with only a sketchy interest in the US hisotry, I have to ask what the relevance is. I know about Boston, and it was a waste of fine tea, but tax and stamps?

                  Rapscallion
                  No, she wasn't British.
                  She also looked like she had just gotten out of/was in college.
                  "We were put on this Earth to fart around, and don't let anyone ever tell you otherwise." -Kurt Vonnegut

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Quoth Rapscallion View Post
                    I have to ask - was she British? Being a Limey with only a sketchy interest in the US hisotry, I have to ask what the relevance is. I know about Boston, and it was a waste of fine tea, but tax and stamps?

                    Rapscallion
                    Despite the fine history lessons, the basic thing with tax and stamps is that the US postal service is a US government entity. States aren't allowed to tax most federal things, and sales taxes in the states all come from the individual states and their counties.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      I wouldn't know that, as I know a lot of British history, but hardly any American history. Is the opposite true in America?
                      People who don't like cats were probably mice in an earlier life.
                      My DeviantArt.

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                      • #12
                        There's British history?

                        Wait, when did that start?

                        It's been around for a while? Oh come on! What next? Canadian history?

                        ...you mean there's that too?



                        Kidding, kidding...
                        Character flaws aren't a philosophy -Scott Adams

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Quoth Lace Neil Singer View Post
                          I wouldn't know that, as I know a lot of British history, but hardly any American history. Is the opposite true in America?
                          Roughly. We get a bare-bones version in some World History (ie, European history, with a smattering of early Mediterranean history. Asia? Africa? The Americas before Columbus? They have histories?)


                          For what it's worth though, American History taught in America usually runs as follows:

                          Brief chapter covering 1600-1770, mostly badmouthing things people fought for and believed in deeply at the time

                          American revolution

                          Articles of Confederation to the Constitution

                          Brief bit covering 1800-1859, mostly badmouthing things people fought for and believed in deeply at the time

                          American Civil War

                          Complaining about reconstruction, the robber and rail baron age, and assorted scandals, 1865-1900

                          Insulting and denigrating the early US industrial era, 1900-1929. Brief footnote about the War to End All Wars and US involvement in it.

                          Serious ose about the Great Depression, 1929-1941. Not very much detail about its causes (cheap credit, overspending, and rampant materialism followed by an upswing in the cost of core necessity prices.) At least, based on US consumer habits, not enough to sink in.

                          Brief chapter on World War II, which started on December 7, 1941. Well, it's not a brief chapter in the book, but the teacher runs far enough behind that's as far as any American History class ever gets. But it does tell how America won the war-- with some help from Britain. And a few of the books even grudgingly admit that French resistance helped a bit, and even allow that it was probably good that the USSR provided a bit of distraction, too. I think Canada is assumed to still be part of Britain in most of these histories, by the way. Austrailia wasn't really part of the war in any of them. But the Phillipeans were, because MacArthur promised to return there.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Oooh! Question!

                            Do any of the history books mention that the Canadians burned the White House in 1812?

                            Most of ours don't mention that the Dutch navy sailed up the Thames many moons back, cannoned the hell out of anywhere that took their fancy, and sailed out again without a loss, before anyone asks...

                            Lovely description of history teaching, by the way.

                            Raspcallion

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                            • #15
                              Quoth Rapscallion View Post
                              Oooh! Question!

                              Do any of the history books mention that the Canadians burned the White House in 1812?
                              Most of my primary school history books only made glancing mention of the incident: mostly First Lady Dolly Madison rescuing artwork (especially a famous portrait of George Washington) from the burning presidential domicile.
                              "My mother always said, 'Feelings are like treasures...so bury them.'"

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