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Why American Independence Was Always Inevitable

British insistence that American colonists pay for an outside power to govern them made independence inevitable and revolution likely.

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Sometimes, contrarian theories are labeled as such for a reason. And while the nation’s 250th birthday presents opportunities to make counterfactual arguments about America’s creation, in this case, the conventional wisdom has become such for a reason.

For instance, a new series co-produced by the BBC and PBS looks at the turning points of the American Revolution. Lucy Worsley, a historian, author, and the former curator at Historic Royal Palaces in London, reprises her prior methods for British documentaries, attempting to reexamine old events in light of new evidence. To the theory that America and Great Britain were bound for an explosive breakup, Worsley posits, “I’m not so sure.”

But as a practical matter, a nation as small as Great Britain would have had difficulties governing a nation as vast as America, even the 13 original colonies, under the best of circumstances. And British insistence that American colonists pay for an outside power to govern them made independence inevitable and revolution likely.

Potential Turning Points?

The first episode in Worsley’s series examines points at which the conflicts between the American colonies and the mother state could have avoided coming to blows. She examines the cosmopolitan — and through the mid-1770s, strongly royalist — sentiments of Benjamin Franklin, who lived in London for over a decade and a half in the........

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