Will I Fight For Equality?

It Depends.

In colonial America you were an Englishman, or you were not. The common plea was that an Englishman was an Englishman no matter where he stood in the world. The colonists increasingly took this to mean that they were equal in status and right to any other English subject. British people of the upper classes viewed this idea with some distaste and were often offended when approached with familiarity by an American. (Sounds like some of our elected officials and other classes in present day USA!)

Most Americans thought that British attitudes about class and title were at best laughab...