Andrew O’Shaughnessy
speaker
44 appearances
2 recordings
1 series
first heard Jun 2026
last heard 23 Jun
Andrew O’Shaughnessy’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 2 in all, peaking in Jun 2026 with 2.
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The patriots in America, they called him a tyrant, but he was not a tyrant in the conventional sense.
None of the policies that were imposed on America were his policies.
In fact, he was very much an idealist who wanted to be a good king, to work with Parliament, to obey the laws of the country.
But there are a number of occasions when he crossed the line.
In the words of many people, he became his own prime minister, not because he was exercising illegal authority, but he was able to dominate and bully the then prime minister, Lord North.
British policy would have eroded many traditional American liberties, most importantly in taxing America.
That was entirely new.
It was unprecedented.
On the other hand, a lot of the beliefs about the British government and British policies were simply conspiratorial.
For example, the Quebec Act of 1774.
They thought the British government was trying to create a French Catholic army in Canada and to use it to destroy American liberties and to use them as troops against America.
In fact, the Quebec Act was all about trying to absorb this large French Catholic population and to allow them to practice their religion and to retain the French legal system.
It was surprisingly enlightened for its time.
Noiser Presents · Founding Fathers: The Great Awakening and the Growing Rebellion · 23 Jun 2026
podcast
A lot of the beliefs about the British government and British policies were simply conspiracy theory.
Today we see him as the quintessential American,
But actually, like a lot of the later patriots, he was very pro the Empire, arguably more than the British.
People like Franklin wanted to expand the British Empire.
They wanted settlers to move west into Native American territory, which the British were against because they realized it would lead to war and expenditure.
George III, when he came to power, he was seen as a great breath of fresh air.
He wanted to introduce a new type of politics.
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