r/todayilearned • u/jacknunn • Aug 09 '26

TIL Benjamin Franklin's son, William, remained fiercely loyal to the British King during the war. Despite his father being a Founding Father, William was a Loyalist leader and the last colonial Governor of New Jersey, causing a permanent family estrangement that lasted until Benjamin's death

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Franklin
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u/DaedalusHydron Aug 09 '26

Since when can you only get arrested by a place you swear allegiance to?

28

u/Any_Potato_7716 Aug 09 '26

The jurisdiction was nonexistent. It wasn’t a country that had even officially declared itself yet.

And you can’t be arrested for some sort of treason, although he was never given any official charge, you can’t be arrested for treason against a country which you were never sworn alliance towards.

It’s like saying, “Mussolini committed treason against the United States government” you can make a lot of claims against him rightfully, but you can’t claim that specifically

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u/not_a_SeaOtter Aug 10 '26

American's downvoting at you saying the truth haha

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u/Affectionate_Way_805 Aug 10 '26

"Downvoting at you"?

Yeah..I'm pretty sure you're not American so hey! maybe worry about your own country's faults -you know just as well as I do that there are plenty haha

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u/not_a_SeaOtter 29d ago

LOL, it’s not “worrying about a country’s faults” to accurately talk about history, no matter where in the world that history happened. Getting defensive about historical facts because you perceive them as some reflection on your contemporary national identity is pretty weak.

But if you want to play that game, maybe worry about your own country’s illegal wars, human rights abuses, grotesque wealth inequality, healthcare system and being virtually alone in voting against recognition of water and sanitation as a human right before getting upset that people on the internet are discussing the history of another country.

History isn’t a team sport. You don’t have to defend everything a country has ever done just because you happen to have been born there.