# Did UK officially recognize USA's independence? How? Is USA still a UK colony? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 15, 2005, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-uk-officially-recognize-usas-independence-how-is-usa-still-a-uk-colony/290140 "2005-02-15T03:26:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2005, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-uk-officially-recognize-usas-independence-how-is-usa-still-a-uk-colony/290140/41 "2005-02-16T04:55:18Z")
> [@Leviosaurus](#): > > Yup! And Nixon’s actions are still generally credited as the reason relations got normalized. Thank you for illustrating my point. But Nixon’s actions happened _before_ the normalization of relations, while Buffalo Bill/Queen Victoria thing happened over 100 years _after_ the Treaty of Paris, so I don’t think it’s quite the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2005, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-uk-officially-recognize-usas-independence-how-is-usa-still-a-uk-colony/290140/42 "2005-02-16T05:37:26Z")
> [@owlstretchingtime](#): > > The Queen has just signed a bill outlawing foxhunting - which (being a sensible old girl) she rather likes. “La Reine la veult” - not this time she didn’t! > > As to whether we could restablish our claim on the USA - it’s not us you have to worry about - It’s the French. They have _issues_ with you right now. Does the Queen even grant assent _in person_ any more? I thought most acts of parliament were assented to by Lords Commissioners in the name of the Queen. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2005, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-uk-officially-recognize-usas-independence-how-is-usa-still-a-uk-colony/290140/43 "2005-02-16T05:51:40Z")
I guess I know a little more about all those “Save the Wales” bumperstickers, now. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Leviosaurus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Leviosaurus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leviosaurus)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2005, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-uk-officially-recognize-usas-independence-how-is-usa-still-a-uk-colony/290140/44 "2005-02-16T08:00:22Z")
> [@Northern Piper](#): > > I’m not sure I follow you. The 1783 Treaty was to end the war and recognise U.S. sovereignty. The War of 1812 wasn’t an attempt to re-capture the U.S. You can recognise another country’s sovereignty and still go to war with them. The British may have signed the treaty of Paris, but they did a poor job of living up to it. Between 1803 and 1812, over [ten thousand American citizens were kidnapped and forced to work on British ships](http://home.earthlink.net/~gfeldmeth/chart.1812.html). The British were [forming military alliances with Tecumseh](http://www.galafilm.com/1812/e/people/harrison.html) and [giving weapons to other violent native american resistance](http://www.shifletfamily.org/War/1812.html), [outright attacking of US ships](http://www.multied.com/1812/declares.html) as well as [blatantly stealing others](http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761571913/War_of_1812.html#endads). Yes, the US declared war, but the ground war was fought entirely on American side of the Atlantic, and started with the [British occupation of the Michigan territory](http://www.warof1812.ca/fortambg.htm). The point is simply this - relations with Britian, while formalized, were quite strained. The British never respected the US, and clearly never intended to allow the US to last long as a soverign entity. The moment that Queen Victoria bowed to the star spangled banner really demonstrated the end to all of that in a fundamental way. It was an unforced and unrequested gesture; she did it entirely of her own volition. It wasn’t at a state dinner with a bunch of diplomats, it was in front of the most unruly, obnoxious, ill mannered and \*\*definitively American \*\* gang of hooligans that has ever trod the face of the planet. In effect, it was Britian _embracing_ the United States. Ever since we have always been the closest of allies. That’s why I said “for many this was the moment England truly recognized the US.” ---
**Author:** ![owlstretchingtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2005, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-uk-officially-recognize-usas-independence-how-is-usa-still-a-uk-colony/290140/45 "2005-02-16T13:34:13Z")
Now that we’ve recognised you and everything - can we play you at rugby? We need to beat somebody! ---
**Author:** ![Neurotik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2005, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-uk-officially-recognize-usas-independence-how-is-usa-still-a-uk-colony/290140/46 "2005-02-16T14:39:50Z")
> [@owlstretchingtime](#): > > Now that we’ve recognised you and everything - can we play you at rugby? We need to beat somebody! Sure, just give us a year to teach LaDainian Tomlinson, Michael Vick, Donovan McNabb, Daunte Culpepper, Shaun Alexander, Ray Lewis, Jason Taylor, etc. the rules and pick up some strategy. Then watch us whip your butts back across the Atlantic. ---
**Author:** ![owlstretchingtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2005, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-uk-officially-recognize-usas-independence-how-is-usa-still-a-uk-colony/290140/47 "2005-02-16T14:46:35Z")
> [@Neurotik](#): > > Sure, just give us a year to teach LaDainian Tomlinson, Michael Vick, Donovan McNabb, Daunte Culpepper, Shaun Alexander, Ray Lewis, Jason Taylor, etc. the rules and pick up some strategy. > > Then watch us whip your butts back across the Atlantic. either yank christian names have become even sillier than usual or your spell checker is donald ducked! ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2005, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-uk-officially-recognize-usas-independence-how-is-usa-still-a-uk-colony/290140/48 "2005-02-16T17:23:04Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > (Interestingly, the only place I could find this on the Net with Google was on a **British** site. :rolleyes: ) [Them Yalies have got it too.](http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/diplomacy/britian/paris.htm) > [@Kozmik](#): > > - Acknowledges the said United States, _viz., 12 of the 13 original states_… Hmmm… > [@](#): > > Article 1: > His Brittanic Majesty acknowledges the said United States, viz., New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, to be free sovereign and independent states, that he treats with them as such, and for himself, his heirs, and successors, relinquishes all claims to the government, propriety, and territorial rights of the same and every part thereof. [Tinfoil hat on]Therefore, Delaware is still legally a British colony!!! And where is it all the big corporations are chartered? _DELAWARE!!!_ Thus placing them under British, not American law!!! Yes, Elizabeth is still looking out for all her Freemason friends!!! Therefore, I don’t have to pay income tax.[/tinfoil hat off] (Oh, wait. The [_Preliminary_ Articles of Peace](http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/diplomacy/britian/prel1782.htm) **do** mention Delaware. Guess I’d better get on with those tax forms after all.) ---
**Author:** ![Neurotik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2005, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-uk-officially-recognize-usas-independence-how-is-usa-still-a-uk-colony/290140/49 "2005-02-16T17:44:41Z")
> [@owlstretchingtime](#): > > either yank christian names have become even sillier than usual or your spell checker is donald ducked! What’s odd about Jason Taylor, Ray Lewis and Shaun Alexander? Maybe you’re still in shock from having your butts kicked around the block by France. Keeping that in mind, maybe we don’t need those guys. We could probably teach some 12 year old girls the rules and have them go out there knock the English team around. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2005, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-uk-officially-recognize-usas-independence-how-is-usa-still-a-uk-colony/290140/50 "2005-02-16T18:09:13Z")
> [@owlstretchingtime](#): > > either yank christian names have become even sillier than usual or your spell checker is donald ducked! Yank child-naming is a very creative thing. Many parents here do not bow to tradition at all. **Neurotik** spelled them all accurately. Those fellows’ mothers did not spell them traditionally. ---
**Author:** ![owlstretchingtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2005, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-uk-officially-recognize-usas-independence-how-is-usa-still-a-uk-colony/290140/51 "2005-02-17T09:45:08Z")
> [@Neurotik](#): > > What’s odd about Jason Taylor, Ray Lewis and Shaun Alexander? Maybe you’re still in shock from having your butts kicked around the block by France. Keeping that in mind, maybe we don’t need those guys. We could probably teach some 12 year old girls the rules and have them go out there knock the English team around. Those names are fine - but the other ones? Mad as a box of frogs. You are of course aware that you’re not allowed to wear a suit of armour when you play rugby? In any case our football spectators could wipe the floor with that lot. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-uk-officially-recognize-usas-independence-how-is-usa-still-a-uk-colony/290140.md?page=2)