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Bill Mick

And it is hour 3 of a Tuesday morning, the 22nd of July, 2025. Renewal by Anderson, bringing you the hour headline at Bill Mcdot com with links to Dave Bowman and all his work since he’s bringing us the entirety of this hour, the coin of the realm is the headline. Click on that you’ll find links to Dave Bowman’s podcast and other work, and if you want to follow us on Instagram, you can do it at WMB Radio. Dave, it’s our Liberty 2. 50 series where we’re marching. 3rd. The 250th anniversary of the founding of this country and it’s it’s a long path we’re taking, but it’s interesting to get there. What do you have on tap today?

Dave Bowman

By the middle of the 18th century, that’s the 1700s for those. Of you that may not know that. Britain is at the height of its global power so. You know the the. Sun never sets on the British Empire kind. Thing. There’s a small little. Manuscript that begins making waves. In political circles in London. It’s not a proclamation. It’s not an act of Parliament. It wasn’t even published publicly at first. Later it would be. It’s a private meditation pinned by a man by the name of Henry St. John. Who is Viscount Bolingbrook? Don’t ask me to go through all the. English titles and stuff.

Bill Mick

It’s.

Dave Bowman

It’s boring and it’s excessive, but there you go. But Henry St. John in 1738 writes this. Political theory. That bores A lofty, almost romantic title. The idea of a patriot king. Now what he offers is no ordinary theory of what a king should be. It’s his. In his mind. It’s the cure for everything. That’s. Making Britain sick, political corruption, political factions. Petty squabbles. The Patriot King, he argues. Will be a monarch who is above all of that, a ruler who doesn’t stand with the Whigs or the Tories, not with the the merchants, the profiteers, but with the people themselves. He’s disinterested. This king would be disinterested in personal gain, disinclined to feed factional fires. Devoted entirely to the moral, constitutional good of the nation, and would reign as the People’s King, not as Parliament’s pal. Now when we Fast forward to where we are in 1775 after the Battles of Lexington and Concord. That idea, although it’s nearly 4 decades old at this point. Is still flickering in the minds of men in Philadelphia. The Second Continental Congress has gathered on May 10. And but not every man there is ready to declare independence. John Dickinson is a very cautious Pennsylvanian. He’s a lawyer. He has a Patriot’s heart. But he still believes in the possibility of reconciliation. And the gamble with this reconciliation. Is that the real problem? And this is what I’ve told you? Before, isn’t the king? King George really isn’t the problem. The problem is ministers in Parliament who have misled. And so this idea of the Patriot King appeals to Dickinson and others. And they are going to appeal to King George the third. To be a patriot king. The problem, of course, is that King George the third already thinks of himself as a patriot king. Which is one of my favorite maxim. As. Two people can read exactly the same words on. A page. And come to polar opposite conclusions as to. What it means? To Dickinson, it means that the king will solve this problem. To King George, you will mean.

Bill Mick

I can’t. And we pick it up in 60 seconds here on WMB. So, David, what I’m picking up from what you’re saying is we have a king here who feels there are constraints on. Him that he cannot do anything about this.

Speaker

Well.

Dave Bowman

Well, in a way. Within the concept of the Patriot King. He already sees. Himself as a patriot king, the question is. Does what, George the third see? Is it the same thing as what John Dickinson sees? This whole idea of a patriot king. Requires that the Patriot king be above politics. He be above the factions. This idea, he’s a ruler who rules for the people, not for party or specific cabal. It’s not unlike an argument that we make about the president. The President should be above these things. He shouldn’t be. Part of them. But. But that’s not reality. Bolingbrook’s strongest argument is that political parties are destructive now, where have we heard that before? Ohh yeah, George Washington said basically the same thing.

Speaker

Hmm.

Dave Bowman

The politics are going to divide the nation. They’re going to weaken the monarchy in this case. They’re going to foster corruption. Political parties are notorious for fostering corruption. It’s an idea. That is a very broad monarchist Republican philosophy. And he believes that the monarchy can serve liberty.

Speaker

If.

Dave Bowman

The King can can govern disinterestedly and morally. Now, this idea of course is very attractive in the idea of the Enlightenment philosophy, the the the readings that people like Dickinson have done. And we need to understand that in the wake of Lexington and Concord. The Congress begins to meet on May the 10th, 1775. They don’t really know exactly what to do. 12 of the 13 colonies have showed up. Georgia has not. And they are debating this. There are some in Congress, particularly in the northeast, John Adams. Who are absolutely adamant. It is time to declare independence. We are independent. And there are, but there are an almost equal number in in this Congress who aren’t sure or are who are. Wishing for reconciliation, and indeed even the adamses of Congress, continue to use language that sounds like well. We love our king. We’re happy with this king. It’s Parliament that’s the problem. If the king would. Just. Overrule Parliament things would be great and we could. Be back to normal. And so the the debate in Congress becomes kind of stifled. What do we do? Well, we need to do something. And so they’re. Going to take. A few actions along the way. But Dickinson is going to really. Push for this idea of reconciliation. And he hits upon the idea of appealing directly to King George the third. Let’s bypass parliament. Let’s let’s. I mean, we’re already pretty much ignoring Parliament anyway. Let’s just ignore them and send a petition directly to the king. Now, one of the realities of the monarchy at that point in England was that the king would annually. Or at least biannual. Receive petitions. He would sit on the throne at Saint James and people would come and give him petitions and he would read them normally. He has already read them and so he already has a response. You know, in, in, in place and it’s it’s a really funky formality thing and in fact in many cases. Well, some of these petitions are whispered to him by women at the. So that they don’t have to be publicly aired so, but so he can pretend to hear them. Almost like gossip. It’s it’s a it’s a weird thing to watch happen or I didn’t watch it, obviously. But to read about. So. The king sits on his throne. He hears these petitions, but he’s had some problems with these a a few years ago, John Wilkes, the the great Libertarian leader in London. Who is now, by the way. Mayor of London is his petition really ****** the king off? And so he’s refusing to hear petitions publicly night now. The idea is we’re going to send this petition to him, he will read it and the petition is going to be very flowery and it’s going to say, oh, we love the king, we need the king to help us. We need the king to get rid of your ministers and get rid of, you know, overrule Parliament because they’re misleading you. All these ideas that Bolingbrook poured into this. Idea of a Patriot king. The problem is of course that. George the third probably never read Bolingbrook. There’s no direct evidence that he ever did. But he himself already has an idea that he is. The patriot king. He believes very firmly. That he is on the throne by the divine right of kings that God himself chose George the third to sit. On the throne. And therefore. He already is in charge of things. But under the English system of government, and this is very important to understand. These people have already. Fought a civil war, executed one king, fought another civil war, got rid of another king and brought in people you know from Hanover to be king because they don’t see it this way. They see it as the king is not. The king? He’s not unlimited. He’s not. You know, overwhelming. He is, in fact, literally the King of Parliament. Not the king, necessarily. The nation. Now, they don’t use that in language, but in functionality. Parliament is supreme. And the king is supposed to work with Parliament, guiding Parliament, helping Parliament and supporting Parliament as they rule the nation. And that is George the Third’s definition of a Patriot king. Keeping to the Constitution of the nation. Dickinson has high hopes. But George has even higher. Thoughts about what he is supposed to be?

Bill Mick

And we pick it up when we continue on Bill. Mick Live on a Tuesday morning with Dave. Does history right here on WMB? This is Dave. Does history on Bill Mick Live? Renewal by Anderson, bringing you this hour of the show as we’re taking a look at the lead up to the independence of the country. Liberty 250 is what we call it, and we’re talking about pleading to a Patriot king to. Save the colonies from what they’re enduring from Parliament and. Dave, he’s just not quite there, huh?

Dave Bowman

Oh, and it’s it’s kind of an interesting thing because you’ve got you’ve got this divided Congress. That some of them. You know, they still want to. They still see. An opportunity here to appeal directly to the king. Now. It’s it’s intriguing because from a political standpoint, from a philosophical standpoint. They should know better. But there’s this hope that you know. And we have the same. Thing politically, we. We talk all the time about what we think should be happening, but it doesn’t always match the political reality. Of what’s going on. Some people see that as a.

Bill Mick

But some of.

Dave Bowman

Negative.

Bill Mick

That’s because we don’t recognize how it all works. These folks had an idea of how everything.

Dave Bowman

Worked. They knew how. It worked and and I think so do we but. You know, we have these high. Lofty dream dreams. On May the 10th, 1775, the Second Continental Congress gets underway. That, as I said, 12 of the 13. States. Send delegates. Georgia does not. Because Georgia is. Well, it’s Georgia and much like they will do in 1788 and 1789, they’re hoping for for a better deal. They’re having problems with the Indians, and they’re hoping that the crown will send troops to help them fight that war and they figure, well, if we rebel, they won’t do that. So maybe we should just kind of stay neutral for the time being. The other 12 states meet on May the 10th, which is a Seminole Day because. As Congress gathers in Philadelphia. Benedict Arnold is leading the troops up at Fort Ticonderoga. Along with Ethan. Allen and others, and they are capturing Fort Ticonderoga. Which matters because Fort Ticonderoga is full of cannons, which they will then drag all the. Way to Boston. And used to encircle Boston and make the siege at Boston even more deadly for the British. That’s where those cannons are coming from. So as that’s happening, Congress has gathered. There is this. Kind of awkward interval. What do we do? John Dickinson is no. You know, he’s no lightweight. He’s an important person. So when he says we should be, we should be trying to reconcile. John Adams is saying. We got to, we got to get ready. We got to declare independence, we got to go to war. We gotta we got to do this. There’s this mix in Congress of what do we. Do what do we do? It’s not unlike Congress. Today, you know, dealing. Back and forth. What do we do? They decide to go ahead and say well. In the mean time, we need to. Get at least ready. One of the things they do is they put together a committee on military affairs. They put George Washington in charge of that committee. That committee recommends that we need a Continental army and of course, that Continental Army needs the commander. Guess who we pick? George Washington. There’s all kinds of stories about that we don’t have time to get on all that. On June the 15th, they assign George Washington to be the commander of all their troops and they send him on his way to Boston to take command. In the mean time before he. Can get there, of course. We have the famous Battle of Bunker Hill. Which isn’t, it’s on Breeds Hill, but you know, history is what it is. And Bunker Hill, as good as bunker, it really doesn’t.

Bill Mick

Doesn’t sound. Yes.

Dave Bowman

Bunker Hill, of course, is one of those moments in our history, but we’re not going to talk a lot about the battles. But it is one of the most. Intensive battles and in fact in the American Revolutionary War, it is the deadliest day of the American Revolutionary War. We will lose Doctor Joseph Warren in this battle. We will. Yeah, that’s weird. Anyway, not sure where we froze, but we we lose. Doctor Warren. The Battle of Bunker Hill is a British victory. But it’s what was known as a puric victory. And it’s this battle of Bunker Hill that’s really going to drive things in London in a few weeks when they learn about it. Remember, this is 17. Even. 5 So there’s no instant communication. It’s going to be a minimum of six weeks before the king. And London find out about. But it is a a very intense battle. And the only reason we lose this battle we being Americans is because we run out of ammunition, which of course is going to be one of the biggest problems that plagues us during this. Whole thing. This battle causes Dickinson to double down. He wants to really, really. He knows the word of this battle is going to get the Korean king. And so he’s he’s very quick and and on July 5th, he drafts what is known as the Olive Branch petition. We’re going to extend an olive branch. To the king. And we’re really going to appeal to this Patriot king and this olive branch petition this olive branch petition is full of flowery language about how much we, the colonials, love King George. We adore King George. We we want to be King George’s subjects because King George was chosen by God to rule us, and we’re good Englishmen. And it’s full of this idea. And then it gets to the heart of the matter bill, it says. We want the king to dismiss all your ministers that are advising you to attack.

Speaker

Yes.

Dave Bowman

And we want you to ignore Parliament and their their laws restricting us the the coercive acts and the the Intolerable Acts and those kinds of things. Please, Mr. King, please be a Patriot king and rule over us like Bolingbrook would have called for as a Patriot king. This is approved on July 5th, which is of course two 2 1/2 weeks after the Battle of Bunker.

Speaker

No.

Dave Bowman

So the idea here is if we can put. This on a ship. Maybe this will get there. You don’t want it to get there before the news of Bunker Hill, because then it looks like we’re appealing and. Then fighting about. But maybe it looks like we were attacked and so we were just defending ourselves. You kind of want them to. Get. There roughly the same time. Of course, they doubt the news of Bunker Hill gets to the king. First. He receives that word on August 10th, thereabouts. It appears in the the London papers right around the August 12th, and it’s shortly thereafter that the olive branch petition arrived. And the idea here is.

Bill Mick

You know.

Dave Bowman

Please, Mr. King, we want your magnanimity. We’re going. To be loyal. To you, we want peace. Our breasts retain too tender regard for you to have further bloodshed. Please. Fire your ministers. Override parliament. The problem there is that the king himself, as a patriot, knows that he can’t do this because if he does, do that. He’s going to find himself back in Germany. And being replaced on the throne by a parliament that’s already cut one King’s head off for doing that and fired another one.

Bill Mick

Not a good spot to be in. It would.

Dave Bowman

Seem no. Plus, he still believes that God told him to do this and he’s not putting up with any more of that.

Bill Mick

We’ll see how it wraps up when we continue. We also take your calls as you, we consider Liberty 250 today on Bill McLaughlin. Yeah. We let you get in with Dave and this Dave does history. As we look at the Patriot King, when you call us and don’t forget. Podcast will be available for you shortly after the show, both for the show and the Florida Roundtable right there at the top of the page at billmick.com. So I I guess the colonies are sending a mixed message here, Dave, which is. We want to fight. Don’t hurt us. Oh, there you. Are I didn’t have you on. Thank you.

Dave Bowman

It’s a totally missed mixed message. It’s on the one hand, King George the third. We love you. We adore you. We want to be your your subjects. We just don’t like those Parliament people. We don’t like those ministers. That you have appointed that. That we think are misguiding you. And on the other hand, if you send your troops after us again, we’re going to send another 250 of them home and body bags and we’re going to take over Quebec and Montreal and we’re we’re going to, we’re going to mess up your empire here pretty soon. There are people in Parliament who, by the way. Fully support what the Americans are doing. They see King George, the Whig Party there sees King George as very tyrannical as well. They they they accuse him of being just like Charles the first, the Stuart Charles the second Stuart tyranny. This idea that the king is going to override Parliament, which is impossible, George, the third can’t do that. He can’t even. He can’t even imagine that because the idea here in England and what we should have understood. Was that? The king is actually the King of Parliament. Yes, he’s the monarch of the King of Great Britain, Ireland, all that stuff. But but reality is he is just really the leader of Parliament. And he works with for and about Parliament. He is in Georgia’s own words here. He is simply defending Parliament’s rights. In the colonies. And so he actually writes a letter at this point that says we should have 0 opposition in the next Parliament because I’m just defending your rights to maintain your authority. Over the colonies, the. Problem he has is if he accepts this petition. He acknowledges the the legitimacy of. The Second Continental Congress. And he can’t do that. Because if he does, then now all of a sudden he’s got a Congress and he’s got a parliament. Well. Who’s in charge? In his view, Parliament is, if I accept this petition. I’m saying that they’re. Equal to Parliament, at least in America. And in his view, they’re not. And so he will not receive the petition. He will never, never read it officially. He probably has it. Read to him in private. The fact is that they call for him to fire his ministers and to ignore Parliament, which is unthinkable again, even the people who support America. In Parliament, if he had done that probably would have accused him of being, you know, a Stewart tyrannis and they would have either cut his head off or sent him back to to Hanover. On August the 23rd, 1775, King George the third will issue a proclamation of rebellion. He will declare the American colonies in rebellion. He goes beyond this. He literally has the same problem that Abraham Lincoln is going to have in 1861. It’s a rebellion. But he sort of treats it. Like a foreign war. And so. There’s a call to to to send the Navy. To embargo the American coastline to to put us all you know to, to, to, to close down our ports and stuff like that and things that you would do against a foreign nation but not necessarily are an internal rebellion. But he specifically says we have to treat this. Like it’s a foreign war. He is resistive, however, of calling up troops. He thinks he has enough troops already to handle this, although he does hire. The hessians? What we’re going to generally call the Hessians German troops that are professional. He immediately begins to lease those. The idea being that they will come over. And take over the British. Posts in in the Mediterranean freeing up British troops to go do that. But remember, he’s the King of Hanover. So who gets paid? For those troops, the King of Hanover. Well, that that’s George the third, so.

Bill Mick

There you go.

Dave Bowman

He’s making money on the deal, even though he claims he’s not. Charlie.

Bill Mick

More like a modern politician than we might have.

Dave Bowman

Thought they’re a little bit, yeah. John Adams, when they when they learn of this declaration proclamation of rebellion, John Adams is thrilled. He says well then, regardless of anything else. We’re already independent. They’re already treating us as a foreign nation. He’s declared our independence force. We don’t need to do it now. He’s treating us as a foreign enemy. Everything is great. John Dickinson, of course, is. Badly shaken. He really had high hopes. That the Patriot King would step up and. Put an end to all of this. But it’s clear now from the King’s actions what the king has said. What the. King has done. That there is no peaceful resolution to this. That’s in any way, shape or form possible. The only thing that’s going to settle this King George the third himself, will say this. Is it’s going to come to blows. It already has. But now it’s definitive. Now it is in fact a war. Between the 13 American colonies. And the King of England. It’s at this point that the that the Americans realize that the Patriot king. Was a ghost. It was. Bolingbrook’s ideas were great, but. They’re not valid. The Olive branch petition have been written in the shadow of muskets, blood. It wasn’t a demand, but it was a prayer. A final appeal to a king who in the colonial colonialist minds. Still might rise up to be the man that Bolingbrook could envision. A Patriot king, a healer? A moral compass. But that was never going to happen. George the third couldn’t rise above politics because. He was a politician. He digs in, he doesn’t answer the petition with words. He answers it with regiments, mercenaries. And declaration of rebellion. And in doing so, he breaks the final thread that ties the colonies to a monarchy as a source of justice. Bolingbrook had dreamed of a king who would save the nation. From itself, and in many ways. This rebellion, this war. Is going to hurt England. Far more than than just losing the colony. With the colonies, with the colonialists will discover the Americans will discover. And by the way. This is the era when that term becomes the general usage for us Americans. King George the third refers to us as Americans. Not Canadians, not Caribbean. We are the Americans. The colonialists discover to their sorrow and then to their resolve, and Dickinson himself will become one of the leading patriots. Is that they’re going to have to save themselves. The Patriot King was an idea. But America would choose liberty.

Bill Mick

And we pick it up in 60 seconds. You want in. Now’s the time, 321-768-1240. Dave, as as we look at this that I didn’t realize how the Monica Americans got bestowed upon us. So basically. Adams was right. We don’t have to declare this. They’ve already said it for us. Here we are. Let’s go.

Dave Bowman

You know, I think of all the people in history that I might like to go back and meet if I could. If time travel was a thing, I think John Adams would be at the top of that list. He certainly seems to be one of the most sharp minds out there. Yeah, he’s absolutely. He’s ecstatic when when they get the word of the proclamation of rebellion. He’s just thrilled he’s. Well, it’s done. We’re an independent nation now. Now the others don’t see it necessarily that. Way. But it does shift the focal point, it does change. The mind of Americans from we’re upset with Parliament, we’re arguing with Parliament. We should be able to govern ourselves, not Parliament. It changes the whole thing.

Speaker

Yep.

Dave Bowman

Now the focal point is George the third. He is the tyrant. He is the guy. I. Who arguably and there are many English historians who make this. Why would you call him a tyrant? He didn’t do anything tyrannical. In fact, he avoided doing the things that would have been considered Stewart tyranny. But to us, because he would not help us because he would not be that Patriot King that we want.

Speaker

Wanted.

Dave Bowman

He becomes the focal point. Of all of our our vitriol, he becomes.

Bill Mick

The did the English perceive him as having failed in this war, getting started then? Or was he the guy who?

Dave Bowman

No. Did what he should have done. No. There are most of England sees this as necessary. They see this as, again, Parliament is supreme. Parliament has the right to rule and the Americans are telling us no who who do they think they are? What’s next, Canada or India or whoever? What if the East India Tea Company decides that they’re in charge, you know, and it’s the the problem is that this is going to set some some dangerous. Presidents. And in the British mind, the English mind, the king has handled this exactly as he’s required to according to their constitution. Could he have gone outside of? That he could have. But again. We’re talking about a nation that has already deposed 2 kings, cutting one of their heads off and. Explained to these kings that you’re here because we chose you, not the other way.

Bill Mick

Around.

Dave Bowman

You might believe in this. Divine rule of. Of kings with God himself chose you but. We see it differently. We chose. You, not God, so. Parliamo. That really sees itself as supreme. And even George, the third says. I’m fighting for Parliament’s rights, not mine. So Parliament should stop fighting me on stuff. There shouldn’t be any of this wig opposition because, but for us, for the Americans, George the third is. Now the focal. Point he is now. The hated symbol. Of of of British tyranny. And we are going to make our complaints. Very loudly and very well known.

Bill Mick

So we’re already compiling our list of grievances. We’re getting ready to put this all together.

Dave Bowman

We’re going to start putting it together the Second Continental Congress now that they’ve been told they’re in rebellion, they got nothing better to do than make sure that we dot all the T’s or cross all the T’s and dot all the.

Bill Mick

Nice to know where you stand. Where we looking next week, Dave.

Dave Bowman

Next week, we’re going to go. Through that winter of discontent. When the Sunshine Patriots show up but the time is now. Thomas Paine is going to lead us down that idea. Of common sense.

Bill Mick

Very good. And we will look at it then. Thank you, Dave Bowman, appreciate that. Enjoyed having you all day.

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