It's been a while, but I remember that Washington was really serving the wealthy Colonial landowners of the time. They wanted the territory that both Britain and France had agreed to leave undecided, as to which nation owned it. Washington went out and surveyed the land for them. That was how he made his living. He worked for property speculators.

At the same time, he really wanted to become a British Officer, but was refused (was he ever really one?). I remember that he set up his own militia and talked his employers into donating funds. The men he signed up, as can be expected, were not exactly any employers first pick. But he hoped his militia would convince the British to make him an officer.

Anyway, it's no surprise that Washington band of idiot militia men would open fire on the French sleeping in their tents. So Britain and French had their hands forced politically and had to go to war, the war, as you explain, Britain expected the colonist to help pay for.

Washington, I believe, became a wise man in the end. In the beginning, however, he started a civil war, as you point out, for which the dead Americans have been conveniently forgotten.

Great read as always!!!! I didn't know America went into an economic slump after the war, but makes perfect sense and your analysis is super fascinating!