When Did Britain and America Stop Hating Each Other?

From mortal enemies to total besties forever

My favorite podcast right now, without question, is the History of Philosophy: Without Any Gaps. In it, the host Peter Adamson painstakingly archives the entire lifespan of philosophical ideas; from Heraclitus to Aristotle and onto lesser-known figures like Diogenes the Cynic and Al-Ghazālī, one of the most prominent Islamic philosophers.

Adamson’s attention to detail inspired me to take a deeper look into one of my most beloved subjects, U.S. history, and find out what I had missed. Besides finding out that the Capital building was built by slaves (yeah, mind blown), I quickly found myself questioning one of the earliest epochs in U.S. history: the Revolutionary War.

Videlicet, I had one question on my mind:

How the hell did we become such great pals with Great Britain after humiliating them on the global stage?

It’s like your child defying you, dumping all your tea into the Boston Harbor, beating you up, and then demanding that you respect them as superior. I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t be happy.

History is full of great stories, and the story of how the United States…