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Reading about another war

Many of the passages of David McCullough's 1776 have been very moving and informative. I didn't know Americans in 1776 had a higher standard of living than any people in the world.

"The Hessian and British troops alike were astonished to find Americans blessed with such abundance-substantial farmhouses and fine furnishings. "In all the fields the finest fruit is to be found," Lieutenant von Bardeleben wrote after taking a walk on his own, away from the path of destruction. "The peach and apple trees are especially numerous .... The houses, in part, are made only of wood and the furnishing in them are excellent. Comfort, beauty, and cleanliness are readily apparent."

To many of the English, such affluence as they saw on Long Island was proof that America had indeed grown rich at the expense of Great Britain.

In fact, the Americans of 1776 enjoyed a higher standard of living than any people in the world. Their material wealth was considerably less than it would become in time, still it was a great deal more than others had elsewhere. How people with so much, living on their own land, would ever choose to rebel against the ruler God had put over them and thereby bring down such devastation upon themselves was for the invaders incomprehensible." 1776, p. 158

I googled "Lieutenant von Bardeleben" and found out that many of the diaries and letters of the German mercenaries fighting with the English have been translated.

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