[Jo Freddie]

Blackbeard and Ben Franklin deserve equal billing for founding democracy in the United States and New World.

Pirates practised the same egalitarian principles as the Founding Fathers and displayed pioneering spirit in exploring new territory and meeting the native peoples.

Hollywood really has given Pirates a bum rap with its image of bloodthirsty, one-eyed, peg-legged men who bury treasure and force people to walk the plank, We owe them a little more respect.

Like the American revolutionaries, pirates developed three branches of government with checks and balances. The ship captain was elected, just as the U.S. president; the pirate assembly was comparable to Congress; and the quartermaster resembled a judge in settling shipmate disputes and preventing the captain from overstepping his authority.

Colonists and pirates also were alike in emphasizing written laws, democratic representation and due process. All crew members were allowed to vote, ship charters had to be signed by every man on board, and anyone who lost an eye or a leg was compensated financially.

These ideals grew out of both groups’ frustration at being mistreated by their leaders; the British forced the colonists to quarter troops and pay taxes, and captains on merchant ships beat their shipmen, starved them and paid less than promised.

It’s no wonder that many sailors seized the opportunity to jump ship and search for a better way of life, namely piracy, which offered better food, shorter work shifts and the power of the crew in decision-making.

During the 17th and 18th centuries as these Brethren of the Sea sailed the world’s waterways, plundering hundreds of millions of dollars worth of gold, silver and other merchandise, shaping the modern world in the process.

Pirates mapped new territory, expanded trade routes, discovered good ports and opened doors with the native peoples. They really helped European nations explore the Americas before Europeans could afford to explore them on their own.

By selling stolen silks, satins, spices and other merchandise in ports and spending their booty in the colonies, pirates created an economic boom, helping struggling settlements and making Port Royale in Jamaica and Charleston, S.C., huge mercantile centres. They didn’t bury their treasure, they spent it, helping colonies survive that couldn’t get the money and supplies they needed from Europe.

Without the infusion of money into the New World from piracy, it is possible that Britain and France may not have been able to catch up with Spain.

Had it not been for pirates, Britain might have had trouble holding onto the American colonies, Pirates decimated the Spanish so badly that Spain finally had to give up some of its American empire just to get pirating to stop.

Native Americans and black slaves oppressed by the Spanish in the Caribbean gave pirates inside information on where to dock ships and find supplies. Slaves fleeing plantations were welcomed on pirate ships, where they shared an equal voice with white sailors.

[James Dewitt]

Do you often re write history? Pirates where thieves plain and simple.

1 Corinthians 6:10

Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.



Do wish to take credit for harboring run away slaves?
Leviticus 25:44-46

Both thy bondmen, and thy bondmaids, which thou shalt have, shall be of the heathen that are round about you; of them shall ye buy bondmen and bondmaids.Moreover of the children of the strangers that do sojourn among you, of them shall ye buy, and of their families that are with you, which they begat in your land: and they shall be your possession.And ye shall take them as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit them for a possession; they shall be your bondmen for ever: but over your brethren the children of Israel, ye shall not rule one over another with rigour.

[Jo Freddie]

Originally Posted by James Dewitt

Do you often re write history? Pirates where thieves plain and simple.

1 Corinthians 6:10

Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.



Do wish to take credit for harboring run away slaves?
Leviticus 25:44-46

Both thy bondmen, and thy bondmaids, which thou shalt have, shall be of the heathen that are round about you; of them shall ye buy bondmen and bondmaids.Moreover of the children of the strangers that do sojourn among you, of them shall ye buy, and of their families that are with you, which they begat in your land: and they shall be your possession.And ye shall take them as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit them for a possession; they shall be your bondmen for ever: but over your brethren the children of Israel, ye shall not rule one over another with rigour.

Quotes from your do not change the fact that if it had not been for the Pirates your national language today would in all likelihood be Spanish, and the Cat-o-licks would be in charge.

Is not preventing such an outcome something you should feel grateful for?

[James Dewitt]

Columbus was a dago. He sailed the ships for the inept Spaniards.

Now on to bigger things as long as you are rewriting history, you might as well lay claim to inventing Pasta,1 billion slopes wont mind to much.
Say I bet the Wright brothers where Pirates too. Was Henery Foed a piriate, maybe Thomas Jefferson. Arr, we The Pirates.

[Jo Freddie]

Originally Posted by James Dewitt

Now on to bigger things as long as you are rewriting history

Oh I am not rewriting history, just filling in some of the gaps.

The information in my original post was gleaned from travel narratives, court hearings, sermons delivered at pirate hangings and first hand accounts.

[James Dewitt]

Originally Posted by Jo Freddie

Oh I am not rewriting history, just filling in some of the gaps.

The information in my original post was gleaned from travel narratives, court hearings, sermons delivered at pirate hangings and first hand accounts.

So you want us to believe a pirate about pirates who are known for stealing, raping, pillaging and other assorted atrocities against man kind and a number of small farm animals.