"In a New Documentary, One of Britain’s Most Famous" Topic

… Historians Reframes the American Revolution as a ‘Messy Divorce'

"In the United States, the story of the American Revolution is often framed as a triumphant fight for independence. But the colonists' British counterparts had a different perspective. Some agreed with the Americans that the Thirteen Colonies shouldn't be taxed without representation. Others thought the colonists shouldn't question how George III chose to rule over his subjects. Still others were simply anxious about the prospect of war and its hardships.

As the U.S. prepares to celebrate the 250th anniversary of its founding on July 4, 1776, a new PBS documentary hosted by the British historian Lucy Worsley spotlights individuals on the other side of the Revolution, from the king and his fellow elites to British merchants and the working class. "Lucy Worsley Investigates: The American Revolution" also examines the events that sparked the Revolution and its aftershocks, with an emphasis on the emotional fallout of this historic rupture…"

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Armand

I'll bite.

Calling it a "perfect union that went wrong" presupposes that it was a "union" in the first place. Part of the problem with the Anglo-Colonial relationship was that they didn't define what that relationship was at the outset. Then over the years different groups decided to define and redefine the relationship differently, quite often based on what was in their best interests at the time. So rather than a union I'd say it was more of an ill defined association.

Marriage comes with some fairly well defined rules. That makes it a poor analogy for the Anglo-Colonial relationship. A better analogy would be a couple that sort of but haven't quite made it official that they are living together.