Alexis @ #62– I’m no fan of the BNP (when I was in Birmingham this summer the Muslim/BNP tension was palpable) but your example of the Paxton Boys leaves out an essential part of the story: the absence of sovereignty makes tribalism inevitable. The colonial government of Pennsylvania might speak of the “rule of law” within the confines of Philadelphia, but its sovereignty–defined in the most basic, Hobbsian sense as a monopoly on force–didn’t extend much past the Schuylkill. There is undeniable pathos in the story of the Conastogas (as there would be later with Logan and Gnadenhutten) but the 1500 civilian dead on the Alleghany frontier from the French and Indian War and Pontiac’s Rebellion should be factored in as well. The lesson of 1763 is that a government that is unable/unwilling to protect its citizens is inherently illegitimate.