Quote Originally Posted by Expat View Post
As far as US history is concerned, I can make a case for this.

As Diana suggested in a now-defunct predecessor of the workshop, Thomas Jefferson was EII rather than LII. His vision of the United States was of a loose union of Delta-ish societies and economies like his own Virginia. However, the vision of the Gammas George Washington (ESI) and Alexander Hamilton (LIE) prevailed. Rather than a loose Delta governmental structure, the US became a more Gamma structure, adapted from the still-Beta-ish British constitutional monarchy of the time (which was actually Beta/Gamma).

Ironically, however, it was left to the EII Abraham Lincoln to totally eliminate the idea of a Delta US, with the Civil War - which, I would argue, could be seen as a Gamma/Delta conflict.

That is not to say that Delta was typically pro-slavery. I think they saw slavery as part of the + - as a tool to keep the existing economic prosperity. Slaves were not included in the +. They "did not count". Pretty much like they did not count for the slave-owner, EII Thomas Jefferson when he wrote about the "self-evident truths".
I was going to say that the model you mentioned above could actually be applied to the US progression of civilisation. Initially, in the sixteenth/seventeenth century, you had a bunch of native Delta/Alpha tribes. Meanwhile, in Europe, people were toying with new ideas in the Renaissance after a shitty Middle Ages-worth of religious crap being thrust upon the people, which is perhaps characterised by Alpha. By the time of the colonies, the Beta monarchy of Britain reigned in the US. When they got chucked out by the Yanks in the eighteenth century, a new age began; Gammas from all over Europe travelled to America to seek fortunes and build financial empires. Now, you have this small Delta town mentality all across the continent.

Quote Originally Posted by Expat View Post
On mercantilism, what I mean is this. It is obviously related to , and superficially to , so it could appear to be a Gamma thing. But I think it's more related to +, so Beta; at least it's a Beta/Gamma transition thingy.
Arguably, some of the early mercantilists (I'm talking 16th/17th century) of Britain were Gamma. People like Walter Raleigh were privateers who had no Beta code or way of life; they were practically detached from the monarchy, while still half-supporting them.