>>213682699
This is the stupid type of shit you would learn in middle school history; literally the "Abraham Lincoln cut down a cherry tree" tier bullshit they would feed you in 8th grade public education.
Washington was autistic about winning the war the "correct" way, with all the usual formalities, because he knew if he could win in that manner, it would "legitimize" his victory with both the crown, AND the rest of the world. He was a bit afraid that if he delved into using guerilla tactics, then the british would start employing more and more asymmetrical warfare style methods too, like arming slave rebellions, pitting the southern laborers against the northern middle/upper class, or simply deciding "fuck it" and escalating the entire thing by sending over a fuckton of redcoats (we call them "regulars" now) and ships and being like "Fuck you, you really thought just because you won the war meant it we weren't coming back? We're the British empire, we weren't reaaally trying back then, but now we're pissed"
By winning the war while observing all the stiff british formalities, it forced the crown to act under the impetus that Washington won "fair and square" (don't ask my why the crown bothered to acknowledge that shit, I don't fucking know; my guess is that since the war was expensive as hell, they were like "I don't want to go through with that again, especially with France still being a threat to us", and also because it was embarrassing and they legitimately thought that if Washington could win once, there was an actual serious chance he could beat them a second time, which would be even more embarrassing if you puffed your chest after getting knocked out, just to get sat the fuck down again; and if that truly did happen, their reputation would take a steep dive and it would inspire other colonies to do something similar)
