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Benedict Arnold 1054 Views
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Description:
Hey man, where’s your loyalty at? This guy’s name is now synonymous with betrayal. Which is a shame, because it used to be synonymous with a really delicious plate of eggs.
Transcript
- 00:08
Benedict Arnold: The man, the myth... the traitor.
- 00:14
For someone's name to be synonymous with betrayal...
- 00:17
...Benedict Arnold must have done something pretty bad.
- 00:22
Chances are, he didn't just blab to everyone about Washington's secret Maxim subscription.
- 00:28
So who was this infamous traitor, and how did he get a reputation for such treachery?
Full Transcript
- 00:34
For a while, Arnold was your typical, fed-up American colonist.
- 00:39
He was a tradesman and member of the Sons of Liberty...
- 00:42
...who defied the Sugar Act and the Stamp Act by continuing to trade without
- 00:46
paying taxes to the monarchy.
- 00:50
He was lucky the IRS hadn't been established yet.
- 00:52
They probably would have paid him a friendly little "visit."
- 00:56
Arnold had made it clear he was pretty "anti-monarchy" in the past.
- 01:00
He had retaliated along with others in response to the Boston Massacre...
- 01:04
...and had fought as a General in Washington's Continental Army.
- 01:09
He sounds like the last guy in the world who would turn snitch...
- 01:14
...but guess it goes to show you can never really know a person.
- 01:18
Arnold felt passed over for a number of military campaigns and promotions.
- 01:22
Um... bitter much?
- 01:27
While he was a decorated officer...
- 01:32
...he still felt he wasn't getting the respect he deserved.
- 01:37
This guy was super-sensitive. He would have been a rich man if he had a nickel for every
- 01:41
time that someone "hurt his feelings."
- 01:46
Anyway, Arnold took his first steps toward the Dark Side...
- 01:52
... when he married Peggy Shippen...
- 01:53
...who was the daughter of a well-known loyalist.
- 01:58
The loyalists were totally pro-England.
- 02:02
We're talking about some real crumpet-lovers here.
- 02:06
With the business in the toilet...
- 02:09
...and his problems with Washington and the administration...
- 02:13
Arnold decided he didn't have anything to lose and became an informer!
- 02:20
And now he had a wife who could...
- 02:21
...hook him up with the right people.
- 02:23
Specifically, a British officer who would take Arnold's information and relay it to
- 02:27
the muckety-mucks in the British army. However, since Arnold was the kind of guy
- 02:31
who felt the whole world owed him something...
- 02:33
...it may not surprise you to learn that he had his problems with the British as well.
- 02:37
He felt they weren't paying him enough for the information...
- 02:40
...and he made persistent threats to start zipping his lip.
- 02:43
But the British needed him. So they caved to his demands.
- 02:50
Arnold was appointed at West Point,
- 02:53
and he told the British that he would surrender to them without a fight.
- 02:57
Well, at least no one would get any blood on their clean, white shirts.
- 03:03
He also continued to feed the British more information about Washington's movements...
- 03:11
...and took steps to move his personal assets to a London account,
- 03:16
as well as to sell his house.
- 03:20
However, before Arnold's scheme could be carried out...
- 03:23
Andre, a fellow British spy, was captured.
- 03:27
Suddenly, all the documents that detailed
- 03:29
Arnold's involvement fell into American hands.
- 03:34
Once Washington caught wind of the situation...
- 03:37
...Arnold was in deep, deep doo-doo. Arnold had found out that Andre had been arrested.
- 03:46
And since the jig was up, he made a run for it.
- 03:50
Unable to rejoin his fellow countrymen, Arnold took up a position in the British Army.
- 03:57
He got paid peanuts compared to what he was making as an informant...
- 04:00
...and didn't make a ton of friends on the British side either.
- 04:05
He was basically an outcast for the rest of his days.
- 04:08
Arnold died with a boatload of debt...
- 04:11
...and his funeral would be conducted without military honors.
- 04:19
The moral of the story?
- 04:20
Don't be a rat.
- 04:21
Because when the cheese runs out...
- 04:23
You're going to find yourself trapped.
- 04:26
We think we'll call him "Arnold"...
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