UNIT II AMERICAN REVOLUTION

Causes1. Imperial2. Constitutional3. Social4. Ideological

Salutary Neglect versus the Demands of Empire

Imperial Cause a. Treaty of Paris 1763 Britain now a world wide empire lots of financial and administrative headachesSo parliament decides American colonies should help pay for costs and limit western expansion which would only bring more costs and headaches. Pontiac Uprising in Ohio as an example

I. Proclamation Line of 1763 prohibit settlement beyond the Appalachian Mts. II. New Taxes: Sugar Act

Stamp Act Townsend Act

British ministers George Grenville and Charles Townsend never quite get why colonists upset …- STAMP CONGRESS and boycotts were ways of asserting American rights as BRITISH citizens

- To Parliament - the colonists were ungrateful cads!

b. Constitutional - by the mid 18th century the colonies had matured

- colonial assemblies seen as seats of authority, not the House of Parliament in distant London - Parliament after 1763 did not accept these colonial assemblies as legitimate authorityTherefore any action taken by Parliament was seen in America as tyrannical!

James Otis (1764) “No taxation without representation”

c. Social1. by 1770 America had vital urban and agricultural centers

NYC, Boston, Philadelphia, Charleston thriving cities2. gave birth to world respected figures: Jefferson and Franklin

We felt as equals to British society 3. but also had mature social problems: crime and poverty and disease in Boston: 10% homeless

+50% of young white males jobless social mobility restricted by the Proclamation Line of 1763 British Policy and officials blamed for these conditionsColonials take frustration out on British officials and institutions and their supporters – Tories Sam Adams organizes gangs of young men into The Sons of LibertyClass War is hinted at by some. Demand for a new social and economic order Gangs of thugs roam the streets of major cities

d. Ideological: REPUBLICANISM America has an innate “maverick mentality” 1. political opposition a tradition in England

2. settlers were religious dissenters 3. settlers: Scot/Irish = stubborn/”do their own thing” types

which leads to the adoption and championing of

REPUBLICANISM: a. All importance of LIBERTY b. Fear of too powerful government

c. Personal Virtue: - hard work - civic duty - modest and moral life

Rah, Rah, God … Country … Yale unofficial philosophy of all Yalies sums up the personal virtueslant to republicanism

By 1770, any British policy was seen as a “conspiracy against Liberty!”Sam Adams’ disgruntled teenagers used as terrorists against British rule: Sons of Liberty harass Tories and British officials the Liberty Tree was the hanging tree

Top 3 readings List in 1776 1. Common Sense by Thomas Paine 2. Declaration of Independence by T. Jefferson

3. The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward GibbonIllustrate how far America had gone in believing their liberty was at stake

REVOLUTIONmore than Britain versus American colonies

5 sides to the War 1. English troops (33% mercenaries from Hesse)2. Tories (Loyalists) - Americans loyal to Empire3. Neutrals ( more pro revolution) but $ to be made4. Patriots5. Tribes

First Civil War ?

3 million in colonies 20% Loyalist20% Neutrals60% Patriots

slaves aided their owner’s side many Tribes saw a independent America more a threat to their life than Britain in control – so many like the Mohawks helped the British Army

*** BUT ONLY 200,000 Americans actually took up arms and fought

American Strategy: How to take on the world’s best professional army and navy? 1. Avoid all out war and any toe to toe battling at all costs. ( It takes G-Dubbs a while to figure this one out: he and other American commanders so desperately wanted to be just like their British rivals and fight conventionally)

-2. Wear out British will to fight 1. Strong anti-war feelings in England –so exploit it 2. Huge “costs”: fighting 4,000 miles from home and along 1,000 mile front Britain forced to employ mercenaries from Germany –Hessians and train and rely on Tory militias

3. Maybe get other Euros to help: French – Dutch - Spanish

-4. Wait for the British to Screw Up … and they did! - some inept commanders, many with own agendas Generals Gage -Howe - Burgoyne -Clinton - CornwallisBattle of Saratoga 1777Battle of Yorktown 1781

PRICE OF REVOLUTION - Middle Colonies: New Jersey New York Pennsylvania Southern Colonies: Virginia North and South Carolinas

take the brunt of the battles – truly vicious and bitter “civil wars” neighbor on neighbor

DEATHS: 7,000 killed in battle 10, 000 die : wounds and disease 12, 000 die as POWs (prison hulks)

30,000 deaths = 1.1% of total population dead - only Civil War more costly in US history

LASTING EFFECTS OF THE WAR1. Belief and Commitment to Republicanism2. Leaders Emerge : Washington Jefferson Hamilton3. Loss of a significant amount of the population that might work against new nation Tories emigrate to Canada…Caribbean… Britain4. Belief in a Citizen Army and Confidence in the America Way of Life Triumphing This confidence will be necessary in many future crises.

Steps to War and Independence

ECONOMIC PROTEST VIOLENT CONFRONTATION

CALL FOR POLITICAL INDEPENDENCE

STAMP ACTSTAMP ACT CONGRESSBOYCOTTSSONS OF LIBERTY 1764 - 1770

Boston MassacreBoston Tea PartyLexington and Concord

1770-1775 1st and 2nd Continental Congresses - Committees of Correspondence - Committees for Public Safety - GW appointed military commander of Continental army - Common Sense published - “Olive Branch Petition” rejected - “the Lee Resolves” - DECLARATION of INDEPENDENCE

1775-1776It is not until July 4, 1776that the colonists stop seeing themselvesas British citizens asserting their rights and want independence

Quick Chronology of Events for the American Revolution

4-18-75 Lexington and Concord 5/75 Geo Washington appointed C-I-C of Continental Army5-10-75 Ethan Allen and the Capture of Fort Ticonderoga 6-17-75 Battle of Bunker Hill 12/1775 British presence in Boston untenable. Gage evacuates !!!!1/1776 Common Sense printed by Tom Paine4/1776 the Lee Resolves approved by Congress, after Olive Branch is rejected by King George III7/4/76 Declaration of Independence signed8/28/76 Battle of Long Island et al 12/25/76 Battle of Trenton - American Crisis by Tom Paine inspires troops and nation …9/10/77 Battle of Brandywine 10/5/77 Battle of Germantown 10/17/77 BATTLE OF SARATOGA under Gen. Horatio Gates

“Turning Point” = Ben Franklin convinces France to help12/77 GW @ Valley Forge … Slow period: few battles … actually more sea engagements7/1778 ****** Articles of Confederation ratified. The Big 13 gots government?2/79 George Rogers Clark and “Special Forces” capture Vincennes secures the west from being another possible British strategy of attack

Lexington and Concord Battle Routes April 19, 1775

the importance of the 1778-1779 period was more about personalities the Euro Trash show up:• 17 year old Marquis de Lafayette of France becomes GW closest military commander /advisor• Prussian General Baron von Steuben trains the Continental Army at Valley Forge• Poles Thad Kosciusko is the brilliant military engineer, designs West Point and other forts also Count Kaz Pulaski leads cal vary troops• French military leaders the Comte Rochambeau and his French army and the Admiral de Grasse and his French Fleet

Important American commanders emerge ( loyal to GW) Nathaniel Greene Dan Morgan Anthony Wayne Francis Morgan Mel Gibson?!

and the disloyal ones : Benedict Arnold Dan Conway Horatio Gates Charles Lee

• and America’s favorite sailor boy John Paul Jones and his ship Bonhomme Richard who had “not yet begun to fight” when he defeated the HMS Serapis.

10/79-4/80 conditions even worse - at Morristown, NJAugust 1780 American disaster at Camden, SC

British begin their Southern Strategy under CornwallisSeptember 1780 Benedict Arnold – Major Andre Conspiracy foiled

West Point is secure. Arnold flees to join Cornwallis 1780-1781 Dan Morgan/Francis Marion/Mel Gibson fight guerrilla style in South. Atrocities on both sides. American victory at King’s Mountain, SC marred by massacre of Tory troops by Morgan’s Kentucky Rednecks Jan 1781 Morgan victorious again at Battle of Cowpens – tho outnumbered March 1781 Guilford Court House is a tactical victory for Cornwallis, but he cannot sustain such victories – searches for a strategic way out of the South. So He Picks Yorktown Va. !!?? August 1781 GW sneaks away from NYC Lafayette and Rochambeau get to Virginia as well all hook up with Morgan, Wayne, and GreeneOctober 19, 1781 Cornwallis surrenders at Yorktown

1782-1783 Anti war movement, French and Spanish gains in the Caribbean, and the inability to but down the Continental Army convinces the British government to seek peace. THE TREATY OF PARIS 1783 13 States are Free. Mississippi –east is America (except FLA et al )