American Revolution

Mrs. Saunders

French and Indian WarRivalry developed in North America between England and France. French were moving west into Ohio and built Fort Duquesne at the fork in the Ohio. This rivalry led to the French and Indian War (1754-1760), which was known in Europe as the Seven Years’ War (1756-1763).

Colonel George Washington led early scout troops and was attacked by French on his mission to the Ohio, May 1754. When Washington camped overnight at Great Meadow in western Pennsylvania, his forces fired on a small party of French soldiers. Ten Frenchmen were killed. This turned out to be the first action in war.

French and Indian War

The British won the French and Indian War and drove the French out of both Canada and the territories west of the Appalachian Mountains. After this war, England took several actions that angered the American colonies and led to the American Revolution.

Effects of French and Indian War As a result of the war, England took several actions that angered the American colonists and led to the American Revolution. These included:

1. Stricter enforcement of existing British laws. (1661 to 1733 Navigational Acts)

2. Attempts to tax colonists – to pay for the war.

3. England makes efforts to control land East of the Mississippi and West of the Appalachian Mountains.

4. England attacked colonial self-government.

1661 to 1733 Navigational Acts

• Laws that regulated all colonial trade. Required all trade to be with British ships and British crew going only to British ports. The Colonist mostly ignored the Navigational Acts because they were not enforced and there was large scale corruption.

Proclamation of 1763

First, Britain issued the Proclamation of 1763, which prohibited the colonists from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains. The British hoped this proclamation would:

1. Protect the Indians who had helped the English in their war against France,

2. Reduce conflict between Indians and the American colonists,

3. Make it less expensive for the British army to protect the western region.

Proclamation of 1763

The English Prime Minister, George Grenville, also ordered British naval vessels to be stationed in American waters during peacetime in order to seize vessels suspected of smuggling; and he authorized the establishment of frontier forts manned by a peacetime army to protect settlers against Indian uprisings.

Writs of Assistance

• 1763 law that gave tax collectors from England the right to search anywhere without a warrant.

• Effort to end smuggling.

• Angered colonists because England used it for intimidation.

British ActsFurthermore, in order to win the war against France, the British government had gone greatly in debt. When the war ended in 1763, this debt amounted to L123 million and required annual interest payments of nearly L5 million. In addition, the British government had to pay the costs of the British troops, which it stationed in North America to protect the American colonists. For these two reasons Parliament, the British lawmaking body, passed a series of taxes on the American colonies.

British Acts

In 1764, Parliament passed the Sugar Act to offset part of Britain’s North American military expenses. The Sugar Act placed a customs duty or tariff on French molasses imported into the American colonies. A tariff is a tax on imported goods. Actually lowered tax on molasses, but cracked down on smuggling by making charges brought in Admiralty Court instead of colonial courts where jury was unsympathetic and punishment harsher. Colonist did not like it, but only complained.

British Acts• The Stamp Act (1765) required Americans to

purchase and use specially marked or stamped paper for newspapers, customs documents, wills, contracts, playing cards, dice, and other public legal documents. In short, the Stamp Act taxed all legal papers issued in the colonies. First time colonist organize a response by boycotts and protesting. Stamp Act congress is formed to write Declaration of Rights which is sent to King. Stamp distributors are terrorized.

“no taxation without representation”The Americans quickly opposed both of these taxes, but they particularly opposed the Stamp Act. The colonists argued that only a colony’s elected assembly could lay taxes on that colony. The phrase “no taxation without representation” became a popular slogan among Americans.

The Massachusetts General Court invited all of the colonial representative assemblies to a New York City meeting in October 1765. This masthead, which resurrected Benjamin Franklin's 1754 call for unity, was part of the call for a united front that brought delegates from nine of the colonies. The resulting Stamp Act Congress passed a series of "Declarations" arguing that Parliament had no right to tax citizens who did not have representatives in it, although it was otherwise supreme.

Protests and Boycotts

Sons of Liberty group is formed to oppose British taxation without representation. The Sons of Liberty would make sure shops keepers would not sell British goods and threatened those who did not boycott. Daughters of Liberty – gave up spinning and producing linens for Britain and arranged protests. They were the first active political women’s group. Colonial resistance to the Stamp Act mounted to such an extent that Parliament repealed (did away with) the Stamp Act.

Samuel Adams (1722-1803) was the de facto leader of Boston opposition to the Stamp Act. The son of another Hutchinson opponent, and a collector of local taxes, Adams had a widespread following among poorer districts in Boston, where he had been lenient in collecting taxes.

These supporters became the basis for the " Sons of Liberty ," a well-organized mob that on August 14, 1765, hung effigies of tax stamp distributor Andrew Oliver and Lord Bute (the king's closest friend) from the Liberty Tree and then destroyed both Oliver's home and the warehouse in which they suspected stamped paper had been stored.

British Acts1766 Declaratory Act – repeals Stamp act but declares colonies are subordinate to Britain and must follow laws.In 1767 Parliament tried once again to raise revenue (tax money) in the American colonies by passing the Townshend Acts. These laws placed duties or tariffs on glass, paper, paint, lead, and tea and sets up Board of Customs to collect tax. Board is corrupt. Colonist organize more boycotts and protests. Massachusetts legislature sends out “circular letter” to other colonies urging boycott. Parliament responded in 1770 by repealing all the Townshend duties except the tax on tea.

At approximately the same time, the Boston Massacre took place, when British troops fired on anti-British demonstrators. The Boston Massacre was a clash in 1770 between British troops and a group of Bostonians in which five colonists were killed. Paul Revere makes engraving and the incident is labeled the “Boston Massacre”. Sons of Liberty call for independence.

On March 5, the day that Parliament voted to repeal the Townshend Act, a confrontation between hecklers and a small detachment of red-coated British troops ended in gunfire that left five Bostonians dead, including African-American merchant seaman Crispus Attucks. The causes of the incident are still unclear, but the Sons of Liberty and their supporters used it to rally patriots to the American cause. John Adams, a cousin of Samuel Adams and himself a patriot leader, defended the British and helped win an acquittal for all but Captain Preston. Engraving by Paul Revere.

British ActsIn 1773, Parliament passed the Tea Act. Authorized East India Company to sell tea directly to American retailers cutting out “middle men” and smugglers. The British hoped increased tea sales in the American colonies would save this company from bankruptcy. Actually reduces the cost of tea. However, the American tea merchants and other colonial leaders believed the Tea Act was a British attempt to trick the colonists into paying the remaining Townshend duty on tea and do not like that it gave the British company a monopoly.

This action was called the Boston Tea Party. Parliament was furious at this deliberate destruction of private property and passed laws to punish the people of Boston and the colony of Massachusetts.

Boston erupted when ships carrying tea arrived and colonist did not allow them to be unloaded. As a result, on December 16, 1773 the Sons of Liberty disguised themselves as Mohawk Indians, boarded vessels of the East India Company, and threw the tea cargo into Boston Harbor.

British ActsAngered by colonial actions, Parliament in March 1774 passed a series of measures known collectively as the “Intolerable Acts.”

a. Boston Port Act – closed Boston harbor until tea was paid for by colonists.

b. Administration of Justice Act – Said British soldiers could not be tried in Massachusetts courts.

c. Massachusetts Government Act – Replaced elected council with appointees of King and gave control of town meetings to Governor.

d. Quartering Act – Ordered citizens to house Soldiers in their homes.

First Continental CongressEven before the tea Act, a group of radicals in Massachusetts and other colonies set up a Committee of Correspondence, which acted as an informal government network. Colonial leaders, who sympathized with Boston’s situation, called for delegates from all the colonies to gather in Philadelphia. In September 1774 the First Continental Congress met to discuss opposition to British policies to which all of the colonies except Georgia sent representatives. This was the first time most of the colonies had acted together.

Battles of the Revolutionary War

Resistance to British rule in the American colonies mounted, leading to war. The Revolutionary War began in April 1775, when the “Minutemen” (members of New England’s militia) fought a brief skirmish with British troops at both Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts.

The War Begins

• April 19, 1775 – British tried to take control of arms in Concord, Mass.

• Paul Revere and William Dawes rode to warn the colonists

• In Lexington, Mass., Minutemen waited for the British.

• Someone fired ? - It was called the “Shot Heard Around the World” (Emerson).

• Colonists won this first battle.

British Advantages

1. Had most powerful govt. in the world

2. Britain could finance the war – their soldiers were paid, Americans were not.

3. Britain had a trained army and officers

4. Britain had a navy to control the seas.

American Advantages

1. Americans only had to hold out to win - Britain controlled the cities, but not the countryside.

2. Fighting on own soil - Britain was far from home and it took 6 months for orders and supplies to get here.

3. War was not popular in Britain.4. Americans were more devoted.

The Battle of Bunker Hill• June 1775 near Boston.• Colonist outnumbered and outgunned, but were

winning, but ran out of ammo.• British won, but it was a morale victory for the

colonists – 50 % casualties for Britain.The British troops launched their initial assault on the Americans. Col. Prescott allegedly issued the famous order: “Don't one of you fire until you see the whites of their eyes.” Sustaining severe losses, the British retreated in confusion to the base of the hill. Gage ordered a second charge, which was similarly repulsed. During the third British assault the American troops, having exhausted their ammunition, were forced to withdraw.

2nd Continental Congress May 1775

• Started to make plans for war

• They organized the colonial army and called it the Continental Army.– The Commander and Chief was George

Washington.– His excellence in fighting was that he

avoided any situation that threatened the destruction of his army and he kept the army together when defeat seemed inevitable.

Common SenseIn January 1776 Thomas Paine published a pamphlet entitled Common Sense. In this pamphlet Paine, an English immigrant to America, challenged the rule of the American colonies by the King of England. Common Sense was read and applauded by many American colonists and contributed to a growing sentiment for independence from England. It was considered treason to read this document.

Declaration of Independence

On July 4, 1776 the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence. The final draft of this document, written by Thomas Jefferson, reflected the ideas of not only Thomas Paine but also John Locke. John Locke was a 17th century English philosopher whose ideas had influenced the American belief in self-government.

John LockeThe period known as the “Enlightenment” in Europe during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries saw the development of new ideas about the rights of people and their relationship to their rulers. John Locke was an Enlightenment philosopher whose ideas, more than any other’s, influenced the American belief in self-government. Locke wrote that:

– All people are free, equal, and have “natural rights” of life, liberty, and property that rulers cannot take away

– All original power resides in the people, and they consent to enter into a “social contract” among themselves to form a government to protect their rights. In return, the people promise to obey the laws and rules established by their government, establishing a system of “ordered liberty.”

– Government’s powers are limited to those the people have consented to give to it. Whenever government becomes a threat to the people’s natural rights, it breaks the social contract and the people have the right to alter or overthrow it.

Locke’s ideas about the sovereignty and rights of the people were radical and challenged the centuries-old practice throughout the world of dictatorial rule by kings, emperors, and tribal chieftains.

Declaration of

Independence

In the Declaration of Independence Thomas Jefferson wrote: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government….” Jefferson then went on to detail many of the grievances against the King that Paine had earlier described in Common Sense.

Patriots, Loyalist and NeutralsDespite Jefferson’s inspiring words in the Declaration of Independence, the American colonists remained divided throughout the American Revolution. Generally, colonists fell into one of three groups concerning the issue of separation from Britain. 1. First, the Patriots believed in complete independence from England.

They were influenced by the ideas of Locke and Paine and by the speeches of Virginian Patrick Henry, who once challenged the British by saying, “Give me liberty, or give me death!” The Patriots provided the troops for the American or Continental Army, which was led by another Virginian George Washington.

Patriots, Loyalist and Neutrals

2. Second, the Loyalists, also known as Tories, remained loyal to Great Britain. They held this belief, because they wanted to continue the close cultural and economic ties between Britain and the American colonies. The Tories also believed that Parliament’s taxation of the colonies was justified to pay for British troops to protect American settlers from Indian attacks. 3. The third group of Americans tried to stay as uninvolved in the Revolutionary War as possible. One can call this group the Neutrals.

Early Fighting

• Early part of war went to Britain.

• They moved through New York and into Pennsylvania.

• The Continental Army fell from 20,000 to 6,000.

• On Christmas Eve Washington and his men crossed the Delaware River and Washington wins 1st battle at Trenton, NJ.

Crossing the Delaware

• They Attacked Trenton on Christmas Day.– Caught the British off guard and drunk. – Killed 1,000 of the 1,300 soldiers and

retreated to Penn.

• This victory boosted colonial morale and many rejoined the army.

• However, Cornwallis – commander of the British – had most of the early military victories, but he never could get rid of Washington.

Washington at Trenton

• Victory in Saratoga brought the French into the war on our side.

• France paid our soldiers and sent their own.

– Spain and the Netherlands also supported the Patriots.

Battle of Saratoga 1777

Battle of Saratoga 1777

• After a major American victory over the British at the Battle of Saratoga (1777), Benjamin Franklin in 1778 successfully negotiated a Treaty of Alliance between the United States and France.

Valley Forge 1777 & 1778

• Washington barely held his army together at Valley Forge while the Brits controlled the cities.

• Here 3,000 men died during the winter.

• The Prussian Baron von Steuben taught the army discipline and how to fight.

1778-1780 Trouble for Colonists

• From 1778 on the British effort was in the South and for 3 years they never lost a battle in the Southern colonies.

• 1780 was not a good year for the Americans.– 1) 6,000 French soldiers were blockaded by

the Brits in R.I. – 2) Benedict Arnold turned traitor and tried to

turn West Point over to Brits.– 3) Continental Army was unpaid – mutinous.

1781 - Brits in Trouble

• Ireland was in rebellion to England.

• Anti-war riots broke out in London.

• Brits not holding territory they had once won in the south.

• Brits were losing naval battles to the French – lost command of the sea.

Yorktown 1781• French fleet sailed from W. Indies to

blockade the Chesapeake Bay.

• Rochambeau and Washington moved from NY South.

• Lafayette moved to Charlottesville and on to Yorktown.

• These combined forces fought Cornwallis and forced him to surrender in Oct. 1781.– The British would keep fighting the French and

Spanish before they were ready to make peace

Victory at Yorktown

WHY WE WON

• British were TIRED• The French helped (especially at

Yorktown)• George Washington was a strong leader• Guerilla Warfare

– The colonists had Sniper Tactics– Hit and Run shooting– Learned from the 1st Americans

Treaty of Paris 1783

• Spain, backed by France, did not want to see American borders expanded to threaten Spanish holdings.

• Britain wanted to give the Americans anything to drive a wedge between Spain and America. – 1) US gains independence.– 2) US gained all the land to the Miss.

Effects of Revolution

• It was a civil war as well with the poor small farmer defeating the wealthy Tories for control of the new government.

• 100,000 loyalists fled to Canada, Bermuda, and England – their land was sold to small farmers.

• There was more religious freedom.

• Right to vote still largely depended on owning land.

• Many states (Northern) gradually abolished slavery.– In the south most blacks remained slaves.

• Britain continued to arm Indians and hope they would attack colonists.

• America was now an independent nation and in desperate need of a government.