The American RevolutionUnit 2: Week 5

The Revolution: A Primer

Military Conflict with UK

Unusually savage

Longest US war (until Vietnam)

Highest percent of casualties per

Population (25,000 casualties)

2.5 million total pop.

Political Conflict in US

Should the US become

independent?

How should the nation be run?

How to address other questions

brought up by the revolution

The Second Continental Congress

Every colony except

Georgia

Agree to support the war

Disagree on its purpose

John Adams, Sam Adams,

Richard Henry Lee:

INDEPENDENCE

John Dickinson:

Reconciliation

The Olive Branch Petition (July 1775)

Go back to the way things were before the intolerable acts, and there would be no war.

Rejected by K. George

Most Americans wanted a fix to the issues with GB, not independence

Minds changed during first year

British recruited Natives, Slaves, German Mercenaries. They blockaded colonial ports, rejected efforts at reconciliation.

1/3 for, 1/3 against, 1/3 neutral

Thomas Paine: Common Sense (1776)

The English Constitution is

wrong

Common Sense to break with

a political system that could

inflict brutality on its own

people

Re-enforces Enlightenment

principles

100,000 copies in a few

months

Only Bible had more in print

The Declaration of Independence

Committee appointed to draft formal DoI

John Adams, Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Roger Sherman, Robert Livingston

List of grievances against the King.

Calling him a tyrant

Social Contract

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Property

Happiness

Quartering of British troops in houses

Searches without warrants

Borrowed heavily from popular “declarations of Independence” that had been circulating around the colonies.

Thomas Paine

Enlightenment Ideas

A War for Independence

July 4, 1776: DoI

approved by congress

Colonies reorganize into

States

November 1777: Articles

of Confederation

Adopted (how to run the

country)

All states had written

constitutions by 1781

Financing the War

Congress was not technically a legal

government, so it had some “issues”

Could not legally issue taxes

States did not contribute full share asked

for

Americans could not afford to buy bonds

“Continental Currency”

Congress issued fiat currency

States issued own currency

Hyper-inflation

Ultimately: Borrowed from other nations

Finding Soldiers

First Volunteer surge and then

nothing

States: Pay bounties or use draft

to recruit men

First: Militia under control of states

Congress realizes this won’t work

Continental Army (June 1775)

George Washington

Marquis de Lafayette

Baron von Steuben

Steadiness, courage, dedication.

The War for Independence

Uk Advantages

Largest Navy

US really doesn’t have one at all…

Best-equipped Army

Massive Resources

Strong Commanders

Battle-hardened troops

US Advantages Fighting on own land

More committed to the fight

Substantial aid from abroad (1777+)

George Washington

John Paul Jones

Luke Ryan (Irish Pirate)

A New Type of War

Guerilla War

Rebels form an insurgency

How to win a war as an

insurgency in 3 easy steps

1. Keep the army together

2. Keep morale high

3. Wear down the enemy’s will

to fight

The First Phase of the War: New

England (Spring 1775-Spring 1776)

British: quelling pockets of rebellion in the area around Boston

Not taking war seriously

The Battle of Bunker Hill (See Spotlight)

March 17, 1776: British evacuate Boston for Halifax, Nova Scotia

Hundreds of Loyalists flee

February 27, 1776 Loyalist uprising in the south crushed by Patriots

Late 1775-76: Benedict Arnold and Richard Montgomery invade Canada

Montgomery killed

Spring 1776: British realize that conflict is not a local issue.

Spotlight: The Battle of Bunker Hill

(June 17,1775)

Colonel William

Prescott vs. Major

General William

Howe

Americans withdraw

from field

100 killed, 300 wounded

Ran low on ammo

Vastly outnumbered

Heavy British

casualties: 200 killed,

800 wounded

The Second Phase: The Mid-Atlantic

Region (1776-Early 1778)

British best chance to win

Summer 1776: 32,000 British

soldiers arrive in New York

(Gen. Howe)

Choice for Congress

Surrender with royal pardon

Be destroyed

Washington has 19,000 soldiers

and no Navy

Washington’s troops flee to

Pennsylvania

The Battle of Trenton

(December 25-26, 1776)

Hessian outpost

Christmas Night 1776:

crossed the Delaware

river

Occupied Trenton,

takes Princeton

Washington unable to

hold

The British Plan (1777)

Divide the colonies in two

Howe: Move from New York up to

Albany

John Burgoyne: Down from Canada

Howe abandon’s plan and captures

Philadelphia

Capital of the rebels

Hope it will bring the war to a quick

conclusion

Continental Congress fled to York,

Pennsylvania

Unsuccessful rebel attack at

Germantown October 4

Burgoyne’s Campaign

Seizes fort Ticonderoga

Loses at Oriskany and

Bennington in August.

Seize his supplies

Cut off from help, short

on materials, withdraws

to Saratoga

Horatio Gates surrounds

him, Burgoyne

surrenders October 17,

1777

The Iroquois Confederacy

Officially Neutral

Some wanted to side

with British

Mohawk, Seneca,

Cayuga followed British,

weakened the

confederacy

1778 Iroquois helped

British in raids, led to

harsh retaliation

Many Iroquois flee to

Canada

The Winter at Valley Forge (1777-1778)

2000 die

(2/3 by

disease)

Small pox

inoculatio

ns

Starvation

/Freezing

Temps.

Securing Aid from Abroad

Battle of Saratoga is Key because

afterward…

Lord North: Peace offer

Home rule within the empire if they agreed to end the war now

French: Might destroy France’s opportunity to

weaken the British

Ben Franklin: Convinces Foreign Minister Count

de Vergennes to support America

February 6, 1778: Formal recognition to the

United States. Would provide with Military assistance

War becomes an international conflict

Spain and Netherlands would get involved too.

The Final Phase: The South

Loyalist sentiments strongest in the South

The British badly overestimate

British hope slaves will rally to their cause

American forces could blend in with local population and move undetected by British

This phase mobilized and politicized large groups of the population

Civilians forced to be involved whether they liked it or not.

Support for independence greatly increased.

The Final Years in the North

Fall 1780: Benedict

Arnold conspires with

British to turn over West

Point

Was convinced war

effort was hopeless

Scheme exposed,

Arnold flees to British

British Success in the South

Sir Henry Clinton replaces Howe

December 29, 1778: Capture Savannah

Georgia

May 12, 1780: Capture Charleston, South

Carolina

Patriot forces fight guerrilla style war and are

successful but keep losing conventional

battles

Recall Horatio Gates, replace with Nathanael

Greene

Americans start to see success

Greene: Divided American forces into fast-

moving contingents, avoided open,

conventional battles.

British Setbacks in the South

Cowpens: January 17,1781

“a very unexpected and

severe blow:” Cornwallis

March 15, 1781: Guilford Court

House, North Carolina

Greene driven from the field

British casualties so high that

Cornwallis abandons the

Carolina Campaign

Cornwallis wants to attack

Virginia, but is ordered by

Clinton to take a defensive

position at Yorktown

The End: Yorktown

American and French

forces

Washington

Count de Rochambeau

Marquis de Lafayette

Admiral de Grasse

(French Navy)

Trap Cornwallis in

Yorktown

Surrenders without much

of a fight October 17,

1781

Winning the Peace

Lord North resigns as Prime Minister

Outcries to end the war

Lord Shelburne, new PM: sent British emissaries to France to talk informally with American

Diplomats

John Adams, Ben Franklin, John Jay

Cooperate with France in their negotiations with England

France will not agree to settlement until Spain wins back Gibraltar

Not going to happen anytime soon

Americans begin seeking separate treaty.

November 30, 1782: Preliminary treaty signed

Franklin pacifies French avoiding a rift.

The Treaty of Paris (1783)

United States is an

Independent

Nation

Southern Boundary

of Canada to

Northern Boundary

of Florida

Eastern Boundary

Atlantic Ocean,

Western Boundary

Mississippi River

War and SocietyFor decades historians have debated whether the war was a true social or political revolution. Regardless of its intention, it did transform American society.

Loyalists

Up to 1/3 of white population

Office holders appointed by gov.

Merchants with close trade ties to UK

People who retained traditional loyalties

People who though UK was going to win and were hedging their bets

During and after war: Hounded by patriots

100,000 left country

Anglican church weakened

Lost status as official religion of Virginia and Maryland What is the meaning of this political cartoon?

Religious Groups

Quakers

Pacifists

Seen as disloyal

Presbyterians,

Congregationalists, and

Baptists sided with the Patriot

cause.

Catholics sided with patriots

Vatican helped US Catholics

set up hierarchy after peace

treaty signed

1789-First US bishop

Slavery and the War

UK helped escaped slaves leave the country as part of the war effort.

SC- 1/3 of all slaves defected

Increased exposure to the concept of liberty

Some open resistance to white control

Thomas Jeremiah-executed after planning a slave uprising

Fear that the revolution would promote slave rebellions.

South: Some white challenges

Virginia and Maryland pass laws permitting “Manumission” of slaves.

Most southerners still support slavery though, including the churches

Spread of Anti-Slavery sentiment in the

North

Revolutionary beliefs

Evangelical Christianity

Slave trade prohibited in several states

State laws forbidding Manumission were

targeted

Quakers pushed against these laws, all

Northern nations ultimately outlawed such

laws.

Pennsylvania bans slavery 1780

All Northern States except New York (1799)

and New Jersey (1804) had banned

slavery by the end of the revolution.

Gradual process in most states.

Freedom + Slavery?

How does it fit?

Many Whites did not feel

that there was an obvious

conflict between liberty

and slavery

Africans were inferior and

unfit for citizenship

Without slavery there

would need to be a servile

white workforce in the

South.

Would jeopardize the

survival of liberty

Native Americans and the Revolution Most tribes stayed out

Fear that British would be replaced by untrustworthy Patriots

Cherokee

Carolinas and Virginia

Chief Dragging Canoe

Attacks on white settlements/ Summer 1776

Swift and brutal retribution from Patriots

Iroquois

Swift and brutal retribution from whites

Weakened position of Native Americans

Victory increased white demand for western lands

Natives treated as conquered people for aiding the British

“Noble Savages”

Uncivilized but redeemable if willing to adapt to the norms of white society.

Thomas Jefferson

“The greatest blow that could have been dealt us.”

Women and the War

left behind to run farms and businesses

Some women had nothing to fall back on

Significant increase in impoverished women

Protests against high prices

Some attacked British troops, they were forced to house and feed without recompense.

“Camp Followers”

Wives of soldiers

Increased army morale

Volunteered to cook, launder, nurse. Etc.

Some women disguised selves as men to be able to fight.

1779

Women and the War

Fear that “rights of man” would leave out women

Abigail Adams: new protections against abusive and tyrannical men

Judith Sargent Murray: Women’s minds were as good as those of men and that girls deserved access to education

Little changed for women as a result of the war

Single women some rights but married women none

All property belonged to men

Confirmed and strengthened the patriarchal legal system

Did encourage reevaluation of the contribution of women to the family and society.

Mothers have important task of instructing children in the virtues that the republican citizenry now are expected to possess

The War Economy

English ships no longer protect

American vessels

Now targeted them

British ports closed to trade

Disruption of traditional

economic patterns

Development of commercial

networks in the Caribbean and

South America

Trade with Asia

Trade increased among the

American states.

Creation of the State and National

GovernmentsWhile things seemed to settle easily for the states, the development of the National government during and after the Revolution would be a difficult one.

The Assumptions of Republicanism

republican style of government

all power comes from the people

dependent on the character of its citizenry

Small landholders basic to political ideology

Later becomes known as “Jeffersonian Democracy”

“Dependence begets subservience and venality, suffocates the germ of virtue, and prepares to fit tools for the designs of ambition.” Thomas Jefferson

Equality

“All men are created equal”

Innate talents NOT position at birth.

Must earn success.

No Equality of Condition

Equality of opportunity.

The First State Constitutions

Written Constitutions

England’s “unwritten” Constitution

produced corruption

Power of the executive must be

limited

Forbade executive from holding a

seat in the legislature

Most states had weak executive.

Separate Branches of government.

Did not embrace direct popular rule.

Property requirements for voters in

ALL states

Revisiting State Governments (1780s)

Lack of Stability

Too much democracy?

Constitutional Conventions

A special assembly of the people

that would meet only for the

purpose of writing the Constitution

Make it so state legislatures can’t

amend constitutions

Strong(er) executives.

Elected by the people

Fixed salary (not dependent on

legislature for wage)

Veto powers

Religious Tolerance

Wanted religion in

government but no

special privileges to any

particular denomination

Privileges taken away

Thomas Jefferson writes

The Statute of Religious

Liberty (1786)

Virginia

Calls for complete separation of church

and state

Slavery in the States

Gradually abolished in

North

Every state but South

Carolina and Georgia

prohibits importation

of slaves from abroad

Virginia passes law

encouraging

voluntary freeing the

slaves.

Could former slaves

ever integrate into

white society as

equals?

The Search for a National Government

The Articles of Confederation (1777,

1781-1789) Congress was only institution of National

Authority

Authority to conduct wars and foreign relations

Could appropriate, borrow, and issue money

Could not regulate trade

Could not draft troops

Could not levy taxes directly on people

Congress had to ask states for troops and taxes, they often refused to provide them.

No Executive

Each state had one vote

9 states had to approve any important measure

All state legislatures had to approve any amendment to the articles

Went into effect in 1781

Diplomatic Failures

British did not remove troops from the Great Lakes Area

British did not make restitution to slaveholders

Disputes over Northeast boundary

Most American trade remained in British Empire

Americans wanted full access

British placed sharp restrictions

1784: John Adams to London

England not sure he represents one nation or 13 different ones

England does not send diplomats to US throughout the 1780s

The Treaty with Spain (1786)

American interpretation of Florida

boundary

Spanish possessions in N/A are

recognized.

US has rights to navigate the

Mississippi for 20 years are limited

Southern states hate this

Mississippi blocks ratification

Successes in the Northwest

Ordinance of 1784

Thomas Jefferson

Divides western territory into 10 self-governing

districts

Can petition congress for statehood when its population of free inhabitants equaled the number of free inhabitants of the smallest state.

Ordinance of 1785

System for surveying and selling Western lands

Townships with “public lands” and revenue reserved

to create a public school

Becomes land policy for federal government and

states and localities later on.

Formal rather than informal

The Northwest Ordinance (1787)

Abandoned ordinance of ‘84

Created a single Northwest

Territory north of the Ohio valley.

Could be divided into 3-5

territories

Population of 60,000 minimum

for statehood

Freedom of Religion in territory

Right to trial by jury in territory

Prohibition of Slavery in territory

How do you think the South will react to

this?

Natives and the West

Treaties 1784-86 that tried to resolve problem

of Native land claims

Ineffective

The Treaty of Greenville (1795)

Little Turtle, Miami Tribe

1790 and 1791 beat US in major battles

Refusal to accept treaty until settlement west of

Ohio River forbidden

Battle of Fallen Timbers (1794): Miami defeated

Treaty: ceded a lot of land in exchange for the

territory they had managed to retain

US gov. acknowledges the sovereignty of Native tribes.

Only tribes can give up their land

Didn’t really work out

The Northwest Indian War

General “Mad Anthony” Wayne vs.

Little Turtle

The Economic Depression of 1784-1787

Increased problem of inadequate money supply

Enormous outstanding debt

Few means to pay it

Could not pay back war bonds

Owed back pay to soldiers

Gov. only receives about 1/6 of money it asks for

State War Debts

Increased taxes

Farmers poor, upset

Resentment especially high in New England

The “Continental Impost” (1780)

5% duty on imported goods levied by Congress

Robert Morris, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison

Fears that it would give congress too much financial power

Was supposed to be temporary

Did not remove in 1781 or 1783

Alexander Hamilton, you’ll be

hearing a lot more about him

later!

Shays’ Rebellion (1786-1787)

Daniel Shays

Captain in Continental Army

during war

Connecticut Valley

Demand paper money, tax

relief, moratorium on debts,

abolition of debtors prisons

Summer 1786: prevent

collection of debts by

keeping courts shut down.

January 1787: Militia from

Boston clashed with Shays’

men, Shays’ men were

dispersed

The Impact of Shays’ Rebellion

Shays and his lieutenants

sentenced to death

Later pardoned

Protestors offered some

tax relief and a

postponement of debts

Showed weakness of

AOC

Terrifies

Political Elite

Sources

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