War and Revolution, 1775-1783
Class6
Toward Independence, 1775-1776
*The Second Continental Congress and Civil War
• After losing battles at Breed’s Hill and Bunker Hill,
in 1775 the Continental Congress created the
Continental Army headed by George Washington
• Moderates led by John Dickinson of PA passed a
petition that expressed loyalty to the king &
asked for the repeal of oppressive parliamentary
legislation
• Zealous patriots such as John Adams and Patrick
Henry won passage of a Declaration of Causes
and Necessities of Taking Up Arms
Toward Independence, 1775-1776
• The king refused the moderates’ petition &
issued a Proclamation for Suppressing Rebellion
and Sedition in Aug. 1775
• Hoping to add a 14th colony to the rebellion, the
Patriot forces invaded Canada and took Montreal
before failing to capture Quebec
• Americans merchants cut off all exports to Britain
& its West Indies sugar islands & Parliament with
a Prohibitory Act, banning trade with rebellious
colonies
Toward Independence, 1775-1776
• Lord Dunmore of VA organized two military
forces—one white—one black—and offered
slaves/indentured servants freedom to those
who joined the loyalist (British) cause
• Faced with black unrest and pressed by
yeoman farmers & tenant farmers demanding
independence, Patriot planters called for a
break with Britain
Toward Independence, 1775-1776
• By April of 1776, radical patriots had through
military conflict, transformed the NC assembly
into an independent Provincial Congress,
which instructed its representatives to support
independence, by May 1776 VA patriots
followed suit and had done the same
Common Sense
• Many colonists retained a deep loyalty to the
crown as to do otherwise might threaten all
paternal authority and disrupt the hierarchical
social order
• By 1775, the Patriot cause was gaining greater
support among artisans & laborers
• Many Scots-Irish in Philadelphia became Patriots
for religious reasons & some well-educated
persons questioned the idea of monarchy al
together
Common Sense
• In Jan. 1776, Thomas Paine published Common
Sense–a call for independence and republicanism
• Common Sense aroused the general public &
quickly turned thousands of Americans against
British rule
• Paine’s message was not only popular but also
clear—reject the arbitrary powers of the king &
parliament and create independent republican
states
Thomas Paine’s Common Sense
Independence Declared
• On July 4, 1776, the Congress approved the
Declaration of Independence
• Thomas Jefferson, the main author of the
Declaration, justified the revolt by blaming the
rupture of George III rather on Parliament
• Jefferson proclaimed that all men are “created
equal”; they possess the rights of “life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness”; and the
government derives its power from the “consent
of the governed.”
What and Where
http://www.ourdocuments.gov/print_friendly.
php?flash=true&page=transcript&doc=2&title
=Transcript+of+Declaration+of+Independence+
(1776)
Independence Declared
By linking these doctrines with
independence, Jefferson established them
as defining values of a new nation
•Colonists celebrated the Declaration by
burning King George III in effigy and
toppling statues of the king; these acts
helped to break the ties with the monarch
and establish the legitimacy of republican
state governments
The Trials of War, 1776-1778
*War in the North
• Few observers thought the rebels stood a
chance of defeating the British; Great Britain
had more people and money with which to
fight
• Few Indians supported the rebels; they were
opposed to the expansion of white settlement
• The British were seasoned troops and the
Americans were militarily weak
War in the North
• Prime Minister North assembled a large invasion
force and selected General William Howe to lead
it; North ordered Howe to capture NYC and seize
control of the Hudson River in order to isolate the
radical patriots in NE from the other colonies
• General Howe and his 32,000 troops landed
outside NYC in July 1776, just as the Continental
Congress was declaring independence in
Philadelphia
War in the North
• Outgunned and outmaneuvered, the
Continental army retreated across the Hudson
to New Jersey, the across the Delaware River
to Philadelphia
• The British halted their campaign for the
winter months, which allowed the Continental
Army a few minor triumphs that could still not
mask British military superiority
Armies and Strategies
• General Howe’s military strategy was one of
winning with the surrender of opposing forces,
rather than destroying them; this tactic failed to
nip the rebellion in the bud
• General Washington’s strategy was to draw the
British away from the seacoast, extending their
lines of supply and draining their morale
• The Continental Army drew most of its recruits
from the lower ranks of society—most of whom
fought for a bonus of cash & land not patriotism
Armies and Strategies
• The Continental army was also poorly
provisioned and armed
• Given all these handicaps Washington was
fortunate to escape overwhelming defeat in
the first year of the war
Victory at Saratoga
• To finance the war, the British increased the land
tax and prepared to mount a major campaign in
1777
• The primary British goal, was the isolation of NE,
was to be achieved with the help of General John
Burgoyne, a small force of Iroquois, and General
Howe
• Howe had a scheme of his own, he wanted to
attack Philadelphia—home of the Continental
Congress—and end the rebellion with a single
victory
Victory at Saratoga
• Washington & his troops withdrew from
Philadelphia, and the Continental Congress
withdrew to the interior, determined to continue
the fight
• General Burgoyne’s troops were forced to
surrender to General Horatio Gates and his men
at Saratoga, NY
• The American victory at Saratoga was the turning
point in the war and virtually assured the success
of a military alliance with France
Social and Financial Perils
• Tens of thousands of civilians were exposed to
deprivation, displacement, and death as a result
of the war
• Patriots organized Committees of Safety to collect
taxes, to send provisions to the army, and to
punish those who failed to support the cause of
independence
• On the brink of bankruptcy, the new state
governments printed paper money, that was
worth very little
Social and Financial Perils
• Lacking the authority to impose taxes, the
Continental Congress borrowed gold from France.
When those funds were exhausted, Congress also
printed currency and bills of credit that quickly
declined in value
• Farmers refused to sell their crops for worthless
currency, even to the army. Either out of pacifism
or the hopes of higher prices, farmers either
horded their grains or accepted only gold and
silver which only the British could pay
Social and Financial Perils
• Military morale plummeted, causing some patriot
leaders to doubt that the rebellion would succeed
• The Continental Army suffered from a lack of
necessities; the winter of 1777-1778 at Valley
Forge took as many lives as two years of fighting
• To counter falling morale, Baron Von Steuben
instituted a system of drill and maneuver that
shaped the small Continental Army into a much
tougher better disciplined force
The Path to Victory
• * The French Alliance
• Although France & America were unlikely
partners, the French were intent on avenging
their loss of Canada to Britain in the French
and Indian War
• Upon learning of American success at
Saratoga, French foreign minister Comte de
Vergennes sought a formal alliance with the
Continental Congress
The Path to Victory
• The Treaty of Alliance of 1778 specified that
neither France or America would sign a separate
treaty before America’s independence was
secured
• In return, American diplomats pledged their
government would recognize any French
conquests in the West Indies
• Alliance with the French gave the American army
access to supplies & money, strengthening the
army and giving it new hope
The Path to Victory
• Upon the urging of George Washington, Congress
reluctantly agreed to grant officers half pay after
the war for 7 years
• The war became increasingly unpopular in Britain
as its people grew tired of being taxed, while
some actually agreed with the Americans’
demands for greater rights
• In 1778, Parliament repealed the Tea and
Prohibitory Acts and renounced its power to tax
the colonies
The Path to Victory
• Britain’s offer to return to the constitutional
condition that existed prior to the Sugar and
Stamp Acts was rejected by the Continental
Congress due in part to its alliance with France
War in the South
• American allies had ulterior motives for
joining the war: France concentrated its forces
in the West Indies because it wanted to
capture rich sugar a island; Spain loaned naval
assistance to France because it wanted to
regain Florida and Gibraltar
• The British strategy of was to capture the rich
tobacco and rice-growing colonies and to take
advantage of racial divisions in the south
War in the South
• By the end of 1779, Sir Henry Clinton and his men had
reconquered GA, and in 1780, Lord Cornwallis and his
men took control of SC
• The tide of battle turned when the Dutch declared war
against Britain and the Marquis de Lafayette convinced
Louis XVI to send French troops to America
• General Nathaniel Greene devised a new military
strategy: divide the militiamen into small groups with
strong leaders so they could harass the less mobile
British
•
War in the South
• His troops weakened by a war of attrition,
abandoned the British navy, and surrounded
by the French navy and Washington’s
Continental army, Cornwallis surrendered
Yorktown in October 1781
• Isolated diplomatically in Europe, losing
domestic support for the war, and stymied
militarily in America, Britain gave up the
effort
Yorktown
The Patriot Advantage
• Angry members of Parliament demanded an
explanation of how a mighty country such as
Britain could be defeated by a motley colonial
army; the ministry blamed the military
leadership—pointing with some justification to a
serious of military blunders
• The Patriots had experienced politicians who
commanded public support, and in George
Washington, an inspired leader who recruited
outstanding officers to shape the army
The Patriot Advantage
• The Continental Army was fighting on its own
territory with the assistance of militiamen
who could be mobilized at crucial moments as
well as support from France
• Americans themselves preferred Patriot rule
and refused to support Loyalist forces or
occupation by the British army
•
Diplomatic Triumph
• In the Treaty of Paris in 1783, Britain
recognized independence of its seaboard
colonies and relinquished claims to land south
of the Great Lakes
• This land, between the Appalachian
Mountains and the Miss. River was the
domain of undefeated pro-British Indian
peoples
Diplomatic Triumph
• Leaving the Native Americans to their fate,
British negotiators did not insist on separate
Indian territory and promised to withdraw to
their garrisons quickly
• Other treaty provisions granted Americans
fishing rights in the North Atlantic, forbade
the British from “carrying away Negroes or any
other property” and guaranteed freedom of
navigation on the Mississippi
Diplomatic Triumph
• The American government promised to allow
British merchants to recover prewar debts and
to encourage state legislatures to return
confiscated loyalists property and grant them
citizenship
• The British made peace with France & Spain
as well in a separate treaty
Diplomatic Triumph
• Only Americans profited greatly from the
treaties; they gained independence from
Britain and opened the interior of the North
American continent for settlement
Republicanism Defined and Challenged
• For many Americans, republicanism was a social
philosophy: every man in a republic belonged to
his country
• Continental army troops & militiamen were
praised for giving to the republic, but as the war
raged on, military self-sacrifice declined
• After mutinies, occurred during the winters of
1779 and 1780, Washington ordered the
execution of several leaders of the revolts, but
quickly urged Congress to pacify the soldiers with
back pay and new clothing
Republicanism Defined and Challenged
• All across America the character of commercial
activity was changed as farmers and artisans
adopted to a war economy
• Faced with a shortage of goods and rising prices,
government officials began requisitioning goods
directly from the people
• Women’s wartime efforts increased household
productivity and also booster their self-esteem
(prompting some to expect greater rights in the
future)
Republicanism Defined and Challenged
• To address the short supply of goods and
rising prices, a series of price controls were
attempted that posed severe challenges to the
notion of public virtue
• Spiraling inflation sparked social upheaval;
ultimately; the currency inflation transferred
most of the cost of the war to ordinary people
Loyalist Exodus
• As the war turned against Great Britain
thousands of loyalists emigrated to the West
Indies, Canada, and Britain
• While some loyalists lands were either sold or
given to Patriot tenants, in general, the war
did alter to structure or rural communities
• Social turmoil was greatest in the cities as
Patriot merchants replaced Tories at the top of
the economic ladder
Loyalist Exodus
• The war replaced a tradition-oriented
economic elite—one that invested its profits
in trade and real estate and became
landlords—with a group of entrepreneurialminded republican merchants who promoted
new trading ventures and domestic
manufacturing
The Problem of Slavery
• The Patriots’ struggle for independence from
Britain raised the prospect of freedom for
enslaved Africans; many slaves sought
freedom by fleeing behind British lines
• Many slaves also fought for the Patriot cause
in return for the promise of freedom
• In 1782, VA passed an act allowing
manumission; within a decade 10,000 slaves
had been freed
The Problem of Slavery
• Quaker & Christian evangelical churches
advocated emancipation, and the Enlightenment
philosophy also worked to undermine slavery and
racism
• By 1804, every state north of DE had enacted
laws that provided for the termination of slavery
• Emancipation came slowly as whites feared
competition for jobs and housing and a melding
of the races
The Problem of Slavery
• In the South, slaves represented a huge financial
investment, and resistance against freedom for blacks
was strong. Manumission occurred, but in 1792, the
Virginia legislature made it more difficult arguing that
slavery was a “necessary evil” required to maintain
white supremacy and the luxurious planter lifestyle
• The debate over emancipation ended in 1800 when a
group of southern whites was hanged for planning an
uprising
• Whites redefined republicanism so that it only applied
to the “master race.”
A Republican Religious Order
• In 1776, the Virginia Constitutional Convention
issued a Declaration of Rights guaranteeing all
Christians the “free exercise of religion.”
• After the war, an established church and
compulsory religious taxes were no longer the
norm in America
• Jefferson’s Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom
made all churches equal before the law but
granted financial support to none
A Republican Religious Order
• The Separation of Church and State was not
complete because most Church property and
ministers were exempt from taxation
• Many states reinforced religious criteria for voting
and holding office, although the practice was
often condemned by Americans
• In religion as in politics, independence provided
Americans with the opportunity to fashion a new
institutional order; in each case they repudiated
the hierarchical ways of the past in favor of a
republican alternative