The American Revolution
•By 1760 the British controlled the east coast of America.
• There were 13 colonies already established:
•THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES
•Massachusetts
•New Hampshire
•Connecticut
•Rhode Island
THE MIDDLE COLONIES
•New York
Pennsylvania
New Jersey
Delaware
Maryland
THE SOUTHERN COLONIES
Virginia
North Carolina
South Carolina
Georgia
The Thirteen Colonies
-- Absence of British intervention in America from
1621 to 1756, known as “salutary neglect”
-- Colonists thought of themselves as Englishmen
-- Inequalities rent the colonies apart
-- Democratic radicals, emerging from local
politics, came up with the idea of continental
independence.
The Seven Years’ war
-- After about 1700, the conflict between French and English settlers in North
America became endemic.
-- The French had built a series of forts down the Ohio-Mississippi river,
from Quebec to New Orleans
-- The Indians generally had supported the French in the Seven Years' War --- The British victory in North America was overwhelming.
-- The dream of a French empire in North America faded.
-- Britain annexed Canada and the whole stretch of the Mississippi River.
-- The British victory of 1763 led to further problems and grievances.
-- The new policy was aimed at ending “salutary neglect” and at attaining
better control over the colonies.
After-effects of the 7-years’
war
-- As a result of the war, heavier taxation is established.
-- Stamp Act, Sugar Act, etc.
New British Policy towards the colonies was designed …
* to help pay the British national debt which stood at £140 millions
in 1763
* To repay the expenses from the Seven Years’ war
* to find somewhere to keep the British army, cheaply
* to secure the expanded empire
New England Origins
The New England colonies and Virginia led
the movement towards independence because
* they were the oldest and most independent
colonies
* they owed more money in Britain
* they were hit the hardest by the new
legislation after 1763
* they organized themselves to oppose British
rule
Samuel Adams
“NO Taxation without representation”
Thomas Paine and
Common Sense
-- Paine brought into the open the idea of independence: he put
in writing what some colonists were thinking.
-- In January 1776 Paine published Common Sense in
Philadelphia: a complete philosophy of the American
Revolution.
Common Sense
--Paine dismantles any advantages to reconciliation, as well as the
theory that connection with Britain brings happiness.
Britain might have protected the colonies for the sake of trade and
dominion only—interest, not attachment, was behind Britain’s actions.
The colonies would have flourished as much without Britain, since
the rest of the continent does have to eat.
--Also dismantles the idea that the colonies have no relation to each
other but through the parent country. Paine argues that without
Britain, the colonies would have France and Spain as their enemies
too.
--England is not the mother country, but a monster. “the same
tyranny which drove the first emigrants from home, pursues their
descendants still” (324).
Common Sense
--Is England the mother country, when “Not a third of the
inhabitants, even of this province, are of English descent.”
“The last cord now is broken”
--Not a single advantage is derived from reconciliation, and
there are injuries and disadvantages which the colonies sustain
by that connection: They have the whole of Europe for trade.
Who would espouse the doctrine of reconciliation:
“interested men who are not to be trusted, weak men, moderate
men who think better of Europe than it deserves-.
--A government of our own is our natural right. Those who
oppose independence now, they open a door to eternal tyranny.
--NO harmony and reconciliation—no way back from corruption
to innocence
Common Sense
As a result of Paine's pamphlet
* more men joined the colonial militia,
* congress became more confident and began to provide Washington with more supplies
and cash
* more colonies began to support the idea of independence
* morale was raised throughout the colonies
* Thomas Jefferson was roused to create the Declaration of Independence (4 July 1776)
From Howard Zinn, A People’s History of the United States.
1492-Present.
1676: Bacons’s Rebellion—made up of white frontiersmen, slaves
and servants. Points to the hard balances of the colonies, where
poor whites were pushed to the border without any protection
against Indians. Why? Government did not want to launch a total
War against the Indians.
The situation reflected a chain of oppression whereby:
Indians were plundered by white frontiersmen
Frontiersmen were taxed and controlled by the Jamestwon elite
The colony itself was exploited by England
--There was, as a consequence, a growing number of landless masses
of poor whites (frequently previously indentured servants) who saw
how class lines and divisions hardened during the colonial period.
--How to explain these growing differences:
John Winthrop: there have always been differences, and some are
meant to be rich/others are meant to be poor (48).
--Why was inequality so important?
loss of property equaled loss of voting rights.
Yet the ruling, rich colonists had to face: unruly Indians +
black revolts + anger of poor whites.
Any chances they could put their efforts together?
How to prevent unity and maintaining political and economic status?
By enlisting Africans in the militia against the Indians; yet there
were blacks running away to Indian villages.
It is known that Creeks and Cherokees harbored run-away slaves.
Not only blacks but also whites joined Indian communities and
deserted so called civilization (in a movement which so often
proved opposite to the more publicized one of Pocahontas).
How to prevent the unity of the oppressed?
By finding a common enemy outside: through fighting England,
and by creating a language of freedom and equality able to unite
and fight a revolution—without ending either slavery or inequality.
By these means the colonists could take over land, profits, and
political power. They could also create a sense of popular support
within the country. The American Revolution turned into a most apt
way of rallying support and exercising control on the population.
What does it have to do with the love for freedom and liberty?
The delicate balance of the revolution: Support the patriot cause
but steer the revolution carefully, so it didn’t go too far in the
direction of democracy (70)
So we arrive at the declaration of Independence on July4th, 1776
and its stressed absences: blacks, Indians, women.
“We ! People of ! United States”
We ! People
The Declaration as a crucial document. Jefferson writes a theory of
Government in which the government was expected and required to
Protect natural rights of citizens
Declaration as a revolutionary compact: power derives from the people.
Related Documents: French declaration of the rights of man and Citizen
And John Locke’s Two Treatises on Government
The parts:
Preamble--discussion of the basic rights of man
The list of grievances (offences, complaints against George III)
A formal declaration of war
We ! People
The delicate balance of the revolution:
Support the patriot cause but steer the revolution carefully, so it didn’t
go too far in the direction of democracy (70). Blacks, Indians, women
are not included in the we.
What was the result of the war? A more equitable society?
Democracy was based on the number of pounds in property. 90 per cent
of the population was excluded from running for any position/holding
office.
The separation of Church and State was supposedly favored by the
revolution, yet after 1776 the Northern states adopted taxes that forced
everyone to support Christian teachings.
W e ! People
What about the confiscated land? It went to enrich revolutionary
Leaders and their friends AND created a broad base for support as
leaders parceled out some land to small farmers
What was the meaning of the Revolution and what changed? Not
much, even if the lower ranks for the population were involved.
For the crux of the matter was a struggle for power between the
members of the upper classes—the colonists or the established
British.
The War of Independence
The two armies that fought the war in America were very different.
The British army was a military fighting machine;
the American army comprised irregular troops.
British generals did not know America.
Their maps were inaccurate and communications were difficult
The Treaty of Versailles ended the war in 1783
*
*
*
*
Britain formally recognized an independent America
Spain was given Florida and Minorca by Britain
France gained Tobago, Senegal and St Lucia from Britain
the Canadian-American boundaries were restored to the
pre-Quebec Act (1774) lines
The American Declaration of Independence: 4 July 1776
-- Eventually, on 4 July, all the colonies voted in
favor of the resolution and America declared its
independence from Britain.
-- Not only a political declaration, but a
philosophical statement of freedom.
-- War with Britain would continue till 1783.
Peace of Paris
-- In 1783 peace was made in Paris, and the Thirteen
Colonies from Maine to Georgia became a union of
independent sovereign States.
-- After the war, Britain gave the new country rights
over territories west of the Mississippi.
A New Nation
The issue after the Revolution: How to forge a
Nation? What form should it take?
Should it be a nation or a league of states?
A convention was called to create a more
Powerful federal government that led to the writing
of a constitution that was to be ratified by the colonies.
Those who advocated the Constitution took the name of
Federalists, those who opposed a stronger central
Government were called Anti-Federalists.
The Constitution
We the People of the United States, in Order
to form a more perfect Union, establish
Justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide
for the common defence promote the general
Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty
to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain
and establish this
Constitution for the United States of America.
Territorial Growth
L#$iana Purchase
1803: France sells Louisiana to the United States for 15 million $.
Jefferson is aware of the consequences of this important movement,
given the importance of New Orleans as a harbor, and the pressure
of new colonists waiting to explore the middle of the country.
With territorial growth, the new nation faces another conflict, the
clash with Native Americans