The American Promise – Lecture Notes
Chapter 7 – The War for America, 1775 – 1783
I. The Second Continental Congress (Slide 2) Page 175
A. Assuming Political and Military Authority
1. The Delegates—Like members of the First Continental Congress, delegates to
the Second Continental Congress were well-established figures in their home
colonies; they did not always agree, but they had to learn to trust each other;
John and Samuel Adams were the radical end of the spectrum, while John
Dickinson of Pennsylvania was more moderate.
2. Debating Independence—Most delegates were not yet prepared to break with
Britain; some felt government required a king; others wanted to maintain the
crown’s military protection; those who did favor independence were from
Massachusetts, where the British had implemented the Coercive Acts and where
the capital was occupied by the military.
3. The Decisions of the Congress—Delegates agreed military buildup was
necessary in case of further attack; they created the Continental army and chose
Virginian George Washington as commander in chief to demonstrate support
beyond New England; drew up “A Declaration on the Causes and Necessity of
Taking Up Arms,” which outlined the history of English tyranny; congress
authorized a currency issue of $2 million to pay for military buildup; the Second
Continental Congress had taken on the major functions of a legitimate
government with no legal basis for its authority.
B. Pursuing Both War and Peace Page 177
1. The Battle of Bunker Hill—Occurred three days after the congress established
the army; Americans fortified Charlestown north of Boston; British General
William Howe insisted on a bold frontal assault; took the British three attempts to
take the hill; the British won but suffered many more casualties than the
Americans; Howe then retreated to Boston rather than pursue the fleeing
Americans; in doing so, he may have missed an opportunity to defeat the
Continental army early on.
2. Washington Takes Charge of the Continental Army—Washington found
enthusiastic but undisciplined troops; he quickly imposed hierarchy and discipline
on the soldiers.
3. The Olive Branch Petition—The Second Continental Congress still pursued
reconciliation with Britain; moderates led by Dickinson offered the Olive Branch
Petition to the king; affirmed loyalty to the monarchy and blamed problems on the
1 of 9
The American Promise – Lecture Notes
king’s ministers and Parliament; King George II rejected the petition and called
Americans traitors; pushed reconciliation off the table.
C. Thomas Paine, Abigail Adams, and the Case for Independence (Slide 5)
Page 178
1. Common Sense—Pamphlet published by Thomas Paine in January 1776;
made the case for independence in simple yet forceful language; elaborated on
the absurdities of monarchy and called for republican government; sold more
than 150,000 copies in a matter of weeks; reprinted in newspapers and read
aloud across the colonies.
2. “Remember the Ladies”—Abigail Adams wanted independence but called for a
revolution in women’s rights; wrote a series of letters to her husband John
Adams; asked him to “remember the ladies” when constructing a new
government; the new government did not change women’s rights.
D. The Declaration of Independence Page 180
1. Moving toward Independence—Common Sense, the prospect of an alliance
with France, and the news that the British were negotiating to hire German
mercenary soldiers solidified support for independence; all but four states
agitated for a declaration by May 1776; the four opposing states had large
loyalist populations; but by July 2, New York was the only holdout.
2. The List of Grievances—Thomas Jefferson drafted the document; after a
preamble focused on natural rights and equality, he listed two dozen grievances
against King George; the congress argued over the list for two days; Jefferson
had blamed the king for slavery, and delegates from Georgia and South Carolina
struck out the passage; colonies let stand the passage, blaming the king for
mobilizing Indians into frontier warfare.
3. A Unanimous Decision—The congress formally adopted the Declaration of
Independence on July 4, 1776; New York endorsed it on July 15, making the vote
for independence unanimous; printed copies did not include signed names
because it was technically an act of treason.
II. The First Year of War, 1775–1776 (Slide 6) Page 181
A. The American Military Forces
1. The Continental Army—The war became a rebellion, an overthrow of longestablished authority; local defense had long rested in militias, which were best
2 of 9
The American Promise – Lecture Notes
suited for limited engagements; they were more social events than serious
military units; Congress first set enlistments in the new Continental army at one
year; offered $20 incentive for three years of enlistment and a hundred acres of
land for those who committed to the duration of the war; the army was raw,
inexperienced, and undermanned, but it was never as bad as the British
continually assumed.
2. Women and African Americans—Women served non-combat roles by cooking,
washing, and nursing the wounded; George Washington at first excluded blacks
from the Continental army, but as manpower needs increased, the congress
permitted free blacks to enlist and paid southerners $400 for each slave they
allowed to enlist; about 5,000 black men served on the rebel side, nearly all from
northern states.
3. The Politics of Military Service—Military service helped politicize Americans;
anyone who refused to join risked being labeled a traitor; service became a way
of demonstrating allegiance.
B. The British Strategy Page 182
1. Unclear Goals—Americans had to repulse and defeat an invading army; the
British wanted to put down a rebellion and restore monarchical power, but it was
unclear how they would accomplish this; decisive defeat of the Continental army
was essential, but the British would still have to contend with an armed insurgent
population; in addition, there was no single political nerve cell to capture or
attack; the British had to restore old government without destroying an enemy
country; needed a large land army and counted on the help of Americans who
remained loyal.
2. Divide and Conquer—Overall strategy was divide and conquer; started with
New York since the British believed it contained the most loyal subjects; control
of the Hudson River would also isolate New England.
C. Quebec, New York, and New Jersey (Slide 8) Page 183
1. Quebec—In late 1775, the Americans launched an expedition to conquer the
cities of Montreal and Quebec before British reinforcements could arrive; General
Montgomery took Montreal in September of 1775; Montgomery and General
Benedict Arnold failed to take Quebec, and smallpox ravaged their ranks.
2. Battle of Long Island—The main action of the first year came in New York;
after the British won the battle of Long Island in late August, Washington
evacuated his troops to Manhattan Island; knowing it would be hard to hold
Manhattan, he moved north to two forts along the Hudson River; two armies
engaged in limited skirmishing for two months before British General Howe finally
3 of 9
The American Promise – Lecture Notes
captured Fort Washington and Fort Lee; Washington retreated through New
Jersey and into Pennsylvania; Howe again decided not to pursue.
3. New Jersey—On December 25, Washington crossed the Delaware River and
made a quick capture of German soldiers at Trenton; victory lifted the morale of
the troops.
III. The Home Front (Slide 10) Page 186
A. Patriotism at the Local Level
1. The Importance of Committees—Committees of correspondence, of public
safety, and of inspection dominated colonial politics; took on local governance
and enforced boycotts, picked army draftees, and policed suspected traitors;
sometimes invaded homes to look for contraband goods; loyalists were dismayed
by the increasing show of power by the patriots.
2. Women’s Patriotism and the Ladies Association—White women increasingly
demonstrated patriotism; while husbands were away, wives took on masculine
duties like tending farms and making business decisions; women from prominent
Philadelphia families formed the Ladies Association in 1780 to collect money for
Continental soldiers; a published broadside, “The Sentiments of an American
Woman” defended female patriotism.
B. The Loyalists Page 187
1. Why Remain Loyal—About one-fifth of Americans remained loyal to the crown
in 1776, and probably another two-thirds tried to remain neutral; elite loyalists
often had cultural and economic ties to England and believed stability depended
on a government anchored by monarchy and aristocracy; they feared domestic
tyranny; there were many non-elite people who remained loyal due to local
reasons for opposing the revolutionary leaders in their region.
2. Who Remained Loyal—Most visible loyalists were royal officials; wealthy
merchants also preferred the trade protections of the navigation acts and British
navy; loyalist urban lawyers admired British law and order; backcountry farmers
who remained loyal did so because they resented the power of the lowlands
gentry; southern slaves looked to Britain in hope of freedom.
3. The Decision of the Indians—Many Indian tribes hoped to remain neutral; most
were drawn in, with many taking the British side; the powerful Iroquois
Confederacy divided.
4. Loyalist Geography—Pockets of loyalism existed everywhere—in the middle
colonies, in the backcountry of the southern colonies, in Indian country, and even
in New England.
4 of 9
The American Promise – Lecture Notes
C. Who Is a Traitor? (Slide 11) Page189
1. Defining Treason—The Second Continental Congress defined all loyalists as
traitors; state laws defined provisioning the British army, saying or printing
anything that undermined morale, or discouraging men from enlisting in the army,
as treason.
2. Wives of Loyalists—When loyalists fled the country, property was confiscated;
if a wife remained, courts usually allowed her to keep one-third of the property;
supported a wife’s autonomy to choose political sides, if she stayed in the United
States; courts later ruled that women had no independent will to choose to be
loyalists.
3. Punishment—Tarring and feathering; property confiscation; deportation;
terrorism; all proved to loyalists that democratic tyranny was more to be feared
than monarchical tyranny.
4. The Loyalist Exodus—Throughout the war, probably 7,000 to 8,000 loyalists
fled to England, and 28,000 fled to Canada.
D. Prisoners of War
1. British Treatment of American Captives—British leaders saw the Americans as
traitors and therefore treated them worse than common criminals; crowded their
first 4,000 prisoners on two dozen vessels anchored between Manhattan and
Brooklyn; overcrowded, dark, stinking spaces; more than half a dozen men died
daily; food and sanitation were inadequate; Continental Congress sent funds to
supply rations to the prisoners, but most supplies were diverted to British use; in
early 1777, Parliament suspended habeas corpus for colonists accused of
treason; more than 15,000 men endured captivity in the prison ships, and twothirds of them died.
2. American Treatment of British Captives—Washington insisted British captives
be treated humanely; they were gathered in rural encampments where they were
allowed to plant gardens, move freely during the day, and even hire themselves
out as workers.
E. Financial Instability and Corruption (Slide 13) Page191
1. Currency—Continental Congress printed money, but its value deteriorated
because the congress held no reserves of gold or silver to back up the currency.
2. Certificates—Congress had to borrow money from wealthy men in exchange
for certificates of debt promising repayment with interest; also paid soldiers with
land grant certificates, which also depreciated.
5 of 9
The American Promise – Lecture Notes
3. Corruption—Depreciating currency led to rising prices; poor economy and
unreliable currency was demoralizing to Americans; some turned the situation to
their advantage, and a black market in prohibited luxury imports thrived.
IV. The Campaigns of 1777–1779: The North and the West (Slide 14) Page
192
A. Burgoyne’s Army and the Battle of Saratoga
1. The Hudson River Valley—In 1777, Burgoyne assumed command of an army
of 7,800 soldiers in Canada and began the northern squeeze on the Hudson
River valley; also had 1,000 “camp followers,” 400 Indian warriors, and 400
horses; captured Fort Ticonderoga with ease in July; Burgoyne’s army slowly
moved South; rather than meet Burgoyne to isolate New England, however,
General Howe sailed south to attack Philadelphia.
2. Fort Stanwix—Burgoyne instead awaited reinforcements from the west; at Ft.
Stanwix, the reinforcements encountered Americans who refused to surrender;
the British laid siege to the fort with the help of Palatine German militiamen and
Oneida Indians; Mohawk chief Joseph Brant led an ambush on the Germans and
Oneidas in a narrow revere called Oriskany, killing nearly 500 out of 840 of them;
these were multiethnic battles with a high mortality rate; the British retreated at
Fort Stanwix, depriving Burgoyne of reinforcements.
3. Saratoga—Burgoyne camped at the small village of Saratoga; General Horatio
Gates began moving his army toward Saratoga; the British won the first battle of
Saratoga, but the Americans won the second; forced Burgoyne to surrender to
American forces on October 17, 1777.
4. American Morale—The British proposed a negotiated settlement, not including
independence, to end the war; Americans refused; morale ran high, but supplies
of arms and food ran low; the American army suffered a devastating loss at
Valley Forge due to disease and desertion; Washington blamed the citizenry for
lack of support; evidence of corruption and profiteering was abundant; army
suppliers too often provided defective food, clothing, and gunpowder.
B. The War in the West: Indian Country (Slide 16) Page 193
1. War in the Interior—While the war paused on the Atlantic Coast after
Burgoyne’s defeat and Washington’s stay at Valley Forge, it continued in the
interior; Native Americans struggled against the Americans for their own
independence, freedom, and land.
2. The Mohawk Valley—Slaughter at Oriskany marked the beginning of three
years of terror for inhabitants of the Mohawk Valley; Loyalists and Indians raided
6 of 9
The American Promise – Lecture Notes
farms throughout 1778; captured or killed residents; Americans responded by
destroying Joseph Brant’s home village; in the summer of 1779, Washington
authorized a campaign to wreak “total destruction and devastation” on Iroquois
villages of central New York; forty Indian towns were obliterated.
3. The End of Neutrality—By 1780, very few Indians remained neutral; most
sided with the British or went to Spanish territory; the rare instance of Indian
support for the American cause was a strategic decision; these Indians believed
Americans were unstoppable, and it was better to work out an alliance than lose
in a war; Americans treated friendly Indians poorly, showing there was no
winning strategy for them.
4. Frontier War in the South—West of North Carolina (today’s Tennessee),
militias attacked Cherokee settlements in 1779; Indians from north of the Ohio
River, in alliance with the British, repeatedly attacked white settlements such as
Boonesborough in present-day Kentucky.
C. The French Alliance (Slide 19) Page 196
1. France Enters the War—American victory at Saratoga convinced France to
enter the war; formal alliance signed in February 1778; French had been covertly
providing weapons and military advisers to the Americans well before 1778.
2. French Motivations—Primarily aligned with the Americans in hopes of
defeating archrival Britain; even an American defeat would not be a disaster for
France if the war drained Britain of money and resources.
V. The Southern Strategy and the End of the War (Slide 20) Page 197
A. Georgia and South Carolina
1. The Southern Strategy—British forces abandoned New England and focused
on the South; they believed the South’s large slave population would desert to
the British and disrupt the southern society and economy; also believed Georgia
and South Carolina were loyalist strongholds.
2. Easy Victory in Georgia—Fell easily at the end of December 1778; the bulk of
the Continental army was still in New York and New Jersey.
3. Siege of Charleston—Ten Continental army regiments in Charleston; British
laid siege for five weeks; took Charleston in May 1870; General Charles
Cornwallis established military rule of South Carolina by mid-summer.
7 of 9
The American Promise – Lecture Notes
4. Battle of Camden—American troops arrived to strike back at Cornwallis by
August 1780; met the British at the battle of Camden; most devastating defeat of
the war for the Americans.
B. Treason and Guerilla Warfare Page 199
1. Benedict Arnold—British success resulted in part because of improved
information about American troop movements furnished by Benedict Arnold, hero
of several American battles; believed he did not get proper honor or financial
award; traded information for money beginning in 1779; planned to sell a West
Point victory to the British; Americans captured the man carrying plans from
Arnold to Clinton; vilifying Arnold allowed Americans to stake out a wide distance
between themselves and dastardly conduct; inspired a renewal of patriotism.
2. The Situation in the Backcountry—Revitalized rebels waged guerilla warfare in
western South Carolina, an area Cornwallis thought was pacified and loyal;
South Carolina backcountry became the site of guerilla warfare; British southern
strategy depended on loyalist strength to hold reconquered territory; assumption
was proven false.
C. Surrender at Yorktown (Slide 23) Page 200
1. Minor Victories for the British—British took Williamsburg in June 1781;
captured members of the Virginia assembly in Charlottesville soon afterward;
minor victories allowed Cornwallis to imagine he was succeeding in Virginia;
moved toward Yorktown near the Chesapeake Bay to wait for backup.
2. French Intervention—The French fleet beat British backup to the Chesapeake
Bay; a five-day naval battle left the French navy in clear control of the coast;
proved a decisive factor in ending the war because French ships prevented any
rescue of Cornwallis’s army.
3. Surrender—Cornwallis and his 7,500 troops faced a combined French and
American army of 16,000; French and Americans bombarded British fortifications
at Yorktown for twelve days; Cornwallis surrendered on October 19, 1781.
D. The Losers and the Winners
1. Continued Fighting on the Frontier—Two more years of skirmishes ensued
after the British surrender; Americans fought Indian tribes in frontier areas of
Kentucky, Ohio, and Illinois; British army remained in control of Savannah,
Charleston, and New York; Continental army had to stay in the field.
2. Treaty of Paris—Two years in the making; acknowledged American
independence; set western border of the new country at the Mississippi River;
8 of 9
The American Promise – Lecture Notes
guaranteed creditors on both sides could collect debts owed in sterling money;
prohibited the British from evacuating slaves; signed September 3, 1783.
3. Fate of African Americans—Thousands of self-liberated blacks who had joined
the British under the promise of freedom did not celebrate; more than 4,000
blacks sailed out of New York to Nova Scotia; some blacks headed to the Indian
country; the British never wanted to emancipate the slaves; they only wanted to
destabilize patriot planters and gain manpower.
4. Indians—The Treaty of Paris had nothing to say about Indian participants; like
the treaty ending the Seven Years’ War, the 1783 treaty failed to recognize
Indians as players in the conflict; Indian lands were assigned to victors as though
they were uninhabited; Indians did not concede defeat; some fought the
Americans into the nineteenth century.
9 of 9