War for Independence
1775-1783
Essential Questions:
1. Prove how after 1763 attempts by the British to exert
control over the colonies led to violent, organized and
successful resistance.
2. Evaluate the importance of the causes that impelled
the colonists to rebellion; assess the degree to which
economic motivations caused the Revolution.
Evaluate the relative importance of the
causes that impelled the colonists to
rebel
• Parliamentary Taxation
• Violation of civil liberties
• British military measures
• Colonial legacy of religious and political ideas
• Economic motivations
Imperial reforms of 1763
• Why a Revolution and Not Simply
• A Political Evolution?
• George III assumed the Throne as a 21 yr old -- he was
determined to be King, not as his father and
grandfather, who did not speak English and ignored
the political processes;
• Imposed Imperial Reform throughout the British Empire –
the 7 Years War (F. and I. War) had been costly and the
colonists paid a fraction of taxes compared to those in
Britain.
• King George assumed these minor reforms were
necessary– He lowered the rates to avoid contention –
• He enforced the Proclamation of 1763, enforced the
Navigation Acts, and enacted what would become the
Declaratory Act;
• Unfortunately, Britain had essentially used “Salutary
Neglect” toward the colonies for over 100yrs.
• Economic, political, social and religious freedoms
seemed threatened and the colonists would fight to
protect and restore these rights.
• Proclamation of
1763:
• Effectively closed off
all westward
migration west of the
Alleghany Mountains;
• Americans felt
hemmed in,
corralled—easier for
the British to control
and eventually
enslave them;
I. Revolutionary Impulse
• Whig Political ideology- colonial legacy
• Tory: loyalist in the colonies
• Whig: patriot in the colonies
• 4 Basic Principles:
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1. liberty a natural right
2. government protects liberty
3. power corrupts liberty
4. civic virtue protects liberty (self interest sacrificed for the common
good)
• Example: Colonist James Otis -arbitrary taxes= seeds of tyranny
• Social Contract Theory (Consensus) vs. Absolutism (External Force)
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Enlightenment Political Philosophers (John Locke)
Natural Rights of men are inherent, not granted
Governments exist to protect inherent rights, not grant
Natural Rights to life, liberty and property
• Conscience as the most sacred of all property (James Madison)
− What recourse do the people have if a government loses its legitimacy?
I. Revolutionary Impulse
•
Rhetoric of LIBERTY: Power to win hearts and minds
− Ex. Patrick Henry “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death”
•
What is freedom (liberty)?- which definition inspired the revolutionists?
•
Definitions
− Condition of being free from constraints
− Liberty of the person i.e .slavery
− Political independence: civil rights
− Exemption from unpleasant circumstances
− Capacity to exercise choice; free will
•
Why is freedom important?
− Central values in which war was fought
− Still used today to describe and define America
− Conscience of mind- Christianity
•
Limits to liberty?
−
Would it apply to non whites? To women? To the lower classes? Will this be a
social as well as a political revolution?
II. Road to WarWhen is Independence Declared?
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A. Parliamentary reforms- taxation
− Series of direct taxes
− Stamp Act: sparks widespread protests
− Constitutional argument over sovereignty:
parliamentary or colonial?
• Unitary form of government throughout Empire
•
B. Colonial Response
•
1) Address grievances:
− Ex. James Otis : arbitrary taxes= seeds of tyranny
• Stamp Act Congress
− Ex. Patrick Henry: VA Resolutions
• Tax. w/o rep.= tyranny
•
Constitutional Argument: Actual v. Virtual Representation
•
2) Sons of Liberty (Samuel Adams, Paul Revere, John Hancock…)
• Rouse anger of articulate lawyers, merchants & printers
•
3) Protests: intimidation, looting, effigies, Non-Importation, Circular letters
•
C. Crown Repudiates tax not principle
II. Road to War-
When is Independence Declared?
• D. Townsend Acts: tax on paper, tea, glass
− Admiralty Courts, colonial assemblies dissolved…
• E. Influence of Whig political ideology
• F. Circular Letter- agitation from MA
• I. Key City
− Boston: Seeds of Revolt
− Samuel Adams: Father of the Revolution
III. Boston: Seeds of Revolt
What happened?
(March 5, 1770)
How was this event
remembered?
Similar incidents of
provocationHancock’s Liberty
Gaspee Affair
When is Independence
Declared?
III. Boston: Seeds of Revolt
When is Independence declared?
• Boston Tea
Party (1773)
• Colonists
boycotted
taxed tea
• Matter of
principle
• 10,000 pounds
docked in
Boston
• Protest: 150
board ships
and dump
• How does this
launch the
revolution?
IV. Launching a Revolution
When is Independence declared?
• Parliament’s response to Tea Party:
− Intolerable Acts
− Boston under martial law
− Quebec Act
• Colonist’s response:
− MA: de facto government at Concord
• Stockpile weapons
− Organize First Continental
Congress (1774):
• To rebel or not to rebel…?
• Non importation strongly
enforced
Congress
• Feb 1775—more moderate Parliament is elected and
offers a Conciliatory Proposition Parliament would allow
colonies to assume their own tax rate if it is satisfactory
and reasonable.
• Too little too late – Americans Samuel Adams and few
others are ready for a fight—they want and desire
independence – not reconciliation –
• April 1775 – they get their wish in small little Hamlet
called Lexington and Concord.
Side Note
• Paul Revere's Ride-(1775)
• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
• Listen my children and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five;
Hardly a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and
year…
• “one if by land and two if by sea…”
V. Course of War
When is Independence Declared?
• 1775- Lexington & Concord
• British march on L. & C.- face minutemen
• Significance: first shots fired in course of war
• “Shot Heard Around the World” Poem by
• Humiliating retreat
for the British
• The war is no on in earnest; there is no turning back –
But John Dickinson and the Philadelphia delegates to
the 2nd Continental Congress try to quell emotions and
stave off war.
• Olive Branch Petition – avowed loyalty to King George;
suggested it was corrupt officials in Parliament that was
severing peace between King and Subjects; asked
George to protect them from further aggressions;
• Dissenters and radicals as John and Sam Adams put
forth a Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of
Taking up Arms –freedom and liberty were too
important to be left to the whims of a King.
• Great Britain
− Advantages
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War of Revolution
Large economy based on world empire.
Well established government - Constitutional Monarchy.
Professional Army
Large Royal Navy (Although challenged for supremacy by
French Navy.)
− Disadvantages
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Long Lines of Communication
Fighting on “Foreign” Soil
• American Colonies
− Advantages
• Fighting on “Home Turf”
• Ready market of resources
− Disadvantages
• Weak government: Continental Congress, no standing army or navy
• Economy designed to support Britain in mercantilist system.
• Disunity - Loyalists or Tories make up one third of population.
• British
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Command of the Sea
Naval Strategies
• Blockade
American ports.
• Transport troops to areas of rebellion.
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Hudson River Valley
• Cut
off New England from middle and southern
colonies.
• American
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War of Attrition
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Wear down British forces.
Diplomacy
• Gain
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European allies with large navies - France.
Commerce Raiding
• Privateering
The Need for an American Navy
• British control of sea lines of communication.
− Americans unable to oppose British troop movements.
− British blockades of American ports restricts commerce.
• States authorize navies:
− Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Massachusetts.
• Privateering commences against British shipping and commerce.
− Definition of Privateering: Privately-owned vessels sanctioned by a
government to seize enemy ships.
• Washington’s Navy
to Boston.
− Ships commanded by Army officers with maritime
experience.
− Seizure of gunpowder on British supply ships enroute
Continental Navy and Marine Corps
• Authorized by the Continental Congress.
13 October 1775 - Navy Birthday
• Continental Congress approves purchase of two armed vessels.
10 November 1775 - Marine Corps Birthday
• Continental Congress authorizes two battalions of Marines.
• Samuel Nicholas - “First Commandant” of the Marine Corps
− Tun Tavern, Philadelphia
28 November 1775 - Rules for the Regulation of the Navy of the United
Colonies established.
December 1775 - Marine Committee appointed by Continental
Congress to oversee naval affairs.
• Authorizes construction of 13 frigates.
• Debate continues over the need for naval forces:
Samuel Chase of Maryland: “Maddest idea in the
world.”
V. Course of the War
• Strategies
• British: Need to crush will of the people
• Northern & Southern Strategy:
− Take the South: Loyalist support strongest
• Freed slaves to fight for the British
− North: land and sea invasion (divide & conquer)
• Americans:
• 1)sustain will by avoiding crushing conflicts
• 2) gain international alliances
Course of War
When is Independence Declared?
• 1775
− April: first shots fired
− May: Second Continental Congress
− June: George Washington (Continental Army)
− June: Battle of Bunker (Breed’s) Hill
• Technical defeat, psychological victory
Early Military Operations
• American Siege of Boston - 1775
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George Washington commands America’s
Continental Army.
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Battle of Bunker Hill- psychological victory
Royal Navy evacuates British forces to Halifax in 1776.
• American Invasion of Canada - 1775
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Ethan Allen takes Fort Ticonderoga on Lake
Champlain.
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Siege of Quebec fails.
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General Benedict Arnold retreats to Lake Champlain - 1776.
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Small fleet of shallow-draft vessels built to stop British counterattack.
Thomas Paine’s Common Sense
Jan. 1776
• “These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer
soldier and the sunshine Patriot will, in this crisis, shrink
from the service of their country; but he who stands by
it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and
woman.
• “Tyranny like hell, is not easily conquered; yet, … the
harder the conflict the more glorious the triumph … it
would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as
Freedom should not be highly rated …”
Course of War
• 1776 Turning Points
− Winter retreat- “Times that try men’s souls” Thomas
Paine
− (Dec.) Trenton: Washington Crosses the Delaware
• Battle at Trenton and Princeton—important because it
was a psychological victory—akin to the Doolittle Raid
on Tokyo –
• Washington assumed the Fabian strategy – it is not
about victories, just don’t lose the war – keep the army
together and in tact—fight and retreat;
• Secure a foreign alliance—preferably the French;
V. Course of War
•
Is the Declaration Lockean?
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Locke’s Second Treatise on
Government
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Addresses question of legitimacy
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When in the course of human events it
becomes necessary for one people to
dissolve the political bands which have
connected them with another, and to
assume among the powers of the earth
the separate and equal station to
which the laws of nature and of
nature’s God entitle them, a decent
respect to the opinions of mankind
requires that they should declare the
causes which impel them to
separation…”
•
“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 the right to life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness…”
July 4, 1776
V. Course of War
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“that, to secure these rights…”
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“deriving their just powers from
the consent of the governed…”
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“it is the right of the people to
alter or to abolish it…”
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Document identifies:
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1st : the violation of natural rights
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2nd Lists the violations of British
law, rights and traditions
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Is the Declaration Lockean?
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Side Note: John Hancock
Professor Guezlo
July 4, 1776
V. Course of War
• 1776 Turning Points
− Winter retreat- “Times that try men’s souls” Thomas
Paine
− (Dec.) Trenton: Washington Crosses the Delaware
• 1777 Turning Points
− (Oct.) Battle of Saratoga
− Turning point leading to French alliance- Lafayette
Battle of Saratoga
• Americans defeat and capture General “Gentleman Johnny”
Burgoyne in upstate New York.
− How?
• Turning point of the war.
− Why? French enter the war as America’s ally.
• French Navy: 80 ships of the line.
− Small American rebellion becomes a major world war.
• Great Britain faces multiple enemies:
− 1775 American Colonies
− 1778 France and Spain
− 1780 Russia, Denmark, Sweden, Prussia, Austria, and Portugal
form an Armed Neutrality.
• Why did the British continue their failed strategy in
America—afraid of a Domino Effect in the West
Indies, Spain, and then India etc …Pacific
V. Course of War
• 1776 Turning Points
− Winter retreat- “Times that try men’s souls” Thomas
Paine
− (Dec.) Trenton: Washington Crosses the Delaware
• 1777 Turning Points
− (Oct.) Battle of Saratoga
− Turning point leading to French alliance- Lafayette
− Valley Forge
• Winter 1777-78
• Outbreak
• 1781 Yorktown
− Gen. Cornwallis
surrenders cut off
from retreat
YORKTOWN
• Initially poor cooperation between Continental Army and French Navy.
− General Washington - need a combined operation for victory.
• 1781 Lord Cornwallis leads British Army to Yorktown.
− Washington marches south with Continental and French troops.
• French West Indies fleet sails north under de Grasse.
− British fleet under Graves: Reinforce or evacuate Cornwallis.
• de Grasse anchors inside the Chesapeake then sorties and defeats British
fleet.
− Hood rigidly adheres to Permanent Fighting Instructions.
• Lord Cornwallis forced to surrender forces at Yorktown.
VI. Outcome of the War
• Peace Treaty signed in Paris (1783)
• Provisions:
− Recognized American Independence
− Western border at Mississippi
• Legacy:
− Debate: Conservative
Or radical revolution?
• Achievements: English Philosopher Alfred Lord
Whitehead compared the legacy of the American
Revolutionaries to the rule of Caesar Augustus in Rome.
• Everyone was aware of how important this event truly
was – maybe the British more than the Americans –
Certainly the Americans understood the moment.
• Achievements:
• 1) First successful war for
colonial independence;
• 2) First enduring largescale Republic;
• 3) First nation designed
on a “Liberal Recipe” in
terms of political and
economic character.
• This new Nation combined in latent form two seminal
and seemingly contradictory ideas—
• Democracy and Capitalism, along with a radical
concept of Popular Sovereignty --• Common Ordinary People could Govern themselves,
Tax themselves, Secure their own blessings of Liberty w/o
a King or Monarchy
• Divinity lay with the People, not a title or family lineage.
• The American Revolution, in and of itself was very
different from previous revolutions and many that
followed—
• There were no Guillotines, or major bloodletting—simply
it did not devour its own.
• It was a collective achievement that eschewed a
monarchy or divine figurehead—instead opting for a
seminally democratic system of checks and
balances—that derived its authority from the consent
of the governed.
• The revolutionaries, rather than choosing to kill one
another chose to argue with one another—
• Yes, historians do point out the failures of the
Revolution—ie it did not end patriarchy (deferring to
one’s betters), nor racism, nor did it bring about
absolute equality –
• However, it did give us a vehicle, a political mechanism
that would eventually lead to these things—’Founding
Fathers’ were also a product of their time, as we are a
product of our time.
Evaluate the relative importance of the
causes that impelled the colonists to
rebel?
• Parliamentary Taxation
• Violation of civil liberties
• British military measures
• Colonial legacy of religious and political ideas
Be able to describe the course and
outcome of the War
• The key battles
• political ideology justifying the revolution
• The short and long term results of the Revolution