American Stories:
A History of the United States
Second Edition
Chapter
5
The American
Revolution
From Elite Protest to
Popular Revolt
1763–1783
American Stories: A History of the United States, Second Edition
Brands • Breen • Williams • Gross
The Patten family farmstead in Bedford, New
Hampshire Scots-Irish immigrants and others on
the colonial frontier in the 1770s, worked to keep
their farms running and struggled to live normal
lives even as Revolution engulfed the country.
The American Revolution
1763–1783
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Structure of Colonial Society
Eroding the Bonds of Empire
Steps Toward Independence
Fighting for Independence
Moment of Decision:
Commitment and Sacrifice
• Few Americans welcomed idea of
colonial war
• Would’ve been safer, cheaper to accede
to British demands
• Ordinary militiamen fought, risked
death
• The ordeal gave new meaning to social
equality
Structure of Colonial Society
Structure of Colonial Society
• 1760s an optimistic post-war period
• Striking ethnic and racial diversity
• 60% of population under twenty-one
years old
• Relatively high per-capita GDP
Structure of Colonial
Society (cont’d)
• Wealth unevenly distributed
 South has richest individuals, and 90%
of non-free colonial population
 Middle colonies
 New England lags behind because of lack
of export products
Breakdown of Political Trust
• 1760—George III ascends throne
 Despite limited ability, wants to take more
active role in government
 Upsets Whigs by ignoring their role
 High turnover among top ministers
Breakdown of Political
Trust (cont’d)
• Hard for Parliament to get adequate
information on colonies
• Parliamentary sovereignty
 English officials assume that Parliament
must have ultimate authority
Political Cartoons Cartoons became a popular
way of criticizing government during this period.
Here, King George III watches as the kilted Lord
Bute slaughters the goose America. A cabinet
member holds a basket of golden eggs at rear. At
front left, a dog urinates on a map of British
America.
No Taxation without Representation:
The American Perspective
• Colonists try to reserve internal colonial
authority for their own legislatures
• Colonists assume their legislatures
equal in some ways to Parliament
No Taxation without Representation:
The American Perspective (cont’d)
• Americans not represented at all in
Parliament
• British officials espouse “virtual
representation”
• Colonists insist only colonial assemblies
should represent Americans
Justifying Resistance
• John Locke and “Commonwealthmen"
shape colonial political thought
 Rebellion against arbitrary government
justified
• Power must be countered by virtue
Justifying Resistance (cont’d)
• Bad government reflects sin and
corruption
• Colonists see British officials as sinful
and corrupt
• Newspapers ensure wide dissemination
of political confrontations
Eroding the Bonds of Empire
Eroding the Bonds of Empire
• Large, expensive debt and army left in
America from Seven Years’ War
• Colonists doubt the army’s value
• Pontiac’s Rebellion
Eroding the Bonds of
Empire (cont’d)
• Exposes the British army’s weakness
 Frontier racism: Paxton Boys
• Colonists determined to settle transAppalachian West
• Proclamation of 1763 bans settlement
in trans-Appalachian West
Paying Off the National Debt
• Prime Minister George Grenville
attempts to reduce England’s war debt
• Revenue Act of 1764 (the Sugar Act)
• Merchants and gentry protest; most
colonists ignore
The Protest Spreads
• 1765—Stamp Act requires that
colonists purchase stamps to validate
documents
• Patrick Henry and the Virginia Resolves,
unites the gentry and the mass of the
population in protest
The Protest Spreads (cont’d)
• Stamp Act Congress petitions the king
and Parliament for repeal
• Sons of Liberty protest includes riots,
mob violence, and boycotts; Stamp Act
repealed
Map 5.1 Colonial Products and Trade
Although the American colonists produced many
agricultural staples that were valuable to Britain,
they were dependent on British manufactures such
as cloth, metal goods, and ceramics.
Fueling the Crisis
• 1767—Charles Townshend creates
Townshend Revenue Acts—tax
American imports of paper, lead, glass,
and tea
• American Board of Customs
Commissioners created to collect duties
Fueling the Crisis (cont’d)
• Quartering Act, 1765—required
colonists to house British troops
• Sons of Liberty organized boycotts of
British goods
Daughters of Liberty The boycott movement
drew many colonial women into popular politics. In
this 1774 woodcut, a Daughter of Liberty stands
ready to resist British oppression.
Surge of Force
• English government moves 4000 troops
to Boston
• March 5, 1770—English soldiers fire on
civilian crowd, kill five Americans—
“Boston Massacre”
• Paul Revere’s engraving of massacre is
best seller
The Boston Massacre
• The Boston Massacre—This etching by
Paul Revere shows British red-coats
firing on ordinary citizens, an event
know as the Boston Massacre. In
subsequent editions, the blood spurting
from the dying Americans became
more conspicuous.
The Boston Massacre This etching by Paul
Revere shows British redcoats firing on ordinary
citizens, an event know as the Boston Massacre. In
subsequent editions, the blood spurting from the
dying Americans became more conspicuous.
The Final Provocation:
The Boston Tea Party
• 1773—Parliament passes Tea Act
 Designed to help the East India Company
by making the sale of its tea cheaper in
America
• Americans interpret this as a subtle
ploy to get them to consume taxed tea
• December 1773—Boston protestors
dump the tea into the harbor
Steps Toward Independence
Steps Toward Independence
• September 1774—First Continental
Congress in response to Coercive Acts
• Congress commends “Suffolk Resolves”
urging forcible resistance
• Intercolonial “Association” halts
commerce with Britain until Coercive
Acts repealed
Shots Heard Around the World
• April 19, 1775—skirmish breaks out in
Lexington, Massachusetts
• Fighting spreads along road between
Lexington, Concord, and Boston
• English retreat to Boston with heavy
losses
• June 17, 1775—colonists inflict heavy
losses on British in Battle of Bunker Hill
Beginning “The World Over Again”
Beginning “The World Over Again”
• Second Continental Congress—action
and inaction
 June 1775—Congress appoints George
Washington commander in chief
 December 1775 Prohibitory Act—British
blockade colonists’ trade
 German mercenaries hired to put down
rebellion
 January 1776—Thomas Paine’s Common
Sense
TABLE 5.1
Chronicle of Colonial-British Tension
Beginning “The World Over Again”
(cont’d)
• Convinces ordinary colonists to sever
ties with Britain
 July 2, 1776—Independence voted by
Congress
 Jefferson writes Declaration of
Independence
Congress Voting Independence Oil painting by
Robert Edge Pine and Edward Savage, 1785. The
committee Congress appointed to draft a
declaration on independence included (center,
standing) John Adams, Roger Sherman, Robert
Livingston, Thomas Jefferson, and (center
foreground, seated) Benjamin Franklin. The
committee members are shown submitting
Jefferson’s draft to the speaker.
Fighting for Independence
Fighting for Independence
• British confident of victory
 Larger population, more resources
 Naval supremacy
• Britain’s tasks
 Supply troops an ocean away in hostile
territory
 Crush the popular spirit of independence
• British underestimate Americans’
commitment to their political ideology
Building a Professional Army
• Washington rejects guerilla warfare
strategy
• Continental army to be a fighting force
and symbol of the republican cause
• Militia’s role: compel support for
Revolution
Building a Professional Army
(cont’d)
• African Americans in the Revolution
 New England militias attract slaves with
promises of emancipation
 Southern slaves more likely to side with
British
“Times that Try Men’s Souls”
• General Howe replaces General Gage
for British
• Fighting shifts to New York; Washington
forced to retreat
• Howe issues pardon for all who swear
loyalty to Britain
“Times that Try Men’s Souls”
(cont’d)
• Washington captures 900 Hessians in
Trenton
• Washington captures Princeton
• The Patriot cause revives, but many
fear the frontier and Native American
support of British
Map 5.2 The American
Revolution, 1775–1781 Battles
were fought in the colonies, on the
western frontier, and along the Gulf
of Mexico. The major engagements of
the first years of the war, from the
spontaneous rising at Concord in
1775 to Washington’s wellcoordinated attack on Trenton in
December 1776, were fought in the
northern colonies. In the middle
theater of war, Burgoyne’s attempt in
1777 to cut New England off from the
rest of the colonies failed when his
army was defeated at Saratoga.
Action in the final years of the war,
from the battles at Camden, Kings
Mountain, Cowpens, and Guilford
Courthouse to the final victory at
Yorktown, occurred in the South.
Victory in a Year of Defeat
• British strategy
 Cut off New England from other colonies
 Lure Continental army into decisive battle
• The plan for cutting off New England
 Burgoyne’s army moves in from Canada
 Howe’s army moves up from New York
 They meet in Albany
Victory in a Year of Defeat (cont’d)
• Burgoyne defeated at Saratoga
• Howe takes Philadelphia instead
• Washington’s army winters at Valley
Forge, Pennsylvania
The French Alliance
• French help colonists to get back at
Britain for defeat in Seven Years’ War
• Effects of Saratoga
 Convinces France that colonists are serious
enough to become formal allies
 British sue for peace to prevent FrancoAmerican alliance
The French Alliance (cont’d)
• British offer repeal of all laws since
1763, respect for colonial taxation
rights
• February 1778—Alliance with France
concluded
Map 5.3 Spain entered the Revolutionary War as
an ally of France in 1779. By 1781, Spanish forces
operating out of New Orleans and St. Louis had
captured British forts in the Mississippi Valley and
the Midwest from Baton Rouge and Natchez to as
far north as the modern state of Michigan. On the
Gulf Coast, Spanish amphibious forces led by Count
Bernardo de Galvez had also overran British posts
from what is now Mobile, Alabama to Pensacola in
what was then the British colony of West Florida.
Spain retained these Gulf Coast ports and regained
all of Florida in the Treaty of Paris in 1783.
The Final Campaign
• British believe Loyalists stronger in
southern colonies, so fighting shifts
there
• Spring 1780—English capture
Savannah and Charleston
• August 1780—American army routed at
Camden, South Carolina
The Final Campaign (cont’d)
• Continental army rallies under
Nathaniel Greene
• Cornwallis moves British into Virginia,
1781
• October 19, 1781—Cornwallis
surrenders to Washington’s combined
French and American forces
Battle of Yorktown French assistance on land
and sea helped the Americans to defeat the British
in the American Revolution. In this French print of
the battle at Yorktown, French ships block the
entrance of Chesapeake Bay, preventing British
vessels from resupplying their troops on land.
Yorktown, which was unknown to the French artist
who made this print, is depicted as a European
walled city.
The Loyalist Dilemma
• More than 100,000 Loyalists leave U.S.
at war’s end
• Loyalists share basic ideology with
Patriots
• Loyalists see rebellion as endangering
“life, liberty, and property”
The Loyalist Dilemma (cont’d)
• Loyalists treated poorly by both sides
 British never fully trust Loyalists
 Patriots seize property, imprison,
execute some
Conclusion: Preserving
Independence
Conclusion: Preserving
Independence
• The American Revolution begins
construction of new form of
government
• Question remains: a government of the
elite or a government of the people?
Timeline