Transcript The Duel for North America

The Duel for North America
Giovanni Verrazano
• 1524
• Mapped NC to
Newfoundland
• First European to see
the New York Harbor
• Italian working for the
French crown
Jacques Cartier
• Jacques Cartier was
a navigator who made
three voyages for
France to the North
American continent
between 1534 and
1542. He explored the
St. Lawrence River
and gave Canada its
name.
Samuel de Champlain
• He made several
expeditions to North
America before
founding Quebec in
1608 (capital of New
France), eventually
heavily fortified.
• He discovered Lake
Champlain in 1609 .
• Father of New France
Jacques Marquette and
Louis Joliet
• http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/chicago/pe
opleevents/p_mandj.html
•
•
•
1673 -In two canoes paddled by five , Marquette and Joliet crossed
Wisconsin in the summer of 1673 and followed the Mississippi hundreds of
miles south to Arkansas — far enough to confirm that it drained into the
Gulf of Mexico but not so far that they would be captured by the Spanish.
Marquette and Joliet did not discover the Mississippi. Indians had been
using it for thousands of years, and Spanish explorer Hernando De Soto
had crossed it more than a century before them. They did confirm, however,
that it was possible to travel easily from the Great Lakes all the way to the
Gulf of Mexico by water, that the native peoples who lived along the route
were generally friendly, and that the natural resources of the lands in
between were extraordinary.
Equipped with this information, French officials led by LaSalle would erect a
4,000-mile network of trading posts to systematically exploit those riches
over the next century and a half.
Robert de Salle
• Explored the Great
Lakes
• 1682, followed the
Mississippi River all the
way to the Gulf and
named Louisiana, by
1718 home to large
plantations.
– Followed by Mobile, New
Orleans, Ft. St. Louis
(Victoria, TX)
– http://www.texasbeyondhi
story.net/stlouis/index.htm
l
• 1687 -La Salle is killed in a mutiny when
he attempts a desperate march from his
outpost on the Texas coast to French
settlements on the upper Mississippi for
assistance. Those who remain behind at
Fort St. Louis have all perished by the time
Spanish forces, patrolling the region
against a rumored French incursion,
discover their settlement in 1689.
French/Native Relationships
• Mainly male fur trappers came over,
known as “Coureurs de bois” or “runners
of the woods.”
• Many lived among the natives and
intermarried.
• Missionaries converted thousands,
tolerating many native customs.
– The English could offer better goods to trade
but were not as tolerant.
• The Iroquois Confederacy (Mohawk, Seneca, Cayuga,
Onondaga, and Oneida) had defeated the Hurons in the 1640s
(trading partners with the French).
– This pushed the French further into the interior to find
trading partners.
• The Iroquois were trading partners with the English and Dutch
along the east coast, but often traded with the French in the
interior.
• Conflicts begin in the Ohio Valley (French claimed) when
Indians begin to move further west due to English expansion.
• The English colonists begin in moving west as well, which
creates a battleground.
• Anytime there are conflicts in Europe there will be conflicts in
the colonies.
King William’s War 1689-97
• King William was an enemy of Louis XIV’s, and long
opposed France’s expansion in the New World.
• Pitted French Canadians and their Indian allies
against New England colonists and their Indian allies
in a few battles.
• Did not result in significant transfers of North
American land between European powers.
Queen Anne’s War 1702-13
(War of Spanish Succession)
• Continued fighting with France and their new ally Spain
(settlements in the south and west).
• Arose initially out of French and Indian raids on British
settlements along the New York and New England
borders with Canada.
• The war was ended by the Treaty of Utrecht and resulted
in Acadia (renamed Nova Scotia), Newfoundland, and
the Hudson Bay territory being ceded to the British.
• 1733 Georgia is founded as a buffer
colony to buffer the colonists from the
Spanish as trading rights are disputed
• King George’s War 1744-1748 New
England colonists capture Louisbourg ($6
million) on Cape Breton Island (guarded
the Gulf of St. Lawrence), but in the peace
treaty give it back.
– After this war the English make stronger
trading ties with the Iroquois and the
French start fortifying the Ohio River
Valley in reaction to English/Iroqouis
relationship. The English begin to fortify
as well.
The French & Indian War
7 Years War
4
• http://storiesofusa.com/french-and-indianwar-1754-1763/
French and Indian War
1754-1763
• http://www.pbs.org/thewarthatmadeamerica/timeline.html
• Gov. Dinwiddie of VA sends out 21 year old George
Washington to the Ohio River Valley claim the area and set up
Ft. Necessity.
• The Ohio territory was seen as valuable because it helped
connect their Canadian territory to the Mississippi River and
Louisiana.
• The French were building Ft. Duquesne nearby.
• The French attack Ft. Necessity, after killing 1/3 of the
colonists Washington surrenders.
• http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/travel/cultural_diversity/
Fort_Necessity_National_Battlefield.html
The Albany Conference
• Representatives met daily in Albany, NY
from June 19 to July 11 to discuss better
relations with the Indian tribes and
common defensive measures against the
natives. The Congress is notable for
producing Ben Franklin’s Albany Plan of
Union, which was rejected. Thomas
Hutchinson (Gov of MA) was also in
charge.
– The seven British North American colonies that joined the gathering
were Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, Maryland, Massachusetts,
Pennsylvania and New Hampshire
Braddock’s Blundering
• Early the next year, 1755, Major General Edward
Braddock was sent to America. He quickly set in
motion plans to capture Fort Duquesne, leading his
troops west from Virginia in June.
• Meeting the French 10 miles east of Fort Duquesne,
the British were defeated with heavy losses, including
Braddock .Once again the French had maintained
their grip on the Ohio Valley.
• At this point most natives were allied with the French
and the Iroquois were doubting their alliance with the
British.
• The colonists were pretty much defending themselves
against native attacks.
Edward Braddock
• 1756 war is officially recognized in Europe.
• “Organizer of Victory”, William Pitt takes
over in 1757.
– Appointed military commanders
– Impressed colonists (forced military service)
which caused rioting in NYC.
– Seized equipment and supplies from colonists
– Forced the colonists to provide shelter for
troops
• Eventually he relaxed and more colonists were
willing to help.
– French supply line to North America is cut off.
• By 1758 the Brits were no longer outnumbered
and were doing the bulk of the fighting.
• Amherst and Wolfe capture Louisbourg (1758)
• 1758 Ft. Duquesne fell (rebuilt and renamed
Pittsburg by the English)
• Battle of Quebec (1759) – turning point. British
win. Both sides lost their commanding officers.
• Battle of Montreal (1760) – last time French flags
would fly on American soil, France surrenders.
• http://mrnussbaum.com/fiwar/
Other tactics…
• Population dispersal – Several thousand
French were uprooted in Nova Scotia
(previously Acadia), many made their way
to New Orleans (Cajuns).
• “Scalp Bounties” for natives that brought
back the scalps of natives allied with the
French. (100s of English families perished
in raids)
Paris Peace Treaty 1763
• Britain gets all of Canada
– French keep a few sugar islands in the
Caribbean
• French turn over Louisiana to the Spanish in
compensation for their loss of FL (who had given
it to the Brits to get back Cuba and the
Philippines.)
– Louisiana under Spanish rule until 1800, then 1803 Louisiana
Purchase by the U.S.
– Florida remained under British rule until the end of the American
Revolution, it was retroceded to Spain. The US then purchased
FL in 1819.
FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR 1754-1763 summarized
FOR OVER 100 YEARS THE FRENCH AND BRITISH
HAD STRUGGLED FOR CONTROL OF NORTH AMERICA
WHICH HAD RESULTED IN THREE EARLIER WARS
BOTH FRANCE AND ENGLAND WANTED TO EXPAND
THEIR TERRITORY WEST OF THE APPALACHIAN
MOUNTAINS INTO THE OHIO VALLEY
THE TWO SIDES FACED HARDSHIPS SUCH AS
DISEASE, WEATHER, AND LOGISTICS OF
TRANSPORTING SUPPLIES TO THE BATTLEGROUNDS
NATIVE AMERICANS IN THE AREA PLAYED THE
COLONIAL POWERS OFF OF EACH OTHER AND TOOK
SIDES WHEN THEY FELT IT WOULD BENEFIT THEIR
GOAL OF HALTING FURTHER ENCROACHMENT ON
THEIR LAND
FRANCE TOOK THE EARLY LEAD, HOWEVER THE
BRITISH EVENTUALLY DEFEATED THE FRENCH IN A
WAR THAT WAS FOUGHT IN THE OHIO VALLEY,
MONTREAL, INDIA, THE PHILIPPINES, AND THE WEST
INDIES
FRENCH
POWDER
HORN
WITH
RIVERS
ENGRAVED
ON IT
Effects of the war
• Expansion of British territory
• English government angry with colonist
support (many were still trading with the
enemy)
• Colonists learned how to unite
• Colonist see the British as snobby from
their wartime experience
• Crown attempts to stop expansion west
Pontiac’s Rebellion
• Ottawa Chief, last effort to regain the Ohio
Valley united several tribes and began
attacking British towns (killed or kidnapped
600)
• Blankets infested with small pox was
distributed among the Indians.
• Whites began stationing troops along the
frontier.
• http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php
?rec=539
Proclamation of 1763
• Issued by parliament prohibiting any
settlement beyond the Appalachians.
– Colonists see this as oppression and a way
for the crown to control them.
– 1765 estimated 1,000 wagons rolled west
anyways.
THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR FUELED THE
DESIRE FOR INDEPENDENCE
COLONISTS UNIFIED FOR THE FIRST TIME BEHIND
THE BRITISH TO DEFEAT THE FRENCH. THIS LED TO A
SENSE OF PRIDE AND UNITY NOT EXPERIENCED PRIOR
TO THE CONFLICT.
THE COLONISTS DID NOT FEEL THE SAME NEED TO
REMAIN TIED TO THE BRITISH AFTER THE WAR AS THE
“FRENCH THREAT” WAS REMOVED.
THE BRITISH IMPOSED MANY TAXES ON THE
COLONISTS TO PAY FOR THE WAR EFFORT WITHOUT
ANY COLONIAL INPUT OR REPRESENTATION IN
PARLIAMENT.
THE BRITISH RESTRICTED FURTHER WESTERN
SETTLEMENT WITH THE PROCLAMATION LINE OF 1763.
THE COLONISTS FELT ENTITLED TO THE LANDS GAINED
DURING THE WAR THEY HAD HELPED WIN.
GREAT BRITAIN PASSED MANY RESTRICTIVE
LAWS (PM – Grenville)THAT SPARKED
PROTEST ON THE PART OF THE COLONISTS
SUGAR ACT OF 1764 WHICH ACTUALLY LOWERED THE TAX
ON SUGAR BUT TIGHTENED ENFORCEMENT OF THE LAW AND
CRACKED DOWN ON SMUGGLING, also taxed coffee, wine,
indigo. Forbids importation of French rum and wines. Court
was set up in Nova Scotia to prosecute smugglers. Britain had
“writs of assistance” or search warrants that allowed ships to
be inspected.
Merchants had long smuggled sugar after the Molasses
Act of 1733
CURRENCY ACT 1764 – FORBID COLONISTS FROM MAKING
THEIR OWN MONEY. Boston merchants begin boycott.
STAMP ACT OF 1765 WHICH TAXED ALL PRINTED
MATERIALS: legal documents, newspaper, pamphlets, deeds,
wills. Impacted all class levels, seen as a way to raise money
without consent. Also seen as an internal tax rather than
external.
Nonimportation agreement
THE BRITISH HAD WAR DEBTS
TAX STAMP USED ON
ALL PRINTED
MATERIALS
James Otis
• http://www.nndb.com/people/353/00004920
6/
• Lawyer from Massachusetts that began
speaking out against the crown in 1761
(writs), protested the Sugar Act, and was
present for the Stamp Act Congress (1765)
which his circular had called for.
• “Taxation without representation is tyranny.”
• Killed by lightning in 1783, mental instability.
Patrick Henry
• May 1765 introduced a
set of rules that said
Americans possessed the
same rights as the
English: to be taxed only
by their own
representatives,
Virginians should only
pay taxes voted on by the
VA Assembly.
– The House defeated most
of what Henry said, but
were printed and circulated
as the “Virginia Resolves.”
http://www.history.org/almanack/
people/bios/biohen.cfm#speech
Stamp Act Congress
October 1765
• 9 colonies sent delegates
to NY and issue the
Stamp Act Resolves.
• http://www.ushistory.org/u
s/10a.asp
• http://www.stamp-acthistory.com/tea-act/teaact-contribution/
• The delegates approved a 14-point Declaration of Rights
and Grievances, formulated largely by John Dickinson of
Pennsylvania. The statement echoed the recent resolves
of the Virginia House of Burgesses, which argued that
colonial taxation could only be carried on by their own
assemblies. http://www.nolo.com/legalencyclopedia/content/antistamp-doc.html
• The delegates singled out the Stamp Act and the use of
the vice admiralty courts for special criticism, yet ended
their statement with a pledge of loyalty to the king. The
third of the thirteen points that the congress adopted read,
"That it is inseparably essential to the freedom of the
people, and the undoubted right of Englishmen, that no
taxes be imposed on them but with their own consent,
given personally or by their representatives."
• Dickinson wrote Letters of a Pennsylvania Farmer,
regarding the nonimportation and nonexportation
agreements against Gr. Britain. These essays
were published in London in 1768 by Benjamin
Franklin, and later translated to French and
published in Paris. In 1774 he attended the first
Continental Congress and wrote an Address to the
Inhabitants of the Province of Quebec. There also,
in 1775, and in combination with Jefferson, he
wrote a Declaration of the Causes and Necessity
of Taking Up Arms (July 6, 1775). Dickinson was
opposed to a separation from Gr. Britain and
worked very hard to temper the language and
action of the Congress, in an effort to maintain the
possibility of reconciliation.
http://www.bostonteapartyship.com/sons-of-liberty
PROTESTS OVER THE
NEW TAXES LED TO THE
CREATION OF GROUPS
SUCH AS THE SONS OF
LIBERTY WHO WERE
WILLING TO USE
VIOLENCE IF NECESSARY
TO CONVINCE THE
BRITISH GOVERNMENT
TO REPEAL THE LAWS
MADE WITHOUT
REPRESENTATION
http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/relat
ed/sons.htm
THE TAX COLLECTOR TARRED,
FEATHERED, AND FORCED TO DRINK
STEAMING HOT TEA
• For a number of years after the Stamp Act riot, the Sons
of Liberty organized annual celebrations to
commemorate the event. In 1768, the city had a parade
and a large gathering at the Liberty Tree near Boston
Common, where Andrew Oliver, the stamp-distributor
elect, had hanged in effigy during the 1765 riot. In 1769,
350 members of the Sons of the Liberty attended a great
dinner under a tent at the Liberty Tree Tavern in
Dorchester. The revelers flew flags, played music, fired
cannons, and offered up 45 toasts to everything from
"All true Patriots throughout the World" to "The Speedy
Removal of all Task Masters." http://www.masshist.org/
• Thomas Hutchinson, Lt. Governor of Massachusetts,
opposed the Stamp Act but as an officer of the crown felt
he had to remain loyal. His elegant home was virtually
destroyed and he was pretty much forced to move back
to England.
• In addition to losing expensive furnishings and an
extensive wine collection, Hutchinson lost an extremely
valuable library of historical documents dating to the
earliest days of Massachusetts settlement.
QUARTERING ACT OF 1765
-
Regular troops would now be present in the colonies
– Colonists were required to help provision and maintain the
army
– Ships would patrol for smugglers
– Customs Service reorganized and enlarged
Due to the boycotts Parliament repealed
the Stamp Act in March of 1766 but soon
issued the DECLARATORY ACT, which
authorized Parliament to pass any laws
without the consent of the colonists. (new
PM Rockingham was quickly replaced due
to his willingness to appease the colonists)
• New PM Charles Townshend, aka Champagne
Charlie immediately passes two measures.
– 1. Disbands the NY Assembly for their denial to
mandate supplies to British troops (Army
headquarters were there) until they agree to obey.
Boston had also refused.
• This infuriated the other colonies! The Massachusetts
assembly immediately put together a circular letter to all
colonies suggesting they stand up to any tax. London issued
their own circular that said any assembly endorsing the
Massachusetts letter would be dissolved. Massachusetts
reaffirmed their support of the letter 92-17.
– 2. Townshend Duties – new tax on lead, paint,
paper, tea… colonists did not accept. He also tried to
strengthen the Customs Dept. Townshend dies in
1767 and the new PM, Lord North, repeals all but the
tax on the tea. Before news of the repeal reached the
colonies….
BOSTON
MASSACRE
1770
THE BRITISH SENT
TROOPS TO BOSTON
IN AN ATTEMPT TO
RESTORE ORDER,
HOWEVER A CLASH
BETWEEN SOLDIERS
AND TOWNSPEOPLE
RESULTED IN 5
COLONISTS’ DEATHS.
THE TROOPS WERE
BASICALLY
ACQUITTED IN A
TRIAL, WHICH
FUELED THE ANGER
OF THE COLONISTS.
ENGRAVING OF THE
EVENT BY PAUL
REVERE
COMMITTEES OF CORRESPONDENCE (1772)
CREATED UNITY WITHIN THE DIVERSE
COLONIES, suggested by Samuel Adams.
THE DAILY LIVES OF THE COLONISTS WERE SO VARIED THAT
THERE WAS NOT A UNIFIED RESPONSE TO THE NEW TAXES.
MANY WERE VERY LOYAL TO THE BRITISH CROWN AND HAD
NO INCLINATION TO PURSUE SEPARATION.
COMMITTEES OF CORRESPONDENCE, FIRST IN BOSTON AND
THEN THROUGHOUT THE COLONIES, BEGAN DISTRIBUTING
PAMPHLETS WHICH STATED THE RIGHTS OF COLONISTS.
EVERYONE WAS ANGERED BY THE CLOSING OF HARBORS AS
MOST OF THE COLONIES DEPENDED ON TRADING FOR
REVENUE.
THESE COMMITTEES WERE USED TO CALL THE FIRST
MEETING MADE UP OF DELEGATES FROM EACH OF THE
COLONIES.
THE ENLIGHTENMENT INFLUENCED THE
COLONISTS
PHILOSOPHICAL MOVEMENT THROUGHOUT
EUROPE IN THE 17TH AND 18TH CENTURIES
EMPHASIS ON REASON AS THE MOST
IMPORTANT HUMAN ABILITY
JOHN LOCKE ARGUED THAT PEOPLE
POSSESSED NATURAL RIGHTS SUCH AS LIFE,
LIBERTY, AND PROPERTY. HE BELIEVED THE
PURPOSE OF GOVERNMENT WAS TO
PROTECT THOSE RIGHTS.
LOCKE
BARON dE MONTESQUIEU ARGUED
AGAINST ABSOLUTE MONARCHY
COLONIAL LEADERS BELIEVED THE BRITISH
GOVERNMENT VIOLATED THESE IDEALS AND
DISCUSSED STRATEGIES TO OVERCOME THE
OPPRESSION OF KING GEORGE III
MONTESQUIEU
• Americans had come to respect written
constitutions as a way to shape the powers of
government.
• John Dickinson, Letters of a Pennsylvania
Farmer, argued that external taxes were only
legal to regulate trade not raise revenue… Led
to further support of “No taxation without
representation.” Parliament believed in “virtual
representation.”
• Americans had a different view of sovereignty
compared to the English.
THE GREAT AWAKENING was also influential
RELIGIOUS MOVEMENT THROUGHOUT
THE COLONIES IN THE EARLY 1700s. IT
WAS BASED ON REVIVALISM WHICH
STRESSED INDIVIDUAL RELIGIOUS
EXPERIENCE RATHER THAN NEEDING
CHURCH LEADERS TO CONNECT WITH
GOD
INFLUENTIAL
MINISTERS
COLONISTS JUSTIFIED RESISTANCE
WITH BIBLICAL PRINCIPALS
CONTRIBUTED TO A SENSE OF
EQUALITY SINCE ALL PEOPLE WERE
QUALIFIED TO TAKE AN ACTIVE ROLE IN
THE CHURCH
IT IS WIDELY BELIEVED THAT THIS
WAS A MAJOR FACTOR WHICH LED TO
THE SENSE OF FREEDOM AND
INDEPENDENCE UNDERLYING THE
AMERICAN REVOLUTION
JONATHON EDWARDS
GEORGE WHITEFIELD
1772 Gaspee Affair
• Colonist were tired of the
rude, dishonest, customs
officials….
– Rhode Island colonist set
afire the British ship and
sank it!
http://www.ushistory.org/de
claration/related/gaspee.ht
m
BOSTON TEA PARTY 1773
http://www.history.com/topics/battles-of-lexington-andconcord/videos#the-sons-of-liberty-and-the-boston-tea-party
THE MOST FAMOUS OF MANY PROTESTS AGAINST THE TEA ACT
OF 1773, A TAX DESIGNED TO PROTECT THE BRITISH TEA
MONOPOLY. ABOUT 50 MEMBERS OF THE SONS OF LIBERTY
ORGANIZATION DRESSED UP AS MOHAWK INDIANS AND
DUMPED THOUSANDS OF POUNDS OF TEA FROM 3 SHIPS INTO
THE BOSTON HARBOR.
• TEA ACT 1773 TAX TO PROTECT THE
MONOPOLISTIC EAST INDIA TEA
COMPANY
• INTOLERABLE/COERCIVE ACTS 1774
WERE DESIGNED TO PUNISH
COLONISTS FOR BOSTON TEA PARTY
AND MAKE THEM SUBMIT TO THE
WILL OF THE BRITISH KING
• After the royal governor dissolved the VA
Assembly a group met in the Raleigh
Tavern in Williamsburg declaring the
Intolerable Acts took away the liberties of
every colony and they issued a call for a
Continental Congress.
FIRST CONTINENTAL
CONGRESS
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA
Peyton Randolph elected president of
the CC, John Hancock Second CC
(Sept. – Oct. 1774)
FIFTY SIX MEN FROM TWELVE
COLONIES (GEORGIA DECLINED
BECAUSE THEY RELIED ON THE
BRITISH TO PROTECT THEM
AGAINST NATIVE AMERICANS)
MET TO DISCUSS THE
INTOLERABLE ACTS PASSED BY
PARLIAMENT TO PUNISH THE
COLONISTS FOR THE BOSTON
TEA PARTY. THEY DRAFTED THE
DECLARATION and RESOLVES.
THE GROUP WAS DIVIDED
BETWEEN THOSE WHO WANTED
TO RECONCILE WITH GREAT
BRITAIN AND THOSE WHO
WANTED TO SEPARATE.
http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/r
elated/congress.htm
5 Decisions of the Continental
Congress
• They rejected Joseph Galloway’s (PA) plan to form a
union under the control of the British and instead went
with Paul Revere’s (MA) plan of boycotting trade and
arming militia.
• Endorsed a statement of grievances
• Passed resolution including that colonists make military
preparations.
• Agreed to nonimportation/nonexportation
• Agreed to meet again the following spring
Too little, too late
• Parliament agreed to the Conciliatory
Propositions which would have allowed
the colonists to tax themselves at
Parliament’s demand.
• By the time this word reaches the colonies
the first shots of war had been fired.
BRITISH TROOPS WERE ORDERED TO ARREST
SAMUEL ADAMS AND JOHN HANCOCK IN
LEXINGTON, MA. GEN. THOMAS GAGE DECIDES
TO ALSO TRY TO SEIZE GUNPOWDER IN
CONCORD.
JOHN HANCOCK
SAMUEL ADAMS
IN LEXINGTON 8 COLONISTS WERE KILLED. IN CONCORD 73 REDCOATS
WERE KILLED AND 93 COLONISTS WERE KILLED. On the way back to
Boston the numbers rose to 250 colonists dead and 90 redcoats dead.
On April 18, 1775, Dr. Joseph Warren • Paul Revere never shouted
learned from a source inside the British
the legendary phrase later
high command that Redcoat troops
attributed to him (“The British
would march that night on Concord.
are coming!”) as he passed
Warren dispatched two couriers,
from town to town during his
silversmith Paul Revere and tanner
midnight ride on April 18,
William Dawes, to alert residents of the
news. They first traveled by different
1775. The operation was
routes to Lexington, a few miles east of
meant to be conducted as
Concord, where revolutionary leaders
discreetly as possible since
Samuel Adams and John Hancock had
scores of British troops were
temporarily holed up.
hiding out in the
On the road, they met a third rider,
Massachusetts countryside.
Samuel Prescott, who alone made it all
the way to Concord.
Furthermore, colonial
http://www.paulreverehouse.org/ride/re
Americans at that time still
al.html
considered themselves
http://www.history.com/topics/battles-ofBritish.
lexington-and-concord
concord
• At dawn on April 19, some 700 British troops arrived in Lexington and came
upon 77 militiamen gathered on the town green. A British major yelled,
“Throw down your arms! Ye villains, ye rebels.” The heavily outnumbered
militiamen had just been ordered by their commander to disperse when a
shot rang out. To this day, no one knows which side fired first. Several
British volleys were subsequently unleashed before order could be restored.
When the smoke cleared, eight militiamen lay dead and nine were
wounded, while only one Redcoat was injured.
• The British then continued into Concord to search for arms, not realizing that
the vast majority had already been relocated. They decided to burn what
little they found, and the fire got slightly out of control. Hundreds of
militiamen occupying the high ground outside of Concord incorrectly thought
the whole town would be torched. The militiamen hustled to Concord’s North
Bridge, which was being defended by a contingent of British soldiers. The
British fired first but fell back when the colonists returned the volley.
• After searching Concord for about four hours, the British prepared to
return to Boston, located 18 miles away. By that time, almost 2,000
militiamen—known as minutemen for their ability to be ready on a
moment’s notice—had descended to the area, and more were constantly
arriving. At first, the militiamen simply followed the British column. Fighting
started again soon after, however, with the militiamen firing at the British
from behind trees, stone walls, houses and sheds. Before long, British
troops were abandoning weapons, clothing and equipment in order to retreat
faster.
When the British column reached Lexington, it ran into an entire brigade of
fresh Redcoats that had answered a call for reinforcements. But that did not
stop the colonists from resuming their attack. The British, for their part, tried
to keep the colonists at bay with flanking parties and canon fire. In the
evening a contingent of newly arrived minutemen from Salem and
Marblehead, Massachusetts, had a chance to cut off the Redcoats and
perhaps finish them off. Instead, their commander ordered them not to
attack, and the British were able to reach the safety of Charlestown Neck,
where they had naval support. On the way back to Boston the
numbers rose to 250 colonists dead and 90 redcoats dead.
The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere
by Henry 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. He
said to his friend, "If the British march
By land or sea from the town to-night,
Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry arch
Of the North Church tower as a signal light,-One if by land, and two if by sea;
And I on the opposite shore will be,
Ready to ride and spread the alarm
Through every Middlesex village and farm,
For the country folk to be up and to arm."
• Then he said "Good-night!" and with muffled oar
Silently rowed to the Charlestown shore,
Just as the moon rose over the bay,
Where swinging wide at her moorings lay
The Somerset, British man-of-war;
A phantom ship, with each mast and spar
Across the moon like a prison bar,
And a huge black hulk, that was magnified
By its own reflection in the tide. Meanwhile, his
friend through alley and street
Wanders and watches, with eager ears,
Till in the silence around him he hears
The muster of men at the barrack door,
The sound of arms, and the tramp of feet,
• And the measured tread of the grenadiers,
Marching down to their boats on the shore. Then he
climbed the tower of the Old North Church,
By the wooden stairs, with stealthy tread,
To the belfry chamber overhead,
And startled the pigeons from their perch
On the sombre rafters, that round him made
Masses and moving shapes of shade,-By the trembling ladder, steep and tall,
To the highest window in the wall,
Where he paused to listen and look down
A moment on the roofs of the town
And the moonlight flowing over all. Beneath, in the
churchyard, lay the dead,
In their night encampment on the hill,
Wrapped in silence so deep and still
That he could hear, like a sentinel's tread,
The watchful night-wind, as it went
Creeping along from tent to tent,
And seeming to whisper, "All is well!"
• A moment only he feels the spell
Of the place and the hour, and the secret dread
Of the lonely belfry and the dead;
For suddenly all his thoughts are bent
On a shadowy something far away,
Where the river widens to meet the bay,-A line of black that bends and floats
On the rising tide like a bridge of boats.
Meanwhile, impatient to mount and ride,
Booted and spurred, with a heavy stride
On the opposite shore walked Paul Revere.
Now he patted his horse's side,
• Now he gazed at the landscape far and near,
Then, impetuous, stamped the earth,
And turned and tightened his saddle girth;
But mostly he watched with eager search
The belfry tower of the Old North Church,
As it rose above the graves on the hill,
Lonely and spectral and sombre and still.
And lo! as he looks, on the belfry's height
A glimmer, and then a gleam of light!
He springs to the saddle, the bridle he turns,
But lingers and gazes, till full on his sight
A second lamp in the belfry burns. A hurry of
hoofs in a village street,
And the midnight message of Paul Revere.
• A shape in the moonlight, a bulk in the dark,
And beneath, from the pebbles, in passing, a
spark
Struck out by a steed flying fearless and fleet;
That was all! And yet, through the gloom and the
light,
The fate of a nation was riding that night;
And the spark struck out by that steed, in his
flight,
Kindled the land into flame with its heat.
He has left the village and mounted the steep,
And beneath him, tranquil and broad and deep,
Is the Mystic, meeting the ocean tides;
And under the alders that skirt its edge,
• Now soft on the sand, now loud on the ledge,
Is heard the tramp of his steed as he rides. It was twelve
by the village clock
When he crossed the bridge into Medford town.
He heard the crowing of the cock,
And the barking of the farmer's dog,
And felt the damp of the river fog,
That rises after the sun goes down. It was one by the
village clock,
When he galloped into Lexington.
He saw the gilded weathercock
Swim in the moonlight as he passed,
And the meeting-house windows, black and bare,
Gaze at him with a spectral glare,
As if they already stood aghast
At the bloody work they would look upon. It was two by
the village clock,
The hurrying hoof-beats of that steed,
• When he came to the bridge in Concord town.
He heard the bleating of the flock,
And the twitter of birds among the trees,
And felt the breath of the morning breeze
Blowing over the meadow brown.
And one was safe and asleep in his bed
Who at the bridge would be first to fall,
Who that day would be lying dead,
Pierced by a British musket ball. You know the
rest. In the books you have read
How the British Regulars fired and fled,--How the farmers gave them ball for ball,
• From behind each fence and farmyard wall,
Chasing the redcoats down the lane,
Then crossing the fields to emerge again
Under the trees at the turn of the road,
And only pausing to fire and load. So through
the night rode Paul Revere;
And so through the night went his cry of alarm
To every Middlesex village and farm,--A cry of defiance, and not of fear,
A voice in the darkness, a knock at the door,
And a word that shall echo for evermore!
For, borne on the night-wind of the Past,
Through all our history, to the last,
In the hour of darkness and peril and need,
The people will waken and listen to hear
IN RESPONSE TO THE BLOODSHED THE SECOND CONTINENTAL
CONGRESS WAS CALLED IN PHILADELPHIA IN MAY 1775. THEY SENT THE
OLIVE BRANCH PETITION TO THE KING THAT BLAMED PARLIAMENT
FOR THE PROBLEMS IN THE COLONIES AND ASKED HIM FOR
RESOLUTION. THE CONGRESS RAISED AN ARMY OF 20,000 MEN AND
ELECTED GEORGE WASHINGTON AS THE COMMANDER IN CHIEF OF THE
MILITARY. LATER THEY SENT DELEGATES TO NEGOTIATE WITH NATIVE
AMERICANS, SET UP A POST OFFICE, SOUGHT FOREIGN AID, SIGNED THE
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, SERVED AS THE GOVERNMENT
DURING THE WAR AND ULTIMATELY WROTE THE ARTICLES OF
CONFEDERATION.
• After retreating from Lexington in April, 1775, the British Army
occupied Boston for several months. Realizing the need to
strengthen their position in the face of increasing anti-British
sentiment in and around Boston, plans were developed to seize and
fortify nearby Dorchester Heights and Charlestown peninsulas. The
peninsulas offered a commanding view of the seaport and
harbor, and were important to preserving the security of
Boston. The Americans caught word of the British plan, and
decided to get to the Charlestown peninsula first, fortify it, and
present sufficient threat to cause the British to leave Boston. On 16
June, 1775, under the leadership of Colonels Putnam, and Prescott,
the Patriots went onto the Charlestown Peninsula with instructions to
establish defensive positions on Bunker's Hill. For reasons that are
unclear, they took nearby Breed's Hill. The next morning, the British
were astonished to see the rebel fortifications upon the hill and set
out to reclaim the peninsula.
THE KING REJECTED THE PETITION AND
SENT MORE TROOPS
BATTLE OF
BUNKER
HILL
JUNE 1775
http://www.charlestownonline.net/bunker
hillbattle.htm
• General Howe served as the commander of the British main assault
force and led two costly and ineffective charges against the
Patriot's fortifications without inflicting significant casualties on his
opponents. After obtaining 400 reinforcements which included sorely
needed ammunition for his artillery, Howe ordered a bayonet charge
to seize Breed's Hill. In this third attempt, the British were finally able
to breach the breastworks of the American redoubt and the Patriots
were forced to retreat back to the mainland.
• This battle, though victorious, proved costly for the British. Of the
2400 British soldiers in Howe's command, the 1054 casualties
accounted for nearly forty percent of their ranks. The American
casualties were 441, including 30 captured, with most being
inflicted during the retreat. The battle served to proved to the
American people that the British Army was not invincible. It became
a symbol of national pride and a rally point of resistance against
British rule.
• In London, the news of Bunker Hill
convinced the king that the situation in the
Colonies had escalated into an organized
uprising and must be treated as a foreign
war. Accordingly, he issued a
Proclamation of Rebellion.
TheDecision
Battle of Bunker
(Breed’s Hill)
forHillIndependence
demonstrated
Americans
were
In early 1776, boththat
Spain
& France began
shippingto
war
supplies
willing
stand
uptotocolonists
a pitched battle
• The Lexington & Concord skirmish was the 1st
of a series
conflicts
before
the American
Despiteofgrowing
calls
for independence,
thecall
congress issued
the Olive
Petition to
for independence
from
1775Branch
to 1776:
King George in July 1775
– Fighting erupted around Boston, NY,
Charlestown, & Quebec
King
George rejected the Olive Branch
nd
– The 2Petition
Continental
met to
in AugustCongress
1775
organize a war plan (3 weeks after Bunker
Hill)
– King George declared the colonists in “open
rebellion”
Decision for Independence
• By 1776, the 2nd Continental
CongressChallenged
served as “royal
an informal
infallibility”
national
gov’t
for the
colonies
Persuaded
ordinary
people
to sever ties
with England & its “royal brute”
• The majority of colonists were
undecided about independence
• Thomas Paine’s Common Sense
proved to be the key factor in
convincing Americans to support
colonial independence
THOMAS PAINE AND COMMON SENSE
WIDELY
READ
PAMPHLET
PUBLISHED
IN JANUARY
OF 1776
THAT
OUTLINED
THE
REASONS TO
SEPARATE
FROM GREAT
BRITAIN
http://www.biography.com/people/thomaspaine-9431951
• “Small islands, not capable of protecting themselves, are the
proper objects for kingdoms to take under their care; but there
is something absurd, in supposing a continent to be perpetually
governed by an island.”
― Thomas Paine, Common Sense
• I call not upon a few, but on all; not in this state or that state, but every state.
Up and help us; lay your shoulders to the wheel…Let it be told to the future
world that in the depth of winter..the city and country, alarmed at one common
danger, came forth to meet and repulse it.
–Thomas Paine, The Crisis
http://cchs.ccusd.org/ourpages/auto/2013/9/9/40037251
/C_%20T_%20Paine_s%20Common%20Sense.pdf
http://www.ushistory.org/paine/crisis/singlehtml.htm
http://www.history.com/topics/
battles-of-lexington-andconcord/videos#declarationof-independence
http://www.history.com/topics/battl
es-of-lexington-andconcord/videos#jefferson-writesdeclaration-of-independence
Events leading up to Independence
• Benedict Arnold (winter 1775-76) tries to take Quebec (did
win Fort Ticonderoga in NY)
• Jan 1776 Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense” becomes a
best seller
• February 1776 Patriots crush a loyalist uprising in NC
• March 1776 British are forced out of Boston (“Evacuation
Day”)
• (1,000s) Privateering to raid British ships and loyalists’
ships)
• May 1776 French support $$$$
• June-July 1776 Massive British War Fleet arrives in NY
Harbor
• Proposed peace by Admiral Howe, Staten Island Peace
Conference – Franklin, J. Adams, and Edward Rutledge
WHEN THE CONGRESS
MET AGAIN IN JUNE
1776, RICHARD HENRY
LEE SUBMITTED
RESOLUTIONS FOR
INDEPENDENCE.
COMMISSIONED
THOMAS JEFFERSON TO
HEAD A COMMITTEE TO
DRAFT A DECLARATION
OF INDEPENDENCE. THE
DOCUMENT HAD THREE
PARTS: THE PURPOSE
OF A GOVERNMENT, 27
REASONS FOR
SEPARATION, AND THE
OFFICIAL DECLARATION
OF INDEPENDENCE.
TJ, J Adams, Franklin,
Roger Sherman, Robert
Livingston
Decision for Independence
• On July 2, 1776, the Continental
Congress voted for independence
• On Democratic
July 4, theideals
Declaration
of )
(republicanism
Independence was issued to:
Natural rights & individual liberty
–Justify the Americans’ desire to
separate from England
–Articulate the principles on
which the new nation would be
established
Declaration of Independence (1776)
56 MEN SIGNED THE DECLARATION OF
INDEPENDENCE OVER SEVERAL MONTHS, WITH
THE ADOPTION ON JULY 4, 1776
• The Declaration of Independence
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 the
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 Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
—
• That to secure these rights, Governments are
instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from
the consent of the governed, — That whenever any
Form of Government becomes destructive of these
ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish
it, and to institute new Government, laying its
foundation on such principles and organizing its
powers in such form, as to them shall seem most
likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence,
indeed, will dictate that Governments long
established should not be changed for light and
transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath
shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer,
while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by
abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.
• But when a long train of abuses and
usurpations, pursuing invariably the same
Object evinces a design to reduce them
under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is
their duty, to throw off such Government, and
to provide new Guards for their future
security. — Such has been the patient
sufferance of these Colonies; and such is
now the necessity which constrains them to
alter their former Systems of Government.
The history of the present King of Great
Britain is a history of repeated injuries and
usurpations, all having in direct object the
establishment of an absolute Tyranny over
these States. To prove this, let Facts be
submitted to a candid world.
• He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most
wholesome and necessary for the public good.
• He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of
immediate and pressing importance, unless
suspended in their operation till his Assent should be
obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly
neglected to attend to them.
• He has refused to pass other Laws for the
accommodation of large districts of people, unless
those people would relinquish the right of
Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable
to them and formidable to tyrants only.
• He has called together legislative bodies at places
unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the
depository of their Public Records, for the sole
purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his
measures.
• He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly,
for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the
rights of the people.
• He has refused for a long time, after such
dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby
the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation,
have returned to the People at large for their
exercise; the State remaining in the mean time
exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without,
and convulsions within.
• He has endeavoured to prevent the population of
these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws
for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass
others to encourage their migrations hither, and
raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
• He has obstructed the Administration of
Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for
establishing Judiciary Powers.
• He has made Judges dependent on his Will
alone for the tenure of their offices, and the
amount and payment of their salaries.
• He has erected a multitude of New Offices,
and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass
our people and eat out their substance.
• He has kept among us, in times of peace,
Standing Armies without the Consent of our
legislatures.
• He has affected to render the Military
independent of and superior to the Civil
Power.
• He has combined with others to subject us to a
jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and
unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to
their Acts of pretended Legislation:
• For quartering large bodies of armed troops among
us:
• For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment
for any Murders which they should commit on the
Inhabitants of these States:
• For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
• For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
• For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial
by Jury:
• For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for
pretended offences:
• For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a
neighbouring Province, establishing therein an
Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries
so as to render it at once an example and fit
instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into
these Colonies
• For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most
valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms
of our Governments:
• For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring
themselves invested with power to legislate for us in
all cases whatsoever.
• He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us
out of his Protection and waging War against us.
• He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts,
burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our
people.
• He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign
Mercenaries to compleat the works of death,
desolation, and tyranny, already begun with
circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely
paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally
unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
• He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive
on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country,
to become the executioners of their friends and
Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
• He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us,
and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of
our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose
known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished
destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
• In every stage of these Oppressions We
have Petitioned for Redress in the most
humble terms: Our repeated Petitions
have been answered only by repeated
injury. A Prince, whose character is thus
marked by every act which may define a
Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free
people.
• Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British
brethren. We have warned them from time to time of
attempts by their legislature to extend an
unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have
reminded them of the circumstances of our
emigration and settlement here. We have appealed
to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have
conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to
disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably
interrupt our connections and correspondence. They
too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of
consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the
necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold
them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in
War, in Peace Friends.
• We, therefore, the Representatives of the
united States of America, in General
Congress, Assembled, appealing to the
Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude
of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by
Authority of the good People of these
Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That
these united Colonies are, and of Right ought
to be Free and Independent States, that they
are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British
Crown, and that all political connection
between them and the State of Great Britain,
is and ought to be totally dissolved;
• and that as Free and Independent
States, they have full Power to levy
War, conclude Peace, contract
Alliances, establish Commerce, and to
do all other Acts and Things which
Independent States may of right do. —
And for the support of this Declaration,
with a firm reliance on the protection of
Divine Providence, we mutually pledge
to each other our Lives, our Fortunes,
and our sacred Honor.
Things people liked
• Listed grievances
• Talked about men having rights
• It’s our duty to overthrow a government
Change of attitude from the
public resulted from…
• Cost of the war
• Decrease in affection for the English when
they started recruiting slaves, Natives, and
foreign mercenaries.
• Rejection of the Olive Branch Petition
• Propaganda (Thomas Paine)
• The colonies divided:
–Supporters of independence
were called “Patriots” or “Whigs”
–Colonists that opposed
independence were called
“Loyalists” or “Tories”
–There were many “neutral”
colonists who were conflicted by
the prospect of independence
• Patriots were colonists
who supported the
break from England.
• Loyalists (1/5) are
colonials who support
England.
–
–
–
–
Officeholders
Merchants
Those in isolation
Minorities
Patriots vs.
Loyalists
• Where are
the Loyalists?
• http://www.nj.
gov/military/m
useum/narrati
ves/loyalists.h
tml
American Strengths
• The colonists are
fighting for
independence,
committed
• Home Rule
• George Washington
can inspire his men to
fight, brought in help
• France will aid the
colonies with
weapons, supplies
and their navy
American Weaknesses
• The colonists are
not a trained army
• Outnumbered
• Weak government
• Colonists enlist for
months instead of
years
• Short on money,
weapons and
supplies to fight a
war
British Strengths
• The British have an
experienced
professional army
• Outnumber the
Continental Army
• The British army is
well supplied with
equipment and
weapons
British Weaknesses
• The British are not fighting for a cause
• British officers are careless and poor
leaders (mistakes in the beginning really
proved fatal)
• The British have a to cross the Atlantic
Ocean to send men and supplies for the
war
• The support at home is rather weak
The Strategy of War
• American Colonies
– Keep the Colonial
Army together
– Washington seeks to
stretch the British
army away from
supply lines
– Harass the enemy,
defeat the British in a
major battle
– Get allies to help win!
• Britain
– Seeks to destroy the
Colonial Army
– Regain control of the
colonies by region
– Take the fight to the
Colonial Army using
European war tactics
– Use loyalists support
against the colonies
The Outbreak of Revolution
• The British entered the war
confident of a complete victory:
–Their army was 400% larger;
well-trained solders, experienced
officers, & Hessian mercenaries
–Strong manufacturing base
–The world’s most dominant navy
• Believed the 1776 battles were a
“police action” & the show of force
would force rebels to submit
•
In reality, England faced an
impossible task:
– Their long supply lines across
the Atlantic would not be able to
provide timely provisions
– The American terrain was large
– To win, the English had to find &
defeat the Continental Army
– Underestimated the colonial
commitment to independence
BOTH SIDES HAD STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES
COLONISTS
BRITISH
STRENGTHS
STRENGTHS
STRONG MILITARY
LEADERS
LARGE NUMBER OF TROOPS
FOREIGN AID
PROFESSIONAL ARMY
MORAL ADVANTAGE
WEALTHY
AGRICULTURALLY SELFSUFFICIENT
ABILITY TO HIRE MORE
TROOPS
LARGE AREA
WEAKNESSES
WEAKNESSES
DISORGANIZED
3,000 MILES AWAY:
DIFFICULT TO GET
SUPPLIES, ORDERS
LACK OF UNITY
WEAK GENERALS
ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
FRANCE WANTED REVENGE
Building a Professional Army
•AsWashington’s
task
was
to
defend
long as England did not defeat the
as muchArmy,
territory
as possible:
Continental
England
could not win
–Relied on guerrilla tactics &
avoided all-out-war with Britain
–Washington’s Continental Army
served as the symbol of the
“republican cause”
–But, colonial militias played a
major role in “forcing” neutrals
to support the Revolution
The American
Revolution,
1775-1781
Where
was the
American
Revolution
fought?
The Early Years: 1775-1776
• After Bunker Hill the British concluded Boston was not
the place to wage war and on March 17, 1776
(Evacuation
Day) the
Britishretaliated
left for Novaagainst
Scotia.
Colonial
militias
•
those
who
deserted
the
patriot
Benedict Arnold led a failed invasion of Canada.
cause
• The initial battles of the revolution went badly for
Americans:
– British General Howe forced Washington to retreat
at New York putting the Americans on the run
– Gen Howe issued a “general pardon” to all
Americans who swore an oath of allegiance to
George III; thousands did so
The Second Phase: 1776-1778
• War fleet in NY (Summer of ‘76) with 32,000
soldiers under William Howe. Howe meets with
Congress and offered submission with royal
pardon or war.
• British drove Americans out of Manhattan.
• Christmas night 1776 Washington surprises the
Hessians camped out along the Delaware River
in Trenton, NJ. Scatters them and occupies the
town but could not hold Princeton or Trenton.
“I regret that I have but one life
to give for my country”
• Nathan Hale was a lieutenant in the
Continental Army. In his early
twenties, Hale had worked as a
teacher before the Revolution. In late
September 1776 he volunteered to
cross the British lines and travel to
Long Island in order to gather
intelligence. Unfortunately, his
mission was soon discovered and he
was captured by the British. Taken to
General Howe's headquarters
(commander of the British forces) in
New York, the young spy was
interrogated and executed on
September 22.
http://www.connecticutsar.org/patriots
/hale_nathan.htm
WASHINGTON CROSSED THE
DELAWARE RIVER
• For 1777 British decide to cut the colonies in two.
Howe would move north from NYC and another group
(John Burgoyne) would march south from Canada.
• Howe abandoned this plan and moved his forces from
NY. September 11 he preceded north and took
Philadelphia without problems (Congress moves to
York, PA).
• Burgoyne was left to carry out the northern campaign
alone and after two losses withdrew to Saratoga, NY
(October 17, 1777) where he was surrounded by the
Americans under Horatio Gates. He orders his 5,000
men to surrender.
BATTLE OF SARATOGA
The
French
Negotiated by
none
other Alliance
than• Ben
Franklin,
The news
turning
point ofcovertly
the
Since
1775,
the
French
nd
hit London December
2
war!!
aided Americans with supplies
• But after the “victory” at Saratoga:
–France recognized America as
a new, independent republic
–France promised to pressure
to agree
to American
In 1778, England
England offered
to remove
all
parliamentary
legislation & after
vowedwar’s
never to
independence
end
impose revenue taxes on the colonists again
–France relinquished all of its
The Continental
Congress
refused
the offer
claims to
territory
in America
The Second Phase: 1776-1778
Howestrategy
captured remained
• The British
Captured to
Washington’s New
armyYork
almost
Philadelphia
fight
a
“major
&
decisive”
battle;
starved at Valley Forge
but Continental Army was elusive
• Despite
British
victories
&
1,000s
Took
Princeton
Took Trenton
of colonial “oaths of allegiance”,
Washington kept fighting
–Won small victories that renewed
American wartime morale
–“Won” at Saratoga in 1777
• After suffering a couple of losses Washington goes into winter camp mode
at Valley Forge (just outside Philadelphia). Disease, cold, and hunger
plagued the Americans for months. Desertion rates skyrocketed and
Washington warned Congress that if it did not send supplies immediately,
the army would be forced to "starve, dissolve, or disperse.“
– But the army found its own salvation when Washington ordered generals Nathaniel
Greene and Henry Lee to lead foraging expeditions into New Jersey, Delaware, and
Maryland. The men took livestock, cattle, and horses and in exchange they issued
"receipts" that were supposed to be honored by the Continental Congress. News of the
French alliance, Congress's new promises of extra pay and bonuses after the war, the
newfound food rations, and the warmer change of weather with the onset of spring all
helped to revive the troops sufficiently for Washington to initiate a rigorous training
program for them.
– To make up for their lack of formal military training, the Americans sought out Prussian
soldier Baron von Steuben, whose frequent use of expletives would have rivaled the
"potty mouth" of World War II General George Patton. Speaking through an interpreter,
von Steuben drilled the troops, taught them how to properly handle their weapons, and
how to march in formation.
• It is well believed that Howe allowing Washington to retreat, regroup, and
then spend an entire winter without any attacks sealed the fate of the war.
The Final Campaign
•
The British decided to focus on the South, believing there was a large population of
Loyalists there. Southern whites had been wary of the British ever since word had
spread of Lord Dunmore's 1775 decree, which granted freedom to any slaves
who enlisted with British forces. British land forces paired with naval reinforcements
to inflict the worst American defeat of the war, the surrender of Charleston on
12 May 1780. In the wake of the fall of Charleston, a panicky Continental Congress
turned to General Horatio Gates, the victor of Saratoga, to take command in the
South. Before Gates's troops could reach Charleston, British General Charles
Cornwallis hit them with a surprise attack at Camden, South Carolina, routing the
American army. Gates had to retreat 160 miles north to Hillsborough, North
Carolina. Just when it seemed that Cornwallis had solidified British control over
South Carolina, his own subordinates undercut the British cause by savagely
hanging all conquered forces from the mountains. The "over-mountain men" allied
with other backcountry locals in South Carolina and together they defeated British
forces on 7 October 1780 at King's Mountain. Congress appointed the patient
and exceptionally intelligent Nathanael Greene of Rhode Island to command the
southern theater at the end of 1780. Greene waged a successful war of attrition
against the British in which his soldiers inflicted heavy losses on the regulars in
skirmishes throughout the first half of 1781. By the fall of that year, Greene had
reduced British control in the South to Charleston and Savannah.
The Final Campaign
• Spring 1778 Howe resigns and Sir Henry Clinton takes over
for the British and he moves forces back to NY.
• Benedict Arnold becomes a traitor and conspires with British
agents to betray the West Point on the Hudson River. John
Andre, messenger between Clinton and Arnold, is captured
with documents from Arnold to Clinton. Andre is executed and
Arnold escapes. His plan is unraveled and he spends the rest
of the war in British camps eventually receives a nice sum of
$ from the British.
•
The
Final
Campaign
In Virginia, British forces under the traitorous General Benedict Arnold—
who had begun the war an American patriot—had been fighting
American troops under the command of French Marquis de Lafayette
and Baron von Steuben.
• Cornwallis combined his forces with Arnold's, forming a British army of
about 7,200 men. Cornwallis ordered his troops to dig in at Yorktown, a
port in Virginia's tobacco country, believing that he was invulnerable to a
siege since the British navy controlled the seas and George
Washington's army seemed to be preoccupied with attacking New York.
• .
•
But in late September 1781, a French fleet of some 3,000 sailors under
Admiral de Grasse sailed up from the West Indies to bolster army forces
under the command of Washington and the Rochambeau. The siege that
Cornwallis had thought an impossibility was now at hand. Total American
and French forces of some 16,000 dwarfed Cornwallis's 7,200-man army.
The French and Americans cut off all avenues of British relief for Cornwallis,
whose fate became hopeless. Unable to break the siege, Cornwallis asked
for peace on 17 October, exactly four years to the day after the American
victory at Saratoga.
• Two days later, on 19 October 1781, Cornwallis formally surrendered to the
combined French and American force at Yorktown. British forces marched
out with their colors cased (i.e. no flags flying), their band playing "The World
Turned Upside Down." The war was over and the Americans had achieved
the impossible.
• http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/art/artifact/Painting_31_00010.htm#bio
Cornwallis was exchanged for Henry Laurens who had been imprisoned for
15 months in the Tower of London for treason after trying to secure a loan
from Holland.
THE COLONISTS, WITH THE HELP OF THE
FRENCH, FINALLY DEFEATED THE BRITISH AT
THE BATTLE OF YORKTOWN 1781
U.S. AFTER THE 1783 TREATY OF PARIS,
WHICH ENDED THE AMERICAN
REVOLUTION
Area given to the
new U.S. by
Great Britain in
1783
The Treaty of Paris (1783)
• The Treaty of Paris in 1783 was
negotiated with England by
Franklin, John Adams, John Jay
• The terms included:
– Full American independence
– All territory east of Mississippi
River, between Canada & FL
– The removal of the British army
from U.S. claims in America
– Fishing rights in the Atlantic
John Jay, Ben Franklin,
John Adams
IN 1777 THE
ARTICLES OF
CONFEDERATION
WERE WRITTEN BY
THE SECOND
CONTINENTAL
CONGRESS AS THE
FIRST
INDEPENDENT
GOVERNMENT IN
THE UNITED
STATES OF
AMERICA. IT WAS
OFFICIALLY
ADOPTED IN 1781.
THE ARTICLES REFLECTED THE FEAR OF A STRONG
EXECUTIVE BRANCH AND LACKED THE ABILITY TO
FUNCTION IN SEVERAL IMPORTANT AREAS
NO POWER
TO TAX
NO DIRECT
POWER OVER
CITIZENS
COULD NOT
ENFORCE LAWS
WEAKNESSES OF
THE ARTICLES
OF CONFEDERATION
COULD NOT
BE CHANGED WITHOUT
CONSENT OF ALL
13 STATES
COULD NOT
REGULATE TRADE
SHAY’S REBELLION
DANIEL SHAY LEFT HIS FARM IN WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS
TO SERVE AS A CAPTAIN IN THE REVOLUTIONARY ARMY.
UPON HIS RETURN IN 1787 HE WAS FORCED TO
IMMEDIATELY PAY BACK DEBTS. HE AND OTHERS
PETITIONED THE GOVERNMENT FOR AN EXTENSION WHICH
WAS DENIED. IN RESPONSE HUNDREDS OF FARMERS, WITH
SHAY AS THEIR LEADER, MARCHED TO THE COURTHOUSE TO
DISRUPT THE PROCESS OF SEIZING FARMS FROM PEOPLE
UNABLE TO PAY BACK DEBTS. ABOUT 1200 MARCHED TO
SPRINGFIELD WHERE THE STATE ARSENAL WAS LOCATED.
MILITIA WAS PRIVATELY HIRED AS THE GOVERNMENT WAS
UNABLE TO ACT DIRECTLY UPON CITIZENS. FIGHTING BROKE
OUT BETWEEN SHAY’S FOLLOWERS AND THE MILITIA,
RESULTING IN THE DEATHS OF FOUR FARMERS. SHAY WAS
SENTENCED TO DEATH ( but pardoned) FOR HIS
PARTICIPATION IN THE REBELLION.
THIS EVENT INDICATED THAT THE NEW GOVERNMENT WAS
POWERLESS TO ACT IN A TIME OF CRISIS. IT LED TO THE
CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION HELD THE NEXT YEAR.
The Loyalist Dilemma
• Loyalists believed in liberty too,
but feared that independence
would breed anarchy in America
• Loyalists were treated poorly:
–The English never fully trusted
the Loyalists
–Patriots seized their property;
imprisoned & executed others
• More than 100,000 Loyalists left
America when the war ended
• For African Americans, what mattered most
was freedom. As the war spread through each region of
the country, those in bondage sided with whichever
Army promised them their personal liberty.
• The British actively recruited slaves belonging to Patriot
masters and thus more blacks fought for the Crown. The
estimate of the slave population at the beginning of the
Revolution is about 400,000 to 500,000 - or 20% of the
population. An estimated 80,000 to 100,000 slaves
escaped (Nova Scotia, Jamaica, FL), died or were killed
during the American Revolution — again, about 20% of
the slave population. About 10,000 blacks were recruited
and fought for the British side and about 5,000 blacks
fought for the American side.
•
The
Ethiopian
Regiment
The Royal Governor of Virginia, Lord Dunmore sought to disrupt the American
cause by promising freedom to any slaves owned by Patriot/rebel masters.
Dunmore issued an official proclamation to that effect in November 1775.
About 800 runaway slaves joined Dunmore who formed a regiment of soldiers
from them known as the Ethiopian Regiment. Dunmore hurried to train the
blacks in basic musket shooting; formation marching and even had special
uniforms made up with a provocative insignia "Liberty to Slaves" embroidered
on their breasts. The Regiment scored an easy victory at Kemp's Landing
when unprepared Patriot forces were surprised by Regular British and the
Ethiopian Regiment and fled quickly. Being overconfident, Dunmore ordered
his soldiers to attack fortified positions at Norfolk. This is called the Battle of
Great Bridge and Africans fought on both sides. The Patriots opened fire on
the Ethiopian Regiment who were marching in formation and decimated their
ranks. (Well, decimated is a strong word — 37 killed and 49 wounded is one
account.) Dunmore was forced to withdraw. Cramped quarters aboard British
ships soon took its toll and many of Dunmore's white and black soldiers came
down with smallpox. Many former slaves were put ashore with smallpox to
fend for themselves. Dunmore sailed off with only 300 of the Ethiopian
Regiment. He sailed up to New York where many of the Blacks were
discharged. http://www.gbbattlefield.org/history.html
• Black slaves supported whoever
seemed likely to deliver freedom:
–Northern slaves supported the
colonists who offered freedom
for any slave who fought
–Southern slaves typically
supported Britain
• Native Americans feared colonial
expansion & overwhelmingly
supported Britain
The 1st Rhode Island Regiment
By the winter of 1777-78 (Valley Forge), the Continental Army had dwindled from
18,000 to about 8,000 from disease and desertion. The situation was grim. Philadelphia
was occupied. The Continental Congress was meeting in cramped quarters in York,
Pennsylvania. The Congress approved a Rhode Island proposal to raise an entire
regiment of free blacks and Slaves. The Rhode Island legislature, full of men connected
to Rhode Island's extensive slave trade, provided for compensation to slave owners of
up to 120 English Pounds or $400.00 in Continental currency. The slaves, then, would
be purchased by the state and once they passed muster by Colonel Greene would be
freed. The regiment, however, was never entirely composed of former slaves or even
African-Americans. White men, free blacks, and a few Narragansett Indians were
present from the beginning. Over time, the unit resembled most of the Continental
forces with a mix of whatever recruits could be found. That the majority of the men in
this regiment were African American through most of the war was due to the terms of
enlistment for former slaves. Colonel Greene commanded the unit from its formation in
1778 until his death at Points Bridge in 1781. In all, the unit saw five years of service
and was a part of the Continental line at the battles of Rhode Island, Point's Bridge
and Yorktown.. The regiment was an active part of the American effort, and at Points
Bridge; they were particularly noticed for their effectiveness in the field. For many of the
men of the First Rhode Island Regiment freedom had not only political meaning, but
personal meaning as well.
Virginia and other States recruit free Blacks
•
•
To bring the Continental Army up to strength, Congress ordered the states in January
1777 to fill their units "by drafts, from their militia, or in any other way." As Virginia was
unable to meet her quota of 10,200 men with volunteers a lottery-based draft law was
enacted in May 1777, which greatly increased the number of blacks in the Virginia
Line. Free blacks were the first to be called up, as Virginia tightened the enforcement
of the draft. Most free blacks had no choice but to join up. But slave owners could
afford substitutes and, when faced with a draft notice, many a master presented a
slave to the recruiting officer as a substitute. Many a runaway told the nearest recruiter
that he was a freeman, anxious to fight. More often than not, he was accepted without
too many questions; the army was always short of men. During the winter of 1777-78,
dozens of black Virginians served in every one of the state regiments, freezing,
starving, and dying at Valley Forge. By February 1778, the survivors were marching
with white comrades through the snow, practicing Baron von Steuben’s as yet
unfamiliar drill.
Except for the Carolinas and Georgia, all of the other states accepted blacks into
their ranks. They served in un-segregated units. When Washington crossed the
Delaware, many of Colonel Glover's Massachusetts Marble-headers were African. The
famous painting of "Washington Crossing the Delaware" shows a black man on the
boat with a pole in the icy water. A John Trumbull painting of the Battle of Bunker
Hill shows a black soldier, although he painted it seven years after the event in
England.
• James Armistead
http://www.newkent.net/historyjames.html
• James Forten
http://explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?m
arkerId=1-A-28C
Women in the War
• Margaret Corbin “Molly Pitcher”
– http://www.nwhm.org/educationresources/biography/biographies/margaretcochran-corbin/
• Nancy Morgan Hart
– http://www.nwhm.org/educationresources/biography/biographies/nancymorgan-hart/
• Deborah Sampson
– http://www.nwhm.org/educationresources/biography/biographies/deborahsampson/
Women in the War
• Women’s role in the revolution:
–Supported their husbands &
sons in enlisting in militias
–Ran business affairs & continued
boycotting English goods while
men fought (i.e. Abigail Adams)
–Created propaganda (political
satires by Mercy Otis Warren)
–Some helped in the battlefield
(“Molly Pitcher”)
key points
• Signature page of the Treaty of Paris courtesy of the National
Archives and Records Administration.
– Preface. Declares the treaty to be "in the name of the most holy
and undivided Trinity," states the bona fides of the signatories,
and declares the intention of both parties to "forget all past
misunderstandings and differences" and "secure to both
perpetual peace and harmony."
• Acknowledging the 13 colonies to be free, sovereign and
independent States, and that the British Crown and all heirs and
successors relinquish claims to the Government, propriety, and
territorial rights of the same, and every part thereof;
• Establishing the boundaries between the United States and British
North America, Great Lakes are new border.
• Granting fishing rights to United States fishermen in the Grand
Banks, off the coast of Newfoundland and in the Gulf of Saint
Lawrence;
• Recognizing the lawful contracted debts to be paid to creditors on
either side;
• The Congress of the Confederation will "earnestly recommend" to
state legislatures to recognize the rightful owners of all confiscated
lands "provide for the restitution of all estates, rights, and properties,
which have been confiscated belonging to real British subjects
[Loyalists]";
• United States will prevent future confiscations of the property of
Loyalists;
• Prisoners of war on both sides are to be released and all property
left by the British army in the United States unmolested (including
slaves);
• Great Britain and the United States were each to be given perpetual
access to the Mississippi River;
• Territories captured by Americans subsequent to treaty will be
returned without compensation;
• Ratification of the treaty was to occur within six months from the
signing by the contracting parties.
MERCANTILISM
RESTRICTIVE
LAWS
PASSED
BY BRITISH
ENLIGHTENMENT
IDEAS
CAUSES OF
AMERICAN
INDEPENDENCE
MOVEMENT
FRENCH AND
INDIAN WAR
POPULATION
EXPLOSION AND EXPERIENCES
OF COLONIAL SELF-RULE
GREAT
AWAKENING