U.S. History Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The Road to Revolution and Victory

Salutary Neglect

Britain ignored its American colonies
1)Domestic Turmoil
Puritan Revolution, Glorious Revolution 4 Wars with France (including F & I)

2)Colonies developed without interference
were almost totally independent from UK. Business prospered without UK

3)Lack of Communication
UK 3,000 miles away
travel and mail very difficult

Results:
1) Colonists received freedom they needed to expand and liked autonomy

2) Foreign trade increased. UK at war
colonists profiteered

3) Colonists began to tap America's
vast natural resources


American Colonists enjoyed a
"de facto independence"

**

1763 Parliament
Prime Minister George Grenville faced with a huge war debt problem after 7 Years Wars

-colonists should pay for 1/3 cost of keeping British Regulars in America for protection

-British enforced the Old Navigation Laws

-Proclamation of 1763 banned colonial settlements west of the Appalachians for the purpose of keeping peace with Indians. Colonists ignored it because of plantation expansion, better hunting, trapping
(colonials not happy)

Sugar Act 1764
(replaced Molasses Act)
forced colonists to purchase only UK approved molasses products (actually cheaper) and put a duty on foreign products

-he actually lowered the duty on foreign molasses from 6 pence to 3 pence

-added a duty on wines, coffee

Quartering Act 1765
required colonials to pay for food and house British Regulars that defended them

(colonists not happy àboycotts)

Stamp Act 1765
Colonists had to pay taxes on paper goods

Grenville used these measures of raising money commonly throughout the British Empire

Any offenders of this legislation had to appear before an admiralty court
(no jurors, guilty until proven innocent)



Colonial Reaction
· Sons of Liberty were formed to intimidate British officials
(Sam Adams)
· nullification - disregard Stamp Act
· Stamp Act Congress - 9/13 colonies
26 delegates in New York City
"No taxation without representation"
British Parliament should represent all
only local taxes would be accepted

*Agreed to boycott British goods
First sign of unity in colonies

Result:
British business suffered
and initiated a repeal….. however
Parliament passes Declaratory Act
(retaining the right to tax)



Causes of the American Revolution

Political -
Americans…..
a) feared tyranny of monarchy, Parliament
b) believed there assemblies = Parliament
c) were not represented in Parliament
(really didn't care….autonomy)
d) taxes today meant taxes tomorrow


Economic
Americans prospered under
salutary neglect
UK enforcement meant necessary smuggling


Social
Americans felt as if they were treated as wilderness barbarians, never like citizens

Religion
Americans felt that eventually an Anglican bishop would come and act as an arm of the British government


Charles Townshend
- Chancellor of the Exchequer

Townshend Act 1767
tax on glass, paper, tea that would yield
revenues used in paying the salaries of governors and judges………efficiency?

colonial reaction - the usual!!
Boycotts…disrespect… smuggling…

**

Regulator Movement
on the Carolina frontier. Protests over taxes and high court rates
-put down by Carolina militia at the Battle of Alamance
-points were clear…unhappy with taxation

Gaspee Incident - ship in Rhode Island port
-crew was looting locals
-ship ran a ground, RI colonial burnt ship
-at trial, no evidence or witnesses



* Boston Massacre 1770

British troops fire upon colonists protesting the Townshend Acts. Sam Adams?
Who fired the first shot?
Who incited the riot?


Colonial Reaction
* Committees of Correspondence
Sam Adams organized the
"Penmen of the Revolution" in Massachusetts. Idea spread throughout colony and to other colonies.
Next step… Inter-colonial committees to exchange ideas and keep British opposition alive.


Typical British reaction
- send more troops to enforce!!!

Note: the British policy of attempting to enforce taxes on their American colonies was self-defeating since enforcement cost more than the actual yields of taxation



Tea Act - May 1773
Lord North attempted to save the British East India Co. by giving it a monopoly on tea in America (actually lowered the cost because of their surplus, even with the Townshend tax.

-American merchants upset undersold by UK aided business
-colonists saw this move as an attempt for tax acceptance
-Ships not allowed to unload their cargo in the colonies

Result:

* Boston Tea Party 1773
cargo dumped in Boston Harbor
(by a band of mysterious Indians)

British reaction

Boston Port Act
- close harbor until restitution is made

Massachusetts Government Act
- altered old Mass Charter Constitution

Administration of Justice Act
- customs cases are tried in UK, not in local courts

Quartering Act
- housing and feeding of British troops


The Intolerable Acts aka Coercive Acts

also

Quebec Act
-gave province permanent govt without an assembly.
Cut off westward expansion.


Note: By redesigning the Mass. Govt., Parliament thought it was going to assert control over its American colony
(backed up with army )
teach the colonials to respect Parliament

Colonists, however, thought differently
They saw an end of the power of their own individual assemblies, courts system, trial by jury, and the end to every American political principle.


Committees of Correspondence call for an inter-colonial congress

1st Continental Congress
- September 1774
First sign of unity
(out of sympathy for Boston)
Each colony was really a mini nation, never really united


John Adams - played a key role in eloquently swaying the congress of 55 delegates
( 12 colonies minus Georgia) to revolution

Sam Adams - Suffolk Resolves
Resistance to the Intolerable Acts

Joseph Galloway - conservative -Pennsylvania revert back to Albany Plan (radicals quiet down)

Resolved
·Agreed as an association to stop all trade with UK, but believed British could regulate.
·Declaration of Rights and Grievances
·Liberty not Independence


Vocal Minority sways the Silent Majority



Lexington & Concord 1775

General Gage, governor of Mass sees problem
-asks George III for 20,000 men. Got 3500

April 14 - receives instructions from Lord Dartmouth to take offensive against any rebellious act

April 19 - sends 700 men to Concord to seize a supply of gunpowder and arms stored there
(militiamen sprang into action)
came to Lexington - 15 min volley
proceeded to Concord (Paul Reveres ride)

Americans fired at British from behind rocks and trees. War Begins

*Second Continental Congress meets in
Philadelphia, May 10, 1775

most members present at 1st Congress

John Hancock - President
George Washington - Commander-in-Chief

(Thomas Jefferson led the Virginia delegates)
unicameral body dubbed as an unlawful assembly and "Den of Traitors" served as our new government throughout the revolution

Radical leaders continued as the vocal minority that wanted total independence.

Silent Majority basically wanted liberty
*control over their affairs
*eliminate certain taxes
*eliminate trade interference

(British leaders wanted the same. Problem was that key officials wanted total domination)


May 1775- Benedict Arnold and Ethan Allen surprise and take British garrison at Fort Ticonderoga

June 17 - Gage gets reinforcements also
John Burgoyne, Henry Clinton, William Howe

Battle of Bunker Hill
actually Breed's Hill. Battle takes place as Regulars march up hill. Americans fire and retreat. Brits outgun them but are cut to pieces

Olive Branch Petition - July 1775
Congress sends a petition to King George asking him to halt Parliament's mercantilism policies in America.
(many colonials wanted to stay Englishmen)

It was refused!!! August 1775, he declares colonies in rebellion.

September 1775 - hires 30,000 Hessians

Both sides prepare for war


December 1775
Richard Montgomery and Benedict Arnold attack Quebec (expected French local help)

the anti-Catholic Americans did it alone and were defeated. (Montgomery killed Arnold was wounded in his leg)

1776
Thomas Paine and Common Sense
pamphlet stated how it made good sense to leave the British Empire and denounce British rule. (remember there are still many loyalists)

Washington comments that there is no choice but to rebel from England and strive for independence.


March 1776
Henry Knox drags cannon taken from Ticonderoga over the snow to Boston. Washington sets it up at Dorchester Heights,
overlooking the British fleet in Boston Harbor

Howe is forced to sail away, siege is over.
**

The Enlightenment

Thomas Hobbes
John Locke
Jean Rousseau

Social Contract Theory
was further developed

"No man was subject to any power superior to his own will. He could take anything by force. In order not to self-destruct, he contracts with other men to give just enough power to the state(government) to protect everyone's rights".

July 4, 1776
The Declaration of Independence
Thomas Jefferson

(A document sometimes called
pure Locke)


Outcome:
Popular Sovereignty
Limited Government
Individual Freedoms




*Revolution and Crisis.

British Advantage
a) superior numbers
b) better trained
c) better quality of supplies

British Dis-Advantages
a) 3000 mi. away from home
b) unfamiliar land
c) poor leadership
d) low morale
e) underestimated colonists

Colonial Disadvantages
a)a small and untrained army
b) inadequate supplies, ammo
c) short periods of enlistment


Colonial Advantages
a) superior leadership
b) fought on home turf
C) morale increased with increasing victories
d) fought for livelihood





The Art of War

British Methodology
- Limited War
a) soldiers only
b) European battle lines


Colonial Methodology
- Total War
a) everyone was involved
b) guerilla warfare



Campaigns 1776


Battle of Long Island

Washington v Howe

British troops and ships leave Boston and enter into NY Harbor.
Washington was outnumbered 2:1
He flees to New Jersey. Howe doesn't follow, Washington has time to re-organize.

Battle of Trenton
December 26,1776
Washington's surprise attack by crossing the icy Delaware River results in the capture of a thousand Hessian mercenaries sleeping off their Christmas celebration.
He persuades his soldiers to re-enlist. They do and he goes on the offensive.

Battle of Princeton,
1 week later
Washington leaves his campfires burning high and attacks a detachment at Princeton. In ten days the colonial have 2 major victories.
Morale is high.

Battles of Brandywine & Germantown

Winter 1777. Washington's army is defeated in two successive battles.
Howe and his army spend the winter in Philadelphia. Washington and his army spend the winter in Valley Forge. Here Baron von Steuben turns the rag tag rabble into an army.


· Battle of Saratoga
- Winter 1777
British plan to take the Hudson Valley Region and cut New England from the lower colonies.

3 prong attack converging on Albany

1.Gen.Burgoyne from Montreal via
Lake Champlain

2.Col. St. Leger also from Montreal down St. Lawrence to Lake Ontario and traveling east to Albany

3.General Howe - Up the Hudson River from NYC.

3 armies meeting in the
Hudson Valley Region


Burgoyne is slowed by an encounter with Benedict Arnold at Lake Champlain and by rough terrain.

St.Leger is defeated at Oriskany by the American militia

Howe spends the winter in Philly after defeating Washington at Brandywine and Germantown. He doesn't show.

Result: Burgoyne's slow moving army is surrounded by colonial militia.
He surrenders his entire command to General Horatio Gates.

Defeat of British marks the turning point of the war. Britain is about to offer home rule to her colonies.

*Ben Franklin convinces France its now or never to support the Americans and get back at England before they reconcile with the British.


The French officially help!!!

marks the turning point of war


Important People of the War

Baron von Steuben - Order and drill master. Gave pride, dignity, and discipline to Washington's army as they spent the winter at Valley Forge

Marquis de Lafayatte - 20 year old adventurer, trained for war. Washington gives him a command, he outfought the more experienced British commanders. He is with Washington at the Yorktown battlefield

Casmir Pulaski - Brave Polish commander killed in the southern campaign

Thaddeus Kosciusko - Commander responsible for the fortifications of West Point


Comte de Rochambeau - Commanded 6000 fresh troops landed in Newport Rhode Island and prepared an attack on NY.
Accompanies Washington at Yorktown

George Rogers Clarke- Western campaign that overruns and takes British Forts Kaskaskia, Cahokia, and Vincennes

Nathaniel Greene kept Cornwallis' army busy by hit and run. Cornwallis stopped the chase in 1781 and set his sights on Virginia.
**

Battle of Yorktown 1781

Cornwallis is out fought by Lafayette
and retreats to the Yorktown peninsula, expecting supplies from the English Navy.

French Navy led by Admiral deGrasse defeats the British Navy and surrounds the peninsula.


General Rochambeau joins Lafayatte and flanks the British. (at least half the troops and all of the navy were French)

Washington receives news of the Corwallis blunder and makes a swift march of more than 300 miles.
He shuts off any escape route.


Cornwallis is completely surrounded and outnumbered 2:1 He surrenders

The Colonial Army stays intact under the watchful eye of Washington. Battles are fought in south. Their are many Loyalists still in the middle colonies. A mutual distrust for Tories keeps the states together


Ben Franklin, John Adams, John Jay represent the Americans at Peace talks(Henry Laurens was captured by the British, Thomas Jefferson could not go). French influence was felt but avoided by the troika

Treaty of Paris 1783
1. American independence was recognized by Britain

2. Established U.S. Territory ;
land east of the Mississippi between Canada and Florida

3. Mississippi- open trade

4. All debts settled, prior to and during the war

5. Loyalists given money and confiscated land. They wound up in Canada.

Why did the British lose?

a) the great distance between the mother country and colony (3000mi)
Colonists fought on their turf

b) British underestimated the colonists will, determination.
Colonists were a people's army; they practiced the art of total war. They turned themselves into an army

c) British failed to adjust to
War American Style. They had poor leadership that fought a limited war.
Colonists had a great leader in George Washington. He out commanded the greatest European power.

d) British expected the Loyalists to carry a bigger load. They were involved in Old World conflicts with France, Spain, and Holland. The French aid gave the Americans an advantage.

We could not win without it!

e) British Empire was too big. It was very tough to control an area like America. The colonists could keep an army out in the field a long time while the British grow weary of the chase.



What did the French gain from helping the Americans?

Nothing! Except satisfaction in seeing England defeated. In fact their economy weakened because of it leading to civil unrest and internal problems.



Closing Points
England was eager to make quick peace with the Americans. Whig party gained strength in Parliament and wanted to keep a good relationship with the colonies.

They feared a Franco-American alliance so were very accommodating at the peace talks.

***