Revolutionary America

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Revolutionary America
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The First Continental Congress

• Opposition to the Intolerable Acts drove the
  colonies together.
• On 5 September 1774, delegates from 12 of the 13
  colonies met in Philadelphia for the First
  Continental Congress.
• The Congress quickly fell into disagreement
  between advocates of the Suffolk Resolves and the
  more radical Galloway Plan.
• The Congress eventually settled on the Suffolk
  Resolves which contented itself to a listing of
  colonial grievances with England.
• It was no matter as King George III never read
  the resultant document.

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Early Fighting the Battles of Lexington,
Concord, and Bunker Hill

• On 15 April 1775, British General Thomas Gage
  detached a unit of British soldiers to destroy
  the colonial weapon stores at Concord, MA.
• The move was not unexpected. When the British
  troops landed on 18 April, Paul Revere made his
  famous ride to alert the militias.
• Upon encountering stout colonial resistance at
  Concord, the British withdrew to Boston.
• Along the retreat, the real battle was fought as
  the British soldiers were subjected to nearly
  constant sniper fire and ambushes. The British
  lost nearly 20 of the original force and had to
  be rescued by reinforcements.

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• This was the start of the Revolutionary War.
• After Lexington and Concord, the British occupied
  Boston.
• In June, the colonists set up positions on Bunker
  Hill, overlooking the city. British General Howe
  had no choice but to dislodge the Americans.
• Rather than laying siege to the Americans and
  starving them out, Howe, to better demonstrate
  British power, favored a direct frontal assault
  into the fortified position.
• Though eventually successful, Howe's tactics cost
  the British 1054 killed or wounded from a force
  of 2400--40 casualties.

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Asserting Independence Blows Must Decide

• The Second Continental Congress opened on 10 May
  1775 following the fighting at Lexington and
  Concord.
• Unlike the First Continental Congress, all
  thirteen colonies sent a delegation.
• The proceedings quickly split between a more
  conservative faction led by John Dickinson and a
  more radical faction led by John Adams and Samuel
  Adams.
• The early Congress was marked by two documents
  The Olive Branch Petition, supported by
  Dickinson, sought reconciliation with Great
  Britain, and the strident Declaration of Causes
  and Necessities of Taking Up Arms, which
  asserted the American willingness to fight for
  independence.

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• Parliament refused to consider the "Olive Branch
  Petition" because it would not negotiate with a
  colony in rebellion.
• The Congress also appointed George Washington
  commander of American forces, which was
  encouraged by his wearing a military uniform
  everyday, and dispatched Benjamin Franklin to
  solicit French support in the war with England.
• George III responded to the Continental Congress
  on 23 August by declaring the American colonies
  in open rebellion.
• On 18 November he wrote, "blows must decide
  whether they are to be subject to this country or
  independent."
• On 31 May 1775, Mecklenburg County, North
  Carolina asserted its independence from Britain
  and established local government in the Charlotte
  Town Resolves.

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Slavery and the Revolution the Dunmore
Proclamation

• On 14 November 1775, Virginia Royal Governor Lord
  Dunmore offered freedom to any slaves or
  indentured servants in Virginia willing to fight
  against the colonists.
• This outraged the colonists. In addition to fears
  that Dunmore was encouraging a slave rebellion,
  colonists believed that, in freeing slaves,
  Dunmore was interfering with their property.
• This is demonstrated in the French cartoon of the
  British soldiers with the slaves where the man is
  holding a sign reading "Liberation of the
  Negroes" and the British soldiers are trampling
  on documents labeled "The Rights of Men," and
  "The Rights of Civilized Nations at War."
• Later, British General Henry Clinton extended
  this offer to slaves throughout the colonies.
  Later, British General Clinton would expand the
  offer to all slaves in the colonies.

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• In Virginia's Response to Dunmore, the colony
  threatens to execute anyone attempting to take
  advantage of Dunmore's offer.
• The Memoirs of Boston King tell the story of a
  slave able to escape to the British lines.
• At the end of the war, the British evacuated
  liberated slaves and other loyalists from New
  York City.
• As terms of the peace, the Americans insisted
  that the British record the identity of any freed
  slaves so that their former owners could sue for
  compensation.
• This became known as "The Book of Negroes." While
  it is unclear how many slaves attempted to escape
  to freedom, the Book of Negroes contains three
  thousand names, including a slave of George
  Washington.

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Common Sense

• By the winter of 1775, after the fighting around
  Boston and the British rejection of overtures to
  settle the crisis, many Americans for the first
  time began to seriously think about independence
  from Great Britain.
• In this environment, the impact of the
  publication Thomas Paines Common Sense in
  January 1776 can hardly be overstated.
• In Common Sense, Paine lays out an argument, in
  the language of common people, for why the
  colonies should declare their independence from
  Britain.

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The Declaration of Independence

• In June 1776, Thomas Jefferson, only 33 years
  old, distilled a century of enlightenment thought
  into a few sentences
• "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."
• Even if imperfect in their application, the
  thought that all men were equal and that
  government existed to serve the people, was
  revolutionary in a world dominated by monarchy
  and aristocracy.
• Jefferson's words have changed the nature of
  government throughout the world, even the most
  repressive regimes pay at least lip service to
  Jefferson.
• "Remember the Ladies" is a playful, yet serious
  letter from Abigail to John Adams asking him to
  keep women in mind when forming the new
  government.

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Loyalists and the Revolution

• For many Americans, the Revolution was a civil
  war.
• The war divided families and communities between
  patriot and loyalist. Most famously, this
  estranged Benjamin Franklin from his son William.

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Times that Try Men's Souls

• Shortly after the jubilation of independence had
  subsided, the winter of 1776-1777 found the
  Continental Army poorly fed and equipped and
  Congress unable to appropriate any money to help.
  
• In December 1776, Thomas Paine, who had joined
  the Continental Army, published nine Crisis
  essays to boast troop morale and rally public
  support for the war effort.
• Similarly, George Washington led the army on
  several attacks against unsuspecting British and
  Hessian forces camped in their winter quarters.
• It was on one of these attacks that Washington
  made his iconic crossing of the Delaware River.

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Battle of Saratoga and French Involvement

• The Battle of Saratoga represents the turning
  point in the Revolutionary War.
• British General John Burgoyne planned a three
  pronged attack into New York to drive the
  Americans to battle near Buffalo.
• Burgoyne's plan called for General St. Leger to
  attack from the west, General Clinton to attack
  from the south, and Burgoyne would float an army
  down the Hudson River and attack from the north.
• The plan fell apart from the start. Burgoyne,
  having never seen the Hudson, did not realize the
  challenge of floating an army, and an extensive
  camp including champagne and wives, down a wild
  river.
• When Burgoyne arrived at Saratoga, he expected to
  find the other prongs of his attack waiting for
  him. Instead he found himself alone. St. Leger
  was defeated at the Battle of Oriskany and
  Clinton, rather than moving North actually went
  further south. Burgoyne quickly found himself
  surrounded by American soldiers and, after two
  battles, was forced to surrender.
• Overshadowing the actual battle, the victory
  proved to the European powers that the Americans
  could win. Following the Battle of Saratoga,
  Benjamin Franklin successfully negotiated a
  treaty in Paris for French entry into the war.

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The World Turned Upside Down Yorktown

• After a grueling campaign through the southern
  colonies, General Cornwallis retreated to the
  coast of Yorktown, Virginia for the winter and
  the protection of the Royal Navy.
• Cornwallis was not aware however that the French
  navy had defeated the British fleet at the Battle
  of the Capes in September.
• Therefore, when Cornwallis arrived at Yorktown,
  he found the French navy at his back and the
  American army before him.
• The Americans and French laid siege to the
  British position and, with no where to turn,
  Cornwallis surrendered on 20 October 1781.
• This ended major fighting in the Revolutionary
  War.
• Legend says that, as the British surrendered,
  their band played the song "The World Turned
  Upside Down."