America Secedes from the Empire, 1775

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Chapter 8

• America Secedes from the Empire, 17751783

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I. Congress Drafts George Washington

• The Second Continental Congress meets in
  Philadelphia on May 10, 1775
• First most important single actionto select
  George Washington to head the army
• The choice was made with considerable misgivings
• He never rose above the rank of a colonel
• His largest command had numbered only 20,000
• Falling short of true military genius, he would
  actually lose more pitched battles than he won.

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I. Congress Drafts George Washington (cont.)

• He was gifted with outstanding powers of
  leadership and immense strength of character
• He radiated patience, courage, self-discipline,
  and a sense of justice
• He was trusted and insisted on serving without
  pay, however, keeping a careful list of
  expenses-100,000.
• The Continental Congress chose more wisely than
  it knew.

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II. Bunker Hill and Hessian Hirelings

• The war of inconsistency was fought for 14
  monthsApril 1775 to July 1776before the fateful
  plunge into independence.
• Gradually the tempo of warfare increased
• May 1775 Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold captured
  garrisons at Ticonderoga and Crown Point in upper
  New York
• June 1775 the colonists seized Bunker Hill

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II. Bunker Hill and Hessian Hirelings (cont.)

• July 1775 the Congress adopted the Olive Branch
  Petition
• It professed American loyalty to the crown and
  begged the king to prevent further hostilities
• King George III slammed the door on all hope of
  reconciliation
• August 1775 he proclaimed the colonies in
  rebellion

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II. Bunker Hill and Hessian Hirelings (cont.)

• The skirmishes were now out-and out treason, a
  hanging crime
• Next he sealed arrangements for hiring thousands
  of German troops
• George III needed the men
• Because most of the soldiers-for-hire came from
  the German principality of Hesse, the Americans
  called all the European mercenaries Hessians
• News of the Hessian deal shocked the colonists
• Hessian hirelings proved to be good soldiers.

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III. The Abortive Conquest of Canada

• October 1775 the British burned Falmouth
  (Portland), Maine
• In autumn, the rebels daringly undertook a
  two-pronged invasion of Canada
• A successful assault on Canada would add a 14th
  colony and deprive Britain of a valuable base for
  striking the colonies in revolt
• Invasion northward was undisguised offensive
  warfare.

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III. The Abortive Conquest of Canada (cont.)

• This broad stroke for Canada narrowly missed
  success (Map 8.1)
• One invading column under General Richard
  Montgomery pushed up the Lake Champlain route and
  captured Montreal.
• At Quebec he was joined by the army of General
  Benedict Arnold
• An assault on Quebec was launched on the day of
  1775. Montgomery was killed.

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III. The Abortive Conquest of Canada (cont.)

• Arnold was wounded in one leg.
• Bitter fighting persisted in the colonies
• January 1776 the British set fire to Norfolk, Va.
• March 1776 they were forced to evacuate Boston
• In the South the rebels won two victories
• February 1776 against some 15,000 Loyalists at
  Moores Creek Bridge North Carolina
• June 1776 against an invading fleet at Charleston
  harbor.

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IV. Thomas Paine Preaches Common Sense

• Loyalty to the empire was deeply ingrained
• Americans continued to believe they were a part
  of a transatlantic community
• Colonial unity was poor
• Open rebellion was dangerous
• As late as January 1776 the kings health was
  being toastedGod save the king.
• They gradually were shocked into recognizing the
  necessity to separate.

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IV. Thomas Paine Preaches Common Sense (cont.)

• 1776 Common Sense by Thomas Paine
• One of the most influential pamphlets ever
  published
• Began with a treatise on the nature of government
• And that the only lawful states were those that
  derive their just powers from the consent of the
  governed.

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IV. Thomas Paine Preaches Common Sense (cont.)

• As for the king, he was nothing but the Royal
  Brute of Great Britain
• Within a week the astonishing total of 120,000
  copies were sold.
• No where in the physical universe did the smaller
  heavenly bodies control the larger one
• So why should the tiny island of Britain control
  the vast continent of America?

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IV. Thomas Paine Preaches Common Sense (cont.)

• Paine tried to convince the colonists that their
  true cause was independence rather than
  reconciliation with Britain.
• Paine could thus be said to have drafted the
  foundational document not only of American
  independence, but of American foreign policy as
  well.

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V. Paine and the Idea of Republicanism

• Paine was calling for a republic
• For the creation of a new kind of political
  society where power flowed from the people
  themselves
• In biblical imagery, he argued that all
  government officialsgovernors, senators, and
  judgesand not just representatives should derive
  their authority from popular consent.

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V. Paine and the Idea of Republicanism (cont.)

• Paine was not the first to champion a republican
  form of government
• Greece and Rome revived in the 17th century
  Renaissance
• Republicanism appealed to British politicians
  critical of excessive power in the hands of the
  king and his advisers
• The American colonists interpreted the royal acts
  as part of a monarchical conspiracy.

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V. Paine and the Idea of Republicanism (cont.)

• Paines summons to create a republic fell on
  receptive ears
• New Englanders already had practiced a kind of
  republicanism
• In their town meetings and annual election.
• Most American considered citizen virtue
  fundamental to any successful republican
  government.

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V. Paine and the Idea of Republicanism (cont.)

• Individuals in a republic
• Needed to sacrifice their personal self-interest
  to the public good
• The collective good of the people mattered more
  than private rights and interests of individuals
• Paine inspired his contemporaries to view America
  as fertile ground for the cultivation of such
  civil virtue.

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V. Paine and the Idea of Republicanism (cont.)

• Not all Patriots agreed with Paines
  ultra-democratic approach to republicanism
• Some favored a republic ruled by a natural
  aristocracy of talent
• They wanted an end to hereditary aristocracy, but
  not an end to all social hierarchy
• They were conservative republicans who wanted the
  stability of the social order.
• The contest of American republicanism would
  continue for the next 100 years.

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VI. Jeffersons Explanation of Independence

• On July 7, 1776, fiery Richard Henry Lee of
  Virginia moved that these United Colonies are,
  and of right ought to be free and independent
  states. The motion was adopted a month later on
  July 2, 1776.
• The passing of Lees resolution was the formal
  declaration of independence by the colonies
• Technically this was all that was needed to cut
  the British tie.

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VI. Jeffersons Explanation of Independence
(cont.)

• An inspirational appeal was needed
• To enlist other British colonies in the Americas
• To invite assistance for foreign nations
• To rally resistance at home.
• Congress appointed a committee to prepare a more
  formal statement
• The task of drafting it fell to Thomas Jefferson
• He was fully qualified for it.

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VI. Jeffersons Explanation of Independence
(cont.)

• The Declaration of Independence
• Formally approved by Congress on July 4, 1776
• It had universal appeal by invoking the natural
  rights of humankindnot just British rights
• He argued that the king had flouted these rights
  the colonists were justified in cutting their
  ties
• He set forth a long list of the presumably
  tyrannous misdeeds of George III
• The Declaration had a universal impact.

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VII. Patriots and Loyalists

• The War of Independence was a war within a war
• Loyalistscolonials loyal to the king who fought
  the American rebels called Tories after the
  dominant political factions in Britain
• Patriotsrebels who also fought the British
  redcoats called Whigs after the opposition
  factions in Britain.

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VII. Patriots and Loyalists (cont.)

• The American Revolution was a minority movement
• Many colonists were apathetic or neutral
• The Patriot militias played a critical role
• The rebel militiamen appeared and took the task
  of political education sometimes by coercion
• The ragtag militia units served as agents of
  Revolutionary ideas.

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VII. Patriots and Loyalists

• Loyalists
• Numbered about 16 percent of the American people,
  who remained true to their king
• Families often were split
• They were taught fidelity to the crown
• Many people of education and wealth, of culture
  and caution, remained loyal
• More numerous among the older generation
• Included the kings officers and beneficiaries.

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VII. Patriots and Loyalists (cont.)

• Loyalists
• They were the Anglican clergy and their
  congregations notable exception was Virginia
• Kings followers entrenched in aristocratic New
  York City and Charlestown, Quaker Pennsylvania
  and New Jersey
• They were less numerous in New England
• Most numerous where Presbyterianism and
  Congregationalism flourished.

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VIII. The Loyalist Exodus

• Before the Declaration in 1776, persecution of
  the Loyalists was relatively mild
• Some were subject to brutality, tarring and
  feathering and riding astride fence rails
• Harsher treatment began after the Declaration
• Were regarded as traitors
• Were roughly handled, some were imprisoned and a
  few noncombatants were hung.
• There was no wholesale reign of terror.

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VIII. The Loyalists Exodus (cont.)

• 80 thousand loyal supporters of King George were
  driven out or fled
• Several hundred thousand were permitted to stay
• The estates of the fugitives were confiscated and
  sold
• Some 50 thousand Loyalist volunteers bore arms
  for the British
• They helped the kings cause by serving as spies,
  by inciting the Indians, and by keeping Patriot
  soldiers
• Ardent Loyalists had their hearts in their cause.

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IX. General Washington at Bay

• General Washington
• Only mustered 18,000 ill-trained troops to meet
  the British invaders at New York, March 1776
• Disaster befell the Americans at the Battle of
  Long Island summer and fall of 1776
• Washington escaped to Manhattan Island, finally
  reaching the Delaware River
• The Patriot cause was at low ebb and the rebel
  remnants fled across the river.

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IX. General Washington at Bay (cont.)

• General William Howe, Washingtons adversary, did
  not speedily crush the demoralized American
  forces
• Washington stealthily recrossed the Delaware
  River at Trenton on December 26, 1776, he
  surprised and captured 1,000 Hessians
• A week later he defeated a small British fleet at
  Princeton.
• These two lifesaving victories revealed the Old
  Fox Washington at his military best.

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X. Burgoynes Blundering Invasion

• London officials adopted an intricate scheme to
  capture the Hudson River valley in 1777
• If successful it would sever New England from the
  rest of the states and paralyze the American
  cause
• General John Burgoyne would push down the Lake
  Champlain route from Canada
• General Howes troops would advance up the Hudson
  and meet Burgoyne near Albany

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X. Burgoynes Blundering Invasion (cont.)

• A third smaller British force, under Colonel
  Barry St. Leger, would come from the west by way
  of Lake Ontario and the Mohawk
• British planners did not reckon with General
  Arnold
• Arnold came along the St. Lawrence River to the
  Lake Champlain area where he assembled and
  outfitted a fleet of floatable vessels
• His fleet was destroyed, but time had been won
• The result would have been the British
  recapturing Fort Ticonderoga.
• If Burgoyne would have started from Montreal he
  most certainly would have succeeded in his
  venture.

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X. Burgoyne Blundering Invasion (cont.)

• General Washington transferred his army to the
  vicinity of Philadelphia
• There he was defeated in two pitched battles, at
  Brandywine Creek and Germantown
• General Howe settled down in the lively capital
  and left Burgoyne to flounder in upper New York
• Washington retired to Valley Forge
• Burgoyne was trapped with no possible advancement
  and was forced to surrender his entire command at
  Saratoga on October 17, 1777, to Gen. Horatio
  Gates.

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X. Burgoynes Blundering Invasion (cont.)

• Saratoga ranks high among the decisive battles of
  both America and world history
• The victory immensely revived the faltering
  colonial cause
• Even more important, it made possible the
  urgently needed foreign aid from France, which in
  turn helped ensure American independence.

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XI. Revolution in Diplomacy?

• Frances role in the Revolution
• Hopefully France could regain its former position
  and prestige in North America
• Her loss in the Seven Years War rankled deeply
• Americas revolutionaries badly needed help in
  her struggle to throw off the British
• America needed to seal an alliance with France
  against the common British foe.

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XI. Revolution in Diplomacy?(cont.)

• The rebellious Americans harbored revolutionary
  ideas about international affairs
• They wanted an end to colonialism and
  mercantilism
• They strongly supported free trade and freedom of
  the sea
• They wanted to support the rule of law to
  arbitrate the affairs of nations.

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XI. Revolution in Diplomacy? (cont.)

• In the summer of 1776 the Continental Congress
  drafted a Model Treaty
• To guide the American commissioners who would be
  dispatched to the French court
• John Adams, one of the chief authors, described
  its basic principles
• 1. No political connection. . . .2. No military
  connection. . . .3. Only a commercial
  connection.
• These were remarkable self-denying restrictions.

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XI. Revolution in Diplomacy?(cont.)

• Benjamin Franklin negotiated treaty in Paris
• He was determined that his very appearance should
  herald the diplomatic revolution
• He shocked the royal court
• Ordinary Parisians adored him as a specimen
• of a new democratic social order
• The British offered a measure to the effect of
  American home rule in the empire.

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XI. Revolution in Diplomacy?(cont.)

• This was essentially what the colonials had asked
  forexcept independence
• On February 6, 1778, France offered the Americans
  a treaty of alliance
• The young republic concluded its first entangling
  military alliance and would soon regret it
• The Treaty with France constituted an official
  recognition of Americas independence
• Both allies bound themselves together to secure
  Americas freedom and to terms with the common
  enemy.

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XII. The Colonial War Becomes a Wider War

• England and France came to blows in 1778, and
  the shot fired at Lexington widened into a global
  conflagration.
• Spain entered in 1779 as did Holland
• The weak maritime neutrals of Europe began to
  demand their rights (see Table 8.1)
• Catherine the Great, Russia, led in organizing
  the Armed Neutralityit lined all remaining
  European neutrals in an attitude of passive
  hostility toward Britain.

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XII. The Colonial War Becomes a Wider War (cont.)

• The war was fought not only in Europe and North
  America, but South America, the Caribbean and
  Asia
• The Americans deserve credit for keeping the war
  going until 1778 with secret French aid
• Their independence was not achieved until the
  conflict erupted into a multipower world war too
  big for Britain to handle
• From 1778 to 1783 France provided the rebels with
  guns, money, equipment and armed forces.

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XII. The Colonial War Becomes a Wider War (cont.)

• Frances entrance
• Forced the British to change their basic strategy
• They counted on blockading the colonial coast and
  commanding the seas
• Now the French had powerful fleets in American
  water
• British decided to evacuate Philadelphia and
  concentrate their strength in New York City
• In June 1778 the redcoats were attacked by
  Washington but the battle was indecisive and
  Washington remained in the New York area.

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XIII. Blow and Counterblow

• 1780 French army of 6000 regular troops, under
  commander Comte de Rochambeau arrived in Newport
• But French gold and goodwill melted hard hearts
• No real military advantage came from the French
  reinforcement
• 1780 General Benedict Arnold turned traitor.
• British planned to roll up the colonies in
  Loyalist South (See Map 8.2).

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XIII. Blow and Counterblow(cont.)

• Georgia was ruthlessly overrun in 1778-1779
  Charleston, South Carolina, fell in 1780
• Warfare intensified in the Carolinas
• 1781 American riflemen wiped out a British
  detachment at Kings Mountain, then defeated a
  smaller force at Cowpens
• In the Carolina campaign of 1781, General
  Nathaniel Greene, a Quaker-raised tactician,
  distinguished himself by his strategy of delay.

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XIII. Blow and Counterblow(cont.)

• Standing and retreating, he exhausted his foe,
  General Cornwallis, in vain pursuit.
• The Fighting Quaker succeeded in clearing most
  of Georgia and South Carolina of British troops.

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XIV. The Land Frontier and the Sea Frontier

• The West was ablaze during the war
• Indian allies of George III were busy with torch
  and tomahawk
• Fateful 1777 was known as the bloody year on
  the frontier
• Two nations of the Iroquois Confederacy, the
  Oneidas and the Tuscarora, sided with the
  Americans
• The Senecas, Mohawks, Cayugas, and Onondagas
  joined the British, encouraged by chief Joseph
  Brant, who believed in a victorious Britain.

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XIV. The Land Frontier and the Sea Frontier
(cont.)

• In 1784 the pro-British Iroquois were forced to
  sing the Treaty of Fort Stanwix
• First treaty between the United States and an
  Indian nation
• Under its teams the Indians ceded most of their
  land.

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XIV. The Land Frontier and the Sea Frontier
(cont.)

• In Illinois, the British were especially
  vulnerable to attack
• They held only scattered posts captured from
  French
• George Rogers Clark conceived the idea of seizing
  these forts by surprise
• In 1778-1779 going down the Ohio River, he
  captured in quick succession the forts Kaskaskia,
  Cahokia, and Vincennes (see Map 8.3)
• Clarks admirers argued that his success forced
  the British to cede the region north of the Ohio
  River to the United States at the peace table in
  Paris.

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XIV. The Land Frontier and the Sea Frontier
(cont.)

• Americas infant navy
• Navy under Scotsman John Paul Jones
• This tiny naval force never made a dent in
  Britains thunderous fleets
• Its chief contribution was in destroying British
  merchant shipping
• Thus carrying the war into the waters around the
  British Isles.

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XIV. The Land Frontier and the Sea Frontier
(cont.)

• The swift privateers
• These craft were privately owned armed
  shipslegalized pirates
• Specifically authorized by Congress to prey on
  enemy shipping
• 1,000 American privateers responded to the call
  of patriotism and profit, with about 70,000 men.
• They captured some 600 British prizes, while
  British captured merchantmen and privateers.

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XIV. The Land Frontier and the Sea Frontier
(cont.)

• Privateering was not an unalloyed asset
• It diverted manpower from the main war
• It involved Americans, including Benedict Arnold.
• Privateering was also good
• They did bring in urgently needed gold
• Harassed the enemy
• Raised American moral
• Ruined British shipping
• Shippers and manufacturers wanted to end the war.

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XV. Yorktown and the Final Curtain

• One of the darkest periods of the war was
  1780-1781, before the last decisive victory
• Government was virtually bankrupt
• It declared it would repay its debt at only 2.5
  cents on the dollar
• Despair prevailed, the sense of unity was
  withered, and mutinous sentiments infected the
  army.

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XV. Yorktown and the Final Curtain (cont.)

• British general Cornwallis was blundering into a
  trap
• After futile operations in Virginia, he fall back
  to Chesapeake Bay at Yorktown
• To await seaborne supplies and reinforcements.
• He assumed Britain would continue to control the
  sea
• It was during the period that the British naval
  superiority was slipping away.

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XV. Yorktown and the Final Curtain (cont.)

• French actions
• They were prepared to cooperate in a stroke
• Admiral de Grasse informed the Americans he was
  free to join against Cornwallis at Yorktown
• Washington make a swift march, 300 miles, to
  Chesapeake from New York
• Accompanied by Rochambeaus French army,
  Washington beset the British at land
• While de Grasse blockaded the sea.

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XV. Yorktown and the Final Curtain (cont.)

• Completely cornered, Cornwallis surrendered his
  entire force of 7000 men on October 19, 1781.
• George III planned to continue the struggle
• Fighting continued for a year after Yorktown,
  with Patriot-Loyalist warfare in the South very
  savage.
• Washingtons most valuable contributions was to
  keep the languishing cause alive, the army in the
  field, and the states together.

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XVI. Peace at Paris

• Aftermath of the war
• Many Britons were weary of war
• They suffered loses in India and the West Indies
• The island of Minorca in the Mediterranean fall
• Lord Norths ministry collapsed in March 1782
  temporarily ending George IIIs personal rule
• A Whig ministry , favorable to the Americans,
  replaced the Tory regime of Lord North.

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XVI. Peace at Paris(cont.)

• American peace negotiators
• Three were gathered at Paris Benjamin Franklin,
  John Adams, and John Jay
• They had specific instructions to make no
  separate peace
• To consult with their French allies at all stages
• However, the American representatives chafed
  under this directive, because they knew that it
  had been written by a subservient Congress, with
  the French Foreign Office indirectly guiding the
  pen.

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XVI. Peace at Paris(cont.)

• France was in a painful position
• She had induced Spain to enter the war on her
  side, promising to deliver British Gibraltar
• She coveted the immense trans-Allegheny area
• She desired an independent United States, trying
  to keep the New Republic east of the Allegheny
  Mountains
• A weak America would be easy for Spain to manage
  in promoting French interests and policy
• She was paying a heavy price to win Americas
  independence and wanted her moneys worth.

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XVI. Peace at Paris(cont.)

• John Jay was unwilling to play the French game.
• He secretly made overtures to London
• London speedily came to terms with the Americans
• A preliminary treaty of peace was signed in 1782
  the final peace, the next year.
• The Treaty of Paris of 1783
• Britain formally recognized the independence of
  the United States
• Granted generous boundaries
• From the Mississippi (west) to Great Lakes
  (north) Spanish Florida (south).

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XVI. Peace at Paris(cont.)

• The Yankees retained the fisheries of
  Newfoundland
• American concessions
• Loyalists were not to be further persecuted
• Congress was to recommend to the state
  legislatures that confiscated Loyalists property
  be restored
• Debts long owed to British creditors had to be
  paid
• However, the debt promises were not carried out.
• British concessions
• Had to accept defeat in North America
• Shut down the wage enable her to rebuild.

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XVII. A New Nation Legitimized

• British terms were liberal
• She gave the enormous trans-Appalachian area
• In spirit, the Americans made a separate
  peacecontrary to the French alliance
• France was immensely relieved by the prospect of
  ending the costly conflict
• America alone gained from the world-girdling war
  and began their national career with a splendid
  territorial birthright/priceless heritage.

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