America Secedes from the Empire

America Secedes from the Empire 1775-1783

I. Congress Drafts George Washington • May 1775 all colonies meet 2nd Continental Congress • No well defined sentiment for independence • Adopted measures to raise money for army and navy, sent list of grievances to George III • Most important action was selecting George Washington as military commander (moral force, great military mind) • Selection largely political , from VA, most revolutionaries from New England area

Military Strategies The Americans • Attrition [the Brits had a long supply line]. • Guerilla tactics [fight an insurgent war  you don’t have to win a battle, just wear the British down] • Make an alliance with one of Britain’s enemies. The British • Break the colonies in half by getting between the No. & the So. • Blockade the ports to prevent the flow of goods and supplies from an ally. • “Divide and Conquer”  use the Loyalists.

II. Bunker Hill and Hessian Hirelings, Abortive Conquest of Canada • Americans fighting war, but not declaring independence for 15 month period ( April 1775- July 1776) • 1775 Americans capture Ft. Ticonderoga, get gunpowder and cannons • June 1775 Bunker Hill American hold off British attack until gunpowder runs out • August 1775 King George formally proclaims colonies were in rebellion, begins to hire German (Hessian) troops, Americans were guilty of treason • Fall 1775 British capture Falmouth, Maine, Americans plan attack on Canada, they are not successful

III. Thomas Paine Preaches Common Sense • 1776- Thomas Paine published the pamphlet Common Sense, urged colonials to stop war of inconsistency, stop pretending loyalty, and just fight. • Nowhere in the universe did a smaller body control a larger one, it was unnatural for tiny Britain to control gigantic America. • He called King George III “the Royal Brute of Great Britain.”

V. Paine and the Idea of Republicanism • Idea that there should be a “republic” where representative senators, governors, and judges should have their power from the consent of the people (POWER FLOWS FROM PEOPLE TO THE GOV’T) • Ideas with Biblical imagery, familiar to common folk. • Rejecting monarchy and empire and embrace an independent republic fell on receptive ears in America, ideas already existed. • The New Englanders already practiced this type of government in their town meetings. • Some patriots, favored a republic ruled by a “natural aristocracy” (John Adams), thought too much liberty would destroy social order (runaway republicanism)

VI. Jefferson’s “Explanation” of Independence • 2nd Continental Congress gradually moved toward a clean break with Britain. • June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee urged for complete independence, adopted on July 2, 1776. • Congress appointed Thomas Jefferson to write Declaration of Independence. • Contained a list of grievances against King George III explaining why the colonies had the right to revolt. • His “explanation” of independence also upheld the “natural rights” of humankind (life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness). • Congress approved it on July 2nd, but because of editing and final approval, it was not completely approved until July 4th, 1776.

VII. Patriots and Loyalists • War within a war, not all colonials were united. • Patriots, who supported rebellion and were called “Whigs.” • Loyalists, who supported the king and who often went tobattle against fellow Americans, also called “Tories.” • Moderates in the middle and those who didn’t care either way. These people were constantly being asked to join one side or another. • British proved that they could only control Tory areas, because when Redcoats packed up and left other areas, the rebels would regain control • Patriots good at political reeducation, agents of revolutionary ideas

VII. Patriots and Loyalists • Typical Loyalist (Tory) • Generally conservatives, educated, older, war divided families • Loyalists were most numerous where the Anglican Church was strongest (the South). • Loyalists were less numerous in New England, where Presbyterianism and Congregationalism flourished. • Loyalists were more numerous in the aristocratic areas such as Charleston, SC

VII. Patriots and Loyalists • Typical Patriot • The Patriots were generally the younger generation (Samuel Adams and Patrick Henry) • From places where self-government was strong and mercantilism weak or contested • The Patriot militias constantly harassed small British detachments. • Patriots typically didn’t belong to the Anglican Church (Church of England) but were Congregational, Presbyterian, Baptist, or Methodist. • There were also “profiteers” who sold to the highest bidder, selling to the British and ignoring starving, freezing soldiers (i.e. George Washington at Valley Forge).

VIII. The Loyalist Exodus • After the Declaration of Independence, Loyalists and Patriots sharply divided • Patriots often confiscated Loyalist property to resell it (an easy way to raise money) • Loyalists attacked and harassed, no reign of terror like France or Russia • 50,000 Loyalists served the British in one way or another (fighting, spying, etc…), British did not make enough use of them

Phase I:The Northern Campaign [1775-1776]

Bunker Hill (June, 1775) The British suffered over 40% casualties.

Phase II: NY & PA[1777-1778]

Washington Crossing the Delaware

Saratoga: “Turning Point” of the War?

Britain’s Southern Strategy • Britain thought that there were more Loyalists in the South. • Southerners not as vocal in support of Revolution, thought it might inspire slave revolt • Southern resources more valuable/worth preserving. • British win small victories, but cannot pacify the countryside [similar to U. S. failures in Vietnam!] • Georgia 1778-1779, Charleston, SC 1780 • Carolinas, Patriots bitterly fought their Loyalist neighbors. • 1781, rebel victories King’s Mountain, Cowpens in NC • Quaker- reared Gen. Nathanael Greene strategy of delay. • Retreating and losing battles but winning campaigns, clear the British out of most of Georgia and South Carolina.

XII. The Land and Sea Frontier • 1777 -the “bloody year” on the frontier • Most Indians supported Britain, believed they would stop American expansion into the West • Mohawk chief Joseph Brant, recently converted to Anglicanism, and his men attacked the backcountry of Pennsylvania & New York defeated 1779. • 1784, pro-British Iroquois signed the Treaty of Fort Stanwix, the first treaty between the U.S. and an Indian nation. • Indians ceded most of their land. • Pioneers continued to move west • 1778-1779George Rogers Clark, captured British forts • American navy never really hurt the British warships, but it did destroy British merchant shipping, carried the war into the waters around the British Isles. • Privateers captured ships forced them to sail in convoys.

IX. REVOLUTION IN DIPLOMACY? • France wanted revenge on Britain, secretly supplied the Americans throughout much of the war. • Continental Congress sent delegates to France; delegates were guided by a “Model Treaty” sought no political/military connections, only commercial ones. • Ben Franklin, American diplomat to France, exemplified a raw new America • After Saratoga (1777), the British offered the Americans a measure that gave them home rule—everything they wanted except independence.

IX. REVOLUTION IN DIPLOMACY? • After Saratoga, France enters war against Britain. • If Britain regained control, might then try to capture the French West Indies for compensation • Did not want to risk a stronger Britain with its reunited colonies. • France, 1778, offered a treaty of alliance, offering Americaeverything that Britain had offered, plus recognition of independence. • The Americans accepted agreement with caution, France was pro-Catholic, but since the Americans needed help, they’d take it. • Official recognition of American independence by European power • 1779 Other European powers (Armed Neutrality) join war against Britain, can’t handle them all

XI. Blow and Counterblow • Britain, decided to evacuate Philadelphia, concentrate forces in New York, Washington bottled up British in NY • 1780 –French reinforcements arrive in Rhode Island. • Feeling unappreciated and lured by British gold, Gen. Benedict Arnold turned traitor by plotting with the British to sell out West Point. • When the plot was discovered, he fled with the British.

XIII. Yorktown and the Final Curtain • 1780-1781 inflation continued to soar, government was virtually bankrupt, could not repay debts • In the Chesapeake Cornwallis was blundering into a trap • Retreating to Chesapeake Bay Cornwallis instead was trapped by Washington’s army, Rochambeau’s French army, and the French navy • King George wanted to continue the war, fighting continued for about a year after Yorktown mostly in the south • Patriot/ Loyalist fighting • Washington had to keep army happy, unified for next year after war

XIV. Peace at Paris • Brits were weary of the war, suffered heavily • Ben Franklin, John Adams, and John Jay met in Paris for a peace deal. • Jay suspected France would try to keep the U.S. cooped up east of the Alleghenies and keep America weak. • Jay, thinking that France would betray American ambition to Spain, secretly made separate overtures to London (against instructions from Congress) • Came to terms quickly with the British, who were eager to entice one of their enemies from the alliance. • The Treaty of Paris of 1783 • Britain formally recognized U.S. granted generous boundaries, Mississippi River to thewest, Great Lakes on the north, Spanish Florida on the South. • Yankees retained a share in fisheries off Newfoundland. • Americans couldn’t persecute Loyalists, though, and Congress could only recommend legislature that would return or pay for confiscated Loyalist land. • Did not keep obligation to Loyalists

America Secedes from the Empire