Lecture S6 -- The American Revolution

The American Revolution

Phase I (Outbreak of War: 1774-1776)

Massachusetts Lights the Fuse

Massachusetts in Discord: After being appointed governor, General Gage dissolves the Massachusetts legislature. It defies him, forming the Committee of Safety to serve as executive in his place. Some communities form the Minute Men to be ready for war.

Lines are Drawn: In the winter of 1774-5, Whig organizations prepare for conflict, while Tories strive desperately to prevent it. The Whigs tend to be more effective and take control of the state governments, shutting Tories out of power.

Too Little, Too Late: Parliament resolves that Massachusetts is in rebellion, but also offers the Conciliatory Proposition: the colonies will not be taxed if they will voluntarily contribute to the Imperial coffers. It is too late to satisfy the Whigs (those Americans who support armed resistance to British demands, if not necessarily yet calling for Independence.).

April 18-19th, 1775: On the night of April 18, 700 British Regulars commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Francis Smith were ordered to march by night on Concord, Massachusetts to seize guns, cannon, and ammunition being stockpiled in Concord by the Committee of Safety. They also were under orders to seize John Hancock and Sam Adams, who had fled Boston to Lexington. Unfortunately for the British, Patriot spies were watching and sent riders to swarm through the night and warn everyone. Paul Revere, a pewtersmith of Boston, happens by chance to get the route to Concord and thus becomes a Revolutionary War hero. At Lexington, early in the morning, there is a brief dust-up between the British and local Minute Men. 18 Americans are killed or wounded. This marks the beginning of the American Revolution. Hancock and Adams, forewarned, had already fled. By the time the British reached Concord, the supplies had mostly been evacuated from the Concord Armory and the British rear guard came under fire. A huge swarm of militia now boiled out of the woods and farms and harassed the British with periodic attacks along the road home. A 1000 man rescue column had to come to their aid to avoid disaster. “By the time the column reached safety, 273 British soldiers were dead, wounded, or missing. The 4,000 Americans who had shot at them along the way suffered nearly 100 casualties.” (p. 142.) Thousands of militia now descended on Boston, placing it under siege. (The British initially had 4,000 men in Boston.)

Second Continental Congress Meets (May 10, 1775 – March 1, 1781)

Delegates: 56 men from 13 colonies; each colony had one vote in decisions. Many were the same men sent to the First Continental Congress. The Continental Congress had no power to compel obedience; it could only ask the States to cooperate in joint actions and embarrass them if they did not cooperate.

Continental Military: The Continental Congress formed a joint military force for the colonies: The Continental Army, the Continental Navy, and Continental Marines. The Continental Line were intended to be trained like British Regulars and to act in all thirteen colonies, whereas Militia usually stayed in their home colony. Some 200,000 Americans would serve in the Continental Military or in the militia or both by the end of the war. At the start of the war, thirteen companies of Infantry were raised on a one-year term of enlistment, mainly from Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, armed with long rifles (good for sniping but not for close combat with the bayonet.) This was the First Continental Regiment (roughly 1500 strong). In New England, slaves could gain their freedom by joining the Continental Army (their masters were compensated for the loss with money) and some 5,000 Blacks would serve in Continental Regiments. Rhode Island, for example, raised a 250 man all-black regiment. Military units were racially integrated, unlike later wars, but blacks normally couldn't rise above the rank of sergeant. Samuel Middleton held the rank of Captain and commanded a regiment in the Continental Army.

Casimir Pulaski: The key figure in creation of the Continental Cavalry was Casimir Pulaski, a Polish nobleman who had fled Poland after trying to help overthrow Russian dominance of his homeland. He organized Washington's cavalry but was eventually killed in 1779 during the Siege of Savannah.

Olive Branch Petition: July 5, 1775, written by John Dickinson, appealed to the King to protect his American subjects from military operations directed by Parliament. The letter asked that either the colonies gain free trade rights, but pay the same taxes as those living in Great Britain or pay no taxes but continue under the current trade restrictions, but not have to pay those taxes AND have the trade restrictions.

Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms: July 6, 1775, justified the necessity of taking up arms in defense of colonial liberties, but denied this was an attempt at independence—rather, it was a quest for justice.

Lest this declaration should disquiet the minds of our friends and fellow-subjects in any part of the empire, we assure them that we mean not to dissolve that union which has so long and so happily subsisted between us, and which we sincerely wish to see restored. — Necessity has not yet driven us into that desperate measure, or induced us to excite any other nation to war against them. — We have not raised armies with ambitious designs of separating from Great-Britain, and establishing independent states. We fight not for glory or for conquest. We exhibit to mankind the remarkable spectacle of a people attacked by unprovoked enemies, without any imputation or even suspicion of offence. They boast of their privileges and civilization, and yet proffer no milder conditions than servitude or death.

In our own native land, in defence of the freedom that is our birthright, and which we ever enjoyed till the late violation of it — for the protection of our property, acquired solely by the honest industry of our fore-fathers and ourselves, against violence actually offered, we have taken up arms. We shall lay them down when hostilities shall cease on the part of the aggressors, and all danger of their being renewed shall be removed, and not before.

George Washington in Command: George Washington is chosen to command the Continental Army by virtually unanimous agreement. He is one of the most experienced commanders and is trusted to command large forces. He heads to Boston and takes charge and will command the Continental Army as its top leader the rest of the war. Further, by choosing him, they emphasize this is a NATIONAL conflict, not just a New England one.

1775-Mid-1776:

Outposts Fall: Across the colonies, the various military outposts of the

British fall into Whig hands. Most important is Ticonderoga, which has many cannon, which the colonies lack. The British retain bases in Quebec and the Ohio river valley.

The Invasion of Canada: Richard Montgomery and Benedict Arnold were given command of forces for the invasion of Canada in 1775. Both of them had served under General Wolfe during the taking of Quebec in the French and Indian War. Montgomery struck north with 1,700 men from Fort Ticonderoga in northern New York and seized Montreal. Benedict Arnold made a difficult march through the backwoods of Maine and joined forces with Montgomery at Quebec. During his trip, he lost half his force, arriving with only 600 men. The Battle of Quebec, December 30, 1775, used a snowstorm for cover for the assault, but it was a total catastrophe, with over 400 men captured and close to a hundred killed or injured. Montgomery died and Arnold was injured. The Americans tried a siege but had to retreat in disgrace. The invasion of Canada was a total failure.

The Siege of Boston: Washington takes command of a large, poorly trained and organized force and tries to whip it into shape with limited success. He faces the basic problem that he can't storm Boston and the British face the problem he has too many men for them to break out.

The Battle of Bunker Hill (June 17, 1775): The colonists built forts on two hills on the nearby Charles peninsula, overlooking the city across the harbor. Overconfident that the colonists would break before a frontal assault, General Howe lead wave after wave of troops in frontal attacks on the forts. 2,200 British took on 1,700 colonists and were repelled three times until the colonists ran out of ammunition and were forced to retreat. A thousand British troops were killed or wounded. The colonists lost only 450, most just wounded.

Dorchester Heights: Over the winter of 1775, General Henry Knox shipped cannon from Ticonderoga to heights overlooking Boston and placed them on Dorchester Heights, early in March 1776. This was a difficult feat given Northern winters. This forced the British to evacuate the city on March 17, taking 1000 Loyalists with them..

Independence:

August 1775: George III rejects the Olive Branch Petition and declares the Colonies in Rebellion.

Common Sense: Thomas Paine’s influential pamphlet was published in Philadelphia in January 1776. Paine drew on the Contract Theory of Government to make his case, arguing governments exist to protect the rights of their citizens and if they fail to do that, you can get rid of them and make a new one. He also condemned all hereditary power and asserted the legitimacy of democratic governments, which can be restrained by the people. It sold more than 100,000 copies throughout the colonies.

But as the colony increases, the public concerns will increase likewise, and the distance at which the members may be separated, will render it too inconvenient for all of them to meet on every occasion as at first, when their number was small, their habitations near, and the public concerns few and trifling. This will point out the convenience of their consenting to leave the legislative part to be managed by a select number chosen from the whole body, who are supposed to have the same concerns at stake which those have who appointed them, and who will act in the same manner as the whole body would act were they present. If the colony continue increasing, it will become necessary to augment the number of the representatives, and that the interest of every part of the colony may be attended to, it will be found best to divide the whole into convenient parts, each part sending its proper number; and that the elected might never form to themselves an interest separate from the electors, prudence will point out the propriety of having elections often; because as the elected might by that means return and mix again with the general body of the electors in a few months, their fidelity to the public will be secured by the prudent reflection of not making a rod for themselves. And as this frequent interchange will establish a common interest with every part of the community, they will mutually and naturally support each other, and on this (not on the unmeaning name of king) depends the strength of government, and the happiness of the governed. (Thomas Paine, Common Sense, Part I)

July 4, 1776: Declaration of Independence is adopted by the CC. Like Paine's Common Sense, the Declaration is rooted in the contract theory of government, in which governments are formed by the will of the people, and can be dissolved by such. It was written by Thomas Jefferson. The Declaration thus half lays out the theory of government and then establishes King George's many abuses.

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. (Opening of the Declaration of Independence)

Republicanism: The history of free republics was not encouraging; only moral virtue would enable it to survive. Republican ideology argued in favor of representative government, while denigrating hereditary governments as prone to tyranny. The citizenry, however, must be virtuous or government will sink into demagoguery and mob-rule. They preferred to rely on small government, citizen soldiers, and men of independent but small property—family farmers could not be bought and did not need bread and circuses, nor could they bribe others.

Phase II (Defeat and Retreat)

General Howe Fights With One Hand Behind His Back

1776: General Howe and his brother Admiral Howe were sent to capture New York City. It was basically impossible to defend against the British, but Washington had to try anyway. He had to divide his 20,000 men among multiple forts and fortified positions to defend all approaches. Howe was thus able to use his naval strength and his 22,000 men to defeat Washington repeatedly. On August 27, 1776, Howe defeated Washington at the Battle of Long Island and nearly trapped him. He then forced him to evacuate Manhattan, and on October 28, 1776, he defeated Washington again at the Battle of White Plains. Washington pulled back to Philadelphia and Howe took over New Jersey, scattering his men in small detachments which could live off local communities over the winter.