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AMERICAN REVOLUTION
The American Revolution was a political movement during the last half of the 18th century that resulted in the creation of a new nation in 1776, the United States of America, and ended British control of the Thirteen Colonies. In this period, the Colonies rebelled and entered into the American Revolutionary War against the British between 1775 and 1783, which culminated in an American declaration of independence in 1776 and an allied victory. The French government, army, and navy played key roles in aiding the newfound Americans financially and in providing direct military and naval support.
The Revolution included a series of broad intellectual and social shifts that occurred in the early American society, such as the new republican ideals that took hold in the American population. In some states sharp political debates broke out over the role of democracy in government. The American shift to republicanism, as well as the gradually expanding democracy, caused an upheaval of the traditional social hierarchy, and created the ethic that formed the core of American political values.[1]
The revolutionary era began in 1763, when the military threat to the colonies from France ended and Britain imposed a series of taxes which the colonists thought were illegal. After protests in Boston the British sent combat troops; the Americans mobilized their militia and fighting broke out in 1775. Although Loyalists were about 15-20% of the population, the Patriots usually controlled 80-90% of the population, for the British could only hold a few coastal cities. The height of the Revolution came in 1776, with the unanimous Declaration of Independence by the 13 states which formed the United States of America. The Americans formed an alliance with France in 1778 that evened the military and naval strengths. Two main British armies were captured at Saratoga in 1777 and Yorktown in 1781, leading to peace with the Treaty of Paris in 1783, with the recognition of the United States as an independent nation.[2]
[edit] Origins
[edit] Taxation without representation
By 1763, Great Britain possessed a vast holding on the North American continent. In addition to the thirteen colonies, sixteen smaller colonies were ruled directly by royal governors. Victory in the Seven Years' War had given Great Britain New France (Canada), Spanish Florida, and the Native American lands east of the Mississippi River. In 1765, the colonists still considered themselves loyal subjects of the British Crown, with the same historic rights and obligations as subjects in Britain.[3]
The British government sought to tax its vast North American possessions, primarily to help pay for its past wars, most of the costs of which occurred in Europe. The new tax policies that were implemented served to stabilize the Empire's finances. The problem for many American colonists was that they were not consulted about the new taxes, as they had no representation in parliament (as was the case with the vast majority of British people). The phrase "no taxation without representation" became popular within many American circles. London argued that the Americans were represented "virtually" just like most British subjects; but most Americans rejected the theory.[4]
In theory, Great Britain already regulated the economies of the colonies through the Navigation Acts according to the doctrines of mercantilism, which said that anything that benefited the Empire (and hurt other empires) was good policy. Widespread evasion of these laws had long been tolerated. Now, through the use of open-ended search warrants (Writs of Assistance), strict enforcement became the practice. In 1761, Massachusetts lawyer James Otis argued that the writs violated the constitutional rights of the colonists. He lost the case, but John Adams later wrote, "American independence was then and there born."
In 1762, Patrick Henry argued the Parson's Cause case. Clerical pay had been tied to the price of tobacco by Virginia legislation. When the price of tobacco skyrocketed after a bad crop in 1758, the Virginia legislature passed the Two-Penny Act to stop clerical salaries from inflating as well but in 1763, King George III vetoed the Two-Penny Act. Patrick Henry defended the law in court and argued "that a King, by disallowing Acts of this salutary nature, from being the father of his people, degenerated into a Tyrant and forfeits all right to his subjects' obedience."[5]
In 1764, Parliament enacted the Sugar Act and the Currency Act, further vexing the colonists. Protests led to a powerful new weapon, the systemic boycott of British goods. The colonists had a new slogan, "no taxation without representation," meaning only their colonial assemblies, and not Parliament, could levy taxes on them. Committees of correspondence were formed in the colonies to coordinate resistance to paying the taxes. In previous years, the colonies had shown little inclination towards collective action. Prime Minister George Grenville's policies were bringing them together.[6]
[edit] Liberalism and republicanism
John Locke's liberal ideas were very influential; his theory of the "social contract" implied the natural right of the people to overthrow their leaders, should those leaders betray the historic righrs of Englishmen. Historians find little trace of Jean-Jacques Rousseau's influence in America. In terms of writing state and national constitutions, the Americans used Montesquieu's analysis of the ideally "balanced" British Constitution was influential.
The motivating force was the American embrace of a political ideology called "republicanism", which was dominant in the colonies by 1775. It was influenced greatly by the "country party" in Britain, whose critique of British government emphasized that corruption was to be feared. The colonists associated the "court" with luxury and inherited aristocracy, which Americans increasingly condemned. Corruption was the greatest possible evil, and civic virtue required men to put civic duty ahead of their personal desires. Men had a civic duty to fight for their country. For women, "republican motherhood" became the ideal, as exemplified by Abigail Adams and Mercy Otis Warren; the first duty of the republican woman was to instill republican values in her children and to avoid luxury and ostentation. The "Founding Fathers" were strong advocates of republicanism, especially Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, Thomas Paine, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams.[7]
[edit] Western land dispute
The Proclamation of 1763 restricted American movement across the Appalachian Mountains. Regardless, groups of settlers continued to move west. The proclamation was soon modified and was no longer a hindrance to settlement, but its promulgation without consulting Americans angered the colonists. The Quebec Act of 1774 extended Quebec's boundaries to the Ohio River, and seemed to turn the west over to the Catholics in Quebec. By then, however, the Americans had scant regard for new laws from London—they were organizing at the local and colonial level for war.[8]
[edit] Crises, 1772–1775
While there were many causes of the American Revolution, it was a series of specific events, or crises, that finally triggered the outbreak of war. [9]
In June 1772, in what became known as the Gaspée Affair, a British warship that had been vigorously enforcing unpopular trade regulations was burned by American patriots. Soon afterwards, Governor Thomas Hutchinson of Massachusetts reported that he and the royal judges would be paid directly by London, thus bypassing the colonial legislature. In late 1772, Samuel Adams set about creating new Committees of Correspondence that would link together patriots in all 13 colonies and eventually provide the framework for a rebel government. In early 1773, Virginia, the largest colony, set up its Committee of Correspondence, including Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson.[10]
The Intolerable Acts included:[11]
- The Massachusetts Government Act, which altered the Massachusetts charter and restricted town meetings;
- The Administration of Justice Act, which ordered that all British soldiers to be tried be arraigned in Britain, not the colonies;
- The Boston Port Act, which closed the port of Boston until the British had been compensated for the tea lost in the Boston Tea Party (the British never received such a payment); and
- The Quartering Act of 1774, which compelled the residents of Boston to house British regulars sent in to control the vicinity.
The First Continental Congress endorsed the Suffolk Resolves, which declared the Intolerable Acts to be unconstitutional, called for the people to form militias, and called for Massachusetts to form a Patriot government.
In response, primarily to the Massachusetts Government Act, the people of Worcester set up an armed picket line in front of the local courthouse and refused to allow the British magistrates to enter. Similar events occurred, soon after, all across the colony. British troops were sent from England, but by the time they arrived, the entire colony of Massachusetts, with the exception of the heavily garrisoned city of Boston, had thrown off British control of local affairs.
[edit] Fighting begins at Lexington: 1775
The Battle of Lexington and Concord took place April 19, 1775, when the British sent a regiment to confiscate arms and arrest revolutionaries in Concord. It was the first fighting of the American Revolutionary War, and immediately the news aroused the 13 colonies to call out their militias and send troops to besiege Boston. The Battle of Bunker Hill followed on June 17, 1775. By late spring 1776, with George Washington as commander, the Americans forced the British to evacuate Boston. The patriots were in control everywhere in the 13 colonies and were ready to declare independence. While there still were many Loyalists, they were no longer in control anywhere by July 1776, and all of the British Royal officials had fled.[12]
The Second Continental Congress convened in 1775, after the war had started. The Congress created the Continental Army and extended the Olive Branch Petition to the crown as an attempt at reconciliation. King George III refused to receive it, issuing instead the Proclamation of Rebellion, requiring action against the "traitors." There would be no negotiations whatsoever until 1783.
[edit] Patriots
The revolutionaries, known as Patriots, Whigs, Congress Men or Americans, included a full range of social and economic classes, but a unanimity regarding the need to defend the rights of Americans. After the War, Patriots such as George Washington, James Madison, John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay for example, were deeply devoted to republicanism while also eager to build a rich and powerful nation, while Patriots such as Patrick Henry, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson represented democratic impulses and the agrarian plantation element that wanted a localized society with greater political equality.
[edit] Loyalists and neutrals
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While there is no way of knowing the actual numbers, most likely 15% to 25% of the colonists remained loyal to the British Crown; these became known as Loyalists (or 'Tories', or 'King's men'). Loyalists were older, less willing to break with old loyalties, often connected to the Anglican church, and included many established merchants with business connections across the Empire, for example Thomas Hutchinson of Boston. Recent immigrants who had not been fully Americanized were also inclined to support the King, such as recent Scottish settlers in the back country.
Native Americans mostly rejected American pleas that they remain neutral. Most groups aligned themselves with the Empire. There were also incentives provided by both sides that helped to secure the affiliations of regional peoples and leaders, and the tribes that depended most heavily upon colonial trade tended to side with the revolutionaries, though political factors were important as well. The most prominent Native American leader siding with the Loyalists was Joseph Brant of the Mohawk nation, who led frontier raids on isolated settlements in Pennsylvania and New York until an American army under John Sullivan secured New York in 1779, forcing all the Loyalist Indians permanently into Canada. [13]
A minority of uncertain size tried to stay neutral in the war. Most kept a low profile. However, the Quakers, especially in Pennsylvania, were the most important group that was outspoken for neutrality. As patriots declared independence, the Quakers, who continued to do business with the British, were attacked as supporters of British rule, "contrivers and authors of seditious publications" critical of the revolutionary cause. [14]
After the war, the great majority of Loyalists remained in America and resumed normal lives. Some, such as Samuel Seabury, became prominent American leaders. A minority of about 50,000 to 75,000 Loyalists relocated to Canada, Britain or the West Indies. When the Loyalists left the South in 1783, they took about 75,000 of their slaves with them to the British West Indies.[15]
[edit] Class differences among the Patriots
Historians, such as J. Franklin Jameson in the early 20th century, examined the class composition of the Patriot cause, looking for evidence that there was a class war inside the revolution. In the last 50 years, historians have largely abandoned that interpretation, emphasizing instead the high level of ideological unity. Just as there were rich and poor Loyalists, the Patriots were a 'mixed lot', with the richer and better educated more likely to become officers in the Army. Ideological demands always came first: the Patriots viewed independence as a means of freeing themselves from British oppression and taxation and, above all, reasserting what they considered to be their rights. Most yeomen farmers, craftsmen and small merchants joined the patriot cause as well, demanding more political equality. They were especially successful in Pennsylvania and less so in New England, where John Adams attacked Thomas Paine's Common Sense for the "absurd democratical notions" it proposed.[16]
The boycott of British goods would have been entirely unworkable without the willing participation of American women: women made the bulk of household purchases, and the boycotted items were largely household items such as tea and cloth. And since cloth was still a basic necessity, women would have to return to spinning and weaving—skills that had fallen into disuse. In 1769, the women of Boston produced 40,000 skeins of yarn, and 180 women in Middletown, Massachusetts, wove 20,522 yards of cloth.[17]
[edit] Creating new state constitutions
By summer 1776, the Patriots had control of all the territory and population; the Loyalists were powerless. All thirteen states had overthrown their existing governments, closing courts and driving British agents and governors from their homes. They had elected conventions and "legislatures" that existed outside of any legal framework; new constitutions were needed in each state to replace the superseded royal charters. They were states now, not colonies.[18]
On January 5, 1776, New Hampshire ratified the first state constitution, six months before the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Then, in May 1776, Congress voted to suppress all forms of crown authority, to be replaced by locally created authority. Virginia, South Carolina, and New Jersey created their constitutions before July 4. Rhode Island and Connecticut simply took their existing royal charters and deleted all references to the crown.[19]
The new states had to decide not only what form of government to create, they first had to decide how to select those who would craft the constitutions and how the resulting document would be ratified. In states where the wealthy exerted firm control over the process, such as Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, New York and Massachusetts, the result was constitutions that featured
- Substantial property qualifications for voting and even more substantial requirements for elected positions (though New York and Maryland lowered property qualifications);[20]
- Bicameral legislatures, with the upper house as a check on the lower;
- Strong governors, with veto power over the legislature and substantial appointment authority;
- Few or no restraints on individuals holding multiple positions in government;
- The continuation of state-established religion.
In states where the less affluent had organized sufficiently to have significant power—especially Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New Hampshire—the resulting constitutions embodied
- universal white manhood suffrage, or minimal property requirements for voting or holding office (New Jersey enfranchised some property owning widows, a step that it retracted 25 years later);
- strong, unicameral legislatures;
- relatively weak governors, without veto powers, and little appointing authority;
- prohibition against individuals holding multiple government posts;
Whether conservatives or radicals held sway in a state did not mean that the side with less power accepted the result quietly. In Pennsylvania, the landowners were horrified by their new constitution (Benjamin Rush called it "our state dung cart"), while in Massachusetts, voters twice rejected the constitution that was presented for ratification; it was ultimately ratified only as a result of the legislature tinkering with the third vote. The radical provisions of Pennsylvania's constitution lasted only fourteen years. In 1790, conservatives gained power in the state legislature, called a new constitutional convention, and rewrote the constitution. The new constitution substantially reduced universal white-male suffrage, gave the governor veto power and patronage appointment authority, and added an upper house with substantial wealth qualifications to the unicameral legislature. Thomas Paine called it a constitution unworthy of America.[21]
[edit] Military history: expulsion of the British 1776
The military history of the war in 1775 focused on Boston, held by the British but surrounded by militia from nearby colonies. The Congress selected George Washington as commander in chief, and he forced the British to evacuate the city in March 1776. At that point the Patriots controlled virtually all of the 13 colonies and were ready to consider independence.[22]
[edit] Independence, 1776
Main article: American Revolutionary War
On January 10, 1776, Thomas Paine published a political pamphlet entitled Common Sense arguing that the only solution to the problems with Britain was republicanism and independence from Great Britain. [23]
On July 4, 1776, the United States Declaration of Independence was ratified by the Second Continental Congress. The war began in April 1775, while the declaration was issued in July 1776. Until this point, the colonies sought favorable peace terms; now all the states called for independence.[24]
The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, commonly known as the Articles of Confederation, formed the first governing document of the United States of America, combining the colonies into a loose confederation of sovereign states. The Second Continental Congress adopted the Articles in November 1777.[25]
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[edit] British return: 1776-1777
The British returned in force in August 1776, engaging the fledgling Continental Army for the first time in the largest action of the Revolution in the Battle of Long Island. They eventually seized New York City and nearly captured General Washington. They made the city their main political and military base, holding it until 1783. They also held New Jersey, but in a surprise attack, Washington crossed the Delaware into New Jersey and defeated British armies at Trenton and Princeton, thereby reviving the Patriot cause and regaining New Jersey. In 1777, the British launched two uncoordinated attacks. The army based in New York City defeated Washington and captured the national capital at Philadelphia. Simultaneously a second army invaded from Canada with the goal of cutting off New England. It was trapped and captured at Saratoga, New York, in October 1777. The victory encouraged the French to officially enter the war, as Benjamin Franklin negotiated a permanent military alliance in early 1778. Later Spain (in 1779) and the Dutch became allies of the French, leaving Britain to fight a major war alone without major allies. The American theatre thus became only one front in Britain's war. [26]
Because of the alliance and the deteriorating military situation, [[Henry Clinton (American War of Independence)|Sir Fuck you
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