Download America: We will kill you in your sleep on Christmas.

Chapter 8
America Secedes from
the Empire,
1775–1783
Congress Drafts George Washington
• The Congress selected George Washington (43
years old) to lead the hastily improvised army
besieging Boston. He had never risen above the
rank of a colonel in the militia. He was gifted with
leadership and a strong character. He was a moral
force rather than a military mind.
• His selection was largely political. Already wealthy,
he couldn't be accused of being a fortune-seeker.
He was from Virginia and as an aristocrat he could
be counted on to check the "excesses of the
masses.“ He was honorable, dutiful and honest.
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Bunker Hill and Hessian Hirelings
• The clash of arms continued on a contradictory basis. On
one hand, many Americans were emphatically affirming
their loyalty to the King and earnestly voicing their desire to
patch up difficulties.
• On the other hand, most were also raising armies and
shooting down his majesty's soldiers.
• May 1775 - A tiny American force under Ethan Allen and
Benedict Arnold surprised and captured the British garrisons
at Ticonderoga and Crown Point (New York)
– They secured a store of gunpowder and artillery for the
siege of Boston.
Bunker Hill and Hessian Hirelings
• June 1775 - Colonists seized a hill, now
known as Bunker Hill (but actually called
Breed's Hill at the time).
• British blundered badly when they launched
a frontal attack with 3,000 men.
• Americans mowed down the British but they
ran out of ammo and then fled. It was a
defeat but the Americans won because the
British would have no army left in America at
that rate.
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Bunker Hill and Hessian Hirelings
• July 1775 - The Continental Congress adopted the
Olive Branch Petition, professing American loyalty
to the crown and begging the King to prevent
further hostilities.
• But following Bunker Hill, the King slammed the
door to all hope of reconciliation.
– Because most of these soldiers-for-hire came from the
German principality of Hesse, the Americans called all
Euro-mercenaries Hessians.
– Hessians hirelings proved to be decent soldiers but many
were unreliable unless paid regularly.
The Abortive Conquest of Canada
• Colonists invaded Canada in the fall of 1775.
• They believed Canada was restless and open to joining their
cause. They also wanted to deprive the British of a supply
base.
• Montreal fell to a force led by Richard Montgomery, and
Benedict Arnold moved on Quebec City.
• However, the French did not support the American
presence, and the attack on Quebec City failed when
Montgomery was killed and Arnold wounded.
• The whole campaign indicated America was not truthful
when claiming they were only fighting in self-defense.
Thomas Paine Preaches Common
Sense
• Loyalty to the empire was deeply engrained, and many Americans
continued to consider themselves part of a transatlantic
community in which the Mother Country played a leading role.
Gradually the Americans were shocked into recognizing the
necessity of separating from the Crown.
• Common Sense (1776) - one of the most influential pamphlets
ever written. Its author was the radical Thomas Paine; it became
a best seller.
• He went a long way to convey the American colonists that their
true cause was independence rather than reconciliation with
Britain, for without independence they could not hope for foreign
assistance (from France or anyone else).
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Paine and the Idea of “Republicanism”
• Paine's protest not simply for independence but for the creation of a
new kind of society, a (republic) where power flowed from the
people themselves, not from a corrupt and despotic monarch.
• Republicanism did not originate from Paine. It was created in Ancient
Greece and had flourished during the Renaissance.
• The colonists' experience with local governance had prepared them
well for Paine's summons to create a republic.
• Colonists had no hereditary aristocracy.
• Because political power no longer rested with the authority of the
King, individuals in a republic needed to sacrifice their personal selfinterest to the public good. The collective "good of the people"
mattered more than the private rights and interests of individuals.
• However, some conservative colonists were not convinced an
independent America needed to be a Republic.
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Jefferson’s “Explanation” of Independence
• June 7, 1776 - Richard Henry Lee of Virginia moved that
"these united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free
and independent states.“
• July 2, 1776 - The motion was adopted; the passing of Lee's
resolution was the formal "declaration" of independence by
the American colonies.
• But Congress appointed a committee to prepare a more
formal statement of separation; and Thomas Jefferson was
chosen to write it.
Jefferson’s “Explanation” of Independence
• July 4, 1776 - The Declaration of Independence was formally
approved by Congress.
• Jefferson gave his appeal universally by evoking the “natural
rights" of mankind.
• He then set forth a long list of the presumably tyrannous
misdeeds of George III.
• The assertion that “All Men Are Created Equal” was to cause
much trouble in the future, and would be hotly debated for
decades to come.
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Jefferson’s “Explanation” of Independence
• Since then, the Declaration of Independence
has become an inspiration to countless other
revolutionary movements.
• Lafayette hung a copy on his wall in his
home, leaving beside it room for a future
French Declaration of the Rights of Man.
Patriots and Loyalists
• The war of independence was a war within a war. Colonists loyal
to the King (loyalists) fought the American rebels (Patriots) while
the rebels also fought the British redcoats.
• Loyalists were derisively called "Tories," after the dominant
political factions in Britain, whereas Patriots were called "Whigs"
after the opposition factions in Britain.
• The American Revolution was a minority movement. About 16%
of colonists were loyalists. Many people of education and wealth,
of culture and caution, remained loyal.
– Loyalists were older people; young people make revolutions.
– Loyalists were less numerous in New England, more numerous
in the South and where Anglicanism was the strongest.
– Also, Loyalists were common where Mercantilism was
mutually beneficial and self-government was weak.
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The Loyalist Exodus
• Patriots regarded the loyalists as traitors. About
80,000 loyalists were driven out, or fled to Canada
or England. Their estates were confiscated and
sold.
• Compared to other revolutions, the treatment of
the Tories was quite forgiving.
• Most Loyalists stayed, especially if their support of
the Crown had been rather mild. Some were
merely taxed or lost some of their property.
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General Washington at Bay
• Fall 1776 – Washington was outnumbered and illprepared to meet the British army in open battle.
• He was routed at the Battle of Long Island where
panic seized the raw recruits. By the narrows of
margins and thanks to a favoring wind and fog,
Washington escaped to Manhattan.
• He was fortunate to escape with his army, but
could not stay in NYC and kept retreating into New
Jersey as the winter set in.
General Washington at Bay
• On December 26, 1776, at Trenton, Washington
surprised and captured 1000 Hessians who were
sleeping off their Christmas feast.
• One week later he crossed the Delaware River a
second time and defeated a small British force at
Princeton.
• These two patriot victories helped boost morale
and aided Washington’s ability to hold the
Continental Army together over the harsh winter.
America: We will kill you in your sleep on Christmas.
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Burgoyne’s Blundering Invasion
• London offers a complicated scheme for capturing
the vital Hudson River Valley in 1777, which would
sever New England from the rest of the colonies.
– Plan: General Burgoyne would push down the
Lake Champlain route from Canada.
– General Howe's troops in New York, if needed,
could advance up the Hudson and meet
Burgoyne in Albany.
– A 3rd and much smaller British force
commanded by Colonel Barry St. Leger would
come in from the west by way of Lake Ontario
and the Mohawk River valley.
Map 8-1 p135
Burgoyne’s Blundering Invasion
• However, Benedict Arnold (after the Quebec failure) fell
back to Lake Champlain to impede the British advance.
– The British stopped to build a huge navy to defeat
Arnold’s flotilla, which was destroyed. Arnold gained
time - winter set in and British had to go back to Canada
and restart in Spring.
– Had Arnold not contributed the British most likely would
have recaptured Ticonderoga and Burgoyne could have
succeeded in taking Albany.
– St. Leger is turned back after losing the Battle of
Oriskany, NY and that part of the advance is forfeited.
Burgoyne’s Blundering Invasion
• General Howe deliberately embarked for an attack on
Philadelphia instead of starting up the Hudson to help
Burgoyne. Washington quickly transferred his troops to
Philadelphia – but was soundly defeated at Brandywine
Creek and Germantown.
• Washington retired for the winter to Valley Forge his troops
were cold and hungry. Baron Von Steuben whipped the
colonial troops in shape (those that didn’t desert).
• Meanwhile, Burgoyne's troops bogged down, had their
supply lines cut, and the Patriots surrounded them.
• Burgoyne surrendered his entire army after the decisive
Battle of Saratoga on October 17, 1777.
Revolution in Diplomacy?
• France was eager to get revenge on Britain, and secretly
supplied the Americans throughout much of the war.
• The Continental Congress sent delegates to France; the
delegates were guided by a "model treaty" which sought no
political or military connections but only commercial ones.
• After the Saratoga humiliation, the British offered the
Americans a measure that gave them home rule everything they wanted minus independence.
• But the Americans rejected it and sought closer ties with the
French.
Revolution in Diplomacy?
• After Saratoga, France finally was persuaded to enter the war
against Britain.
– Louis XVI's ministers argued that this was the perfect time
(1778) to act because if Britain couldn’t regain control of
America, it might try to capture the French West Indies as
compensation for the loss.
– Now was the time to strike, rather than risk a stronger
Britain with its reunited colonies.
• France, in 1778 offered a treaty of alliance, offering America
everything that Britain had offered, plus recognition of
independence.
– Americans accepted the agreement with caution, since
France was pro-catholic but they took the needed help
with a helping of secret disdain for the French.
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The Colonial War Becomes a Wider War
• England and France thus come to blows in 1778 and the
shot fired at Lexington rapidly widened into a global
conflagration. In 1780 the imperious Catherine The Great of
Russia took the lead in organizing the Armed Neutrality.
• Soon the Spanish and Dutch also joined the war, and their
fleets practically laid siege to the British Isles.
• The Americans deserve credit for having the war going until
1778, with secret French aid.
• In June 1778 the withdrawing redcoats were attacked by
General Washington at Monmouth, New Jersey. They were
not decisively defeated, but Washington hounded the
British back into the defenses of New York. Philadelphia
was liberated.
Table 8-1 p147
Blow and Counterblow
• Benedict Arnold turned traitor in 1780, which staggered
American morale after spirits were high from the French
alliance.
• The British decided to switch their efforts to the southern
colonies, which were lightly defended and home to many
loyalists.
• Georgia was overrun by 1779, and Charleston fell by 1780,
which was a huge loss in men and materials to the colonies.
• A civil war broke out in North Carolina, with militias from
both sides battling at Cowpens, Kings Mountain and
Camden.
Map 8-2 p148
The Land Frontier and the Sea Frontier
• Indians mostly sided with the British, because they
believed that a British victory in the war would help
restrain American expansion.
• American frontiersmen defeated the Iroquois by 1779
and eventually signed the Treaty of Fort Stanwix, where
the Indians surrendered much of their land to the U.S.
• The treaty was the first Indian treaty ever negotiated by
the U.S. government.
• George Rogers Clark attacked British forts in Illinois and
some have argued that this ensured America would gain
this territory after the war.
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Map 8-3 p149
The Land Frontier and the Sea Frontier
• American warships (John Paul Jones) never won any naval
battles but harassed British merchant ships and almost
completely stopped the triangular trade routes.
• This brought in much needed gold and boosted American
morale.
• British merchants began to bring increasing pressure on
Parliament to end the war so they could resume business
as usual.
Yorktown and the Final Curtain
• Although things were grim in America in 1780-81, especially
financially, British General Lord Cornwallis blundered into a
trap.
• The British moved to Yorktown, Virginia for resupply from
the British navy. However, the French fleet concentrated
and drove the British away.
• The French army also assisted in surrounding Cornwallis,
and Washington force marched his army from New York to
accept the surrender of Cornwallis.
• This was the final major military engagement of the war, but
militia skirmishes and guerrilla war continued, especially in
the southern U.S.
• Washington had a hard time keeping his army together.
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Peace at Paris
• The three American negotiators (Franklin, John Adams, John
Jay) were specifically instructed to make no separate peace
with Britain and to consult France before making any
agreements.
• However, Jay decided to approach the British and cut a
separate deal. The British were eager to end the war and
drive a wedge between America and its French allies.
• Britain gave America generous terms:
- America got complete independence.
- America was given all of the land out to the Great
Lakes, Mississippi River, and south to the Florida border.
- Americans had the right to share the N. Atlantic fishery.
Peace at Paris
• But America had to make concessions as well.
- Loyalists were supposed to be left alone, no more
violence.
- Loyalist property was to be returned to them.
- British creditors were to be given free reign to collect
pre-war debts.
• America broke all of these assurances.
• It was a good thing Britain ended the war when it did. This
peace treaty gave the British some breathing room to
rebuild their empire and prepare for the rise of Napoleon,
who they would only defeat thirty years later because the
foundation was laid with the Treaty of Paris.
A New Nation Legitimized
• France quickly approved of the treaty, because they
had racked up a massive debt helping the
Americans.
• Britain was badly damaged and lost other
possessions around the globe. The Whig
government was soundly defeated after the treaty
was passed.
• America alone gained from this war.
• “Seldom, if ever, have any people been so favored.”
– American Pageant, p 152.
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