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8. The American Revolution
Before the Revolution: The 13 colonies are in red, the pink area was claimed by Great Britain after the French and Indian War, and
the orange region was claimed by Spain.
The Thirteen Colonies
Contemporaneous documents almost always listed the colonies in geographical order, roughly from north to south, as follows (the
division into three regions is a later construct of historians):
 New England:
o Province of New Hampshire, later New Hampshire and Vermont*
o Province of Massachusetts Bay, later Massachusetts and Maine
o Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, later Rhode Island and Providence Plantations
o Connecticut Colony, later Connecticut
 Middle Colonies:
o Province of New York, later New York and Vermont*
o Province of New Jersey, later New Jersey
o Province of Pennsylvania, later Pennsylvania
o Delaware Colony (before 1776, the "Lower Counties on Delaware"), later Delaware
 Southern Colonies:
o Province of Maryland, later Maryland
o Colony and Dominion of Virginia, later Virginia, Kentucky and West Virginia
o Province of North Carolina, later North Carolina and Tennessee
o Province of South Carolina, later South Carolina
o Province of Georgia, later Georgia
*Vermont was disputed territory between New York and New Hampshire. Today is it considered part of New England.
The American Revolution refers to the series of events, ideas, and changes that resulted in the political separation of thirteen
colonies in North America from the British Empire and the creation of the United States of America. The American Revolutionary
War (1775–1783) was one part of the revolution, but the revolution began before the first shot was fired at Lexington and Concord
and continued after the British surrender at Yorktown. "The Revolution was effected before the War commenced," wrote John
Adams. "The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people."
The exact nature and extent of the American Revolution is a matter of interpretation. It is generally agreed that the revolution
originated around the time of the French and Indian War (1754–1763), and ended with the election of George Washington as the first
President of the United States in 1789. Beyond that, interpretations vary. At one end of the spectrum is the view that the American
Revolution was not revolutionary at all, that it did not radically transform colonial society, but simply replaced a distant government
with a local one. This can be seen in the fact there was still slavery and women were still not allowed to vote. The opposite view is
that the American Revolution was a unique and radical event, producing significant changes that had a profound impact on world
history. Most current interpretations fall somewhere in between these two positions.
Origins
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In the early 1760s, Great Britain possessed a vast empire on the North American continent. In addition to the thirteen British colonies,
victory in the Seven Years' War had given Great Britain claim over New France (Canada), Spanish Florida, and the Native American
lands east of the Mississippi River. A war against France's former Indian allies—Pontiac's Rebellion—had, if not conquered, at least
pacified the western frontier. Most white colonists in America considered themselves loyal subjects of the British Crown, with the
same rights and obligations as people in Britain.
The Seven Years' War (1754 and 1756–1763) pitted Great Britain, Prussia and Hanover against France, Austria, Russia, Sweden,
and Saxony. Spain and Portugal were later drawn into the conflict, while a force from the neutral Netherlands was attacked in India.
The North American phase of this conflict is known in the United States of America as the French and Indian War. Many of the
Indians (Native Americans/First Nations) sided with France although some did fight alongside the British. The name "Seven Years'
War" is used in the United States to refer only to the European portions of the conflict (1756–1763), not the nine-year North
American conflict or the Indian campaigns which lasted 15 years (including Pontiac's Rebellion).
The French and Indian War was the last of four major colonial wars (called, somewhat confusingly, French and Indian Wars)
between the British, the French, and their Indian allies, following the conflicts known in North America as King William's War
(1689-97), Queen Anne's War (1702-1714), and King George's War (1744-48). The prior three wars, fought more as secondary
theatres to European conflicts, resulted in little territorial change. The French and Indian War, unlike the others, began on North
American soil and then spread to Europe, where Britain and France continued battling. Native Americans fought for both sides but
primarily alongside the French. The major battles include French victories at Fort William Henry, Fort Ticonderoga, and against the
Braddock Expedition and British victories at Louisburg, Fort Niagara, Fort Duquesne, and – most significantly of all– at the Plains of
Abraham outside of Quebec City, in which James Wolfe defeated a French garrison led by Louis-Joseph de Montcalm and then
captured New France's capital.
The war resulted in France's loss of all its possessions in North America except for some Caribbean islands and Saint Pierre and
Miquelon, two small islands off Newfoundland. The British acquired Canada while Spain gained Louisiana in compensation for its
loss of Florida to the British. One result of the war was that Britain gained control of a large French-speaking, Roman Catholic
population in Lower Canada. Near the beginning of the war, in 1755, the British had expelled French speaking populations in Acadia
to Louisiana – creating the Cajun population – but this would not be possible in Canada.
The war officially ended with the signing of the 1763 Treaty of Paris on February 10, 1763. France agreed to cede Canada to Britain,
preferring to keep the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe because of its rich sugar crops and the ease with which it could be controlled.
The decisive result of the war meant that it was the last of the French and Indian Wars and helped create conditions that led to the
American Revolutionary War. The British colonists no longer needed British protection from the French and resented the taxes
imposed by Britain to pay for its military commitments as well as limitation on colonial settlements imposed by the British Royal
Proclamation of 1763 in the newly acquired French territories in the Ohio Country and Illinois Country in the Ohio and Mississippi
River valleys.
Philosophy and radical thought
The Enlightenment elevated natural philosophy and began to replace arguments born of tradition and authority with those based on
observation and independent reasoning. The implications of the earlier scientific revolution began to have a greater effect on everyday
life and in the conscious thought of men everywhere. Increased publication and communications between like-minded people opened
new areas to question and consideration. The early works of thinkers like John Locke became the analysis of men like Montesquieu.
The Deist views of several of the Founding Fathers of the United States and their views on the proper form of government have roots
in this European Enlightenment and were a source for ideas regarding separation of church and state and other liberties.
Religious trends
The Great Awakening was the American extension to the earlier religious revivals in Europe. It called into question the wisdom of an
established church. The revival placed emphasis on individual conscience and experience as the source of value in religious
experience. It started or increased the presence of Baptist views throughout the colonies. It was also the first event that swept through
all the British colonies, from New England to the Carolinas, as a common experience.
Road to rebellion
After the French and Indian War and Pontiac's Rebellion, newly crowned King George III sought to overhaul his expansive North
American possessions. In order to make the Empire more stable and profitable, new economic and land distribution policies were
implemented. Colonial resentment of these new policies grew steadily throughout the decade, and had a significant impact on the
emergence of the American Revolution.
Economic disputes, 1760-70
The British national debt had risen to alarming levels during the war years and so in 1760 the Crown began a series of economic
initiatives designed to extract more revenue from the colonies. These policies were justifiable, the reasoning went, because the
colonists were enjoying the benefits of the peace that had been won.
In theory, Great Britain already regulated the economies of the colonies through the Navigation Acts, but 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 1764, British Prime Minister George Grenville's Sugar Act and Currency Act created economic hardship in the colonies. Protests
led to the boycott of British goods, and to the emergence of the popular slogan "no taxation without representation," in which
colonists argued that only their colonial assemblies, and not Parliament, could levy taxes on them. Committees of correspondence
were formed in the colonies to coordinate resistance. In previous years, the colonies had shown little inclination towards collective
action. Grenville's policies were bringing them together.
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A milestone in the nascent Revolution occurred in 1765, when Grenville passed the Stamp Act as a way to finance the quartering of
troops in North America. The Stamp Act required all legal documents, permits, commercial contracts, newspapers, pamphlets, and
playing cards in the colonies to carry a tax stamp.
Colonial protest was widespread. Secret societies known as the Sons of Liberty were formed in every colony, and used propaganda,
intimidation, and mob violence to prevent the enforcement of the Stamp Act. The furor culminated with the Stamp Act Congress,
which sent a formal protest to Parliament in October of 1765. Parliament responded by repealing the Stamp Act, but pointedly
declared its legal authority over the colonies “in all cases whatsoever.”
The sequel was not long in coming. In 1767, Parliament passed the Townshend Acts, placing taxes on a number of common goods
imported into the colonies, including glass, paint, lead, paper, and tea. Colonial leaders organized boycotts of these British imports.
The Liberty, a ship belonging to colonial merchant John Hancock, was suspected of smuggling and seized by customs officials in
Boston on June 10, 1768. Angry protests on the street led customs officials to report to London that Boston was in a state of
insurrection.
British troops began to arrive in Boston in October of 1768. Tensions continued to mount, culminating in the "Boston Massacre" on
March 5, 1770, when British soldiers fired into an angry mob, killing five. Revolutionary agitators like Samuel Adams used the event
to stir up popular resistance, but after the trial of the soldiers, who were defended by John Adams, tensions diminished.
The Townshend Acts were repealed in 1770, and it was still theoretically possible that further bloodshed in the colonies might be
avoided. However, the British government had left one tax from the Townshend Acts in place as a symbolic gesture of their right to
tax the colonies—the tax on tea. For the revolutionaries, who stood firm on the principle that only their colonial representatives could
levy taxes on them, it was still one tax too many.
Western land dispute
The Proclamation of 1763 sought to limit the conflicts between Native Americans and the English settlers by restricting settlement
west of the Appalachian Mountains. However, groups of settlers led for example by Daniel Boone continued to move into the region
beyond the Proclamation Line and clashed violently with the Shawnees and other peoples inhabiting the area. Furthermore, the
Quebec Act of 1774 extended Quebec's boundaries to the Ohio River, reestablished French civil law, and instituted toleration for
Roman Catholics in that territory. Proposals to post British regulars to man forts in the west further disquieted Americans eager to
settle in the West.
Crises, 1772-75
 Gaspée Affair
 Tea Act of 1773:
The so-called Tea Act, passed in 1773, allowed the British East India Company to sell tea to the British colonies in North
America without the usual colonial tax, thereby allowing them to undercut the prices of the colonial merchants and smugglers.
This was primarily intended to aid the finances of the East India Company, which were close to collapse due to famine in India
and economic weakness in European markets. The British government intended to give the East India Company an effective
monopoly on tea imports to the Thirteen Colonies. However, it backfired. Because many Americans, including John Hancock,
earned their living from smuggling, they disliked the commercial advantages granted by the government to the Company. This
act led to wide boycotts of tea throughout the colonies, and, eventually, to the Boston Tea Party where American colonists threw
342 crates of tea from East India Company ships into the Boston Harbor. This act, and the retaliatory measures taken by the
British government afterwards, united the colonies even more in their frustrations against Britain, and was but one of the many
causes of the American Revolution.
 Boston Tea Party - December 16, 1773
The Boston Tea Party was a political protest by Boston, Massachusetts residents against the British parliament. It is one of the key
national myths of the founding of the United States and a key point in the American revolution.
The 1765 Stamp Act and the 1767 Townshend acts incensed passions regarding British decisions on taxation of the colonies with no
corresponding representation in the Westminster Parliament ("no taxation without representation"). One of the protesters was John
Hancock. In 1768, his sloop Liberty was seized by customs officials and he was charged with smuggling. He was defended by John
Adams and eventually the charges were dropped, though he later faced several hundred more indictments.
Hancock organized a boycott of tea from China sold by the British East India Company, whose sales in the colonies then fell from
320,000 pounds to 520 pounds. American women played a large part in the boycott and it was one of the first times women
collectively attempted to influence public policy in the Colonies. By 1773 the Company had large debts, huge stocks of tea in its
warehouses, and no prospect of selling it because smugglers such as Hancock were importing tea without paying duty. The British
Government passed the Tea Act, which allowed the East India Company to sell tea to the colonies without the usual colonial tax,
thereby allowing them to undercut the prices of the colonial merchants and smugglers.
The ships carrying tea were prevented from landing as most American ports turned the tea away; at Boston however, the East India
Company had the assistance of the governor—preparations were made to forcibly land the tea under the protection afforded by British
armed vessels.
On December 16, 1773, the night before the tea was due to be landed, the Sons of Liberty, a group of about 60 local Boston residents,
possibly organized by Samuel Adams, burst from the South Meeting House and headed toward Griffin's Wharf, dressed as Mohawks.
There, three ships—the Dartmouth, the Eleanor and the Beaver—were loaded with crates of tea. The men boarded the ships and
began destroying the cargo. By 9 PM, with only one incident, they had smashed 342 crates of tea in all three ships and had thrown
them into Boston Harbor. They took off their shoes, swept the decks, and made each ship's first mate attest that they had destroyed
only the tea. The whole event was remarkably quiet and peaceful.
This act drew criticism from colonial and British figures. For instance, Benjamin Franklin stated that the destroyed tea must be repaid
and offered to repay with his own resources. The British Government responded by closing the port of Boston (see Intolerable Acts).
 "Intolerable Acts" of 1774.
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The Intolerable Acts, called by the British the Coercive Acts or Punitive Acts, were a series of laws passed by the British
Parliament in 1774 in response to the growing unrest in the American Colonies, particularly in Boston, Massachusetts for the Boston
Tea Party.
The punitive effect of these laws generated a reaction in a great and growing sympathy for the colonists of Massachusetts,
encouraging the neighboring colonies to band together which would help lead to the American Revolutionary War.
 The First Continental Congress convened on September 5, 1774 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and endorsed the Suffolk
Resolves, which declared the Intolerable Acts to be unconstitutional, called for the people to form militias, and for
Massachusetts to form a revolutionary government. Joseph Galloway's Plan of Union is defeated.
 Battle of Lexington and Concord, April 19, 1775
 Second Continental Congress convenes on May 10, 1775.
 Olive Branch Petition -- July 5, 1775, one final attempt by the Continetal Congress to appeal to King George to redress their
grievances and avoid more bloodshed. The King refuses even to receive the petition.
The Continental Congress was the federal legislature of the Thirteen Colonies and later of the United States from 1774 to 1789, a
period that included the American Revolutionary War and the Articles of Confederation. There were two Continental Congresses.
The Continental Congress
The Stamp Act Congress, formed by colonials to respond to the unpopular Stamp Act taxes, was the direct precursor of the
Continental Congress, which was itself formed largely in response to the so-called Intolerable Acts. The First Continental Congress
was planned through the permanent committees of correspondence, which kept the local colonial governments in communication with
one another as their common opposition to Britain grew. It lasted only from September 5, 1774, to October 26, 1774, in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania. Peyton Randolph served as the first President of the Continental Congress.
The primary accomplishment of the First Continental Congress was the drafting of the Articles of Association on October 20. The
Articles formed a compact among twelve of the thirteen colonies to boycott British goods, and to cease exports to Britain as well if
the "Intolerable Acts" were not repealed. The boycott was successfully implemented, but its potential at altering British colonial
policy was cut off by the outbreak of open fighting in 1775.
The Second Continental Congress met on May 10, 1775. The Congress resolved that Britain had declared war against them on March
26 of that year. The Continental Army was created on June 15 to oppose the British, and General George Washington was appointed
commander in chief. On July 8 they extended the Olive Branch Petition to the crown as an attempt at reconciliation (King George III
refused to receive it). Silas Deane was sent to France as an ambassador of the United States. American ports were reopened in
defiance of the Navigation Acts. Most importantly, on July 4, 1776, they adopted the Declaration of Independence. This Congress
nobly tried to lead the new country through the war with very little money and little real power. The Congress had disagreements with
others such as politicians who wanted payment and the military who wanted more control. However, despite these problems, with the
help of the Continental Congress’s guidance throughout the war, the colonists prevailed.
Choosing sides
This political cartoon (attributed to Benjamin Franklin) originally appeared during the French and Indian War, but was recycled to
encourage the American colonies to unite against British rule.
The American revolutionaries, known as Patriots (or Whigs or rebels), included many shades of opinion. Alexander Hamilton, John
Jay, and George Washington represented a socially conservative faction that would later take shape as the Federalist party and are
traditionally characterized as preoccupied with preserving the wealth and power of the "better sorts" of colonial society. Thomas
Jefferson, James Madison, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Paine are usually portrayed as representing the less economically affluent
side of society, and political equation.
A great many American colonists remained loyal to the British Crown; these were known as Loyalists (or Tories, or King's men).
Loyalists were often of the same well-to-do social circle that produced the right wing of the Patriots (take for example Thomas
Hutchinson); however, the Scottish highlanders of the Mohawk Valley and the frontiersmen of Georgia included a large number of
poorer King's men. After the war, United Empire Loyalists became a central component of the populations of the Abaco islands (in
the Bahamas), the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Ontario, and Freetown, Sierra Leone.
War for independence, 1775-83
Thomas Paine produced a pamphlet entitled Common Sense arguing that the only solution to the problems with Britain would be
republicanism and independence.
Combatants
When the war began, the thirteen American colonies did not have a professional army (also known as a "regular" or "standing" army).
Each colony instead provided for its own defenses through the use of local militia. Militiamen served for only a few weeks or months
at a time, were generally reluctant to go very far from home, and would often come and go as they saw fit. Militia typically lacked the
training and discipline of regular troops, but could be effective when led by talented officers.
Seeking to coordinate colonial military efforts, the Continental Congress established (on paper) a regular army—the Continental
Army—in June of 1775, and appointed George Washington as commander-in-chief. The development of the Continental Army was
always a work in progress, and Washington reluctantly augmented the regular troops with short-term colonial militia throughout the
war. Although as many as 250,000 men may have served the colonies as regulars or militiamen in the eight years of the war, there
were never more than 90,000 total men under arms for the colonies in any given year. The greatest number of men that Washington
personally commanded in the field at any one time was fewer than 17,000.
In 1775, Great Britain had a worldwide standing army of somewhere around 50,000 men. An additional 30,000 German mercenaries
(popularly known as Hessians) were hired by the British over the course of the war. Loyalists—American colonists who sided with
the British—fielded perhaps 50,000 men during the war years. However, according to one estimate, total British strength in the
colonies did not exceed 32,000 men at any one time.
African-Americans, including slaves and free blacks, served on both sides during the war. Black soldiers served in northern American
militias from the outset, but this was forbidden in the South, where slaveowners feared arming slaves. Lord Dunmore, the Royal
Governor of Virginia, issued an emancipation proclamation in November 1775, promising freedom to runaway slaves who fought for
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the British. In response, and because of manpower shortages, Washington lifted the ban on black enlistment in the Continental Army
in January 1777. At least 5,000 black soldiers fought as patriots; about 1,000 fought with the British as loyalists. Thousands of black
slaves used the war as a chance to escape to freedom.
Most Native American communities east of the Mississippi River were affected by the war, many dividing over the question of which
side to support. Native American warriors fought on both sides of conflict, predominantly as allies of Great Britain. An estimated
13,000 warriors fought on the British side; the largest group, the Iroquois Confederacy, fielded about 1,500 warriors against the
American rebels.1
France and Spain eventually entered the war against Great Britain. French military involvement in the war in particular would prove
decisive, though disastrous for the French economy.
War in the North
Massachusetts, 1774-76
In 1774, the British parliament effectively abolished the provincial government of Massachusetts and put the colony under martial
law. Lieutenant General Thomas Gage, already the commander-in-chief of British troops in North America, was also appointed
governor of Massachusetts and was instructed by King George's government to enforce royal authority in the troublesome colony.
However, a series of popular revolts beginning in August of 1774 compelled the newly appointed royal officials in Massachusetts to
resign or to seek refuge in Boston. Gage commanded four regiments of British regulars (about 4,000 men) from his headquarters in
Boston, but the countryside was in the hands of the colonials.
On the night of 18 April 1775, General Gage sent 700 men to capture Samuel Adams and John Hancock (leaders of the resistance,
housed in Lexington) and to seize munitions stored by the colonial militia at Concord, Massachusetts. Several patriot riders—
including Paul Revere—alerted the countryside, and when the British troops entered Lexington, they found 70 minutemen formed up
on the village common. Shots were exchanged, and the British moved on to Concord, where there was more fighting. By the time the
"redcoats" (as the British soldiers were called) began the return march, several thousand militiamen had gathered along the road. A
running fight ensued, and the British detachment suffered heavily before finally reaching Boston. The shooting war had started.
After the battles of Lexington and Concord, thousands of American militiamen converged on Boston, bottling up the British in the
city. Late in May, Gage received by sea about 4,500 reinforcements and a trio of generals who would play a vital role in the war:
William Howe, John Burgoyne, and Henry Clinton. They began plans to break out of the city.
On June 17, 1775, British forces under General Howe seized the Charlestown peninsula at the Battle of Bunker Hill. The battle was
technically a British victory, but losses were so heavy that the attack was not followed up. Thus the siege was not broken, and General
Gage was soon replaced by Howe as commander-in-chief for the British.
In early July of 1775, George Washington arrived outside Boston to take charge of the American forces. The standoff continued
throughout the fall and winter, until in early March of 1776, heavy cannons that had been captured by the Americans at Fort
Ticonderoga were placed upon Dorchester Heights, overlooking the British positions. With their situation in Boston now untenable,
the British evacuated the city and sailed for temporary refuge in Halifax on March 17, 1776. The colonial militia dispersed, and in
April Washington took most of the Continental Army to fortify New York City.
Canada, 1775-76
During the long standoff at Boston, the Continental Congress sought a way to seize the initiative elsewhere. Congress had initially
hoped that Canada would join them as the fourteenth colony, but when that failed to happen, an invasion of Canada was authorized.
Two expeditions were undertaken. On September 16, 1775, Brigadier General Richard Montgomery marched north from Fort
Ticonderoga with about 1,700 militiamen, capturing Montreal on November 13. General Guy Carleton, the governor of Canada,
escaped to Quebec.
The second expedition, led by Colonel Benedict Arnold, set out from Fort Western (present day Maine) on September 25. The
expedition was a logistical nightmare, and by the time Arnold reached Quebec in early November, he had but 600 of his original
1,100 men. Nevertheless, Arnold demanded the surrender of the city, to no avail.
Montgomery joined Arnold, and they attacked Quebec on December 31, but were soundly defeated by Carleton. Montgomery was
killed, Arnold was wounded, and many men were taken prisoner. The Americans held on outside Quebec until the spring of 1776, and
then withdrew.
Another attempt was made by the Americans to push back towards Quebec, but failed at Trois-Rivières on June 8, 1776. Carleton
then launched his own invasion, and defeated Arnold in a naval battle on Lake Champlain (the Battle of Valcour Island) in October.
Arnold fell back to Fort Ticonderoga, where the invasion of Canada had begun.
The invasion of Canada ended as an embarrassing disaster for the Americans, but Arnold’s improvised navy on Lake Champlain
managed to delay the fateful British counter thrust (the Saratoga Campaign) until 1777.
New York and New Jersey, 1776-77
Having withdrawn from Boston, the British now focused on capturing New York City. General Howe, with the services of his
brother, Admiral Lord Richard Howe, began amassing troops on Staten Island in July of 1776.
General Washington, with a smaller army of about 20,000 men, unwittingly violated a cardinal rule of warfare, and divided his troops
about equally between Long Island and Manhattan, thus allowing Howe to engage only one half of the American army at a time.
In late August, the Howes transported about 22,000 men (including 9,000 Hessian mercenaries) to Long Island. In the Battle of Long
Island on August 27, 1776, the British expertly executed a surprise flanking maneuver, driving the Americans back to the Brooklyn
Heights fortifications. General Howe then laid siege to the works, but Washington skillfully managed a nighttime evacuation to
Manhattan.
Having taken Long Island, the Howes moved to seize Manhattan. On September 15, General Howe landed about 12,000 men on
lower Manhattan, quickly taking control of New York City. The Americans withdrew to Harlem Heights, where they skirmished the
next day, but held their ground.
When Howe moved to encircle Washington’s army in October, the Americans again fell back, and a battle at White Plains was fought
on October 28, 1776. Once more the Americans retreated, but Howe, instead of aggressively pursuing the withdrawal, returned to
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Manhattan and captured Fort Washington in mid November, taking almost 3,000 prisoners. Four days later, Fort Lee, across the
Hudson River from Fort Washington, was also taken.
An iconic image: millions of Americans know this painting depicts Washington Crossing the Delaware, even if they do not remember
why he crossed it. (Emanuel Leutze, 1851, Metropolitan Museum)
General Lord Charles Cornwallis continued to chase Washington’s army through New Jersey, until the Americans withdrew across
the Delaware River into Pennsylvania in early December. With the campaign at an apparent conclusion for the season, the British
entered winter quarters. Although Howe had missed several opportunities to crush the diminishing American army, he had killed or
captured over 5,000 of the rebels. He controlled much of New York and New Jersey, and was in a good position to resume operations
in the spring, with the rebel capital of Philadelphia in striking distance.
The outlook of the Continental Army—and thus the revolution itself—was bleak. “These are the times that try men’s souls,” wrote
Thomas Paine, who was with the army on the retreat. The army had dwindled to fewer than 5,000 men fit for duty, and would be
reduced to 1,400 after enlistments expired at the end of the year. Spirits were low, popular support was wavering, and Congress had
abandoned Philadelphia in despair.
Washington reacted by taking the offensive, stealthily crossing the Delaware on Christmas night and capturing nearly 1,000 Hessians
at Trenton, New Jersey on December 26, 1776. Cornwallis marched to retake Trenton, but was outmaneuvered by Washington, who
successfully attacked the British rearguard at Princeton on January 3, 1777. Washington then entered winter quarters at Morristown,
New Jersey, having retaken much of New Jersey, and having secured two bold, morale-boosting victories in quick succession to
reinvigorate the flagging revolution.
Saratoga Campaign, 1777
In the summer of 1777, the British launched a new expedition from Canada. Led by General Burgoyne, the intention was to seize the
Lake Champlain and Hudson River corridor, effectively isolating New England from the rest of the American colonies. Burgoyne’s
invasion had two components: he would lead about 10,000 men along Lake Champlain towards Albany, New York, while a second
column of about 2,000 men, led by Barry St. Leger, would move down the Mohawk River valley and link up with Burgoyne in
Albany.
Burgoyne set off in early July, recapturing Fort Ticonderoga from the retreating Americans without firing a shot. He then proceeded
overland towards Albany, but the Americans slowed his progress through the wilderness by destroying bridges and felling trees in his
path. Running short on supplies, in August Burgoyne sent a detachment to raid nearby Bennington, Vermont. The raiders were
decisively defeated by local American militia, depriving Burgoyne of nearly 1,000 men and the much-needed supplies.
Meanwhile, St. Leger—half of his force Indians led by Joseph Brant—had laid siege to Fort Stanwix on the Mohawk River. About
800 American militiamen from a nearby fort marched to relieve the siege, but were ambushed and scattered by British and Indians at
the Battle of Oriskany on August 6. When a second relief expedition approached, this time led by Benedict Arnold, the siege was
lifted, and St. Leger’s expedition returned to Canada. Burgoyne was on his own.
Burgoyne pushed on towards Albany, his forces now reduced to about 6,000 men. An American army of about 8,000 men,
commanded by the newly arrived General Horatio Gates, had entrenched about ten miles south of Saratoga, New York. Burgoyne sent
2,000 men to outflank the American position, but was checked by Generals Benedict Arnold and Daniel Morgan in the first battle of
Saratoga on September 19, 1777. After the battle, the two armies dug in.
Burgoyne was in trouble now, but he hoped that help from the south might be on the way. All along, Burgoyne had suggested that his
invasion from Canada might be supported by a British offensive up the Hudson River from Howe's location in New York City.
However, British war planners did not coordinate their efforts. General Howe had instead sailed away from New York on an
expedition to capture Philadelphia (see next section). British General Henry Clinton, left in command at New York, did indeed sail up
the Hudson in October, capturing several forts and burning Kingston (then the rebel capital of New York), but his efforts were not
enough to affect the events at Saratoga.
American militiamen, many of them outraged by the reported murder of an American woman at the hands of Burgoyne’s Indian
allies, flocked to Gates’s army, swelling his force to 11,000 by the beginning of October. Burgoyne, his position becoming desperate,
launched a new offensive, the second battle of Saratoga on October 7. The attack was repelled, and General Arnold, though relieved
of command by Gates, rushed to the battle and led a decisive counterattack. Badly beaten, Burgoyne surrendered on October 17.
Saratoga was the turning point of the war. American confidence and determination, suffering from Howe’s successful occupation of
Philadelphia, was renewed. Even more importantly, the victory encouraged France to enter the war against Great Britain. Spain and
Holland soon did the same. For the British, the war had now become much more complicated.
Philadelphia Campaign, 1777-78
Having secured New York City in his 1776 campaign, in 1777 General Howe concentrated on capturing the American capital of
Philadelphia. He moved slowly, landing 15,000 troops in late August at the northern end of Chesapeake Bay, about 55 miles
southwest of Philadelphia.
Washington positioned his 11,000 men between Howe and Philadelphia, but was outflanked and driven back at the Battle of
Brandywine on September 11, 1777. The Continental Congress once again abandoned the city. British and American forces
maneuvered around each other for the next several days, clashing in minor encounters such as the so-called “Paoli Massacre.” On
September 26, Howe finally outmaneuvered Washington, and marched into Philadelphia unopposed.
After taking the city, the British garrisoned about 9,000 troops in Germantown, five miles above Philadelphia. Washington
unsuccessfully attacked Germantown in early October, and then retreated to watch and wait. Meanwhile, the British secured the
Delaware River by taking (with difficulty) forts Mifflin and Mercer in November.
General Washington’s problems at this time were not just with the British. In the so-called Conway Cabal, some politicians and
officers unhappy with Washington’s recent performance as commander-in-chief secretively discussed his removal. Washington,
offended by the behind-the-scenes maneuvering, laid the whole matter openly before Congress. His supporters rallied behind him, and
the episode abated.
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Washington and his army encamped at Valley Forge in December of 1777, about 20 miles from Philadelphia, where they would stay
for the next six months. Over the winter, 2,500 men (out of 10,000) died from disease and exposure. However, the army eventually
emerged from Valley Forge in good order, thanks in part to a training program supervised by Baron von Steuben.
Meanwhile, there was a shakeup in the British command, with General Clinton replacing Howe as commander-in-chief. French entry
into the war had changed British war strategy, and Clinton was ordered by the government to go on the defensive in the North. He
abandoned Philadelphia and marched back towards New York City.
The Americans shadowed Clinton on his withdrawal, and forced a battle at Monmouth on June 28, 1778, the last major battle in the
North. Washington's second-in-command, General Charles Lee, ordered a controversial retreat during the battle, angering Washington
and allowing Clinton’s army to escape. By July, Clinton was in New York City, and Washington was again at White Plains. Both
armies were back where they had been two years earlier. With the exception of scattered minor actions in the North, like the Battle of
Stony Point, the focus of the war now shifted elsewhere.
War in the West
In the American West—which was then west of the Appalachians, south of the Great Lakes, and east of the Mississippi River—the
American Revolutionary War was an Indian War. The British and the Americans both courted Indians as allies (or urged them to
remain neutral), and so many Native American communities became divided over which path to take. The influential Iroquois
Confederacy was eventually plunged into civil war, while other groups, such as the Cherokees and Shawnees, split into factions.
Delawares under White Eyes signed the first Indian treaty with the United States, but other Delawares joined the British.
Indeed, most American Indians who joined the fight fought against the United States, since native lands were threatened by ever
expanding Anglo-American settlement. The British supplied their Indian allies from forts along the Great Lakes, and tribesmen staged
raids on Patriot settlements in New York, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and elsewhere. Joint Iroquois-Loyalist attacks in the Wyoming
Valley and at Cherry Valley in 1778 helped provoke the scorched earth Sullivan Expedition into western New York during the
summer of 1779. On the brutal western front, every man, woman, and child—regardless of race—was a potential casualty.
In the Ohio Country, the Virginia frontiersman George Rogers Clark attempted to neutralize British influence among the Ohio tribes
by capturing the outposts of Kaskaskia and Vincennes in the summer of 1778. When General Henry Hamilton, the British commander
at Detroit, retook Vincennes, Clark returned in a surprise march in February of 1779 and captured Hamilton himself.
However, a decisive victory in the West eluded the United States even as their fortunes had risen in the East. The low point on the
frontier came in 1782 with the Gnadenhutten massacre, when Pennsylvania militiamen—unable to track down enemy warriors—
executed nearly 100 Christian Delaware noncombatants, mostly women and children. Later that year, in the last major encounter of
the war, the Battle of Blue Licks, a party of Kentuckians was soundly defeated by a superior force of British regulars and Native
Americans. For generations in the United States, the exploits of George Rogers Clark were practically the only stories told about the
Revolution in the West; other parts of the tale were apparently best left unremembered.
War in the South
During the first three years of the American Revolutionary War, the primary military encounters were in the North. One notable
exception was in June of 1776, when General Henry Clinton sailed south to attack Charleston, South Carolina. This ended in
humiliating defeat for the British, and the revolutionaries remained in control of the southern colonies for the next three years.
Starting in 1778, the British once again turned their attention to the colonies of Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia,
where they hoped to regain control with the assistance of southern Loyalists.
Georgia, 1778-79
On December 29, 1778, an expeditionary corps of 3,500 men from Clinton's army in New York captured Savannah, Georgia. A joint
Franco-American attempt to retake Savannah failed on October 9, 1779. In this assault Count Casimir Pulaski, the Polish commander
of Patriot cavalry, was mortally wounded. With Savannah secured, Clinton could now launch a new assault on Charleston, South
Carolina, where he had failed so miserably in 1776.
Carolinas, 1780-81
Clinton finally moved against Charleston in 1780, blockading the harbor in March, and building up about 10,000 troops in the area.
Inside the city, General Benjamin Lincoln commanded about 2,650 Continentals and 2,500 militiamen. When British Colonel
Banastre Tarleton cut off the city’s supply lines in victories at Monck’s Corner in April and Lenud’s Ferry in early May, Charleston
was surrounded.
The besiegers dug trenches closer and closer to the city until, on May 12, 1780, General Lincoln surrendered his 5,000 men—the
largest surrender of U.S. troops until the American Civil War. With relatively few casualties, Clinton had seized the South’s biggest
city and seaport, winning perhaps the greatest British victory of the war, and paving the way for what seemed like certain conquest of
the South.
The remnants of the southern Continental Army began to withdraw to North Carolina, but were pursued by Colonel Tarleton, who
defeated them at the Battle of Waxhaws on May 29, 1780. A story (probably exaggerated) quickly spread that Tarleton had massacred
many Americans after they had surrendered. “Bloody Tarleton” became a hated name among the rebels, and “Tarleton’s quarter”—
referring to his reputed lack of mercy (or “quarter”)—soon became a Patriot rallying cry.
With these events, organized Patriot resistance in the South had collapsed, though the war was carried on by American partisans such
as Francis Marion. General Clinton turned over British operations in the South to Lord Cornwallis.
The Continental Congress dispatched the "hero of Saratoga," General Horatio Gates, to the rescue with a new army. But Gates
promptly suffered one of the worst defeats in American military history at the Battle of Camden on August 16, 1780, setting the stage
for Cornwallis to invade North Carolina.
The tables were quickly turned on Cornwallis, however. One wing of his army was utterly defeated at the Battle of King's Mountain
on October 7, 1780, delaying his move into North Carolina. King's Mountain was noteworthy because it was not a battle between
British redcoats and American troops: It was a battle between American Loyalists and American Patriots. The Revolutionary War was
in many ways a civil war; this was especially true in the South.
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Gates was replaced by George Washington's most dependable subordinate, General Nathanael Greene. Greene assigned about 1,000
men to General Daniel Morgan, a superb tactician who crushed Tarleton’s troops at the Battle of Cowpens on January 17, 1781.
Greene proceeded to wear down his opponents in a series of battles (Guilford Court House, Hobkirk's Hill, Ninety Six, and Eutaw
Springs), each of them tactically a victory for the British, but giving no strategic advantage to the victors. Greene summed up his
approach in a motto that would become famous: "We fight, get beat, rise, and fight again." Unable to capture or destroy Greene's
army, Cornwallis turned his attention to Virginia.
Virginia, 1775-81
Virginia had been under revolutionary control since Loyalist forces (including runaway slaves) under Governor Dunmore had been
defeated at the Battle of Great Bridge on December 9, 1775. Dunmore and his troops took refuge on British ships off of Norfolk.
Dunmore ordered the town burned on January 1, 1776. He was driven from an island in Chesapeake Bay that summer, never to return.
British forces raided Virginia sporadically during the war. In January 1781, the rebel capital of Richmond was put to the torch by
none other than Benedict Arnold, who had sold his services to the other side and was now a British general.
In March 1781, General Washington dispatched Lafayette to defend Virginia. The young Frenchman had 3,200 men at his command,
but British troops in the colony, now reinforced and commanded by Cornwallis, totaled 7,200. Lafayette skirmished with Cornwallis,
avoiding a decisive battle while gathering reinforcements. "The boy cannot escape me," Cornwallis is supposed to have said.
However, Cornwallis was unable to trap Lafayette, and so he moved his forces to Yorktown, Virginia in July in order to link up with
the British navy. As fate would have it, the navy that eventually met Cornwallis at Yorktown was not British.
War at sea
Meanwhile the co-operation of the French became active. In July Count Rochambeau arrived at Newport, Rhode Island. That place
had been occupied by the British from 1776 to the close of 1779. An unsuccessful attempt was made to drive them out in 1778 b y the
Americans assisted by the French admiral d'Estaing and a French corps.
 First Battle of Ushant - July 27, 1778
 John Paul Jones
 Continental Navy
 Battle of Cape St. Vincent (1780)
 Second Battle of Ushant - December 12, 1781
Gulf Coast
After Spain declared war against Great Britain in June of 1779, Count Bernardo de Gálvez, the governor of Louisiana, seized three
British Mississippi River outposts: Manchac, Baton Rouge, and Natchez. Gálvez then captured Mobile on March 14, 1780, and in
May of 1781 forced the surrender of the British outpost at Pensacola, Florida. On May 8, 1782, Gálvez captured the British naval base
at New Providence in the Bahamas.
Caribbean
 Battle of the Saintes
India
The Franco-British war spilled over into India in 1780, in the form of the Second Anglo-Mysore War. The two chief antagonists here
were Tipu Sultan, ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore and a key French ally, and the British government of Madras. The Anglo-Mysore
conflict was bloody but inconclusive, and ended in a draw at the Treaty of Mangalore in 1784.
Netherlands
Also in 1780, the British struck against the United Provinces of the Netherlands in the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War to preempt Dutch
involvement in a league of armed neutrality directed primarily against the British Navy during the war. Agitation by Dutch radicals,
and a friendly attitude towards the United States by the Dutch government, influenced by the American Revolution also encouraged
the British to attack. The war lasted into 1784 and was disastrous to Holland's mercantile economy.
War's end
The northern, southern, and naval theaters of the war converged at Yorktown in 1781. On September 5, 1781, French naval forces
defeated the British Royal Navy at the Battle of the Chesapeake, cutting off Cornwallis's supplies and transport. Washington hurriedly
moved his troops from New York, and a combined Franco-American force of 17,000 troops commenced the Battle of Yorktown on
October 6, 1781. Cornwallis's position quickly became untenable, and on October 19 his army surrendered. The war was all but over.
British Prime Minister Lord North resigned upon hearing the news from Yorktown. In April 1782, the British House of Commons
voted to end the war with the American colonies. On November 30, 1782 preliminary peace articles were signed in Paris; the formal
end of the war did not occur until the Treaty of Paris was signed on September 3, 1783 and the United States Congress ratified the
treaty on January 14, 1784. The last British troops left New York City on November 25, 1783.
The reasons for Great Britain's misfortunes and defeat may be summarized as follows: Misconception by the home government of the
temper and reserve strength of her colonists; disbelief at the outset in the probability of a protracted struggle covering the immense
territory in America; consequent failure of the British to use their more efficient military strength effectively; the safe and Fabian
generalship of Washington; and finally, the French alliance and European combinations by which at the close of the conflict Great
Britain was without a friend or ally on the continent.
Decisive victory eluded the United States on the western frontier. However, Great Britain negotiated the Paris peace treaty without
consulting her Indian allies, and ceded Indian territory to the United States. Full of resentment, Native Americans reluctantly
confirmed these land cessions with the United States in a series of treaties, but the result was essentially an armed truce—the fighting
would be renewed in conflicts along the frontier, the largest being the Northwest Indian War.
Casualties and survivors
The total loss of life resulting from the American Revolutionary War is unknown. As was typical in the wars of the era, disease
claimed more lives than battle. Often overlooked is the fact that the war took place in the context of a massive smallpox epidemic in
North America that probably killed more than 130,000 people. Historian Joseph J. Ellis suggests that Washington's decision to have
his troops inoculated may have been the commander-in-chief's most important strategic decision.2
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Casualty figures for the American revolutionaries have varied over the years; a recent scholarly estimate lists 6,824 killed and 8,445
wounded in action. The number of American patriot troop deaths from disease and other non-combat causes is estimated at about
18,500.3
Approximately 1,200 German mercenaries were killed in action and 6,354 died from illness or accident. About 16,000 of the
remaining German troops returned home, but roughly 5,500 remained in the United States after the war for various reasons, many
becoming American citizens. No reliable statistics exist for the number of casualties among other groups, including American
loyalists, British regulars, Native Americans, French and Spanish troops, and civilians.
According to data from the Daughters of the American Revolution, the last surviving U.S. veteran of the conflict, George Fruits, died
in 1876 at the age of 114. However, Fruits was never on a pension roll. The last surviving veteran may have been Daniel F. Bakeman
(died 1869), who was placed on the pension rolls by an act of U.S. Congress and is listed as the last survivor of the conflict by the
United States Department of Veterans' Affairs.
 United States Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence is the document in which the Thirteen Colonies declared themselves independent of the
Kingdom of Great Britain and explained their justifications for doing so. It was ratified by the Continental Congress on July 4,
1776; this anniversary is celebrated as Independence Day in the United States. A signed copy is on display for public viewing in
the National Archives in Washington, DC. The independence of the American colonies was recognized by Great Britain on
September 3, 1783, by the Treaty of Paris
 Articles of Confederation
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. They combined the colonies of the American Revolutionary War into a loose
confederation. The second Continental Congress adopted the Articles on November 15, 1777, after 16 months of debate. The Articles
then languished for another three years before ratification was completed on March 1, 1781. It was replaced by the United States
Constitution on May 23, 1788, when the 9th state, New Hampshire, ratified it.
Even though the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution were established by much of the same people, they were still very
different. They contain 13 articles, a conclusion, and a signatory section.
Article Summaries:
1. Establishes the name of the confederation as "The United States of America”
2. Explains the rights possessed by any state, and the amount of power to which any state is entitled
3. Establishes the United States as a league of states united "...for their common defense, the security of their liberties, and their
mutual and general welfare, binding themselves to assist each other, against all force offered to, or attacks made upon
them…”
4. Anyone can pass freely between states (excluding fugitives from the law) and be entitled to the rights established by the state
into which he or she travels. If a crime is committed in one state and the perpetrator flees to another state, he will be
transported to and tried in the state in which the crime was committed.
5. Allocates one vote in Congress to each state, which was entitled to a delegation of between two and seven members.
Members of Congress were appointed by state legislatures; individuals could not serve more than three out of any six years.
6. Limits the powers of states to conduct foreign relations and to declare war.
7. When an army is raised for common defense, officers below the rank of general will be named by the state legislatures.
8. Expenditures by the United States will be paid by funds raised by state legislatures, and apportioned to the states based on
the real property values of each.
9. Defines the rights of the central government: to declare war, to set weights and measures (including coins), and for Congress
to serve as a final court for disputes between states.
10. Defines a Committee of the States to be a government when Congress is not in session.
11. Sets rules for new states requiring nine state approval, preapproves Canada, if they apply for membership.
12. Reaffirms that the Confederation accepts war debt incurred by Congress before the articles.
13. Declares that the articles are perpetual, and can only be altered by approval of Congress with ratification by ALL state
legislatures.
Although Congress debated the Articles for over a year, they requested immediate action on the part of the states. On February 5,
1778 South Carolina became the first state to ratify the Articles of Confederation. However, three-and-a-half years passed before the
final ratification by Maryland on March 1, 1781.
Still at war with the Kingdom of Great Britain, the colonists were reluctant to establish another powerful national government.
Jealously guarding their new independence, the Continental Congress created a loosely structured unicameral legislature that
protected the liberty of the individual states at the expense of the confederation. While calling on Congress to regulate military and
monetary affairs, for example, the Articles of Confederation provided no mechanism to ensure states complied with requests for
troops or revenue. At times this left the military in a precarious position as George Washington wrote in a 1781 letter to the governor
of Massachusetts, John Hancock.
America after the war
 Shays' Rebellion – 1786
Shays' Rebellion was an armed uprising in Western Massachusetts that lasted from 1786 to 1787. Many of the rebels, known as
Shaysites or Regulators, were small farmers angered by high debt and tax burdens. The rebellion started on August 29, 1786.
The crisis leading to the rebellion was precipitated by credit problems incurred after the American Revolutionary War, when many of
the trade benefits of British colonialism vanished and British companies began to demand payment of debts. This debt ultimately
trickled down to consumers, in large part small farmers. In addition, the tax system at the time was highly regressive. As a result,
many small farmers were forced to sell their land to meet their debts, often less than 1/3 real price.
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Furthermore, when Massachusetts rewrote its constitution in 1779, the towns of Western Massachusetts and modern-day Maine were
unable to contribute to the final document and ratification because of extremely bad weather. The resulting feeling of
disenfranchisement led to discussions of reform and/or secession in both areas.
Initially the farmers' response was primarily political, a demand for the printing of fiat money, which would cause inflation and
therefore reduce the debt burden on the farmers. The farmers also demanded that debtor courts, which enforced many of the credit
schemes at the time, be staffed by elected rather than appointed officials. These efforts were resisted and stymied by wealthy and
influential parties, led by men like James Bowdoin who had strong control of the government because of the property eligibility
requirements for office at the time. When Bowdoin was elected governor, many of the people in Western Massachusetts became
restless.
Calling themselves Regulators, men from all over the western and central parts of the state began to agitate for change. Initial
disturbances were mostly peaceful and centered primarily on freeing incarcerated farmers from debtor's prisons. In the late summer of
1786 the conflict escalated when armed Regulators shut down debtor courts in Northampton, Worcester, Concord, and elsewhere.
After the passage of the Riot Act, the Regulators seized arms from the Springfield Armory. Militia groups called out to fight the
Regulators often switched sides.
The rebellion eventually gelled into an organized army, led by one Daniel Shays, a farmer from East Pelham and a former captain in
the Revolutionary Army. Another leader, Luke Day, was the son of a wealthy family in West Springfield. While the Regulators are
usually thought of as a rabble of poor farmers, many of them were members of prominent local families, including the Dickensons of
Amherst. In addition, many of the rebels were former soldiers who fought in the American Revolution.
The lack of a standing army under the government of the time (set up by the Articles of Confederation) forced the eastern elites to
create a private army to quell what was becoming an increasingly effective rebellion. When the Regulators heard about the mercenary
army, they planned to return to the federal arsenal in Springfield, Massachusetts for more weapons. A column of rebels led by Luke
Day was delayed by heavy snows, so the mercenaries arrived first and looted the arsenal. When the other column of Regulators arrive,
an extended conflict between the rebels (of some 2000 men) and the opposing private army (of around 5400 men) followed. In the
end, this "Battle of Springfield" resulted in a rebel defeat, although only four rebels were actually killed.
Shays and his followers were pursued by the mercenaries to Petersham, Massachusetts, where they were defeated on February 3,
1787. Shays and many of the leaders escaped to Vermont where they were sheltered by Ethan Allen and other prominent Vermonters.
Vermont governor Thomas Chittenden is believed to have helped shelter these refugees while at the same time publicly decrying the
practice. Shays himself was sentenced to death for treason but he and many other leaders were pardoned by the newly elected
Massachusetts governor John Hancock. The breakup of this rebel army was followed by guerilla-style attacks on wealthy landowners,
liberation of jailed farmers, arson and the like. The last known battle of this kind was fought in South Egremont. In the end, only two
men, John Bly and Charles Rose were hanged for their part in the rebellion.
In exchange for amnesty, Shays' followers were banned from elected office for three years and were not allowed to serve on juries or
vote. Eventually the force for the rebellion was dissipated both by an improving economy and by elections that replaced some
incumbents with individuals sympathetic to the rebellion (including many of Shays' followers, despite the ban).
Later in 1787 twelve states sent delegates to a meeting in Philadelphia. Their purpose was to change the Articles of Confederation, but
the subject changed to negotiations that were to lead to the United States Constitution. Fear of uprisings like Shays' Rebellion were a
motivation for creating a strong central government, especially the creation of a standing federal army. In addition many states moved
their capitals to rural regions, where state governments would be better informed of local events and better able to control such
uprisings.
Shay's Rebellion strongly infuenced the decision to call for the Constitutional Convention of 1787.
 Northwest Indian War (1785-1795)
The Northwest Indian War (1785-1795), often known as Little Turtle's War in older reference works, was a war fought between
the United States and a large confederation of Native Americans ("Indians") for control of the Old Northwest, which ended with a
decisive U.S. victory at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794. As a result of the war, territory including much of present-day Ohio was
ceded to the United States in the Treaty of Greenville in 1795.
Although often regarded as one of the seemingly self-contained Indian Wars that occurred throughout early American history, the
Northwest Indian War was actually part of long frontier struggle in the Ohio Country that included the French and Indian War (17541763), Pontiac's Rebellion (1763-1764), Lord Dunmore's War (1774) and the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783). Indeed, for
many Native American communities, these wars were part and parcel of a single war that spanned several generations. For example,
historian Francis Jennings suggested that the Northwest Indian War was, for the Delaware (Lenape) people, the end of a Forty Years'
War that began soon after the Braddock Expedition in 1755. For some American Indians, the conflict would be resumed a generation
later with Tecumseh's War (1811) and the War of 1812 (hence the term Sixty Years' War) and come to an end in the era of Indian
Removal.
 The Constitutional Convention of 1787
Articles of Confederation
The way to the Constitution was neither straight nor easy. A draft document emerged in 1787, but only after intense debate and six
years of experience with an earlier federal union. The 13 British colonies in America declared their independence from their
motherland in 1776. A year before, war had broken out between the colonies and Britain, a war for independence that lasted for six
bitter years. While still at war, the colonies now calling themselves the United States of America drafted a compact that bound them
together as a nation. The compact, designated the "Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union," was adopted by a congress of the
states in 1777 and formally signed in July 1778. The Articles became binding when they were ratified by the thirteenth state,
Maryland, in March 1781.
The Articles of Confederation devised a loose association among the states and set up a federal government with very limited powers.
In such critical matters as defense, public finance, and trade, the federal government was at the mercy of the state legislatures. It was
not an arrangement conducive to stability or strength. Within a short time the weakness of the confederation was apparent to many,
though others still viewed it as a viable form of government. Politically and economically, the new nation was close to chaos. In the
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words of George Washington, who would become the first President of the United States in 1789, the thirteen states were united only
"by a rope of sand."
Constitutional Convention
On February 21, 1787, Congress resolved: "It is expedient that on the second Monday in May next a Convention of delegates who
shall have been appointed by the several States be held at Philadelphia for the sole and express purpose of revising the Articles of
Confederation." On the appointed day, May 14, few representatives were present. The Convention only obtained a quorum—delegates
of seven states—on May 25.
The fifty-five delegates who drafted the Constitution included most of the outstanding leaders, or Founding Fathers, of the new
nation. They represented a wide range of interests, backgrounds, and stations in life, although they shared a common background; the
vast majority of them were wealthy landowners, and all were white males. All agreed, however, on the central objectives expressed in
the preamble to the Constitution:
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for
the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and
establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
The primary aim of the Constitution was to create a strong elected government that was responsive to the will of the people, although
there is some controversy over this. Many of the Founding Fathers believed that the new government needed to be insulated from the
will of the people; hence the design of such features as the U.S. Electoral College or the election of Senators by the state legislatures.
The concept of self-government did not originate with the Americans; indeed, a measure of self-government existed in the United
Kingdom at the time. But the degree to which the Constitution committed the United States to rule by the people was unique, even
revolutionary, in comparison with other governments around the world. By the time the Constitution was adopted, Americans had
considerable expertise in the art of self-government. Long before independence was declared, the colonies were functioning
governmental units controlled by the people. After the Revolution had begun between January 1, 1776, and April 20, 1777, ten of the
thirteen states had adopted their own constitutions. Most states had a governor elected by the state legislature. The legislature itself
was elected by popular vote.
The Articles of Confederation had tried to unite these self-governing states. The Constitution, by contrast, established a strong central,
or federal, government with broad powers to regulate relations between the states and with sole responsibility in such areas as foreign
affairs and defense.
Obstacles
Centralization proved difficult for many people to accept. America had been settled in large part by Europeans who had left their
homelands to escape religious or political oppression, as well as the rigid economic patterns of the Old World that locked individuals
into a particular station in life regardless of their skill or energy. These settlers highly prized personal freedom, and they were wary of
any power especially that of government that might curtail individual liberties.
The diversity of the new nation was also a formidable obstacle to unity. The people who were empowered by the Constitution in the
18th century to elect and control their central government represented different origins, beliefs, and interests. Most had come from
Britain, but Sweden, Norway, France, the Netherlands, Prussia, Poland, and many other countries also sent immigrants to the New
World. Their religious beliefs were varied and, in most cases, strongly held. There were Anglicans, Roman Catholics, Calvinists,
Huguenots, Lutherans, Quakers, Jews, and many more. Economically and socially, Americans ranged from the land-owning
aristocracy to slaves from Africa and indentured servants working off debts. Most Americans fell somewhere in between these two
extremes.
Americans then, as now, had widely differing opinions on virtually all issues, including the wisdom of breaking free of the British
Crown. During the American Revolution a large number of British Loyalists known as Tories had fled the country, settling mostly in
eastern Canada. Those who stayed behind formed a substantial opposition bloc, although they differed among themselves on the
reasons for opposing the Revolution and on what accommodation should be made with the new American republic.
It was the continuing job of the Constitution and the government it had created to draw these disparate interests together, to create a
common ground and, at the same time, to protect the fundamental rights of all the people.
Compared with the complexities of contemporary government, the problems of governing 4 million people in much less developed
economic conditions seem small indeed. But the authors of the Constitution were building for the future as well as the present. They
were keenly aware of the need for a structure of government that would work not only in their lifetime but for generations to come.
Hence, they included in the Constitution a provision for amending the document when social, economic, or political conditions
demanded it. Twenty-seven amendments have been passed since ratification, and the flexibility of the Constitution has proven to be
one of its greatest strengths. Without such flexibility, it is inconceivable that a document drafted more than 200 years ago could
effectively serve the needs of 290 million people and thousands of governmental units at all levels in the United States today. Nor
could it have applied with equal force and precision to the problems of small towns and large cities.
Drafting the Constitution
The period between the adoption of the Articles of Confederation in 1781 and the drafting of the Constitution in 1787 was one of
weakness, dissension, and turmoil. Under the Articles of Confederation, no provisions were made for an executive branch to enforce
the laws or for a national court system to interpret them. A legislative congress was the sole organ of the national government, but it
had no power to force the states to do anything against their will. It could theoretically declare war and raise an army, but it could not
force any state to meet its assigned quota for troops or for the arms and equipment needed to support them. It looked to the states for
the income needed to finance its activities, but it could not punish a state for not contributing its share of the federal budget. Control
of taxation and tariffs was left to the states, and each state could issue its own currency. In disputes between states--and there were
many unsettled quarrels over state boundaries--Congress played the role of mediator and judge but could not require states to accept
its decisions.
The result was virtual chaos. Without the power to collect taxes, the federal government plunged into debt. Seven of the 13 states
printed large quantities of paper money high in face value but low in real purchasing power in order to pay Revolutionary War
veterans and a variety of creditors and to settle debts between small farmers and large plantation owners.
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By contrast, the Massachusetts legislature imposed a tightly limited currency and high taxes, triggering the formation of a small army
of farmers led by Daniel Shays, a former Revolutionary War army captain. In a bid to take over the Massachusetts statehouse, Shays
and others demanded that foreclosures (seizure of land by banks as payment for debts) and unfair mortgages be dropped. Troops were
called out to suppress the rebellion, but the federal government took notice.
Absence of a uniform, stable currency also disrupted trade among the states and with other countries. Not only did the value of paper
currency vary from state to state, but some states (like New York and Virginia) levied duties on products entering their ports from
other states, thereby provoking retaliatory actions. The states could say, as had the federal superintendent of finance, that "our public
credit is gone." To compound their problems, these newly independent states, having separated violently from Britain, no longer
received favored treatment at British ports. When U.S. Ambassador John Adams tried to negotiate a commercial treaty in 1785, the
British refused on the grounds that the individual states would not be bound by it.
A weak central government, without the power to back its policies with military strength, was inevitably handicapped in foreign
affairs as well. The British refused to withdraw their troops from the forts and trading posts in the new nation's Northwest Territory,
as they had agreed to do in the peace treaty of 1783 that marked the end of the Revolutionary War. To make matters worse, British
officers on the northern boundaries and Spanish officers to the south supplied arms to various American Indian tribes and encouraged
them to attack American settlers. The Spanish, who controlled Florida and Louisiana as well as all territory west of the Mississippi
River, also refused to allow western farmers to use the port of New Orleans to ship their produce.
Although there were signs of returning prosperity in some areas of the fledgling nation, domestic and foreign problems continued to
grow. It became increasingly clear that the confederation's central government was not strong enough to establish a sound financial
system, to regulate trade, to enforce treaties, or to exert military force against foreign antagonists when needed. Internal divisions
between farmers and merchants, debtors and creditors, and among the states themselves were growing more severe. With Shays'
Rebellion of desperate farmers in 1786 vividly in mind, George Washington warned: "There are combustibles in every state which a
spark might set fire to."
This sense of potential disaster and the need for drastic change pervaded the Constitutional Convention that began its deliberations on
May 25, 1787. All of the delegates were convinced that an effective central government with a wide range of enforceable powers must
replace the weaker congress established by the Articles of Confederation. Early in the proceedings the delegates agreed that the new
government would be composed of three separate branches: legislative, judicial, and executive, each with distinct powers to balance
those of the other two branches. It was also agreed that the legislative branch, like the British Parliament, should consist of two
houses.
Beyond this point, however, there were sharp differences of opinion that threatened at times to disrupt the convention and cut short its
proceedings before a constitution was drafted. The larger states argued in favor of proportional representation in the legislature--that
is, each state should have voting power according to its population. The smaller states, fearing domination by the larger ones, insisted
on equal representation for all states. The issue was settled by the "Great Compromise," a measure giving every state equal
representation in one house of Congress and proportional representation in the other. In the Senate, every state would have two seats.
In the House of Representatives, the number of seats would depend on population. Because it was considered more responsive to
majority sentiment, the House of Representatives was given the power to originate all legislation dealing with the federal budget and
revenues/taxation.
The Great Compromise ended the rift between the large and small states, but throughout the summer the delegates worked out
numerous other compromises. Some delegates, fearful of giving too much power to the people, argued for indirect election of all
federal officials; others wanted as broad an electoral base as possible. Some wanted to exclude the western territories from eventual
statehood; others saw the future strength of the nation in the virgin lands beyond the Appalachian Mountains. There were sectional
interests to be balanced; differing views to be reconciled on the term, powers, and method of selection of the president; and
conflicting ideas on the role of the federal judiciary.
The high quality of the delegates to the convention eased the way to compromise. Only a few of the great leaders of the American
Revolution were absent: Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, both future presidents, were serving as America's envoys to France and
Britain, respectively; John Jay was busy as secretary of foreign affairs of the confederation. A handful of others, including Samuel
Adams, Thomas Paine, and Patrick Henry, chose not to participate, believing that the existing governmental structure was sound. Of
those in attendance, the best known by far was George Washington, commander of American troops and hero of the Revolution, who
presided over the convention. Benjamin Franklin, the scientist, scholar, and diplomat, was also there. So, too, were such outstanding
men as James Madison of Virginia, Gouverneur Morris of Pennsylvania, and Alexander Hamilton, the brilliant young lawyer from
New York.
Even the youngest delegates, still in their twenties and thirties, had already displayed political and intellectual gifts. As Thomas
Jefferson in Paris wrote to John Adams in London, "It really is an assembly of demigods."
Some of the ideas embodied in the Constitution were new, but many were drawn from Classical Antiquity and the British
governmental tradition of mixed government which was in practice among 12 of the 13 states and were advocated by the writings of
Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu. The Declaration of Independence was an important guide, keeping the minds of the
delegates fixed on the ideas of self-government and preservation of fundamental human rights. The writings of such European
political philosophers as Montesquieu and John Locke were also influential. What they sought to create was a balanced government of
checks and balances.
In late July the convention appointed a committee to draft a document based on the agreements that had been reached. After another
month of discussion and refinement, a second committee, headed by Gouverneur Morris, produced the final version, which was
submitted for signing on September 17. Not all the delegates were pleased with the results; some left before the ceremony, and three
of those remaining refused to sign: Edmund Randolph and George Mason of Virginia, and Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts. Of the 39
who did sign, probably no one was completely satisfied, and their views were ably summed up by Benjamin Franklin, who said,
"There are several parts of this Constitution which I do not at present approve, but I am not sure I shall never approve them." He
would accept the Constitution, however, "because I expect no better and because I am not sure that it is not the best."
Ratification
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The way was now set for the arduous process of ratification, that is, acceptance of the Constitution by specially constituted
conventions, in at least nine states. The need for only nine states was a controversial decision at the time, since the Articles of
Confederation could only be amended by unanimous vote of all the states. Delaware was the first to ratify, followed swiftly by
Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Georgia. Of these four states the vote for ratification was unanimous in the three least populous states
(i.e. excluding Pennsylanvia). After a further ratification by a large majority in Connecticut, a bitter debate occurred in Massachusetts.
That state finally ratified by a narrow majority with a strong recommendation that a bill of rights guaranteeing certain fundamental
rights be appended to the Constitution. The rights held to require such explicit protection included freedom of religion, speech, press,
and assembly; the right to trial by jury; and the prohibition of unreasonable searches or arrests. A number of other states added similar
provisos, and the result of this pressure--along with support from Thomas Jefferson--was incorporation in the Constitution of the first
ten amendments drafted by James Madison, now known as the Bill of Rights (see below), in 1791.
By late June 1788, Maryland, South Carolina, and New Hampshire had given their assent, satisfying the requirement for ratification
by nine states. Legally, the Constitution was in force. But two powerful and pivotal states, New York and Virginia, remained
undecided, as did the two smaller states of North Carolina and Rhode Island. It was clear that without the consent of New York and
Virginia, the Constitution would stand on shaky ground.
Virginia was sharply divided, but the influence of James Madison and Governor Edmund Randolph, arguing for ratification, carried
the state legislature by a narrow margin on June 26, 1788. Although George Washington was not present at the Virginia convention,
his support for the Constitution also influenced the final vote. Opposing ratification in the Richmond, Virginia convention were both
George Mason, who had originally supported the Virginia Plan in Philadelphia, and Patrick Henry.
The New York convention narrowly voted for approval on July 26, due largely to Hamilton's forensic abilities and his reaching a few
key compromises with moderate "antifederalists" led by Melanton Smith. Opposition to ratification was led by Governor George
Clinton.
In New York, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay combined to produce a remarkable series of written arguments for
the Constitution, The Federalist Papers that were influential in both the Virginia and New York ratification debates. The Federalist
Papers are still widely read, discussed, and cited in legal circles and in colleges across the nation. In November 1789, North Carolina
added its approval. Rhode Island held out until 1790, when its position as a small and weak state hedged in by a large and powerful
republic became untenable.
The process of organizing the government began soon after ratification by Virginia and New York. On September 13, 1788, Congress
fixed the city of New York as the seat of the new government. (The capital was moved to Philadelphia in 1790 and to Washington
D.C., in 1800.) It set the first Wednesday in January 1789 as the day for choosing presidential electors, the first Wednesday of
February for the meeting of the electors to select a president, and the first Wednesday of March for the opening session of the new
Congress.
Under the Constitution, each state legislature had the power to decide how presidential electors, as well as representatives and
senators, would be chosen. Some states opted for direct elections by the people, others for election by the legislature, and a few for a
combination of the two. Rivalries were intense; delays in setting up the first elections under the new Constitution were inevitable.
New Jersey, for example, chose direct elections but neglected to set a time for closing the polls, which stayed open for three weeks.
The full and final implementation of the Constitution was set for March 4, 1789. But by that time, only 13 of the 59 representatives
and 8 of the 22 senators had arrived in New York City. (Seats allotted to North Carolina and Rhode Island were not filled until those
states ratified the Constitution.) A quorum was finally attained in the House on April 1 and in the Senate on April 6. The two houses
then met jointly to count the electoral vote.
To no one's surprise, George Washington was unanimously elected the first president, and John Adams of Massachusetts, the vice
president. Adams arrived in New York on April 21, and Washington on April 23. They were sworn into office on April 30, 1789. The
business of setting up the new government was completed.
Bill of Rights
The Constitution has been amended 27 times since 1789, and it is likely to be further revised in the future. The most sweeping
changes occurred within two years of its adoption. In that period, the first ten amendments, known collectively as the Bill of Rights,
were added. Congress approved these amendments as a block in September 1789, and 11 states had ratified them by the end of 1791.
Much of the initial resistance to the Constitution came not from those opposed to strengthening the federal union but from statesmen
who felt that the rights of individuals must be specifically spelled out. One of these was George Mason, author of the Virginia
Declaration of Rights, which was a forerunner of the Bill of Rights. As a delegate to the Constitutional Convention, Mason refused to
sign the document because he felt it did not protect individual rights sufficiently. Indeed, Mason's opposition nearly blocked
ratification by Virginia. Because of similar feelings in Massachusetts, that state conditioned its ratification on the addition of specific
guarantees of individual rights. By the time the First Congress convened, sentiment for adoption of such amendments was nearly
unanimous, and the Congress lost little time in drafting them.
Since the Bill of Rights
Amendments to the Constitution subsequent to the Bill of Rights cover a wide range of subjects. One of the most far-reaching is the
fourteenth, ratified in 1868, which establishes a clear and simple definition of citizenship and guarantees equal treatment under the
law. In essence, the Fourteenth Amendment required the states to abide by the protections of the Bill of Rights. Other amendments
have limited the judicial power of the national government; changed the method of electing the president; forbidden slavery; protected
the right to vote against denial because of race, color, sex, or previous condition of servitude; extended the congressional power to
levy taxes to individual incomes; and instituted the election of U.S. senators by popular vote.
The most recent amendments include the twenty-second, limiting the president to two terms in office; the twenty-third, granting
citizens of the District of Columbia the right to vote; the twenty-fourth, giving citizens the right to vote regardless of failure to pay a
poll tax; the twenty-fifth, providing for filling the office of vice president when it becomes vacant in midterm; the twenty-sixth,
lowering the voting age to 18; and the twenty-seventh, concerning the compensation of U.S. senators and representatives.
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The American Revolution did not produce the kind of epoch-breaking rupture with past customs and institutions as the French
Revolution, and even Thomas Paine -- one of the most radical figures in the American Revolution -- was later challenged in France by
Robespierre for being too moderate. However, the American Revolution did entrench several noteworthy innovations: the separation
of church and state, which ended the special privileges of the Anglican Church in the South and the Congregationalist Church in New
England; a discourse of liberty and equality which would prove highly appealing in Europe; the idea that government should be by
consent of the governed (including the right of rebellion against tyranny); the delegation of power through written constitutions; and
the notion that colonial peoples of the Americas could become self-governing nations in their own rights.
Revolution beyond America
The American Revolution was the first wave of the Atlantic Revolutions that would also take hold in the French Revolution, the
Haitian Revolution, and the Latin American wars of liberation. Aftershocks would also be felt in Ireland in the 1798 rising, in PolishLithuanian Commonwealth, and in the Netherlands.
The Revolution had a strong immediate impact in Great Britain, Ireland, the Netherlands, and France. Many British and Irish Whigs
had been openly indulgent to the Patriots in America, and the Revolution was the first lesson in politics for many European radicals
who would later take on active roles during the era of the French Revolution.
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