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Chapter 8 – America Secedes from the Empire
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still not ready for independence after Lexington and Concord – just keep fighting, maybe
there would be a redress of grievances
started raising $ and creating an army and navy
Congress Drafts George Washington
 largest command was 1200 men, but people trusted him
Bunker Hill and Hessians
 still loyal to king while raising an army and fighting with red coats
 May 1775 – Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold led a group to capture Ticonderoga and Crown
Point in upstate NY
o gained gunpowder and artillery
 June 1775 – seized Bunker Hill (Breed’s Hill)
o 1500 colonists had the advantage over 3000 Britons
o once gunpowder was out, abandoned the hill
 July 1775 – 2nd Continental Congress – Olive Branch Petition
o American loyalty to the crown
o beg king to prevent more violence
 August 1775 – George III proclaimed colonies in rebellion
o started hiring German mercenaries (Hessians) – reputation for brutality
Canada?
 Fall 1775 – colonists invaded Canada – thought French would want to join the fight
o colonists looked offensive instead of defensive
o Gen. Richard Montgomery captured Montreal
 met Benedict Arnold at Quebec – troops were in no shape (December) and
were beaten
o French-Canadians didn’t want to join the colonies – treated well by the Quebec Act of
1774
 January 1776 – Brits set fire to Norfolk, VA
 February 1776 – colonists defeat loyalists at Moore’s Creek, NC
 March 1776 – evacuation of Boston
 June 1776 – colonists victorious at Charleston Harbor (SC)
Common Sense
 colonial disunity and rebellion was dangerous – still not talking about independence
 Paine – colonists’ resistance to independence was opposed to common sense
o Why should England (a small island) control the continent of America?
o called for a republic – power from the people for all government officials
 democratic town meetings in New England, committees of correspondence
 sacrifice of self-interest to the common good
o end hereditary hierarchy, but not social – fear that liberty would destroy social order
Declaration of Independence
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June 7, 1776 – Lee made a motion that the colonies should be free in Congress
o passed on July 2, 1776
o needed to get all colonies on board and get attention of possible sources of foreign aid
Jefferson – explained the push for independence
o all people have natural rights – beyond those granted by government
 role of government to protect such rights – if not, people are justified in
revolution
o listed grievances – taxation without consent, no trial by jury (admiralty courts),
maintaining army in peacetime, cutting off trade, burning towns, hiring mercenaries,
inciting the Indians
o patriots were treasonous
Patriots vs. Loyalists
 colonist vs. colonist
 British could only control where it had a massive military presence otherwise, militia would
infiltrate and spread ideas
 Loyalists – older, wealthy, educated – why would they want to change?; kings officers;
Anglican clergy and their congregations
o NY, Charleston, NJ, and PA (Quakers – pacifists)
o few in New England – used to self-government with town meetings
Loyalists Leave
 imprisoned by patriots, some even hanged
 about 80,000 left while several hundred thousand mild loyalists stayed
 50,000 helped the British in one way or another
o spies, incited the Indians, kept patriots at home to protect families
General Washington at Bay
 Boston evacuated, so British set up headquarters in NY
o 500 ships, 35,000 men (vs. 18,000 troops for Washington)
 Battle of Long Island – summer/fall 1776 – colonists didn’t stand a chance because soldiers
were untrained and panicked
o escaped to Manhattan then retreated to the Delaware River
o Gen. Howe did not pursue the colonial forces – could have won the war early
 did not want to deal with a winter campaign
o Washington crossed Delaware River with troops on December 26, 1776 – captured
1,000 Hessians
Burgoyne’s Invasion
 capture Hudson River Valley in 1777 – split New England from the rest of the colonies
 Burgoyne’s troops come down from Canada to meet Howe’s troops near Albany
o Col. St. Leger’s troops would come from Mohawk Valley (Lake Ontario)
 Arnold had kept forces at Lake Champlain – British had to control it to keep supplies
o took so much time to stop him that Brits had to stay in Canada for the winter
 Burgoyne’s progress was slow because of baggage and difficult to clear a path through forest
o militia hitting them all along the way – guerilla warfare
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Howe attacked Philadelphia instead of going to NY – wanted to stop Washington’s army to
clear the path
o defeated colonists at Brandywine and Germantown, then settled in Philly
o Washington went to Valley Forge for the winter – few supplies but were trained
properly
 Burgoyne surrendered at Saratoga in October, 1777 to Horatio Gates
o turning point in the war
 foreign aid starts to come in because other countries realize the colonists
might actually defeat Britain
o Parliament offered the colonies home rule within the empire – too little, too late
France
 wanted British to lose the colonies – valuable possession
 taking up the American cause – liberal ideas coincided with ideas of Rousseau
 secretly supplied firearms and gunpowder after Lexington and Concord
o open aid could cause Britain to declare war on France – not ready for another fight
 didn’t want colonies to reunite with Britain after Saratoga – had to seize the moment
 1778 – treaty of alliance
World War
 Americans kept the war effort alive until 1778 – needed the rest of the world to step up in
order to bring down the British empire
o 1778-1783 France provided weapons, $, equipment, ½ of America’s armed forces,
and nearly the entire navy
 British could not blockade anymore because they did not control the sea
 left Philly to regroup in NY
 June 1778 – Washington attacked withdrawing troops at Monmouth, NJ – indecisive
o 1/3 of Hessians left the war
Traitor and New Plans
 1780 – Arnold did not think the colonial leadership was taking him as seriously as they
should
o plotted with British to sell out West Point – colonists figured it out in the just in time
 British decided to start in the South and work their way up through the colonies
o more loyalists – bitter battles between patriots and loyalists in the Carolinas
o 1781 – Gen. Nathanael Greene – delayed the battles with Gen. Cornwallis by
standing to fight then retreating
 lost battles, but won the campaign – cleared most troops from GA and SC
Land Frontier and Sea Frontier
 1777 – bloody year on the frontier
o Tuscaroras and Oneidas – Americans
o Senecas, Mohawks, Cayugas, and Onondagas – British
 Mohawk Chief Joseph Brant – believed British would restrict expansion west
if they won
 controlled Western PA and NY until 1779
 navy – just a few ships – John Paul Jones
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o really just interrupted British merchant shipping, not the British navy
privateers – 70,000 – captured about 600 British ships
o men who could have been part of the war effort
o brought in gold and raised morale with tales of victories
Yorktown
 1780-1781 – worst years
o inflation with the government bankrupt – repay debts at 2.5 cents/dollar
 Cornwallis waited at Yorktown on the Chesapeake Bay for supplies and reinforcements
o Washington marched from NY (300+ miles) to attack with Rochambeau’s French
troops
o Admiral de Grasse blockaded the sea after defeating the British navy
o troops were ½ American and ½ French (virtually all sea power was French)
o PM North saw this as the end, George III planned to continue the war
 fighting continued for more than one year after Yorktown
Peace at Paris
 March 1782 – Lord North’s Tory government fell, Whigs took over – much more
sympathetic to patriot cause
 Americans – Franklin, John Jay, and John Adams – instructed by Congress not to make a
separate peace, should consult with French on everything
o French and Spanish had interests in the continent – did not want a strong, independent
America
 Jay made a separate peace with London to prevent the French and Spanish from taking all
land west of Alleghenies
o British formally recognize independence of US with boundaries at the MS River,
Great Lakes, and Florida
o America had to stop persecuting loyalists and recommend to states to give back
confiscated loyalist land