History

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Module Overview

America’s War for Independence, 1775-1783

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Acknowledgments

This presentation is based on and includes content derived from the following OER resource:

U.S. History

An OpenStax book used for this course may be downloaded for free at: https://openstax.org/details/books/us-history

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In December of 1773, a group of Patriots protested the Tea Act passed that year, which among other provisions gave the British East India Company a monopoly on tea. They boarded British ships in Boston Harbor and dumped tea worth over $1 million (in today’s dollars) into the water.

In response to the Massachusetts Assembly ’s refusal to pay for the tea, Parliament enacted a series of laws called the Coercive Acts, which some colonists called the Intolerable Acts.

These laws closed the port of Boston, limited the meetings of the colonial assembly, and disbanded all town meetings to punish Massachusetts and bring the colony into line.

Setting the stage for revolution

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In an effort to restore law and order, the British dispatched General Thomas Gage to Boston, accompanied by several regiments of British troops.

At the same time, Massachusetts delegates met in a Provincial Congress and published the Suffolk Resolves, which officially rejected the Coercive Acts and called for the raising of colonial militias to take military action if needed. The Suffolk Resolves signaled the overthrow of the royal government in Massachusetts.

Now both the British and the rebels in New England began to prepare for conflict, turning their attention to stockpiling weapons and ammunition.

General Thomas Gage and the Suffolk Resolves

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Gage’s actions led to the formation of local rebel militias that were able to mobilize in a minute’s time. These minutemen, many of whom were veterans of the French and Indian War, played an important role in the War for Independence.

Battles in Lexington and Concord fully mobilized New England for war. Militias from towns throughout New England marched to Boston and soon the British were besieged by a sea of rebel forces.

Despite his victory at Bunker Hill, just outside Boston, General Gage was unable to stop the colonial forces’ siege of the city. On March 17, 1776, the British evacuated their troops from Boston, ending the year-long siege.

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Outbreaks of fighting 1774-1775

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After the events of 1775, many colonists concluded in 1776 that the time had come to secede from the Empire and declare independence. The groundswell of support for their cause also owed much to the appearance of an anonymous pamphlet published in January 1776, entitled Common Sense, written by Thomas Paine.

This radical pamphlet argued for creation of an American republic, a state without a king, and the idea of popular sovereignty: citizens of the republic would determine who would represent them and decide issues on the basis of majority rule. Paine also extolled the benefits of republicanism, a political philosophy that held that elected representatives, not a hereditary monarch, should govern states.

Common sense

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In the summer of 1776, the Continental Congress met in Philadelphia and agreed to sever ties with Great Britain. It was here that the Declaration of Independence was written, primarily by Thomas Jefferson.

The document articulated the justification for liberty and included a long list of grievances against King George III, as well as laying out the foundation of American government as a republic in which the consent of the governed would be of paramount importance.

In July of 1776, the congressional members signed the Declaration of Independence, officially breaking ties with Great Britain and declaring their intention to be self-governing.

The Declaration of Independence

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After the British quit Boston, they slowly adopted a strategy to isolate New England from the rest of the colonies and force the insurgents in that region into submission.

At first, British forces focused on taking the principal colonial centers. They easily captured New York City in 1776 and then a year later, they took over the American capital of Philadelphia.

The larger effort to isolate New England was implemented in 1777. That effort ultimately failed when the British surrendered a force of over five thousand to the Americans in the fall of 1777 at the Battle of Saratoga.

British strategy

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In 1775, the Second Continental Congress approved the creation of the Continental Army, with George Washington as commander.

The sixteen thousand enlisted volunteers took several years to become a professional force. Washington gained strategic advantage by breaking with conventional eighteenth-century military tactics that called for fighting in summer months only. This led to surprise attacks against British forces in their winter quarters in Trenton and later at the Battle of Princeton.

After suffering a terrible winter in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, American forces were revived with help from Baron von Steuben, a Prussian military officer who helped transform the Continental Army into a professional fighting force.

George Washington and the Continental Army

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The American victory at the Battle of Saratoga was the major turning point in the war. This victory convinced the French to recognize American independence and form a military alliance with the new nation. The French supplied gunpowder, money, soldiers, and naval forces. The alliance changed the course of the war and proved decisive in the defeat of Great Britain.

Following France’s lead, Spain joined the war against Great Britain in 1779; the Dutch Republic also began to support the revolutionaries.

Great Britain's efforts to isolate New England failed in 1777 and the British evacuated Philadelphia, returning to New York to regroup and begin focusing their attention on the southern colonies.

Philadelphia and Saratoga

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By 1778, the war had turned into a stalemate. To break the deadlock, the British revised their strategy and turned their attention to the southern colonies, where they had more support from Loyalists.

The British gained momentum in the war with repeated victories in coastal towns like Savannah and Charleston, where they found legions of supporters, including slaves escaping bondage.

But control over the seaports did not mean the British could control the interior. Fighting in the southern colonies devolved into merciless civil war as the Revolution opened the floodgates of pent-up anger and resentment between frontier residents and those along the coastal regions.

War in the South

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The war turned in the Americans’ favor in 1781 with the strategic decision of General Greene to divide his own troops to wage war. Under this method, American forces under General Daniel Morgan decisively beat the British at the Battle of Cowpens in South Carolina.

In October of 1781, the American forces began the battle for Yorktown, and after a siege that lasted eight days, the British southern campaign came to an end when Cornwallis surrendered to American forces.

Decisive American victories

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In 1782, support for the war effort had come to an end. British military forces began to evacuate the former American colonies, while at the same time Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and John Jay had begun informal peace negotiations in Paris.

Officials from Great Britain and the United States finalized and signed the Treaty of Paris in 1783.

The treaty recognized the independence of the United States; placed the western, eastern, northern, and southern boundaries of the nation at the Mississippi River, the Atlantic Ocean, Canada, and Florida, respectively; and gave New Englanders fishing rights in the waters of Newfoundland.

The Treaty of Paris

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The American Revolution divided the colonists as much as it united them, with Loyalist (or Tories) joining British forces against the Patriots (or revolutionaries). Both sides included a broad cross-section of identities within the population.

Loyalists were often royal officials and merchants with extensive business ties to Great Britain, who viewed themselves as defenders of the British constitution. The estimates are that twenty to thirty percent of the colonists were Loyalists.

All the states passed confiscation acts, which gave the new revolutionary governments in the former colonies the right to seize Loyalist property and land.

Identities during the American Revolution

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Some slaves who fought for the Patriot cause received their freedom, but revolutionary leaders, unlike the British, did not grant these slaves their freedom as a matter of course. In the new United States, the Revolution largely reinforced a racial identity based on skin color.

Whiteness became a national identity, denoting freedom; blackness denoted servile status. Despite class and ethnic differences, white revolutionaries stood mostly united in their hostility towards both blacks and Indians.

The war offered slaves who were willing to run away and join the British a unique opportunity to escape bondage. Of the half million slaves in the American colonies during the Revolution, 20,000 joined the British cause.

Slaves and Indians during the Revolutionary War

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The American revolutionaries (also called Patriots or Whigs) came from many different backgrounds and included merchants, shoemakers, farmers, and sailors. The common cause of war united a vast cross section of society.

Funding the war effort proved difficult for the Patriots. The British could pay in gold and silver, but the American forces relied on paper money. This first American money was called the Continental currency; unfortunately, it quickly fell in value. “Not worth a Continental” became shorthand for something of no value.

The overprinting of paper money caused runaway inflation. By 1781, 146 continental dollars were only worth one dollar in gold.

Patriots

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In colonial America, women bore enormous domestic and child-rearing responsibilities. The war only increased their workload and solidified their roles.

Rebel leaders required women to produce articles for war–everything from clothing to foodstuffs–as well as being expected to provide food and lodging for armies and to nurse wounded soldiers.

The Revolution opened some new doors for women, as they took on political roles usually reserved for men. The Daughters of Liberty was one such organization where women worked tirelessly to support the war efforts.

Still other woman accompanied the army as “camp followers,” serving as cooks, washerwomen, and nurses. A few women took part in combat.

Women

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• Read the syllabus or schedule of assignments regularly.

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• Take notes on your readings, assigned media, and lectures.

• As appropriate, work all questions and/or problems assigned and as many additional questions and/or problems as possible.

• Discuss topics with classmates.

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