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The War for America

1775-1783

Chapter 7

The Promise of Technology

  • Arming the Soldiers: Muskets and Rifles

Opening Vignette

  • Abigail Adams eagerly awaits Independence
  • All the work at home…
  • Questions Southern commitment
  • Remember the Ladies…
  • Shows that the revolution was not as radical as some hoped for.

The War for America 1775-1783

  • The Second Continental Congress
  • The First Year of War, 1775-1776
  • The Home Front
  • The Campaigns of 1777-1779: Highs and Lows
  • The Southern Strategy and the End of the War

The Second Continental Congress

  • May 10, 1775, Philadelphia
  • Almost a month after Lexington and Concord
  • Had two purposes…
  • Raise and support an Army
  • Attempt to negotiate reconciliation

The Second Continental Congress

  • Assuming Political and Military Authorities

  • Pursuing Both War and Peace

  • Thomas Paine and the Case for Independence

Assuming Political and Military Authorities

  • There was no real legal authority for this meeting
  • Most of the Governors went to England
  • By the end of 1775 there was no royal authority in the colonies
  • They were not all of the same mind…

Radicals – Adams-John and Sam

Moderates – John Dickinson

  • These guys had to learn to trust each other…

Franklin had just returned from living in England for 11 years

Washington shows up in his uniform

Assuming Political and Military Authorities

  • All of the colonies sent a delegation except GA
  • Most were not ready to break with England
  • Middle Colonies told them to oppose a complete break
  • Protection from France and Spain
  • Massachusetts was all about a complete break
  • They did agree that a military build up was necessary
  • 10 rifle companies from VA, MD, PA
  • Commander – Who can we get???
  • Artemas Ward from Mass.
  • George Washington from VA

Assuming Political and Military Authorities

  • “A Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms”
  • Dickenson and Jefferson
  • “to die freemen rather than to live as slaves”
  • Continental dollar to pay for the military build up

2 million dollars

  • In two months – Three things
  • created an army, declared war, issued a currency
  • Still no legal basis – one year later will declare independence
  • No real way to enforce policies – zeal takes it

Pursuing Both War and Peace

  • Three days later is one of the bloodiest battles of the revolution
  • Thomas Gage – commander in Boston
  • Three Major Generals arrive with reinforcements –

William Howe

John Burgoyne

Henry Clinton

  • And New Orders – root out the rebels

Pursuing Both War and Peace

  • One option – cut them off
  • General Howe in charge
  • Bold Frontal assault
  • 2500 troops – intimidation?
  • 1400 Americans
  • Three attempts – 20 yards
  • British Victory – expensive
  • B. 226 dead, 800 wounded
  • A. 140 dead, 271 wounded
  • Clinton wanted to pursue
  • Howe overruled – 9 months

Pursuing Both War and Peace

  • Week later Washington arrives to take command
  • Very enthusiastic but undisciplined troops
  • Big problems…
  • Sanitation
  • Drunkenness
  • Free to come and go
  • Elect their own officers
  • Lack of respect
  • Whippings and court-martials
  • “Discipline is the soul of the army”

Pursuing Both War and Peace

  • Some still held out for peace
  • John Dickinson and middle colonies
  • Merchants; dependant upon English trade
  • In July 1775 – They sent the “Olive Branch Petition”
  • Affirmed Loyalty to the king
  • Tried to blame problems on the King’s ministers and Parliament
  • All American assemblies be seen as Parliaments under the king
  • King George rejects it out of hand
  • Rebels, traitors and enemies of the crown and England

Thomas Paine and the Case for Independence

  • Jan. 1776 big push for independence
  • Thomas Paine – met Franklin in London
  • Pennsylvania Magazine
  • Met delegates from Second Continental Congress
  • Common Sense
  • Simple language – Newspaper man
  • Strong Arguments for Independence
  • Points to king and not Parliament
  • 150,000 copies sold – copied in newspapers, read aloud

The Case for Independence

  • Two events helped the push for Independence…
  • A possible alliance with the French – three things
  • Provide military supplies
  • Naval power
  • Without firm assurance that they will separate
  • 2nd issue…
  • British were negotiating with Germany for troops
  • By May – all but 4 colonies want a declaration
  • PA, MD, NY, SC – last two have big loyalist groups

The Case for Independence

  • June 1776 VA introduce a resolution for independence
  • Vote is postponed – delegates go home to confer
  • Appoints Jefferson and others to a committee
  • Draft a justification for independence
  • July 1 first vote – PA, SC-no; Delaware split 1 to 1; NY
  • July 2 second vote – PA, SC-yes; 3rd delegate from DE 2 to 1; NY-abstains
  • Passes with no “no” votes
  • Now to the declaration

The Case for Independence

  • July 2 and 3 debate the document
  • A preamble of philosophical principles of natural rights
  • Equality, right of revolution, the consent of the governed as the only true basis for government
  • List 2 dozen specific grievances against the King
  • Colonies blazed right through it
  • GA and SC had problems with on part
  • Jefferson blames King for Slavery – deleted
  • Jefferson blames King for Indians involved – keep

The Case for Independence

  • July 4, Jefferson’s final text is adopted
  • Aug. 2 signed the hand written copy
  • 4 men declined to sign – Dickinson
  • July 15, New York switched from abstention to endorsement
  • Printed copies did not have signatures – treason
  • Hancock and Franklin
  • “Come we must all Hang together”
  • “True or we will all hang separately”

The First Year of War, 1775-1776

  • Problems for the colonists…
  • Inexperienced and under trained
  • Facing the mightiest army in the world
  • Pockets of Tories – country not united
  • Problems for the British…
  • Reevaluate the fighting abilities of the colonists

The losses at Bunker Hill

  • Logistic problems – 3000 miles away
  • British wanted to regain allegiance

The First Year of War, 1775-1776

  • The American Military Forces
  • The British Strategy
  • Quebec, New York, and New Jersey

The American Military Forces

  • The primary military force of the colonies were militia
  • Every able-bodied man over 16 was in it
  • Its main purpose – Public safety

Indian Attack

  • This made sense
  • Southern Militia also trained for slave rebellion
  • Both had become very rare
  • Annual Muster had become a holiday
  • Primary objectives of the Muster…

Drinking and Marching

  • Maybe some shooting practice

The American Military Forces

  • The Militias were fine for limited engagements

Local community under immediate attack

  • But we need an army
  • Congress set enlistment in the Army for one year

Can’t train them in a year

  • A three year enlistment – 20 dollar bonus up front
  • Enlist for the duration – promise of 100 acre land grant

Really must believe that the colonies will win

  • By 1777 – 29,000 men. The largest the army would ever be

The American Military Forces

  • The Congress set troop quotas for each state
  • Committees of safety served as draft boards
  • Most of the draftees were servants and unemployed

Very different from the state militias

  • Some would draft suspected loyalists first
  • By the end of the war more than 231,950 men would serve
  • ¼ of the white male population
  • Not only white men

The American Military Forces

  • Women would also serve in the Army
  • Cooking, Washing, Nursing wounds
  • British had 1 woman serving for every 10 men
  • Colonist had 1 to 15
  • Most were wives – children tagged along
  • As well as babies being born

The American Military Forces

  • Black Americans also served
  • At first Blacks were excluded from service
  • Fifth day as commander of army Washington said no

Washington is a slave owner

  • Manpower needs forced them to change their minds
  • Northern states accepted free blacks
  • Slaves could serve if their masters gave permission
  • More than 5,000 black men served in the war

Most from northern states

The American Military Forces

  • Most of the time they were segregated
  • Two Battalions from RI were entirely Black
  • About 300 joined Connecticut units
  • Some were drafted but some knew why they fought
  • Five men gave the last name of ‘Liberty’
  • 18 more gave Freedom or Freeman as their names

The American Military Forces

  • Serving became political –
  • Serving could mean treason
  • Refusing to serve could be dangerous also
  • They were a rough group –
  • but never as bad as the British thought

  • The American Strategy was straightforward…
  • Repel an invading army
  • The British strategy was more complicated…

The British Strategy

  • It would be hard for the British
  • This is not a regular war
  • England’s goals –
  • Put down the rebellion and monarchical order
  • Problems…
  • First, they must defeat the new Army – Still the Militia
  • Second, there is no central ‘nerve center’ for a decisive victory
  • Third, they want to restore the government not destroy a country – 13 governments

The British Strategy

  • British commanders will hold back
  • They won’t steal food and supplies from the loyal colonists – turn loyalist into rebels
  • They must control the port cities to keep supplies flowing
  • The British plan was risky…
  • The assumption was that most were loyal
  • Divide and conquer – start in NY – big loyalist population
  • Then they could Take Mass. And so down the coast.

Quebec, New York, and New Jersey

  • 1775 – An expedition to take Montreal and Quebec
  • Sept. 1775 Gen. Montgomery (NY) takes Montreal
  • Then heads for Quebec
  • Col. Arnold 2nd group
  • Through Maine
  • Many died on trip
  • Attack together - fail

Quebec, New York, and New Jersey

  • 1776 – 20,000 British arrive – w/ 8,000 Hessians
  • Gen. Howe has 45,000
  • 20,000 colonists with Washington on Long Island
  • Colonist lose 1500
  • Retreat to far side of island
  • Howe doesn’t follow up
  • Retreat to Manhattan Island
  • One general wants to burn Manhattan – 2/3 are loyalists
  • Washington takes all ammo and supplies
  • Retreat out of city - North

Quebec, New York, and New Jersey

  • Howe captures two forts

Ft. Lee

Ft. Washington

Thousands of prisoners

  • Across NJ and PA
  • Howe gets close then stops
  • Congress moves to Baltimore
  • Washington is in Philadelphia
  • Howe could have taken the city – maybe ended it there
  • BUT…

Quebec, New York, and New Jersey

  • Howe parks the Hessians in winter quarters
  • Trenton, NJ
  • Christmas – Washington has a surprise
  • Washington crosses the Delaware w/2400 men
  • Washington captures the Germans
  • “victory was impressively executed”
  • Washington continues with small raids capturing supplies

Quebec, New York, and New Jersey

  • These late victories at Trenton and Princeton boost morale
  • Luck was the main reason they survived
  • Washington settles his men in winter quarters
  • It has only just begun – it will be hard

The Home Front

  • Battlefields are important but the home front is just as important
  • Three very highly motivated groups
  • The Revolutionaries
  • The Loyalists/Tories
  • The Natives
  • Revolutionaries tried to punish loyalists
  • Loyalists tried to reestablish British authority
  • The Natives tried to hang on
  • Finical hardships – economic instability

The Home Front

  • Patriotism at the Local Level
  • The Loyalists
  • Who is a Traitor?
  • Financial Instability and Corruption

Patriotism at the Local Level

  • Two new groups in colonial politics
  • Committees of Correspondence

Local government

Draft, boycotts, traitors

  • White women

1780 Ladies Association collects money

The Loyalists

  • 20 to 30 % of the colonists were openly loyal to the crown
  • Most visible Tories were royal officials
  • Wealthy merchants
  • Groups that were granted religious liberty

Palatine Germans

French Huguenots

  • Religious pacifists

Moravians

Society of Friends (Quakers)

  • Products of political opponents –

Backcountry Farmers

Slaves

  • Native Americans – Proclamation Line of 1763
  • Some exceptions to this

Who is a Traitor?

  • 1775 – Continental Congress declared all Loyalists were…

TRAITORS!!!

  • States would enact laws defining treasonable acts
  • Join British Army, Providing food, shelter, ammo
  • Some states, to encourage people not to join the Colonial Army
  • Punishment could range from house arrest to deportation
  • Tory hunters would bypass the ‘Law’
  • They would terrorize loyalists - Tar and Feather

Who is a Traitor?

  • Courts would confiscate property
  • Questions about family relationships – wives, sons
  • Through the course of the war…
  • 7,000 to 8,000 Tories fled to England
  • 28,000 found refuge in Canada
  • Most would stay in the colonies and try to endure

Financial Instability and Corruption

  • Wars cost money
  • Pay soldiers, pay suppliers, food, cloths, housing, muskets, cannon, and gunpowder. How do we pay??
  • Continental Congress would print some more money
  • In less than two years the money was worthless
  • No Gold or Silver to back it
  • 1/14 of its real value –
  • A loaf of bread before cost 2½ cents now costs $1.00
  • States started to print their own money also
  • Inflation was out of control
  • What can we do???

Financial Instability and Corruption

  • Congress would have to borrow money
  • Hard money not paper
  • Promised payment with interest
  • To pay soldiers – they offered a land bounty
  • The Bonds and Land certificates become like currency
  • These would fluctuate in value also – depreciating
  • Some merchants hold back food to increase the price
  • Food riots would break out in the larger cities
  • Local Committees of Safety tried to set prices

Financial Instability and Corruption

  • Some Americans are going to take advantage of it
  • They would borrow huge amounts of money…
  • In a few weeks they can pay it back – devalued currency
  • Black Market also became very profitable
  • Prohibited luxury items
  • Tea, sugar, textiles, and wines
  • They did not care that they came from England

The Campaigns of 1777-1779: Highs and Lows

  • There is a rough road ahead for the colonists
  • Washington had avoided all out defeat
  • But the British will amass more troops
  • They will move them to Quebec to start the plan
  • Cut off new England and move south

The Campaigns of 1777-1779: Highs and Lows

  • Burgoyne’s Army and the Battle of Saratoga
  • The War in Indian Country
  • The French Alliance

Burgoyne’s Army and the Battle of Saratoga

  • 1777 – General John Burgoyne took command of 7,800 soldiers in Canada
  • 1,000 camp followers
  • Cooks, laundresses, musicians
  • Over 400 Indian scouts
  • 400 horses – Artillery
  • 30 trunks – personal items
  • “Gentleman Johnny”
  • He expected help from the West, but…

Northern Campaigns

Burgoyne’s Army and the Battle of Saratoga

  • July 6 – Ft. Ticonderoga – 3000 colonials – flee without a fight
  • Locals harass the large force

Felling trees

Lack food – militia stops them

The War in Indian Country

  • Read this in Your Book

The War in Indian Country

  • Read this in Your Book

The French Alliance

  • French were providing goods

Muskets, powder, ammo

  • The results of Saratoga convinced them to formally enter
  • 1778 – The French fleet arrives

The Southern Strategy and
the End of the War

  • Georgia and South Carolina
  • Benedict Arnold’s Treason
  • The Other Southern War: Guerrillas
  • Surrender at Yorktown
  • The Losers and the Winners

Georgia and South Carolina

  • A shift in British policy – South First
  • General Howe is replaced by Gen. Clinton
  • Large loyalist group
  • Many trade items the British could use – food
  • Large slave population – destabilize the area
  • Georgia falls easily
  • Read this in your book

Benedict Arnold’s Treason

The Other Southern War: Guerrillas

Surrender at Yorktown

The Losers and the Winners

Conclusion: Why the British Lost