The American Revolution

In this section, students will learn about the events that occurred during the American Revolution (1775-1783).

Related Files:

• • The Revolution Begins - The tensions between the colonies and Great Britain led to conflict.

  • Declaring Independence - The colonies formally declared their independence from Great Britain.

  • The Patriots Gain New Hope - Patriot forces faced many obstacles in the war against Great Britain.

  • Independence! - The war spread to the south, where the British were finally defeated.

Continue to "Forming a New Government"

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• The Beginnings of Revolutionary Thinking - Revolutions often fail. The French Revolution culminated in the leadership of Napoleon, a ruthless emperor who tried to conquer Europe. The Russian Revolution brought years of civil war and a brutal regime headed by Stalin that made many Russian people even yearn for a return to the days of their monarch. How did the American Revolution yield a constitutional republic with greater freedom on a large scale than the world had ever seen? Successful revolutions never begin overnight. The American Revolution was 169 years in the making. Throughout the colonial experience important stones were being laid into the foundation of American independence.

• The Impact of Enlightenment in Europe - The AGE OF REASON, as it was called, was spreading rapidly across Europe. In the late 17th century, scientists like ISAAC NEWTON and writers like JOHN LOCKE were challenging the old order. Newton's laws of gravity and motion described the world in terms of natural laws beyond any spiritual force. In the wake of political turmoil in England, Locke asserted the right of a people to change a government that did not protect natural rights of life, liberty and property. People were beginning to doubt the existence of a God who could predestine human beings to eternal damnation and empower a tyrant for a king. Europe would be forever changed by these ideas.

• The Great Awakening - Not all American ministers were swept up by the Age of Reason. In the 1730s, a religious revival swept through the British American colonies. JONATHAN EDWARDS, the Yale minister who refused to convert to the Church of England, became concerned that New Englanders were becoming far too concerned with worldly matters. It seemed to him that people found the pursuit of wealth to be more important than John Calvin's religious principles. Some were even beginning to suggest that predestination was wrong and that good works might save a soul. Edwards barked out from the pulpit against these notions. "God was an angry judge, and humans were sinners!" he declared. He spoke with such fury and conviction that people flocked to listen. This sparked what became known as the GREAT AWAKENING in the American colonies.

• The Trial of John Peter Zenger - No democracy has existed in the modern world without the existence of a FREE PRESS. Newspapers and pamphlets allow for the exchange of ideas and for the voicing of dissent. When a corrupt government holds power, the press becomes a critical weapon. It organizes opposition and can help revolutionary ideas spread. The trial of JOHN PETER ZENGER, a New York printer, was an important step toward this most precious freedom for American colonists.

• Smuggling - The British had an empire to run. The prevailing economic philosophy of seventeenth and eighteenth century empires was called MERCANTILISM. In this system, the colonies existed to enrich the mother country. Restrictions were placed on what the colonies could manufacture, whose ships they could use, and most importantly, with whom they could trade. British merchants wanted American colonists to buy British goods, not French, Spanish, or Dutch products. In theory, Americans would pay DUTIES on imported goods to discourage this practice. The NAVIGATION ACTS and the MOLASSES ACT are examples of royal attempts to restrict colonial trade. SMUGGLING is the way the colonists ignored these restrictions.

• A Tradition of Rebellion - The American colonies had known violent rebellion long before the Revolutionary War. Each of the original thirteen colonies had experienced violent uprisings. Americans had shown themselves more than willing to take up arms to defend a cause held dear. This tradition of rebellion characterized the American spirit throughout its early history.

• "What Is the American?" - MICHEL-GUILLAUME DE CRÈVECOEUR was a French settler in the American colonies in the 1770s. Coming from France he could not believe the incredible diversity in the American colonies. Living in one area, he encountered people of English, Welsh, Scots-Irish, German, French, Irish, Swedish, Native American, and African descent. "What then is the American, this new man?" He could not be sure, but he knew it to be different from anything that could be found on the European side of the Atlantic.

• America's Place in the Global Struggle - The New World was only a small piece of a struggle for global domination between England and France. During the 1600s, France was the dominant power on the European continent, emerging victorious from the Thirty Years War. LOUIS XIV, the Sun King, built a palace at Versailles that made him the envy of every European monarch. French language, art, and literature prevailed on the continent. England, meanwhile, was in the throes of the only civil war in its history. As the century drew to a close, however, England was ready to start settling the New World.

• New France - About the same time John Smith and the Jamestown settlers were setting up camp in Virginia, France was building permanent settlements of their own. SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN led a group of French colonists through the mouth of the ST. LAWRENCE RIVER to found QUEBEC in 1608. The fur trade led fortune seekers deeper and deeper into North America. French JESUIT MISSIONARIES boldly penetrated the wilderness in the hopes of converting Native Americans to Catholicism. By 1700, France had laid claim to an expanse of territory that ranged from NEWFOUNDLAND in the Northeast, down across the GREAT LAKES through the OHIO VALLEY, southward along the MISSISSIPPI RIVER to the GULF OF MEXICO, and as far west as the ROCKY MOUNTAINS.

• The French and Indian War - Round four of the global struggle between England and France began in 1754. Unlike the three previous conflicts, this war began in America. French and British soldiers butted heads with each other over control of the Ohio Valley. At stake were the lucrative fur trade and access to the all-important Mississippi River, the lifeline of the FRONTIER to the west. A squadron of soldiers led by a brash, unknown, twenty-two year old George Washington attacked a French stronghold named FORT DUQUESNE. Soon after the attack, Washington's troops were forced to surrender. Shortly after that, a second British force also met with defeat. When news of this reached London, war was declared, and the conflict known in Europe as the SEVEN YEARS WAR began. Americans would call this bout the FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR.

• The Albany Congress of 1754- The Albany Congress, was a conference in U.S. colonial history (June 19–July 11, 1754) at Albany, New York, that advocated a union of the British colonies in North America for their security and defense against the French, foreshadowing their later unification. Seven colonies—Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island—sent delegates to the conference, which was convened by the British Board of Trade to work out plans for joint defense measures and to help cement the loyalty of the Iroquois Confederacy, which was wavering between the French and the British in the early phases of the French and Indian War.

• George Washington's Background and Experience - Few figures loom as large in American history as GEORGE WASHINGTON. His powerful leadership, unflagging determination, and boundless patriotism would be essential to the winning of the Revolutionary War, the creation of the United States Constitution, and the establishment of a new government as the nation's first president. As time has passed, his legend has grown. Honesty — he could not tell a lie, we are told. Strength — he could throw a coin across the Potomac, the legend declares. Humility — he was offered an American crown, but turned it down in the name of democracy. Time may have made great myths out of small truths, but the contributions this one man made to the creation of the American nation cannot be denied.

• The Treaty of Paris (1763) and Its Impact - The fighting was over. Now the British and the British Americans could enjoy the fruits of victory. The terms of the Treaty of Paris were harsh to losing France. All French territory on the mainland of North America was lost. The British received Quebec and the Ohio Valley. The port of New Orleans and the Louisiana Territory west of the Mississippi were ceded to Spain for their efforts as a British ally.

• The Events Leading to Independence - In 1763, few would have predicted that by 1776 a revolution would be unfolding in British America. The ingredients of discontent seemed lacking — at least on the surface. The colonies were not in a state of economic crisis; on the contrary, they were relatively prosperous. Unlike the Irish, no groups of American citizens were clamoring for freedom from England based on national identity. KING GEORGE III was not particularly despotic — surely not to the degree his predecessors of the previous century had been.

• The Royal Proclamation of 1763 - The TREATY OF PARIS, which marked the end of the French and Indian War, granted Britain a great deal of valuable North American land. But the new land also gave rise to a plethora of problems. The ceded territory, known as the Ohio Valley, was marked by the APPALACHIAN MOUNTAINS in the east and the Mississippi River in the west.

• The Stamp Act Controversy - Something was dreadfully wrong in the American colonies. All of sudden after over a century and a half of permitting relative self-rule, Britain was exercising direct influence over colonial life. In addition to restricting westward movement, the parent country was actually enforcing its trade laws.

• The Boston Patriots - The American Revolution was not simply a series of impersonal events. Men and women made fateful, often difficult decisions that led to the great clash.

• The Townshend Acts - "Nervous tension" is the term that best describes the relationship between the American colonies and England in the aftermath of the Stamp Act repeal.

• The Boston Massacre - American blood was shed on American soil. The showdown between the British and the Americans was not simply a war of words. Blood was shed over this clash of ideals. Although large-scale fighting between American minutemen and the British redcoats did not begin until 1775, the 1770 BOSTON MASSACRE gave each side a taste of what was to come.

• The Tea Act and Tea Parties - The British were in a spot — all because of tea. The partial repeal of the Townshend Acts did not bring the same reaction in the American colonies as the repeal of the Stamp Act. Too much had already happened. Not only had the Crown attempted to tax the colonies on several occasions, but two taxes were still being collected — one on sugar and one on tea. Military occupation and bloodshed, whether intentional or not, cannot be forgotten easily. Although importation had largely been resumed, the problems of customs officers continued. One ill-fated customs ship, the Gaspee, was burnt to ashes by angry Rhode Islanders when the unfortunate vessel ran aground. Tensions mounted on both sides. It would take time for wounds to heal. But Parliament would not give that time.

• The Intolerable Acts - Someone was going to pay. Parliament was utterly fed up with colonial antics. The British could tolerate strongly worded letters or trade boycotts. They could put up with defiant legislatures and harassed customs officials to an extent. But they saw the destruction of 342 chests of tea belonging to the British East India Company as wanton destruction of property by Boston thugs who did not even have the courage to admit responsibility. Someone was going to pay.

• E Pluribus Unum - The unanimous Declaration of Independence was a curious outcome. Remember the failed Albany Plan of Union in 1754. Benjamin Franklin's political cartoon appeal — "Join, or Die" fell on deaf colonial ears. In 1763, it was difficult to get the original thirteen to agree on the time of day. This "coming together" will happen very gradually. We have examined the events and people that propelled the colonies to revolt. A careful examination of the stages of unity is in order.

• Stamp Act Congress - "No taxation without representation!" was the cry. The colonists were not merely griping about the Sugar Act and the Stamp Act. They intended to place actions behind their words. One thing was clear — no colony acting alone could effectively convey a message to the king and Parliament. The appeals to Parliament by the individual legislatures had been ignored. It was James Otis who suggested an intercolonial conference to agree on a united course of action. With that, the STAMP ACT CONGRESS convened in New York in October 1765.

• Sons and Daughters of Liberty - They were the ones who were not afraid. They knew instinctively that talk and politics alone would not bring an end to British tyranny. They were willing to resort to extralegal means if necessary to end this series of injustices. They were American patriots — northern and southern, young and old, male and female. They were the Sons and Daughters of Liberty.

• Committees of Correspondence - Volumes and volumes of written work was emerging in the American colonies on the subject of British policies. Apart from major documents and publications, much writing had been produced as letters, pamphlets, and newspaper editorials. The arguments set forth in this way were at times very convincing. American patriots of the 1770s did not have modern means of communication at their disposal. To spread the power of the written word from town to town and colony to colony, COMMITTEES OF CORRESPONDENCE were established

• First Continental Congress - Americans were fed up. The "Intolerable" Acts were more than the colonies could stand. In the summer that followed Parliament's attempt to punish Boston, sentiment for the patriot cause increased dramatically. The printing presses at the Committees of Correspondence were churning out volumes.

• Second Continental Congress - Times had taken a sharp turn for the worse. Lexington and Concord had changed everything. When the Redcoats fired into the Boston crowd in 1775, the benefit of the doubt was granted. Now the professional imperial army was attempting to arrest patriot leaders, and minutemen had been killed in their defense. In May 1775, with Redcoats once again storming Boston, the Second Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia.

• Thomas Paine's Common Sense - Americans could not break their ties with Britain easily. Despite all the recent hardships, the majority of colonists since birth were reared to believe that England was to be loved and its monarch revered.

• The Declaration of Independence - The moment had finally come. Far too much bad blood existed between the colonial leaders and the crown to consider a return to the past. More and more colonists felt deprived by the British not only of their money and their civil liberties, but their lives as well. Bloodshed had begun over a year ago and there seemed little chance of a ceasefire. The radical wing of the Continental Congress was gaining strength with each passing day. It was time for a formal break with mother England. It was time to declare independence.

• The American Revolution - How could the Americans ever hope defeat the mighty British Empire in a military conflict? Americans faced seemingly impossible obstacles. When the guns fired at Lexington and Concord in 1775, there was not yet even a Continental Army. Those battles were fought by local militias. Few Americans had any military experience, and there was no method of training, supplying, or paying an army. Moreover, a majority of Americans opposed the war in 1775. Many historians believe only about a third of all Americans supported a war against the British at that time. Further, the Colonies had a poor track record of working together. How, then, could a ragtag group of patriots defeat the British?

• American and British Strengths and Weaknesses - The question remains: What factors led an undisciplined, unprepared, divided American nation to prevail over the world's largest empire?

• Loyalists, Fence-sitters, and Patriots - It is impossible to know the exact number of American colonists who favored or opposed independence. For years it was widely believed that one third favored the Revolution, one third opposed it, and one third were undecided. This stems from an estimate made by John Adams in his personal writings in 1815. Historians have since concluded that Adams was referring to American attitudes toward the French Revolution, not ours. The current thought is that about 20 percent of the colonists were LOYALISTS — those whose remained loyal to England and King George. Another small group in terms of percentage were the dedicated PATRIOTS, for whom there was no alternative but independence.

• Lexington and Concord - Britain's General Gage had a secret plan. During the wee hours of April 19, 1775, he would send out regiments of British soldiers quartered in Boston. Their destinations were LEXINGTON, where they would capture Colonial leaders Sam Adams and John Hancock, then CONCORD, where they would seize gunpowder. But spies and friends of the Americans leaked word of Gage's plan. Two lanterns hanging from Boston's North Church informed the countryside that the British were going to attack by sea. A series of horseback riders — men such as Paul Revere, WILLIAM DAWES and DR. SAMUEL PRESCOTT — galloped off to warn the countryside that the REGULARS (British troops) were coming.

• Bunker Hill - On the night of June 16, 1775, a detail of American troops acting under orders from ARTEMAS WARD moved out of their camp, carrying picks, shovels, and guns. They entrenched themselves on a rise located on Charleston Peninsula overlooking Boston. Their destination: BUNKER HILL. From this hill, the rebels could bombard the town and British ships in Boston Harbor. But Ward's men misunderstood his orders. They went to BREED'S HILL by mistake and entrenched themselves there — closer to the British position.

• The Revolution on the Home Front - Most Americans did not actively participate in the REVOLUTION. Therefore, no study of the war would be complete without an examination of the home front. During the war years, those Americans not involved in warfare were doing their best just trying to survive. Farmers continued to grow food, artisans continued to practice their trades, and merchants attempted to maintain their businesses. Despite efforts to maintain business as usual, the entire social landscape was changed. War disrupts economies and brings tremendous population dislocations. Woe came to families or farmers who found themselves in the way of advancing armies. Despite stringent warnings against such behavior from officers on both sides, farms and homes were often plundered. Soldiers took grain, livestock, or whatever goods they needed.

• Washington at Valley Forge - American spirits reached a low point during the harsh winter of 1777-78. British troops had marched triumphantly into Philadelphia the previous autumn. Philadelphia was the largest city in the Colonies and the seat of political power. After the British swept into Philadelphia, the Continental Congress had flee to west, first to Lancaster then to York.

• The Battle of Saratoga - The BATTLE OF SARATOGA was the turning point of the Revolutionary War. The scope of the victory is made clear by a few key facts: On October 17, 1777, 5,895 British and Hessian troops surrendered their arms. General John Burgoyne had lost 86 percent of his expeditionary force that had triumphantly marched into New York from Canada in the early summer of 1777.

• The French Alliance - Nowhere was the victory at Saratoga more noted than in France, which had been tentative in its efforts to assist the Americans. France's interest in the American fight for independence stemmed from France's humiliating defeat during the Seven Years War at the hands of its ancient enemy, England. As French historian Henri Doniol has put it, "Almost immediately after the peace of 1763, it (the French Government) sought in the tendency of the English colonies to revolt against their mother country the occasion by which we would avenge ourselves upon England and tear up the treaty of Paris".

• Yorktown and the Treaty of Paris - The outlook for General Washington and the Americans never looked better. Although the American military was still enduring losses in 1780, the French were making a difference. The French navy was disrupting the British blockade. French commanders such as LAFAYETTE and ROCHAMBEAU earned the respect and admiration of the American troops. Although, the British occupied much of the south, they had still been unable to mobilize the local Loyalists. Grumbling in England grew louder over the war's expense and duration. The morale of Washington's men was improving. The war was by no means over, but the general could now see a bright side.

• Societal Impacts of the American Revolution - Liberty, republicanism, and independence are powerful causes. The patriots tenaciously asserted American rights and brought the Revolution. The Revolution brought myriad consequences to the American social fabric. There was no REIGN OF TERROR as in the French Revolution. There was no replacement of the ruling class by workers' groups as in revolutionary Russia. How then could the American Revolution be described as radical? Nearly every aspect of American life was somehow touched by the REVOLUTIONARY SPIRIT. From slavery to women's rights, from religious life to voting, American attitudes would be forever changed.

• The Impact of Slavery - Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness simply did not seem consistent with the practice of chattel slavery. How could a group of people feel so passionate about these unalienable rights, yet maintain the brutal practice of human bondage? Somehow slavery would manage to survive the revolutionary era, but great changes were brought to this PECULIAR INSTITUTION nevertheless.

• A Revolution in Social Law - During the colonial era, Americans were bound by British law. Now, they were no longer governed by the Crown or by colonial charter. INDEPENDENT, Americans could seek to eliminate or maintain laws as they saw fit. The possibilities were endless. REPUBLICAN revolutionary sentiment brought significant change during the immediate postwar years.

• Political Experience - Every society needs a set of rules by which to operate. After the colonies declared independence from Great Britain, they had to write their own constitutions. Impassioned with the republican spirit of the Revolution, political leaders pointed their ideals toward crafting "enlightened" documents. The result was thirteen republican laboratories, each experimenting with new ways of realizing the goals of the Revolution. In addition, representatives from all the colonies worked together to craft the ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION, which itself provided the nascent nation with invaluable experience.

• "Republican Motherhood" - Women's role in society was altered by the American Revolution. Women who ran households in the absence of men became more assertive. ABIGAIL ADAMS, wife of John, became an early advocate of women's rights when she prompted her husband to "REMEMBER THE LADIES" when drawing up a new government.

• When Does the Revolution End? - The United States was created as a result of the AMERICAN REVOLUTION, when thirteen colonies on the east coast of North America fought to end their membership in the British Empire. This was a bold, dangerous, and even foolish thing to do at the time, since Great Britain was the strongest country in the world. While American success in the Revolution seems obvious today, it wasn't at the time.

• The Declaration of Independence and Its Legacy - "When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation."

• The War Experience: Soldiers, Officers, and Civilians - Americans remember the famous battles of the American Revolution such as BUNKER HILL, SARATOGA, and Yorktown, in part, because they were Patriot victories. But this apparent string of successes is misleading. The Patriots lost more battles than they won and, like any war, the Revolution was filled with hard times, loss of life, and suffering. In fact, the Revolution had one of the highest casualty rates of any U.S. war; only the Civil War was bloodier.

• The Loyalists - The year is 1774. Whether you are a merchant in Massachusetts, a German-born farmer living in Pennsylvania, a tavern-owning woman of Maryland, or a slave-owner in the South, you share some things in common. For instance, you probably don't like paying taxes on such goods as tea that wind up going to support the royal coffers in London. At the same time you like the notion of being part of the British Empire, the most powerful in the world.

• Revolutionary Changes and Limitations: Slavery - The AMERICAN REVOLUTION, as an anti-tax movement, centered on Americans' right to control their own property. In the 18th century "property" included other human beings.

• Revolutionary Changes and Limitations: Women - The Revolutionary rethinking of the rules for society also led to some reconsideration of the relationship between men and women. At this time, women were widely considered to be inferior to men, a status that was especially clear in the lack of legal rights for married women. The law did not recognize wives' independence in economic, political, or civic matters in Anglo-American society of the eighteenth century.

• Revolutionary Limits: Native Americans - While the previous explorations of African American and white female experience suggest both the gains and limitations produced in the Revolutionary Era, from the perspective of almost all NATIVE AMERICANS the American Revolution was an unmitigated disaster. At the start of the war Patriots worked hard to try and ensure Indian neutrality, for Indians could provide strategic military assistance that might decide the struggle. Gradually, however, it became clear to most native groups, that an independent America posed a far greater threat to their interests and way of life than a continued British presence that restrained American westward expansion.

• Revolutionary Achievement: Yeomen and Artisans - The Revolution succeeded for many reasons, but central to them was broad popular support for a social movement that opposed monarchy and the HEREDITARY PRIVILEGE. Diverse Americans rallied to the cause to create an independent American republic in which individuals would create a more equal government through talent and a strong commitment to the public good. Two groups of Americans most fully represented the independent ideal in this republican vision for the new nation: yeomen farmers and urban artisans. These two groups made up the overwhelming majority of the white male population, and they were the biggest beneficiaries of the American Revolution.

• The Age of Atlantic Revolutions - The American Revolution needs to be understood in a broader framework than simply that of domestic events and national politics. The American Revolution started a trans-Atlantic Age of Revolution. TOM PAINE, the author of COMMON SENSE (1776), permits a biographical glimpse of the larger currents of revolutionary change in this period. Paine was English-born and had been in the American colonies less than two years when he wrote what would become the most popular publication of the American Revolution.