[4.b.1] Washington's Priorities

grand and gunpowder

[4.b.2] The Battle of Long Island 1776
General Sir William Howe commanding 32,000 troops crushed Washington’s 19,000 at the Battle of Long Island, New York, August 1776.  With the help of John Glover’s Marblehead Regiment, Washington retreated across the East River to Manhattan Island.  Howe forced Washington out of New York and chased him across New Jersey to the west bank of the Delaware River. 

[4.b.7] The British Situation at End of 1776

Howe had won a major victory, occupied New York, and restored royal authority in eastern New Jersey.  

[4.b.8] The American Situation at End of 1776

On the other hand Washington had avoided disaster, won two small victories, and wintered at Morristown in north central New Jersey. 

[4.e.4] The Tribes

Neutral then Pro-British

[4.g.1] Shift in British Strategy after 1778

Britain was fighting a global war after the French intervention of 1778.  The plan now was to take the war to the southern colonies. 

[4.g.2] Cornwallis Attempts to Rally the Loyalists

The British would rely on loyalists and on their own strength to secure supplies and destroy any Continental forces sent against them. In command of British forces was Lord Charles Cornwallis, an able general who would later be Governor of India.

[4.g.3] Washington's Strategy after 1778

After 1778, Washington’s strategy was to avoid major battle and keep the main Continental Amy intact.  Thus did Washington hope to wear out British endurance in a war of attrition.

[4.g.6] Continentals and Militia on the Run

On 16 August 1780, Cornwallis crushed a combined force of Continentals and militia at the Battle of Camden. 

[4.h.2] Loyalist Refugees in Canada

60,000

[4.i.3] Admission of New States

The Northwest Ordnance of 1787 act set the precedent for the organization of lands into territories before they were divided into ​states. The Ordnance was important because it enabled a nation to grow—each new state admitted equal to all the others. Additionally, the Ordnance prohibited the introduction of slavery into the present-day Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

[4.i.5] Reinstating Order after the Revolution

In 1786, Washington wrote a letter to John Jay, future Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.  The General mentions a two-word phrase that he felt necessary to curb the excessive liberty seen in Shay’s Rebellion—a word unthinkable during the Revolution when America was trying to escape the rule of King George IIII.  What is that phrase? coercive  power. 

[4.i.6] Putting a Period on Revolutionary Radicalism

In this sense the Constitutional Convention was the conservative counter-stroke to the radicalism of 1776. 

[4.j.3] Ancient Civilization a Model for the New Nation

Roman and balance

[4.j.6] Preserving the Republic

The Electoral College ensured that no one part of the country would impose its will on the other states of the republic. It is important to remember that we are a nation of people as well as states.  The Founders worried that cities and their mobs might overrule small towns and rural areas where self-rule and limited government were valued.