Transcript America Secedes from the Empire

AMERICA SECEDES
FROM THE EMPIRE
America Secedes from the Empire
• The Second Continental Congress met on May 10,
1775 in Philadelphia. At this meeting, every colony was
represented. There was still no well-defined sentiment
for independence—merely a desire to keep fighting in the
hope that the king and Parliament would consent to rectify
their grievances. The congress drafted appeals to the
British people and to the King but these appeals were
rejected or ignored.
• The most important action of the congress was to select
George Washington to head the Continental Army.
Washington was gifted with outstanding powers of
leadership. He radiated patience, courage, self-discipline,
a sense of justice and people instinctively trusted him. He
also insisted on serving without pay.
Bunker Hill and the Hessians
• The early war was contradictory. On one
hand the Americans were affirming their
loyalty to the King and wanting to patch up
their differences. On the other hand they
were raising armies and shooting British
soldiers. This inconsistent period lasted for
about 14 months from April 1775-July
1776.
• In May 1775, an American force
commanded by Ethan Allen and Benedict
Arnold captured the key locations of
Ticonderoga and Crown Point in upper
New York.
• In June 1775, colonists seized a hill now
known as Bunker Hill (Breed’s Hill) and
entrenched themselves on top. The
British decided that a frontal attack up the
hill would dislodge the colonists. They
attacked with 3000 men while the colonists
had only 1500. The colonists however
were very efficient and slaughtered the
British as they advanced. They eventually
ran out of gunpowder and were forced to
abandon the hill.
Bunker Hill and the Hessians
• In July 1775, the Continental
Congress adopted the Olive
Branch Petition which professed
American loyalty to the crown and
begged the King to prevent further
hostilities. Following Bunker Hill,
King George III refused to hear any
pleas for reconciliation. In August
1775, King George formally
proclaimed that the colonies were in
rebellion and any skirmishes with
British troops were treason.
• He then hired thousands of German
mercenaries called Hessians.
Colonists were shocked when they
heard of the Hessian mercenaries.
They felt that this dispute was a
family affair. The Hessians were
good soldiers but many were more
concerned with booty than duty.
Hundred finally deserted and
remained in America to become
respected citizens.
Thomas Paine and Common Sense
• Many Americans had a hard time
agreeing with moving toward
independence from Great Britain. Then in
1776 came the publication of one of the
most influential pamphlets ever written,
Thomas Paine’s Common Sense.
• Paine had only arrived in the colonies one
year earlier but quickly grew to believe in
the necessity of the colonies
independence. Paine’s pamphlet sold
nearly 120,000 copies within a few months.
• Paine’s main argument dealt with the
argument that nowhere in nature did a
smaller thing control a larger thing (GB=
island, US=continent). Paine further
argued that the creation of a new type of
government for the colonies was needed, a
republic where all government officials
should derive their authority from popular
consent. Needless to say, Paine’s ideas
and words fell on receptive ears.
The Declaration of Independence
• On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry
Lee of Virginia moved that “these
United Colonies are, and of right
ought to be, free and independent
states…” After considerable
debate, the motion was adopted on
July 2, 1776. The task of writing the
formal declaration fell to 33 year old
Virginia lawyer Thomas Jefferson.
• Jefferson gave his document
universal appeal by invoking the
“natural rights” of humankind. He
argued that since the King had
flouted these rights the colonists
were justified in cutting their
connection. He then set forth a long
list of the tyrannical misdeeds of
King George III. The declaration
was adopted July 4, 1776.
Patriots and Loyalists
• The war for independence was a war within a war. Colonists
loyal to the King fought the American rebels while the rebels
also fought the British redcoats. Those Americans who were
loyal to the King were called Tories by the rebels or Patriots.
• Loyalists were about 16% of the colonial population and many
families split over the issue of independence. Many people of
education and wealth remained loyal. Loyalists were most
numerous in the older generation and often included the king’s
officers and other beneficiaries of the crown.
• Usually Loyalists were most numerous where the Anglican
Church was strongest. Loyalists were least numerous in
New England were the Patriots were most numerous. Some
50,000 Loyalist volunteers at one time or another bore arms
for the British.
Patriots and Loyalists
• Patriots said that “A Tory is a thing whose head is in England,
and its body in America, and its neck ought to be stretched.”
• Like many revolutions, the American Revolution was a
minority movement. Many colonists were apathetic or neutral.
The opposing forces contended with each other as well as for
the allegiance and support of the civilian population. In this
effort, the British were terrible. The British military was only
able to control those areas where it could maintain a massive
military presence.
• Colonial militias convinced many colonists, even those who
were indifferent to independence, that the British army was an
unreliable friend and that they had better join the Patriot cause.
The militias also mercilessly harassed small British
detachments and occupation forces. One British officer was
quoted as saying that “the Americans would be less dangerous
if they had a regular army.”
General Washington
• In April 1776, the British settled into their
new headquarters in New York City where
they enjoyed strong Loyalist support and
where they would remain for the rest of the
war. In July of 1776, some 500 ships
arrived in New York loaded with nearly
35,000 British troops.
• George Washington could only muster
18,000 ill-trained and equipped troops to
meet this new force. Washington and the
continental troops were beaten badly at the
Battle of Long Island and were forced to
retreat to New Jersey near the Delaware
River in the late fall of 1776. Here
Washington remained until Christmas
night.
• That night he and the Continental Army
crossed the ice-clogged river in boats.
This move surprised the British forces
(Hessians) at Trenton, N.J. where he
captured nearly 1000 prisoners. One week
later he slipped away from the British by
leaving his campfires burning and inflicted
a large defeat on the British at Princeton,
N.J.
Two Major British Defeats
• In early 1777, the British decided on a plan that, if successful,
would cut off New England from the rest of the states and
paralyze the American cause. The main British force was
commanded by General John Burgoyne. General Howe, at
New York would aid if necessary while the smallest British force
would be commanded by Colonel Barry St. Leger. St. Leger
was beaten badly at the Battle of Oriskany.
• Burgoyne began his march with 7,000 troops. Their march
was slowed due to the fact that the troops needed to chop their
path through the forest. American militiamen began to gather
on Burgoyne’s flanks. After a series of pitched battles,
Burgoyne was forced to surrender to American general Horatio
Gates after the Battle of Saratoga. The victory revived the
colonial cause. After news of the victory reached France,
Benjamin Franklin was able to achieve an alliance with France
for the United States.
From a Colonial War to a World War
• With the treaty of alliance in place,
France and England began fighting
in 1778. Spain and Holland
entered the fight against Britain in
1779 with many other European
nations affirming their neutrality but
hostility towards Britain from 17801783. The war would now be
fought not only in North America but
in Europe, South America, the
Caribbean and Asia as well.
• To Britain struggling for its very life,
the fight in the New World became
secondary. America did not achieve
its independence until the war
became a world war that was too
big for Britain to handle. Frances
entrance into the war forced Britain
to change their strategy in America.
The War in the 1780’s
• In the summer of 1780, 3000
French soldiers commanded by
Comte de Rochambeau landed
in Rhode Island and did much to
raise American morale. Later in
1780, however, American
morale was gravely hurt when
General Benedict Arnold
turned traitor.
• Arnold felt that he was under
appreciated as a commander
and decided to sell out the key
fort at West Point, New York for
$6300 (English Pounds) and an
officer’s commission. By
accident the plot was discovered
and Arnold fled to the British.
The War in the 1780’s
• The main British Army in the 1780
had shifted their efforts to the
southern colonies where Loyalists
were numerous. Georgia was
secured by the British in 1778-1779;
Charleston, South Carolina fell in
1780. This loss was a huge one for
the Continental Army because 5000
men and 400 cannon were captured
and taken prisoner.
• The tide of battle in the south turned
in late 1780 and early 1781 with the
leadership of American General
Nathanael Greene. He used a
strategy of delay in which he would
stand and then retreat, thus
exhausting his enemy, General
Charles Cornwallis, in a vain
pursuit.
The War in the 1780’s
• The west was also a scene of battles during the war.
Many Indian tribes had sided with the British hoping to
protect their land from further white settlement. Two
nations of the Iroquois Confederacy, the Oneidas and
the Tuscarora’s, sided with the Americans, the Seneca’s,
Mohawks, Cayuga’s, and Onondagas joined the British.
• They were led by Mohawk chief Joseph Brant. Brant
and the British ravaged large areas of backcountry
Pennsylvania and New York until they were stopped by an
American force in 1779.
• In 1784, pro-British Iroquois were forced to sign the
Treaty of Fort Stanwix, the first treaty between the
United States and an Indian nation. In this treaty the
Indians ceded most of their land.
Yorktown and the End of the War
• 1780-1781 was one of the toughest years of the war.
Inflation of the currency was maintained even though the
government was virtually bankrupt. Despair prevailed and
the sense of unity suffered.
• Debt: at the rate of only 2.5 cents on the dollar.
• Meanwhile, British general Cornwallis had fallen back to
the Chesapeake Bay at Yorktown, Virginia to await
supplies and reinforcements that were due to arrive by
sea. He assumed that Britain would continue to control
the sea. But these few weeks happened to be one of the
brief periods during the war when British naval superiority
slipped away.
Yorktown and the end of the War
• French Admiral de Grasse advised the Americans that his
naval force was free to join them in an assault on Cornwallis at
Yorktown. Washington made a swift march of more than 300
miles from N.Y. to the Chesapeake. Rochambeau’s French
army and Washington’s Continental Army laid siege to
Yorktown by land while de Grasse blockaded the British by sea.
This completely cornered Cornwallis and on October 19, 1781
Cornwallis surrendered his 7000 men. This surrender marked
the end of the war even though fighting continued for more
than a year after the surrender.
• After Yorktown, many Britons were tired of war and ready to
come to terms with the colonies. The peace treaty
negotiations took place in Paris with Benjamin Franklin, John
Adams, and John Jay representing the United States. These
three men had explicit instructions from the Congress to make
no separate peace and to consult with their French allies at all
stages of the negotiations. The three Americans hated these
orders.
Yorktown and the end of the War
• During the negotiations, France had their own agenda
and it didn’t necessarily have America’s best interests at
heart. John Jay realized this and secretly made contacts
with the British government. The British eagerly and
speedily came to terms with the Americans with the final
treaty coming in the Treaty of Paris of 1783.
• Britain formally recognized the independence of the
United States, set the western border at the Mississippi
River, the northern border at the Great Lakes, and the
Southern border at Florida, which had returned to Spain.
America agreed to stop persecuting Loyalists and to
recommend to state legislatures that confiscated Loyalist
property should be returned.