Transcript HCC Chapter 6 lecture american Revolution

Independence and a New Nation
1775-1783
HCC chapter 6
• The war went poorly for Washington and the Continental
Army for the first few years.
• Many of his troops deserted and went home
• He did manage a surprise attack on Trenton and
Princeton.
• The war itself was defensive.
• Second to Vietnam, it was the longest war America has fought
• Washington accepted black troops after the British offered
slaves freedom for enlistment in the British army
• 5,000 blacks enlisted in the Continental Army
• Some slaves gained freedom by serving in place of their owner
• However, siding was the British was a better deal for the slaves at
the time
Benedict
Arnold
leads
forces to
Quebec
Benedict Arnold
British
troops
led by
William
Howe
William Howe
 Continentals
driven off of
Long Island
 Retreat to
Manhattan
Island
 Washington continued to
retreat in a series of battles
 Many Patriots captured or killed
 Washington pushed into New
Jersey
• Americans received intelligence that the British were
planning to move their troops to a series of hills overlooking Boston harbor.
• The British intent was to lay siege on Boston
• The Americans decided to build fortifications ahead of
the British.
• However, they built them on the wrong hill
• June 17 1775, the battle began
• The British won after suffering a large number of casualties
• 800 wounded and 226 killed
• Many notable officers were killed
• After Bunker Hill, many moderate colonists skeptical of
the Continental Army became Whigs
Mercenaries—
hired foreign
soldiers
Hessian
Mercenaries
http://www.ushistory.org/washi
ngtoncrossing/history/hessian.
htm
 Washington’s first task: organize &
raise an army
 230K in Continental Army, 145K in local
militias
 Few had combat experience
 Southerners objected to African
Americans serving
 Washington banned blacks from serving
 Lord Dunmore’s
Proclamation—
offered freedom
to any slave who
fought for the
British
 Ban lifted
 5,000 blacks
served.
John Murray
aka Lord Dunmore
• October 1777
• The Battle of Saratoga was the turning point in the war for
the Continentals
• British General Burgoyne lost 1,000 men in two battles
• Left him outnumbered 3 to 1
• He also lost many of his effective leaders
• 17 October 1777
• Burgoyne was surrounded by Continentals and surrendered to
Continental General Horatio Gates
• News of Burgoyne’s surrender reached France
• King Louis XVI decided to negotiate with the Americans at this
point
• This resulted in the French entering the war, assisting the
Americans.
• In the winter of 1777-1778, the Continental Army
trained at Valley Forge, west of Philadelphia
• Baron Friedrich von Steuben, a skilled Prussian drill
master tirelessly trained the soldiers
• Transformed them into a professional army
• However, a great deal of Continentals died due to
malnourishment and no clothing
• Diseases such as typhoid, jaundice, dysentery, and
pneumonia killed troops also.
 Thayendanega
Thayendanega
aka Jospeh Brant
aka Joseph
Brant—Mohawk
leader who
persuaded the
Iroquois to
support the
British
• After the Continental victory at Saratoga and the
subsequent training at Valley Forge, the French realized
that the Americans were serious about defeating the
British.
• The French and Continetials signed the Treaty of Amity
and Commerce and the Treaty of Alliance
• The Treaty of Alliance “confirmed their defensive alliance
forever”
• Spain was also allied with the French, but did not support
the Americans.
• Spain viewed the Americans as a potential threat to their empire as
they still had holdings in North America.
• The loss of trading markets hurt numerous colonial merchants
and adversely affected the colonial economy
• Congress struggled to pay for the war
• In 1779, Continental paper money was useless
• Poor colonists were angry because much of the burden of the war
fell on their backs
• The wealthy would either send a slave or a replacement to the army.
• It became a “poor man’s war”
• Riots broke out that threatened the wealthy
• Many of the Native Americans viewed the Revolutionary War as
a “Civil War” between the colonists and British
• Due to the similarity in culture between both warring parties
• Native Americans typically sided with the British as they felt the
British were stronger and would easily defeat the Americans.
• After 1778, the English turned their attention to
securing the Southern colonies
• They took Savannah and Charleston
• In August 1780, they defeated the Continentals at
Camden
• As a result, Washington sent Gen. Nathanael Green
to the South as Commander of Southern Forces
• Greene’s use of guerilla hit-and-run tactics
successfully pushed British Gen. Cornwallis into a
corner in Yorktown, Virginia
• American and French troops surrounded General
Cornwallis in Yorktown, Virginia
• Cornwallis attempted to acquire supplies from the
Chesapeake Bay, but the French Navy blockaded the
bay
• The Continental Army surrounded the town shortly
afterwards
• Cornwallis was forced to surrender to Washington
and the Continental Army on October 19, 1781
• Signed on September 3, 1783
• Stated that the United States would acquire territory to
the Mississippi River
• Somewhere in the agreement, Spain acquired New
Orleans
• The American delegation was made up of:
• John Adams
• Benjamin Franklin
• John Jay
• They played the French against the English in the peace
talks
• Most Native Americans were furious after the treaty
• They had allied with the losing side