The American Revolution From Elite Protest to Popular Revolt 1763–1783

1. 5 The American RevolutionFrom Elite Protest to Popular Revolt1763–1783

2. The Patten family farmstead in Bedford, New Hampshire Scots-Irish immigrants and others on the colonial frontier in the 1770s, worked to keep their farms running and struggled to live normal lives even as Revolution engulfed the country.

3. The American Revolution1763–1783 • Structure of Colonial Society • Eroding the Bonds of Empire • Steps Toward Independence • Fighting for Independence

4. Moment of Decision: Commitment and Sacrifice • Few Americans welcomed idea of colonial war • Would’ve been safer, cheaper to accede to British demands • Ordinary militiamen fought, risked death • The ordeal gave new meaning to social equality

5. Structure of Colonial Society

6. Structure of Colonial Society • 1760s an optimistic post-war period • Striking ethnic and racial diversity • 60% of population under twenty-one years old • Relatively high per-capita GDP

7. Structure of Colonial Society (cont’d) • Wealth unevenly distributed • South has richest individuals, and 90% of non-free colonial population • Middle colonies • New England lags behind because of lack of export products

8. Breakdown of Political Trust • 1760—George III ascends throne • Despite limited ability, wants to take more active role in government • Upsets Whigs by ignoring their role • High turnover among top ministers

9. Breakdown of Political Trust (cont’d) • Hard for Parliament to get adequate information on colonies • Parliamentary sovereignty • English officials assume that Parliament must have ultimate authority

10. Political Cartoons Cartoons became a popular way of criticizing government during this period. Here, King George III watches as the kilted Lord Bute slaughters the goose America. A cabinet member holds a basket of golden eggs at rear. At front left, a dog urinates on a map of British America.

11. No Taxation without Representation: The American Perspective • Colonists try to reserve internal colonial authority for their own legislatures • Colonists assume their legislatures equal in some ways to Parliament

12. No Taxation without Representation: The American Perspective (cont’d) • Americans not represented at all in Parliament • British officials espouse “virtual representation” • Colonists insist only colonial assemblies should represent Americans

13. Justifying Resistance • John Locke and “Commonwealthmen" shape colonial political thought • Rebellion against arbitrary government justified • Power must be countered by virtue

14. Justifying Resistance (cont’d) • Bad government reflects sin and corruption • Colonists see British officials as sinful and corrupt • Newspapers ensure wide dissemination of political confrontations

15. Eroding the Bonds of Empire

16. Eroding the Bonds of Empire • Large, expensive debt and army left in America from Seven Years’ War • Colonists doubt the army’s value • Pontiac’s Rebellion

17. Eroding the Bonds of Empire (cont’d) • Exposes the British army’s weakness • Frontier racism: Paxton Boys • Colonists determined to settle trans-Appalachian West • Proclamation of 1763 bans settlement in trans-Appalachian West

18. Paying Off the National Debt • Prime Minister George Grenville attempts to reduce England’s war debt • Revenue Act of 1764 (the Sugar Act) • Merchants and gentry protest; most colonists ignore

19. The Protest Spreads • 1765—Stamp Act requires that colonists purchase stamps to validate documents • Patrick Henry and the Virginia Resolves, unites the gentry and the mass of the population in protest

20. The Protest Spreads (cont’d) • Stamp Act Congress petitions the king and Parliament for repeal • Sons of Liberty protest includes riots, mob violence, and boycotts; Stamp Act repealed

21. Map 5.1 Colonial Products and Trade Although the American colonists produced many agricultural staples that were valuable to Britain, they were dependent on British manufactures such as cloth, metal goods, and ceramics.

22. Fueling the Crisis • 1767—Charles Townshend creates Townshend Revenue Acts—tax American imports of paper, lead, glass, and tea • American Board of Customs Commissioners created to collect duties

23. Fueling the Crisis (cont’d) • Quartering Act, 1765—required colonists to house British troops • Sons of Liberty organized boycotts of British goods

24. Daughters of Liberty The boycott movement drew many colonial women into popular politics. In this 1774 woodcut, a Daughter of Liberty stands ready to resist British oppression.

25. Surge of Force • English government moves 4000 troops to Boston • March 5, 1770—English soldiers fire on civilian crowd, kill five Americans— “Boston Massacre” • Paul Revere’s engraving of massacre is best seller

26. The Boston Massacre • The Boston Massacre—This etching by Paul Revere shows British red-coats firing on ordinary citizens, an event know as the Boston Massacre. In subsequent editions, the blood spurting from the dying Americans became more conspicuous.

27. The Boston Massacre This etching by Paul Revere shows British redcoats firing on ordinary citizens, an event know as the Boston Massacre. In subsequent editions, the blood spurting from the dying Americans became more conspicuous.

28. The Final Provocation: The Boston Tea Party • 1773—Parliament passes Tea Act • Designed to help the East India Company by making the sale of its tea cheaper in America • Americans interpret this as a subtle ploy to get them to consume taxed tea • December 1773—Boston protestors dump the tea into the harbor

29. Steps Toward Independence

30. Steps Toward Independence • September 1774—First Continental Congress in response to Coercive Acts • Congress commends “Suffolk Resolves” urging forcible resistance • Intercolonial “Association” halts commerce with Britain until Coercive Acts repealed

31. Shots Heard Around the World • April 19, 1775—skirmish breaks out in Lexington, Massachusetts • Fighting spreads along road between Lexington, Concord, and Boston • English retreat to Boston with heavy losses • June 17, 1775—colonists inflict heavy losses on British in Battle of Bunker Hill

32. Beginning “The World Over Again”

33. Beginning “The World Over Again” • Second Continental Congress—action and inaction • June 1775—Congress appoints George Washington commander in chief • December 1775 Prohibitory Act—British blockade colonists’ trade • German mercenaries hired to put down rebellion • January 1776—Thomas Paine’s Common Sense

34. TABLE 5.1 Chronicle of Colonial-British Tension

35. Beginning “The World Over Again” (cont’d) • Convinces ordinary colonists to sever ties with Britain • July 2, 1776—Independence voted by Congress • Jefferson writes Declaration of Independence

36. Congress Voting Independence Oil painting by Robert Edge Pine and Edward Savage, 1785. The committee Congress appointed to draft a declaration on independence included (center, standing) John Adams, Roger Sherman, Robert Livingston, Thomas Jefferson, and (center foreground, seated) Benjamin Franklin. The committee members are shown submitting Jefferson’s draft to the speaker.

37. Fighting for Independence

38. Fighting for Independence • British confident of victory • Larger population, more resources • Naval supremacy • Britain’s tasks • Supply troops an ocean away in hostile territory • Crush the popular spirit of independence • British underestimate Americans’ commitment to their political ideology

39. Building a Professional Army • Washington rejects guerilla warfare strategy • Continental army to be a fighting force and symbol of the republican cause • Militia’s role: compel support for Revolution

40. Building a Professional Army (cont’d) • African Americans in the Revolution • New England militias attract slaves with promises of emancipation • Southern slaves more likely to side with British

41. “Times that Try Men’s Souls” • General Howe replaces General Gage for British • Fighting shifts to New York; Washington forced to retreat • Howe issues pardon for all who swear loyalty to Britain

42. “Times that Try Men’s Souls” (cont’d) • Washington captures 900 Hessians in Trenton • Washington captures Princeton • The Patriot cause revives, but many fear the frontier and Native American support of British

43. Map 5.2 The American Revolution, 1775–1781 Battles were fought in the colonies, on the western frontier, and along the Gulf of Mexico. The major engagements of the first years of the war, from the spontaneous rising at Concord in 1775 to Washington’s well-coordinated attack on Trenton in December 1776, were fought in the northern colonies. In the middle theater of war, Burgoyne’s attempt in 1777 to cut New England off from the rest of the colonies failed when his army was defeated at Saratoga. Action in the final years of the war, from the battles at Camden, Kings Mountain, Cowpens, and Guilford Courthouse to the final victory at Yorktown, occurred in the South.

44. Victory in a Year of Defeat • British strategy • Cut off New England from other colonies • Lure Continental army into decisive battle • The plan for cutting off New England • Burgoyne’s army moves in from Canada • Howe’s army moves up from New York • They meet in Albany

45. Victory in a Year of Defeat (cont’d) • Burgoyne defeated at Saratoga • Howe takes Philadelphia instead • Washington’s army winters at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania

46. The French Alliance • French help colonists to get back at Britain for defeat in Seven Years’ War • Effects of Saratoga • Convinces France that colonists are serious enough to become formal allies • British sue for peace to prevent Franco-American alliance

47. The French Alliance (cont’d) • British offer repeal of all laws since 1763, respect for colonial taxation rights • February 1778—Alliance with France concluded

48. Map 5.3 Spain entered the Revolutionary War as an ally of France in 1779. By 1781, Spanish forces operating out of New Orleans and St. Louis had captured British forts in the Mississippi Valley and the Midwest from Baton Rouge and Natchez to as far north as the modern state of Michigan. On the Gulf Coast, Spanish amphibious forces led by Count Bernardo de Galvez had also overran British posts from what is now Mobile, Alabama to Pensacola in what was then the British colony of West Florida. Spain retained these Gulf Coast ports and regained all of Florida in the Treaty of Paris in 1783.

49. The Final Campaign • British believe Loyalists stronger in southern colonies, so fighting shifts there • Spring 1780—English capture Savannah and Charleston • August 1780—American army routed at Camden, South Carolina

50. The Final Campaign (cont’d) • Continental army rallies under Nathaniel Greene • Cornwallis moves British into Virginia, 1781 • October 19, 1781—Cornwallis surrenders to Washington’s combined French and American forces