Sea Power and Maritime Affairs

1. Sea Power and Maritime Affairs Lesson 5.1: The American Revolution, 1775-1783

2. Enabling Objectives • The student will comprehend the American Revolution in the context of European politics and the regeneration of the struggle between Great Britain and France. • The student will know the causes of the American Revolution. • The student will comprehend the uses of sea power by the Americans, British, and French. • The student will know the course of the war and representative campaigns. • The student will comprehend the relationship of military and naval policy, diplomacy, and strategy demonstrated during the war.

3. What caused the war? • Colonial resentment • Taxation – “No taxation without representation!” • Revenue Act of 1764 • Stamp Act of 1765 • Townshend Act of 1767 • Boston Massacre 1770 • Boston Tea Party of 1773 • Coercive Acts • Lexington and Concord - 1775

4. Great Britain vs. American Colonies • Great Britain • Advantages • World empire. • Established government. • Army and Royal Navy • Disadvantages • Long SLOCs • Fighting on “Foreign” Soil • Command of the Sea • Blockade American ports. • Transport troops via sea. • Cut off New England from rest of colonies. • American Colonies • Advantages • Fighting on “Home Turf” • Ready market of resources • Disadvantages • Continental Congress. • Disunity • War of Attrition • Wear down British forces. • Gain European allies with large navies • Commerce Raiding (privateering)

5. American Sea Power • The Birth of the U.S. Navy • 13 October 1775 – Navy’s Birthday • Continental Congress approves purchase of two armed vessels • 50 ships built throughout the war- took nearly 200 British prizes. • 10 November 1775 - Marine Corps Birthday • Congress authorizes two battalions of Marines. “An American Navy? The maddest idea in the world!”

6. American Sea Power 1st Navy Jack: Hoisted at the main mast by Continental Navy Commander in Chief Esek Hopkins on 3 December 1775.

7. Early Military Operations • 1775: American Invasion of Canada • Ethan Allen takes Fort Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain. • British evacuate Boston. • Siege of Quebec fails. • Oct, 1776: Battle of Valcour Island • General Benedict Arnold retreats to Lake Champlain.

8. Trenton and Princeton • Christmas, 1776 - Washington crosses the Delaware. • Attacks at Trenton and Princeton. • Continental Army is the American’s center of gravity – it still remains a threat to the British.

9. General George Washington “Without a decisive naval force we can do nothing definitive, and with it, everything that is honorable and glorious.”

10. Battle of Saratoga – Oct 1777 “Judas sold only one man, Arnold three millions.” - Benjamin Franklin “Cut off your right leg, bury it with full military honors, and then hang the rest of you on a gibbet.”

11. Course of the War • 1775 • Siege of Boston • Ft. Ticonderoga • 1776 • British invade NYC • Trenton • 1777-1778 • Saratoga • Treaty with France • 1781 • Yorktown • 1783 • Treaty of Paris

12. John Paul Jones “Without a respectable Navy - alas America!” • “I wish to have no Connection with any Ship that does not sail fast for I intend to go in harm’s way.” • “Men mean more than guns in the rating of a ship.”

13. Battle of Flamborough Head23 Sep 1779 “I have not yet begun to fight!”

14. Yorktown, 1781: The End Game

15. Battle History Video • Chapter 1 "Born Into War", Time 00:00 - 06:15

16. Enabling Objectives • Comprehend the American Revolution in the context of European politics and the regeneration of the struggle between Great Britain and France. • Know the causes of the American Revolution. • Comprehend the uses of sea power by the Americans, British, and French. • Know the course of the war and representative campaigns. • Comprehend the relationship of military and naval policy, diplomacy, and strategy demonstrated during the war.

17. Questions? Next time: The U.S. Navy in the Napoleonic Era, 1783-1815