The American Revolution

Chapter 6

Choosing Sides

• 1/3 American Loyalists (Tories)– Often lived in urban

and coastal areas.

• 1/3 Patriots (actively supported)

• 1/3 Did not care enough to fight

• Not just a war between the British and Americans; truly a civil war.

Military Resources

• British (far more resources) – Manpower– Navy– Professional armies – and mercenaries

• Colonial– Short supply lines– Familiarity with area– George Washington– French– Willing to sustain war

The Revolutionary War

• Congress struggled to provide the army with adequate supplies. – Inability to control colonies, raise

money, draft men, etc.

• “Regulars” versus the militia– Washington designed a defensive

strategy to compensate for weakness.

– The Americans lost most of the battles in the Revolutionary War.

Turning Points

• On Christmas night, 1776, Washington slipped across the Delaware River at Trenton (New Jersey) with 2,400 men and surprised the drunken Hessians, killing or capturing over a thousand.

• 6 American casualties.

Turning Points

• Victory at Saratoga (October 1777)– Horatio Gates and

Benedict Arnold capture John Burgoyne and 9,500 British

– Saratoga changed everything– Franco-American Alliance

Turning Points:Alliance with France

• In Paris, the French celebrated the Battle of Saratoga as a French victory.– The French had already been sending military

supplies to the colonists • Most gunpowder in the first years of the war

came from France.

• On February 6, 1778, France and America signed two treaties:– A Treaty of Amity and Commerce

(Recognition of U.S.)– A Treaty of Alliance

Turning Points

• The American Revolution became a global war.

• Britain was fighting wars with America, France, Spain, and Dutch– Other theaters of war included

India, the West Indies, and Florida.– British realized the rest of the

empire at stake

The Struggle in the South

• English politicians & generals believed that the war could be won in the South.– Loyalists were

numerous in the backcountry

– Planters could not afford to turn their guns away from their slaves

• Capture Savannah (1778) & Charleston (1779)

The Struggle in the South

• Neighbors and even families fought and killed one another. – Both sides burned farms, tortured prisoners,

etc.– White fears of rebellion

• African American quests for liberty (1/3 of population)

• Disagreement among British over freeing slaves

• Kings Mountain (1780)– American victory over British– Turning point of war in the South– Followed by victory at Cowpens (January 1781)– British became convinced that they could not

put down the rebellion in the South.

Turning Points

• Battle of Yorktown (Virginia)– October 19, 1781– Lord Charles Cornwallis

surrounded by French fleet and surrenders to Washington

– Over 7,000 British and Hessians became prisoners

• Added to setbacks in other parts of the world, the British decided to end the war.

Peace of Paris (1783)

• An important factor in the conclusion of peace negotiations with Britain was the American decision to negotiate separately with the British.

• Terms– U.S. political independence recognized– Mississippi River recognized as western

border of the United States – Congress would not prevent the British

merchants from collecting debts owed to them by Americans

– Florida was given to Spain

Results of the American Revolution: Social effects

• Spirit of equality weakened old habits of deference– Example: voting

qualifications were lowered

• Higher education increased– Example: 14 colleges

founded in 1780s and 90s to go with the 9 before Revolution

Results of the American

Revolution: Social effects

• Complete freedom of religion– Transition from the toleration of

religious dissent to a complete freedom of religion in the separation of church and state

• Legislative representation for the backcountry was increased

• Weakened the major Indian tribes along the frontier / cleared the way for rapid settlement of the trans-Appalachian West

Results of the American Revolution: Slavery

• British army freed thousands of slaves; others escaped– 55,000 slaves fled to freedom

during the Revolution• Slaves who fought for the colonies

were given their freedom• Northern states began to outlaw

slavery– Only Georgia and South Carolina

continued to import.

Results of the American Revolution: Political

• Most political experimentation between 1776 and 1787 occurred at the state level with new state constitutions– The Articles of Confederation were ratified by

the states in 1781; before then the Continental Congress operated as an extralegal body

• Articles of Confederation (1781)– Weak central government with little authority– Congress was not intended as a legislature, nor

as a sovereign entity unto itself, but as a collective substitute for the monarch – a plural executive rather than a parliamentary body