Everything about The American Revolution totally explained
The
American Revolution refers to the period during the last half of the 18th century in which the
Thirteen Colonies gained independence from the
British Empire to become the
United States of America. In this period, the Colonies united against the British Empire and entered a period of armed conflict known as the
Revolutionary War (also, mostly in British usage, "American War of Independence"), between 1775 and 1783. This resulted in an
American Declaration of Independence in 1776, and victory on the battlefield in October 1781.
The revolutionary era began in 1763, when
the French military threat to British North American colonies ended. Adopting the view that the colonies should pay a substantial portion of the costs associated with keeping them in the Empire, Britain imposed a
series of taxes followed by
other laws that proved extremely unpopular. Because
the colonies lacked elected representation in the governing
British Parliament many
colonists considered the laws to be illegitimate and a violation of their
rights as Englishmen. Beginning in 1772,
Patriot groups began to create
Committees of Correspondence which would lead to their own
Provincial Congress in each of most of the colonies. In the course of a few years, the Provincial Congresses or their equivalents effectively replaced the British ruling apparatus in the former colonies, and culminated in the
Continental Congress.
After protests in
Boston, the British sent
combat troops, the Americans mobilized their
militia, and fighting broke out in 1775. Although
Loyalists were about 30% of the population, throughout the war the
Patriots generally controlled 80-90% of the territory; the British could hold only a few coastal cities. In 1776, representatives of the Thirteen Colonies voted unanimously to adopt a
Declaration of Independence, by which they established the
United States of America. The Americans formed an alliance with
France in 1778 that
evened the military and naval strengths, later bringing
Spain and the
Dutch Republic into the conflict by their own alliance with France. Two main British armies were captured by the
Continental Army, at
Saratoga in 1777 and
Yorktown in 1781, leading to peace with the
Treaty of Paris in 1783.
The American Revolution included a series of broad intellectual and social shifts that occurred in the early American society, such as the new
republican ideals that took hold in the American population. In some colonies, sharp political debates broke out over the role of
democracy in government, with some of even the most
liberal Founding Fathers fearing
"mob rule". The American shift to republicanism, as well as the gradually expanding democracy, caused an upheaval of the traditional social hierarchy, and created the ethic that formed the core of American political values.
Origins
Liberalism and republicanism
John Locke's ideas on
liberalism greatly influenced the political minds behind the revolution; for instance, his theory of the "
social contract" implied the natural
right of the people to overthrow their leaders, should those leaders betray the historic
rights of Englishmen. Historians find little trace of
Jean-Jacques Rousseau's influence in America. In terms of writing state and national constitutions, the Americans used
Montesquieu's analysis of the ideally "balanced" British Constitution.
A motivating force behind the revolution (or first Civil War) was the American embrace of a political ideology called "
republicanism", which was dominant in many of the colonies by 1775. The "country party" in Britain, whose critique of British government emphasized that
corruption was to be feared, influenced American politicians. The colonists associated the "
court" with luxury and inherited
aristocracy, which many British Americans increasingly condemned. Corruption was the greatest possible evil, and
civic virtue required men to put civic duty ahead of their personal desires. Men had a civic duty to fight for their country. For women, "
republican motherhood" became the ideal, exemplified by
Abigail Adams and
Mercy Otis Warren; the first duty of the republican woman was to instill republican values in her children and to avoid luxury and ostentation. The "Founding Fathers" were strong advocates of republicanism, especially
Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry,
Thomas Paine, Benjamin Franklin,
George Washington,
Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams.
Navigation Acts
Great Britain regulated the economies of the colonies through the
Navigation Acts according to the doctrines of
mercantilism, which stated that anything that benefited the Empire (and hurt other empires) was good policy. Widespread evasion of these laws had long been tolerated. Now, through the use of open-ended search warrants (
Writs of Assistance), strict enforcement of these Acts became the practice. In 1761,
Massachusetts lawyer
James Otis argued that the writs violated the
constitutional rights of the colonists. He lost the case, but
John Adams later wrote, "American independence was then and there born."
In 1762,
Patrick Henry argued the
Parson's Cause in Virginia, where the legislature had passed a law and it was vetoed by the King. Henry argued, "that a King, by disallowing Acts of this salutary nature, from being the father of his people, degenerated into a Tyrant and forfeits all right to his subjects' obedience."
Western Frontier
The
Proclamation of 1763 restricted colonization across the
Appalachian Mountains as this was to be Indian Territory. Regardless, groups of settlers continued to move west and lay claim to Indian Land. The proclamation was soon modified and was no longer a hindrance to settlement, but its promulgation and the fact that it had been written without consulting Americans angered the colonists. The
Quebec Act of 1774 extended
Quebec's boundaries to the
Ohio River, shutting out the claims of the thirteen colonies. By then, however, the Americans had little regard for new laws from London; they were drilling militia and organizing for war.
Taxation without representation
By 1763, Great Britain possessed
vast holdings in North America. In addition to the thirteen colonies, twenty-two smaller colonies were ruled directly by royal governors. Victory in the
Seven Years' War had given Great Britain
New France (
Canada),
Spanish Florida, and the
Native American lands east of the
Mississippi River. In North America there were six Colonies that remained loyal to Britain. The colonies included: Province of Quebec, Province of Nova Scotia, Colony of Bermuda, Province of West Florida and the Province of East Florida. In 1765 however, the colonists still considered themselves loyal subjects of the
British Crown, with the same historic rights and obligations as subjects in Britain.
The British didn't expect the colonies to contribute to the interest or the retirement of debt incurred during the
French and Indian War, but they did expect a portion of the expenses for colonial defense to be paid by the Americans. Estimating the expenses of defending the continental colonies and the West Indies to be approximately £200,000 annually, the British goal after the end of this war was that the colonies would be taxed for £78,000 of this needed amount. The issues with the colonists were both that the taxes were high and that the colonies had no representation in the Parliament which passed the taxes. Lord North in 1775 argued for the British position that Englishmen paid on average twenty-five shillings annually in taxes whereas Americans paid only sixpence (the average Englishman, however, also earned quite a bit more). Colonists, however, as early as 1764, with respect to the
Sugar Act, indicated that “the margin of profit in rum was so small that molasses could bear no duty whatever.”
The phrase "
No taxation without representation" became popular in many American circles. London argued that the Americans were represented "
virtually"; but most Americans rejected the theory that men in London, who knew nothing about their needs and conditions, could represent them.
New taxes 1764
In 1764, Parliament enacted the
Sugar Act and the
Currency Act, further vexing the colonists. Protests led to a powerful new weapon, the systemic
boycott of British goods. The British pushed the colonists even further that same year by also enacting the
Quartering Act, which stated that British soldiers were to be cared for by residents in certain areas.
Stamp Act 1765
In 1765 the
Stamp Act was the first direct tax ever levied by Parliament on the colonies. All newspapers, almanacs, pamphlets, and official documents—even decks of playing cards—were required to have the stamps. All 13 colonies protested vehemently, as popular leaders such as Patrick Henry in Virginia and James Otis in Massachusetts, rallied the people in opposition. A secret group, the "
Sons of Liberty" formed in many towns and threatened violence if anyone sold the stamps, and no one did. In Boston, the Sons of Liberty burned the records of the vice-admiralty court and looted the elegant home of the chief justice,
Thomas Hutchinson. Several legislatures called for united action, and nine colonies sent delegates to the
Stamp Act Congress in New York City in October 1765. Moderates led by
John Dickinson drew up a "
Declaration of Rights and Grievances" stating that taxes passed without representation violated their
Rights of Englishmen. Lending weight to the argument was an economic boycott of British merchandise, as imports into the colonies fell from £2,250,000 in 1764 to £1,944,000 in 1765. In London, the
Rockingham government came to power and Parliament debated whether to repeal the stamp tax or send an army to enforce it.
Benjamin Franklin eloquently made the American case, explaining the colonies had spent heavily in manpower, money, and blood in defense of the empire in a series of wars against the French and Indians, and that further taxes to pay for those wars were unjust and might bring about a rebellion. Parliament agreed and repealed the tax, but in a "
Declaratory Act" of March 1766 insisted that parliament retained full power to make laws for the colonies "in all cases whatsoever." The first was the
Massachusetts Government Act, which altered the Massachusetts charter and restricted town meetings. The second Act, the
Administration of Justice Act, ordered that all British soldiers to be tried were to be arraigned in Britain, not in the colonies. The third Act was the
Boston Port Act, which closed the port of Boston until the British had been compensated for the tea lost in the Boston Tea Party (the British never received such a payment). The fourth Act was the
Quartering Act of 1774, which allowed governors to house British troops in unoccupied buildings. The
First Continental Congress endorsed the
Suffolk Resolves, which declared the Intolerable Acts to be unconstitutional, called for the people to form militias, and called for Massachusetts to form a Patriot government.
American political opposition
American political opposition was initially through the colonial assemblies such as the
Stamp Act Congress. In 1765, the
Sons of Liberty were formed which used violence and threats of violence to ensure that the British tax laws were unenforceable. In late 1772 after the
Gaspée Affair, Samuel Adams set about creating new
Committees of Correspondence which linked Patriots in all thirteen colonies and eventually provided the framework for a rebel government. In early 1773, Virginia, the largest colony, set up its Committee of Correspondence, on which Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson served.
In 1774, the
Continental Congress was formed to serve as a provisional national government. In response to the
Massachusetts Government Act Massachusetts Bay and then other colonies formed provisional governments called
Provincial Congress.
Committee of Safety were created for the enforcement of the resolutions of the Committees of Correspondence and the Continental Congress.
The people of
Worcester set up an armed picket line in front of the local courthouse and refused to allow British magistrates to enter. Similar events soon occurred all across the colony. British troops were sent from England, but by the time they arrived, the entire colony of Massachusetts, with the exception of the heavily garrisoned city of Boston, had thrown off British control of local affairs.
Fighting begins at Lexington: 1775
The
Battle of Lexington and Concord took place
April 19,
1775, when the British sent a regiment to confiscate arms and arrest revolutionaries in
Concord. It was the first fighting of the American Revolutionary War, and immediately the news aroused the 13 colonies to call out their militias and send troops to besiege Boston. The
Battle of Bunker Hill followed on
June 17,
1775. By late spring 1776, with George Washington as commander, the Americans forced the British to
evacuate Boston. The patriots were in control everywhere in the 13 colonies and were ready to declare independence. While there still were many Loyalists, they were no longer in control anywhere by July 1776, and all of the British Royal officials had fled.
The
Second Continental Congress convened in 1775, after the war had started. The Congress created the
Continental Army and extended the
Olive Branch Petition to the crown as an attempt at reconciliation.
King George III refused to receive it, issuing instead the
Proclamation of Rebellion, requiring action against the "traitors." Except for a
failed attempt on September 11, 1776 by the British after the
Battle of Long Island (a.k.a.
Battle of Brooklyn) to secure, from a Congressional delegation including John Adams and Benjamin Franklin on
Staten Island, a revocation of the Declaration of Independence, there would be no negotiations until 1783.
Factions: Patriots, Loyalists and Neutrals
Patriots - The Revolutionaries
At the time, revolutionaries were called 'Patriots', 'Whigs', 'Congress-men', or 'Americans'. They included a full range of social and economic classes, but a
unanimity regarding the need to defend the rights of Americans. After the war, Patriots such as
George Washington,
James Madison,
John Adams,
Alexander Hamilton, and
John Jay were deeply devoted to republicanism while also eager to build a rich and powerful nation, while Patriots such as
Patrick Henry,
Benjamin Franklin, and
Thomas Jefferson represented democratic impulses and the agrarian plantation element that wanted a localized society with greater political equality.
The word "patriot" is used in this context simply to mean a person in the colonies who sided with the American revolution. Calling the revolutionaries "patriots" is a long standing historical convention, and was done at the time. It isn't meant to express bias in favor of either side.
Loyalists and neutrals
While there's no way of knowing the actual numbers, historians estimate 25% to 33% of the colonists remained loyal to the British Crown; these were known at the time as 'Loyalists', 'Tories', or 'King's men'. A third remained neutral and another third were known as Rebels or Patriots depending on whose side one was on. Loyalists were typically older, less willing to break with old loyalties, often connected to the Anglican church, and included many established merchants with business connections across the Empire, for example, Thomas Hutchinson of Boston. However; this was America's first civil war and like most civil wars it divided families, such as the Franklins. William Franklin, son of
Benjamin Franklin and Governor of New Jersey remained Loyal to the Crown throughout the war and never spoke to his father again. Recent immigrants who hadn't been fully Americanized were also inclined to support the King, such as recent Scottish settlers in the back country; among the more striking examples of this, see
Flora MacDonald.
There are notable examples of Loyalists who were not high-born, however, and it seems unlikely that their numbers are included in estimates of the number of Loyalists. Notable among these were
Native Americans, who mostly rejected American pleas that they remain neutral. Most groups aligned themselves with the loyalists. There were also incentives provided by both sides that helped to secure the affiliations of regional peoples and leaders, and the tribes that depended most heavily upon colonial trade tended to side with the revolutionaries, though political factors were important as well. The most prominent Native American leader siding with the Loyalists was
Joseph Brant of the
Mohawk nation, who led frontier raids on isolated settlements in Pennsylvania and New York until an American army under
John Sullivan secured New York in 1779, forcing all the Loyalist Indians permanently into Canada.
Another poorly-documented group that joined the Loyalist cause were
African-American slaves, who were actively recruited into the British forces in return for
manumission, protection for their families, and the (often broken) promise of land grants. Following the war, many of these "
Black Loyalists" settled in
Nova Scotia,
Upper and
Lower Canada, and other parts of the British Empire, where the descendants of some remain today.
A minority of uncertain size tried to stay neutral in the war. Most kept a low profile. However, the
Quakers, especially in Pennsylvania, were the most important group that was outspoken for neutrality. As patriots declared independence, the Quakers, who continued to do business with the British, were attacked as supporters of British rule, "contrivers and authors of seditious publications" critical of the revolutionary cause.
After the war, the great majority of Loyalists remained in America and resumed normal lives. Some, such as
Samuel Seabury, became prominent American leaders. 62,000 Loyalists (of the total estimated number of 450-500,000) relocated to Canada (42,000 according to the Canadian book on Loyalists,
True Blue), Britain (7,000) or to Florida ([numbermissing]) or the
West Indies (13,000), making it one of the largest mass migrations in history. This made up approximately 2% of the total population of the colonies. When the Loyalists left the
South in 1783, they took thousands of their slaves with them to the British West Indies, where their descendants would become free men 26 years earlier than their
United States counterparts.
Class differences among the Patriots
Historians, such as
J. Franklin Jameson in the early 20th century, examined the class composition of the Patriot cause, looking for evidence that there was a class war inside the revolution. In the last 50 years, historians have largely abandoned that interpretation, emphasizing instead the high level of ideological unity. Just as there were rich and poor Loyalists, the Patriots were a 'mixed lot', with the richer and better educated more likely to become officers in the Army. Ideological demands always came first: the Patriots viewed independence as a means of freeing themselves from British oppression and taxation and, above all, reasserting what they considered to be their rights. Most yeomen farmers, craftsmen, and small merchants joined the patriot cause as well, demanding more political equality. They were especially successful in Pennsylvania and less so in New England, where John Adams attacked Thomas Paine's
Common Sense for the "absurd democratical notions" it proposed.
Women
All types of women contributed to the American Revolution in multiple ways. Like men, women participated on both sides of the war. Among women, Anglo-Americans,
African Americans, and
Native Americans also divided between the
patriot and
loyalist causes.
While formal Revolutionary politics didn't include women, ordinary domestic behaviors became charged with political significance as
Whig women confronted a war that permeated all aspects of political, civil, and domestic life. Patriot women participated by boycotting British goods, spying on the British, following armies as they marched, washing, cooking, and tending for soldiers, delivering secret messages, and fighting disguised as men. Above all, they continued the agricultural work at home to feed the armies and their families.
The boycott of British goods involved the willing participation of American women; the boycotted items were largely household items such as tea and cloth. Women had to return to spinning and weaving—skills that had fallen into disuse. In 1769, the women of Boston produced 40,000 skeins of yarn, and 180 women in
Middletown, Massachusetts, wove of cloth.
A crisis of political loyalties could also disrupt the fabric of colonial America women’s social worlds: whether a man did or didn't renounce his allegiance to the king could dissolve ties of class, family, and friendship, isolating women from former connections. A woman’s loyalty to her husband, once a private commitment, could become a political act, especially for women in America committed to men who remained loyal to
Great Britain.
African Americans, both men and women, understood Revolutionary rhetoric as promising freedom and equality. These hopes were not realized. Although both British and American governments made promises of freedom for service throughout the war and many slaves attempted to better their lives by fighting in or assisting the armies, the war ultimately brought few changes for African American women both slave and free. After the Revolution, gradual abolition occurred in the North, but slavery expanded in the South and racial prejudice was near universal in the new nation.
For Native Americans, the American Revolution wasn't a war of
patriotism or
independence. Many Native Americans wished to remain neutral, seeing little value in participating yet again in a European conflict, but most were forced to take sides. During the war, Native American towns were often among the first to be attacked by patriot
militias, sometimes without regard to which side the inhabitants espoused. One of the most fundamental effects of the war on Native American women was the disruption of home, family, and agricultural life.
Creating new state constitutions
Following the
Battle of Bunker Hill in June 1776, the Patriots had control of all the territory and population; the Loyalists were powerless. All thirteen states had overthrown their existing governments, closing courts and driving British agents and governors from their homes. They had elected conventions and "legislatures" that existed outside of any legal framework; new constitutions were needed in each state to replace the superseded royal charters. They were states now, not colonies.
On
January 5,
1776,
New Hampshire ratified the first state constitution, six months before the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Then, in May 1776, Congress voted to suppress all forms of crown authority, to be replaced by locally created authority.
Virginia,
South Carolina, and
New Jersey created their constitutions before
July 4.
Rhode Island and
Connecticut simply took their existing
royal charters and deleted all references to the crown.
The new states had to decide not only what form of government to create, they first had to decide how to select those who would craft the constitutions and how the resulting document would be ratified. In states where the wealthy exerted firm control over the process, such as Maryland, Virginia,
Delaware, New York and Massachusetts, the results were constitutions that featured:
