a rebellion of symbols people, ideas and items that stirred the emotions and steeled the resolve to...
TRANSCRIPT
A Rebellion of Symbols
People, ideas and items that stirred the emotions and steeled the resolve
to rebel against England
I. Symbols That Made a Difference
A. The King
• George III’s Problems and Liabilities
• Traditional colonial view of the King
• A Parliament without sensitivity or creativity
• Long travel time between England and America creates communication problems
• Great Awakening further alienated colonists from their earthly king
B. American Political Language: Republican Metaphors
• Strong moral component in these metaphors
• John Locke’s social contract theory
• “No Taxation without Representation” and the “rights” of Englishmen
• The significance of Tom Paine’s Common Sense (1776)
• Masonic influence on the thinking of the American revolutionaries
C. The British Army
• Reason for British regiments left in America
• Traditional British Fear of a “standing army”
• Army seen as an obstacle to American expansion and economic development
• Resistance to the Quartering Act (1765)
C. The British Army (cont)
• The symbolic significance of the Boston Massacre (March, 1770)
• Significance of killing a British regular during the War for Independence
D. Effigies, Homespun and “92”
• Long English history of burning effigies
• Colonial American history of attacking British officials
• American view of British taxes: external vs. internal
• The Stamp Act (1765) and the various levels of resistance to it
• The Townshend Duties (1767) and the resistance to them
• The symbolism of “92”
E. Tea and Indians
• Relative quiet for 3 years following the partial repeal of the Townshend Duties--Committees of Correspondence
• British love of tea• The threat of the Tea
Act (1773)
E. Tea and Indians (cont)
• Resistance to the Tea Act
--Boston Tea Party (December, 1773)
• British response to the Tea Party: the Coercive Acts
• Colonial response to Coercive Acts
F. The “Minutemen”
• Paul Revere’s “solitary ride”
• The Battles of Lexington and Concord (April 19, 1775)
• Image of brave, yeoman farmer as volunteer soldier versus the reality of the Continental Line
• Town militias did maintain control over large areas not directly controlled by the British regulars
G. The Continental Army
• Counter-symbol to the minutemen and the strategy of guerilla warfare
• Composition and conduct of these forces
• Became the symbol of the American cause
• Washington tried to avoid general actions at all costs
• Lingering American suspicion of even their own standing army
• 5000 African-Americans served in integrated units
II. The War the Symbols Made
A. “The Odds, But . . .”
• American prospects were grim
• British faced logistical problems
• America was too vast to be conquered in the traditional way
• British underestimated American fighting skill, spirit and will to resist
• British targeted cities rather than Washington’s army
B. Three Theaters of War
• Northern Theater (1775-1776)
--Bunker Hill (1775)
--Trenton (Christmas night, 1776)
• Central Theater (1777-1779)
--Valley Forge, (Winter of 1777-1778)
--Saratoga (October, 1777)
B. Three Theaters of War (cont)
• Southern Theater (1780-1781)
--Yorktown (October, 1781)
--Lord Cornwallis
-- “The World Turned Upside Down”
C. Peace and the War’s Results
• The Peace of Paris (1783)• American Casualty figures• Results and Consequences
of the American Revolution• A Political, but not a Social
Revolution• Wave of slave
manumissions• Expanded, but temporary,
female political influence• A “British Vietnam”?
III. The Real Victims of Revolutionary Symbols: Loyalists
• 20% of White American Population—about 100,000 people
• All ranks and sections of society
• Their sacrifice
• Very sad and lonely group
• Their treatment
• 40,000 Tories fought as a part of the British Army