War of Independence /

Revolutionary War

Overall Unit

I. Age of the Articles of Confederation (1776-1789)

II. Age of Federalism (1789-1800)

III. Jefferson, the Era of Good Feeling, and the Embargo(1800-1809)

Revolution

I. Revolution (looking ahead)

A. Usually defined as overturning of social system

B. Before and During the Revolution

1. Food Riots – Women prominent here

2. Involvement of urban plebes

3. Rural protest

4. All local grievances

C. Endpoint – Who is in charge?

D. Edmund Burke defines revolution

1. Aristocracy?

2. Big government?

Why Independence? (Part 1) II. Why Independence?

A. First, contingency vs. teleology

1. Teleology: History and its path predetermined

2. Contingency position held by modern historians

a. Events cannot be predicted

b. Contingency = Unpredictability of events at the time

3. Why 13 of 19 mainland North American colonies?

4. Why only 13 of 26 Western Hemisphere colonies?

Why Independence? (Part 2)

II. Why Independence?

B. Ideological reasons (Primarily neoconservative)

1. British despotism or perception of despotism

2. Unfairness towards smuggling and salutary neglect

C. Geographic reasons - Staples Thesis

1. Export/staple economies most closely tied to metropole

2. Colonies with agricultural frontiers

b. Access to internal frontiers = diverse markets

c. New England, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Carolinas, New York all have back countries for migration.

3. Urban east coast towns tied to interior colonies and metropole.

a. Boston, Philadelphia, Charleston

Why Independence? (Part 3)

II. Why Independence?

D. External Political and Social Reasons

1. Independence is a large social and political risk

B. Neo-progressive and subtle neo-progressive

a. Rioting and urban involvement needed to be stopped

b. Elites needed to step in:

i. To gain control of terms

Ii. To secure debts

c. Underclass not unified, and aimed anger at Native Americans and British, as well as American elites

i. Grievances varied by region

The War, 1

III. The War and Continental Congresses

A. First Continental Congress meets in Philadelphia, PA, in 1774

1. Debate responses to Intolerable Acts

a. Quebec Act – Anti-Catholicism and lands

b. Coercive Acts – Martial law in Boston

B. Battles of Lexington and Concord, and Bunker Hill

1. Massachusetts countryside mobilized; militia moves northward

2. British troops in Boston under General gage move to countryside to seize arms

3. Militias meet them and inflict many casualties

4. Battles of Lexington and Concord, April 17, 1775

5. Summer 1775, militia stands up to British

The War, 2

C. Second Continental Congress (May 1775)

1. John Hancock as presider

2. George Washington

a. Southerner

b. Experience in the West

3. Adams vs. Dickinson

4. Battle of Bunker Hill in summer of 1775

A. Olive Branch Petition

4. Declaration of Independence drafted

a. Adams and Jefferson

b. Natural “created” rights,

c. Blames slavery on George III

i. Clause condemning slavery excluded

The War, 3

D. Second Continental Congress will become new Congress under Articles of Confederation

1. Becomes Confederate Congress

2. No executive

3. All states are sovereign

a. Prevents despotism

4. War and funding are voluntary

5. George Washington is begging for money

The War, 4

IV . British start in New England, moved to Middle Atlantic, and split up, with a large force in the Carolinas under Cornwallis

A. After success in upstate New York, “Americans” try to invade Canada

1.Fail.

2. Too cold, and invasion against Canadians dissuades any sympathetic to cause

B. British are unsuccessful in northern New York in splitting New England from rest of 13 colonies.

1. British effort fails vs Gen. Burgoyne Gen. Horatio Gates in Saratoga, near Albany

2. Lack of failure lures Foreign Support

a. John Adams secures Dutch loans (Doesn’t trust French)

b. Franklin secures Franco-American Alliance, signs pact in 1778

C. Washington employs Fabian strategy

a. Wears out British

b. Wears out militia

i. Desertion

The War, 5

V. Cornwallis used British Naval Power to disembark in the US South, taking much of South and North Carolina in 1780 and 1781

A. French navy bases forces in Boston and Providence but is reluctant to commit ships without land backing

B. Meanwhile, Virginia attracts British attention

1. British raid Chesapeake at will

2. Lord Dunmore, one of their leaders, attracts fugitive slaves in 1775

3. Rich planters buy their way out of revolutionary service

4. There are mutinies among soldiers in Virginia

C. Thomas Jefferson wartime leadership uneven

War, 6

D. Spanish enter war from New Orleans and Mexico, and take Pensacola, in British West Florida, causing movement of British forces away from Caribbean

1. Irish “wild geese,” freed blacks, and Creeks form part of Spanish force under Bernardo de Galvez

2. French navy can concentrate forces in North Atlantic

E. George Washington sends plans that he will be marching north.

1. British decide to attack Yorktown, in VA

2. Are overwhelmed by French army, under de Rochambeau, French navy, under Comte de Grasse, and Washington

3. This effectively ends war in 1783 (One of many treaties of Paris)

Yorktown

The West