The American Revolution

Some friction always marred the relationship between the colonies and the mother country, Britain, preceding the outbreak of war. Britain, m the wars against France and Spain, relied heavily on American enlistments. But British officers had to adopt coercive techniques to fill the ranks, as the Americans were reluctant to fight. The British also wanted wagons and supplies from American farmers and merchants, and also to house troops in private homes. A large number of British regulars – red coats – were sent to the colonies. The redcoats were stationed in private homes and they required many supplies. All that angered the Americans.

The Native Americans were also angry with the British, as after the British won the victory in 1760 they refused to pay the rent for the forts in the tribal territory. They also permitted white settlers to move farther west. Thus, the British signaled their disregard for native claims to the interior. The Pontiac uprising of Native Americans showed that the native people were not going to give in without a struggle. The uprising was suppressed, but it showed that Britain would not find it easy to govern the huge territory it had just acquired from France. The boundaries of the colonies’ territory were outlined to prevent future clashes between natives and colonists. The colonists were forbidden to move onto native lands. But many whites had already established farms west of the line that had been agreed to, and the policy was doomed to failure from the outset.

At the beginning of 1760, England was seeking new sources of money for covering the immense war debt, and so they decided to tax the colonies. The new taxes were to be levied on goods like sugar, paper, glass, and tea. The British also introduced some posts of British officials in America and suspended the New York legislature for not providing firewood and candles to British troops stationed permanently in America.

These measures drew a quick response. In 1766 an Organization called “Sons of Liberty” was created in New York, and together with other organizations it broadened the base of the resistance movement. They urged citizens not to buy imported goods. An increasing numberof Americans found themselves aligned with a united cause.

Even women, who had generally remained outside of politics, joined in the formal resistance movement. In towns throughout America young women calling themselves Daughters of Liberation worked at their spinning wheels in public in an effort to spur other women to make home-spun clothing and end the colonies’ dependence on English cloth. They also took the lead in boycotting tea. In Boston more than 300 matrons publicly promised not to drink tea. Young women from well-to-do families sat publicly at spinning wheels all day eating only American food and drinking herbal tea. They publicly pledged to support resistance to British measures.

As a result, colonial imports from England dropped dramatically. In 1770 all the duties were repealed but the tea tax. But restlessness in the colonies did not cease, however. The Americans felt they were being trampled upon by the presence of unnecessary troops, customs officers on the American soil, and the English courts.

At the head of the opposition was Samuel Adams. In 1772, he induced the Boston town meeting to select a “committee of correspondence” to state the rights and grievances of the colonists, to communicate with other towns on these matters, and to request them to draft replies. Quickly, the idea spread. Committees were set up in virtually all the colonies, and out of them soon grew the bases of effective revolutionary organizations.

In 1773 Britain furnished Adams and his co-workers with an issue to organize around. The powerful East India Company, finding itself in critical financial straits, appealed to the British government and was granted a monopoly on all tea exported to the colonies. This eliminated the independence of colonial merchants.

Steps were taken to prevent the East India Company from executing its design. The answer of the patriots led by Samuel Adams was violence. On the night of December 16, 1773, a group of 60 men disguised as Native Americans boarded the ships and dumped the cargo into the harbor. Three hundred forty two chests of tea floated in the morning’s ebbing tide. Punitive measures were passed. The British Parliament condemned the Boston “Tea Party” as an act of vandalism and advocated legal measures to bring the insurgent colonists into line.

The newly adopted laws – called by the colonists “Coercive Acts” – closed the port of Boston until the tea was paid for. New British officials were appointed, and many more British troops were stationed in the colonies. But the resistance of the colonists grew.

The First Continental Congress was convened in Philadelphia in 1774. They defied the British authority and in that they enjoyed great support of their countrymen and women. Their plan was to define their grievances and develop a plan for resistance. The king ordered General Cage to enforce the acts of Parliament. The first clashes were at Concord and Lexington. Cage intended to arrest Samuel Adams and John Hancock, both of whom had been sent to England to stand trial for their lives. But the whole countryside had been alerted by Paul Revere and other messengers. When the British vanguard approached Lexington at dawn on April 19, they found a group of 70 militiamen drawn up before them on the town common. After the first shots, by the evening of April 20, as many as 20,000 American militiamen had gathered around Boston. For nearly a year the two armies stared at each other.

Meanwhile, Britain dispatched to America the largest single force Great Britain had ever assembled anywhere: 370 transport ships carrying 32,000 troops and tons of supplies, accompanied by 73 naval vessels and 13,000 sailors. They hoped for a quick victory. The British captured all the American ports at once but they could not stop commerce along the coastline of 1,500 miles. And besides, only five percent of the population lived in cities. They adopted the same strategy they had used in Europe – capturing major cities, but this tactic did not work here because of America’s essentially rural character.

The Second Continental Congress in May 1775 authorized purchases of military supplies from Europe and strengthening the militia. George Washington was selected commander-in-chief of the army.

The Second Continental Congress named a committee composed of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin and others to draft a declaration of independence. The draft of the declaration was before Congress on June 28. On July 4, 1776, it was adopted. It laid out statements of principle that have served ever since as the ideal to which Americans adhere, at least nominally.

Meanwhile, war was raging. At first,the American, troops per­formed unsuccessfully and were defeated at New York City. But the redcoats stationed in various places went on a rampage of rape and plunder. That was a powerful cause for rallying those who were still doubtful to the cause of independence.

Both farmer and Native Americans were involved in the fighting Native tribes were often divided between the two warring sides. The French saw their chance of avenging their defeat by the British in the Seven Yean’ War and King Louis XVI aided the American revolutionaries with money and supplies. The British could not focus their attention on the American mainland only as they had also to I fight the French in the West Indies and elsewhere. Spain entered the war in 1779 as an ally of France. All that magnified Britain’s problems. After many defeats, the British Parliament voted to cease offensive operations in America and start peace negotiations. But for more than a year guerilla warfare between patriots and loyalists continued.

The fighting ended after the signing of a preliminary peace treaty in Paris in November 1782. Under the treaty of 1783 the Americans were granted unconditional independence. The native tribes which had sided with the English, who had promised to protect native lands from white encroachment, found themselves sacrificed to European power politics.

The war lasted for eight years. In 1775 the American troops had been an inexperienced ragtag army. They accomplished their goal through persistence and commitment rather than brilliance on the battle-fields. Ultimately, the Americans simply wore their enemy down.

(Based on “An Outline of American History”; “Making America”)

COMMENTARY

1. Henry VIII (1491–1547) – King of England.

2. the Church of England – the state protestant church of England (16 century).

3. accession to the throne – an act of becoming king (or queen).

4. Elizabeth (1533–1603) – Elizabeth I (Tudor), Queen of Britain, daughter of

Henry VIII, supported absolute monarchy and reconstructed the Church of England.

5. New Spain – a general term applying to the territories in the New World that were under

Spanish rule or control.

6. James I (1566–1625) – King of England who was also King James VI of Scotland and was the first Stewart monarch to rule England.

7. a joint stock company – a corporate entity in which the corporate stock is owned by a

number of individuals or other corporate entities. Can be privately or publicly held.

8. The Scots & Irish... fled economic distress and religious discrimination – people took

flight from some parts of England and Ireland in an attempt to improve their economic situation and profess their religious creed.

9. to codify laws – the method of indexing laws and regulations by numerical and

alphabetical reference; here: to make, to adopt laws.

10. American enlistments – generally referring to voluntary enrollment into the armed forces of the United States; here: enrollment into the British army from the American population.

11. the redcoats – a name given to the British Army or their sympathizers.

12. “Sons of Liberty” – a pre-constitutional organization, founded by Samuel Adams to organize resistance against the English rule. Any member of colonial activists in the pursuit of democracy.

13. Samuel Adams (1722–1803) – an American patriot, one of the leaders of the Independent Movement, against the English colonization. The leader of the “Sons of Liberty” organization.

14. “committee of correspondence” – established in Boston Mass, by Samuel Adams – the image of local revolutionary authority.

15. The East India Company – a group of European trading companies operating in the 17th and 18th centuries to enhance political and economic power.

16. Concord & Lexington – two towns on the outskirts of Boston, where the major battles were fought between the English (redcoats) and the American (tories), in which the American patriots won against the dominating English.

17. John Hancock (1737–1793) – one of the original architects of, and signatories to the Constitution of the United States. A leader of the liberation movement against the British colonization.

18. Paul Revere (1735—1818) – a noted silversmith and patriot who was best known for his midnight ride through the suburbs of Boston, warning the local residents of a pending British invasion.

19. George Washington (1732–1799) – commander-in-chief of the first American Army who defeated the British Army at Potomac (Va). Was elected the first president of the United States.

20. Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) – President of the United States (1801–1809). The author of the Declaration of Independence.

21. John Adams (1735–1826) – the second President of the United States (1797–1801);

participant in the war for independence in North America 1775–1783.

22. Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) – a noted inventor, author, and scientist. One of the authors of the Declaration of Independence (of the U.S.A.) (1776) and U.S. Constitution (1787). Established in Philadelphia the first public library (1731), University of Pennsylvania (1740), American Philosophical Society (1743).

23. The Seven Years’ War (1756–1763) – war between Austria, France, Russia, Spain, Sweden on the one side and Great Britain and Portugal on the other. The main result was the victory of Great Britain over France in the fight for colonial and trade superiority.

24. King Louis XVI (1754–1793) – King of France, the last Bourbon king to govern France as an absolute ruler.

25. guerilla warfare – a method of military tactics utilizing ambush methods of “hit and run” technique.

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