THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION: FROM ELITE PROTEST TO POPULAR REVOLT, 17631783

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THE AMERICAN REVOLUTIONFROM ELITE PROTEST TO
POPULAR REVOLT, 1763-1783

• America Past and Present
• Chapter 5

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Structure of Colonial Society

• 1760s an optimistic post-war period
• striking ethnic and racial diversity
• 60 of population under 21 years old
• high level of post-war prosperity
• wealth unevenly distributed
• Americans proud to be part of Europes most
  thriving, prosperous empire

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Breakdown of Political Trust

• 1760--George III ascended throne
• Suspicions on both sides of the Atlantic that
  Crown wished to enlarge its powers
• Conflict over Parliamentary sovereignty
• English officials assumed that Parliament must
  have ultimate authority
• colonists tried to reserve internal colonial
  authority for their own legislatures

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No Taxation Without Representation the American
Perspective

• Colonists assume their legislatures equal in some
  ways to Parliament
• Americans not represented at all in Parliament
• British officials espoused virtual
  representation
• Colonists insist only colonial assemblies could
  tax Americans

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Ideas About Power and Virtue

• John Locke, "Commonwealthmen" inform colonial
  political thought
• All governments believed susceptible to
  corruption into tyranny
• tyranny understood as any attempt to encroach
  upon the people's liberty
• Virtuous citizens, alert to rights and
  determined to live free, resist tyranny

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Eroding the Bonds of Empire

• Large, expensive army left in America at the end
  of the Seven Years War
• Colonists doubted the armys value
• Pontiacs War
• exposed the British armys weakness
• revealed the desperate situation of Native
  Americans after withdrawal of French
• Colonists determined to settle trans-Appalachian
  West

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Paying off the National Debt

• First minister George Grenville attempts to
  reduce Englands war debt
• Revenue Act of 1764 (the Sugar Act)
• Merchants and gentry protest, most colonists
  ignore

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Colonial Products and Trade
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Popular Protest

• 1765--Stamp Act requires that colonists purchase
  stamp to validate documents
• Unites the gentry and the mass of the population
  in protest
• Stamp Act Congress petitions the King and
  Parliament for repeal
• Protest includes mob riots, boycotts

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Failed Attempts to Save the Empire

• 1766--New administration in office, favors repeal
  of Stamp Act
• Repeal tied to Declaratory Act of 1766
• Parliament sovereign over America "in all cases
  whatsoever"
• Controversy estranges colonists from English
  officials

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Fueling the Crisis the Townshend Duties

• Charles Townshend chancellor of the exchequer
• 1767--Townshend Duties tax American imports of
  paper, lead, glass, and tea
• American Board of Customs Commissioners created
  to collect duties

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Fueling the Crisis Response to the Townshend
Duties

• Sons of Liberty organize boycott of English goods
• Circular letter from Massachusetts House of
  Representatives urges protest
• 92 Massachusetts Representatives defy government
  order to rescind letter

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Fatal Signs of Force

• English government moves troops from frontier to
  Boston to save money
• Tensions increased
• March 5, 1770--English soldiers fired on Boston
  mob, killed five Americans
• incident labeled the Boston Massacre
• Paul Revere engraving a best-seller
• Tensions defused by Lord North

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Last Days of the Old Order, 1770-1773

• 1770--New prime minister, Lord North, leads
  repeal of all duties except tea
• 1770-1773 marked by tranquility
• Customs collectors antagonize colonists
• Radicals protest tea tax as violation of American
  rights
• Committees of correspondence built up alternative
  political structure

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The Final Provocation The Boston Tea Party

• 1773--Parliament passes Tea Act
• designed to help the East India Company by making
  its sale cheaper in America
• Americans interpret as a subtle ploy to get them
  to consume taxed tea
• December 1773--Boston protestors dump the tea
  into the harbor

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The Final Provocation The Coercive Acts

• Port of Boston closed until tea paid for
• Massachusetts government restructured
• upper house made appointive body
• town meetings permitted only once per year
• Accused officials to be tried in England, not
  America
• Army authorized to quarter troops wherever needed

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The Final Provocation The Quebec Act

• Quebec Act establishes authoritarian government
  for Canada
• Colonists interpret Act as final proof of
  Parliamentary plot to enslave America
• Mainland colonies rally to support Boston,
  protest the British blockade

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The Final Provocation The Ultimate Crisis

• Parliaments insistence on supremacy would make
  rebellion unavoidable
• Ben Franklin suggests Parliament secure colonial
  loyalty by renouncing claim to supremacy
• Parliament rejects Franklins advice

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Steps Toward Independence

• September 1774--First Continental Congress in
  response to Coercive Acts
• Congress commends Suffolk Resolves urging
  forcible resistance
• Intercolonial Association halts commerce with
  Britain until Coercive Acts repealed

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Shots Heard Around the World

• April 19, 1775--skirmish breaks out in Lexington,
  Massachusetts
• Fighting spread along road between Lexington,
  Concord, Boston
• English retreat to Boston with heavy losses

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Beginning The World over Again Early War Effort

• June 1775--Congress appoints George Washington
  commander of Boston force
• English government blockades colonial ports,
  hires German mercenaries
• Royal governors urge slaves to take up arms
  against their masters

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Beginning The World over Again Decision for
Independence

• January 1776--Thomas Paines Common Sense urges
  independence
• July 2, 1776--Independence voted by Congress
• July 4--Declaration of Independence issued

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Fighting for Independence

• The British entered the war confident of a full
  and complete victory
• English task
• meet the challenge of a long supply line
• use better-trained army to occupy territory
• crush the popular spirit of independence
• They underestimated the Americans commitment to
  their political ideology

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The American Revolution, 1775-1781
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Building a Professional Army

• Washingtons task
• defend territory as well as possible
• keep his army intact
• The Continental Army would be a fighting force
  and symbol of the republican cause
• Militias role compel support for Revolution

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Testing the American Will

• American army routed on Long Island
• New York City captured
• Washington forced to retreat through New Jersey
• British obtain thousands of Oaths of Allegiance
  in wake of retreat

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"Times That Try Men's Souls"

• December 25, 1776--Washington captures Trenton
• January 3, 1777--Washington captures Princeton
• Victories rekindle wartime patriotism
• British consolidate forces, leave territory in
  patriot control

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Victory in a Year of Defeat

• British campaign for New York under John
  Burgoyne defeated at Saratoga
• British capture Philadelphia under General
  William Howe
• Washington's army winters at Valley Forge,
  Pennsylvania

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The French Alliance

• Saratoga prompts British suit for peace to
  prevent Franco-American alliance
• Terms include repeal of all laws since 1763,
  respect for colonial taxation rights
• February 1778--Americans ally with France to
  secure full independence

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The Final Campaign

• Spring 1780--English capture Savannah and
  Charleston
• August 1780--American army routed at Camden,
  South Carolina
• Nathaniel Greenes forces deal several defeats to
  English under Cornwallis
• October 19, 1781--Cornwallis surrenders to
  Washingtons combined forces

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The Loyalist Dilemma

• Loyalists treated poorly by both sides
• English never fully trusted Loyalists
• Patriots seize property, imprison, execute some
• More than 100,000 Loyalists leave U.S. at wars
  end

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Loyalist Strongholds
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Winning the Peace

• Peace Treaty of 1783 negotiated by Franklin, John
  Adams, and John Jay
• Terms secured by playing France against England,
  include
• independence
• U.S. gains all territory east of Mississippi
  River, between Canada and Florida
• U.S. secures fishing rights in North Atlantic

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Preserving Independence

• The American Revolution begins construction of
  new form of government
• Question remains a government of the elite or a
  government of the people?