The Road to Revolution

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The Road to Revolution (1770-1776)
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American Philosophes

• Benjamin Franklin
• Thomas Jefferson
• John Adams
• Thomas Paine

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The Boston Massacre (March 5,1770)
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Tar and Feathering
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Committees of Correspondence
Purpose ? warn neighboring colonies
about incidents with Britain ?
broaden the resistance movement.
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Tea Act (1773)

• British East India Co.
• Monopoly on British tea imports.
• Many members of Parliament held shares.
• Permitted the Co. to sell tea directly to
  colonies without middlemen (cheaper tea!)
• expected the cols. to eagerly choose the
  cheaper tea.

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Boston Tea Party (1773)
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The Coercive or IntolerableActs (1774)
1. Port Bill
2. Government Act
3. New Quartering Act
Lord North
4. Administration of Justice Act
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The Quebec Act (1774)
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First Continental Congress (1774)
55 delegates from 12 colonies
Agenda ? How to respond to the Coercive Acts
the Quebec Act?
1 vote per colony represented.
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The British Are Coming . . .
Paul Revere William Dawes make their midnight
ride to warn the Minutemen of approaching British
soldiers.
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The Shot Heard Round the World!
Lexington Concord April 19,1775
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The Second Continental Congress(1775)
Olive Branch Petition
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Thomas Paine Common Sense
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• It was ridiculous for an island to rule a
  continent.
• America was not a "British nation" it was
  composed of influences and peoples from all of
  Europe,
• Even if Britain was the "mother country" of
  America, that made her actions all the more
  horrendous, for no mother would harm her children
  so brutally.
• Being a part of Britain would drag America into
  unnecessary European wars, and keep it from the
  international commerce at which America excelled.
• The distance between the two nations made the
  governing the colonies from England unwieldy. If
  some wrong were to be petitioned to Parliament,
  it would take a year before the colonies received
  a response.

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• The New World was discovered shortly after the
  Reformation. The Puritans believed that God
  wanted to give them a safe haven from the
  persecution of British rule.
• Britain ruled the colonies for its own benefit,
  and did not consider the best interests of the
  colonists in governing them.
• Less-quoted sections of the pamphlet include
  Paine's over-optimistic view of America's
  military potential at the time of the Revolution.
  For example, he spends pages describing how
  colonial shipyards, by using the large amounts of
  lumber available in the country, could quickly
  create a navy that could rival the Royal Navy.

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Declaration of Independence (1776)
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Declaration of Independence
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Independence Hall
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New National Symbols
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Second Continental Congress

• Philadelphia, PA May 10, 1775 to December 12,
  1776
• Baltimore, MD December 20, 1776 to February 27,
  1777
• Philadelphia, PA March 4, 1777 to September 18,
  1777
• Court House, Lancaster, PA September 27, 1777
  (one day)
• York, PA September 30, 1777 to June 27, 1778
• Independence Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
  July 2, 1778 to March 1, 1781

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The American Revolution 1775-1783
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On the Eve of the Revolution ?
Britain Americans
Advantages ? ?
Disadvantages ? ?
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Loyalist Strongholds
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Washingtons Headaches

• Only 1/3 of the colonists were in favor of a war
  for independence the other third were Loyalists,
  and the final third were neutral.
• State/colony loyalties.
• Congress couldnt tax to raise money for the
  Continental Army.
• Poor training until the arrival of Baron von
  Steuben.

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Military Strategies
The Americans
The British

• Attrition the Brits had a long supply line.
• Guerilla tactics fight an insurgent war ? you
  dont have to win a battle, just wear the British
  down
• Make an alliance with one of Britains enemies.

• Break the colonies in half by getting between the
  No. the So.
• Blockade the ports to prevent the flow of goods
  and supplies from an ally.
• Divide and Conquer ? use the Loyalists.

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Phase I The Northern Campaign1775-1776
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Bunker Hill (June, 1775)
The British suffered over 40 casualties.
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Phase II NY PA1777-1778
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New York City in Flames(1776)
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Washington Crossing the Delaware
Painted by Emanuel Leutze, 1851
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Saratoga Turning Point of the War?
A modern-day re-enactment
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Phase III The Southern Strategy 1780-1781
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Britains Southern Strategy

• Britain thought that there were more Loyalists in
  the South.
• Southern resources were more valuable/worth
  preserving.
• The British win a number of small victories, but
  cannot pacify the countryside similar to U. S.
  failures in Vietnam!
• Good US GeneralNathanial Greene

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The Battle of Yorktown (1781)
Count de Rochambeau
AdmiralDe Grasse
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Cornwallis Surrender at Yorktown
The World Turned Upside Down!
Painted by John Trumbull, 1797
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Why did the British Lose???
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North America After theTreaty of Paris, 1783