American Revolution and the War for Independence
Introduction
This article is dedicated to the history of the American Revolution and the War of Independence. The main objective of the study presented here is to make analysis of events in the late 18th century in the British colonies in target = "_blank"> North America based on historical documents published in the majority of the United States. The process that took place before and during the period 1776-1783 when 13 British colonies aspiration for independence erupted in the so-called war of Independence is remarkable for its many unique features, first, and for many historical parallel that occurred a century later, when the propagation system in the colonial world started to crumble.
John Adams, second President of the United States, said that the history of the American Revolution began in 1620. "The revolution, he says," has been made before the war began. The Revolution was in the mind and heart of people. "The principles and passions that have led Americans should rebel, he added, "to go back for two hundred years and sought in the history of the country from the first planting in America. "
In practice, however, clear separation of ways between England and America began in 1763, more a century and a half after the first permanent settlement was founded at Jamestown, Virginia. The settlements have increased significantly in economic power and cultural level, and almost all had long years of self-government behind them. Their total population now exceeds 1.5 million, an increase of six times since 1700.
Implications the physical growth of the colonies were far greater than mere numerical increase would indicate. The 18th century brought a continuous expansion of the influx of immigrants from Europe, and since the best land near the coast had already been occupied, the new settlers had to push inland beyond the fall line of the watercourse. Traders explored the hinterland, brought back tales of rich valleys, and induced the farmers to take their families into the desert. Although difficulties were enormous, restless settlers wanted to come, and the pioneers of the 1730s had already begun to pour into the Shenandoah Valley.
Down to 1763, Britain had made no coherent policy of its colonial possessions. The guiding principle was the mercantilist point of view confirmed that the colonies should provide the mother country raw materials and not compete in manufacturing. But the policy was poorly enforced, and the colonies had never thought themselves subject. Instead, they saw themselves primarily as republics or states, like England itself, having only an association Free with the London authorities.
At irregular intervals, the feeling has been aroused in England and efforts have been made by Parliament or the Crown to make economic activities and governments of the colonies to England the will and interest – efforts to have the majority of settlers were opposed. The remoteness afforded by a vast ocean allayed fears of reprisal colonies, otherwise have had.
Added to this remoteness is the very nature of life in early America. From countries limited in space and dotted with populous towns, the settlers came from a land of seemingly endless scope. On a continent natural conditions stressed the importance of the individual.
1. border situation
The settlers, descendants of traditions the long struggle of the English concepts for political freedom, freedom consists in the first charter of Virginia. It provided that the Settlers English were to exercise all liberties, franchises and immunities "as if they had been abiding and born within this kingdom of England ours. "They were then enjoy the benefits of the Magna Carta and common law.
In the early days, the colonies were able to hold fast to their heritage of rights because of the arbitrary assumption of the king they are not subject to parliamentary scrutiny. In addition, for years after, the kings of England have been too concerned about a big fight in England itself – a struggle that culminated in the Puritan Revolution – to impose their will. Before the Parliament could give its attention on the task of molding the American colonies to an imperial policy, they grown strong and prosperous in their own right.
In the first year after they had set foot on the new continent, settlers had worked by English law and the constitution – with legislatures, a system of representative government and a recognition of common-law guarantees the individual freedom. But more and more legislation became American point of view, and less attention has been given to practical English and precedents. However, freedom from British colonial effective control was not achieved without conflict, and colonial history abounds struggles between the assemblies elected by the people and the governors appointed by the King.
However, the settlers have often been able to make the governors Royal powerless, because in general, the governors had "no livelihood, but the Assembly." Governors have been sometimes responsible for providing cost-effective offices and land grants to settlers for their influential support for projects of the king, but more often than not, the colonial authorities, once they achieved these emoluments, married popular cause as strongly as ever.
The recurring clashes between the governor and the Assembly has worked increasingly to awaken the colonists to the divergence between American and British interests. Little recently, meetings have taken the functions of governors and their councils, which were made up of settlers selected for their docility the support of royal power, and the center of colonial administration shifted from London to the provincial capitals. In the early 1770s, following the final expulsion of French North America continent, an attempt was made to achieve a radical change in the relationship between the colonies and the motherland.
2. British and French conflict
While the British had been filling coastal zone of the Atlantic with farms, plantations and cities, the French had been planting a different kind of domination in the valley of the St. Lawrence in eastern Canada. After sending a smaller number of settlers, but most explorers, missionaries and traders Fur, France had taken possession of the Mississippi River, and a line of forts and trading posts, was a major empire in the shape of a crescent that stretches Quebec in the north of New Orleans in the south. Thus, they tend to force the British to the narrow strip east of the Appalachians.
The British had long resisted what they saw as "the encroachment of the French." Since 1613 localized clashes between settlers were French and English. Finally, there were organized warfare, the U.S. equivalent of the most great conflict between England and France. Thus, between 1689 and 1697, "King William War" was fought as the American phase of the Union European "War of the Palatinate. From 1702 to 1713," The War of the Queen Anne "corresponded to" The War of Spanish Succession. " And from 1744 to 1748, "King George's War" in parallel "war of Austrian Succession." Although England won benefits from some of these wars, the struggles were generally indecisive, and France remained in a strong position on the American continent.
In the 1750s, the conflict has been brought to a final phase. The French, after the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748, have tightened their grip the Mississippi Valley. At the same time, the movement of English colonists across the Alleghenies in the tempo increased, stimulating a race to the physical possession the same territory. A gunfight in 1754, accompanied by Virginia militia under the command of the 22-year-old George Washington and a band of French used, introduced into the French "and Indian War" – with the British and their Indian allies fighting against the French and their Indian allies. This was determine once and for all French or English supremacy in North America.
Never had there been more need for action and unity in the British colonies. The French threatened not only the British Empire but the American colonists themselves, for the holding of the Mississippi Valley, France could check their westward expansion. The French government of Canada and Louisiana have not only increased in strength but had also prestige with the Indians, even the Iroquois, traditional allies of the British. With a new war, all British settlers in Indian sage knew that drastic measures not be necessary to avoid disaster.
3. beginnings of unity
At this stage, the British Chamber of Commerce, hearing reports of deteriorating relations with the Indians, ordered the governor of New York and the Commissioners other colonies to convene a meeting of Iroquois chiefs to supervise a joint treaty. In June 1754, representatives from New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and in New England colonies met in Albany with the Iroquois. The Indians played their grievances, and the delegates recommended appropriate measures.
The Albany Congress, however, exceeded its initial goal of solving the problems of Indians. She said an American union colonies "absolutely necessary for their conservation", and the colonial representatives present adopted the Albany Plan of Union. Selected by Benjamin Franklin, the plan stated that the president appointed by the king with a note of the Grand Council of delegates chosen by the assemblies, each colony to be represented in proportion to its financial contribution to the general treasury. The government was to have the charge of all British interests in the west – Indian treaties, trade, defense, and settlement. But none of the colonies accepted Franklin's plan, for none wished to surrender either the taxing power or control over the development of the west.
The colonies offered little support for war as a whole, all schemes failing to bring "a sense of their duty to the king." Settlers could see the war as as a struggle for empire on the part of England and France. They felt no qualms when the British government was obliged to send large number of regular troops to conduct colonial battles. They do not regret that the "redcoats," rather than provincial troops, won the war. They do not see any reason to restrict trade that, in fact, made the trade with the enemy.
Despite This lack of full support and despite colonial army at the beginning of several defeats, England top strategic position and his able leadership finally brought victory. After eight years of conflict, Canada and the upper Mississippi Valley finally been conquered, and the dream of a French empire in North America faded.
Having triumphed over France, not only America, but in India and around the colonial world in general, Great Britain was forced to confront a problem that she had hitherto neglected – the governance of his empire. It is now essential that it organize its vast possessions to facilitate defense, reconcile the interests divergent different areas and peoples, and distribute more equitably the cost of imperial administration.
In North America, territories British overseas has more than doubled. For the narrow band along the Atlantic coast have been added the vast expanse of Canada and the territory between the Mississippi and the Appalachians, an empire in itself. A population that had been predominantly Protestant English and Continental now anglicised included the French Catholic and a large number of Christianized Indians game. Defense and administration of new territories, and the old should huge sums of money and personnel have increased. The system "colonial" was manifestly inadequate. Even during necessities of war endangers the very existence of the settlers themselves, the system proved incapable of ensuring colonial cooperation and support. What then can be expected in peacetime in the absence of external danger arises?
4. resistance Colonial
Clear as the need for a new British imperial design, the situation in America was far from favorable to change. Long accustomed to a large measure of independence, the colonies were demanding more, at least, freedom, especially now that the French threat had been eliminated. To put a new system in force, to tighten control, the state of England had to contend with colonists trained in self-government and impatient of interference.
One of first things attempted by the British was to organize the interior. The conquest of Canada and the Ohio Valley necessitated policies that would not alienate the French and Indian population. But here the Crown came into conflict with the interests of the colonies, which, rapidly increasing population, were determined to exploit the newly acquired territories themselves. Needing more land, various colonies claimed the right to extend their borders to the west to the Mississippi River.
The British government, fearing that the farmers to migrate to new lands would provoke a series of Indian wars, believed that Indians should be restive time to settle and that the land should be open to colonists on a more gradual. In 1763, a royal proclamation reserved throughout the West between the Alleghenies, Florida, Mississippi, and Quebec for the use of Indians. Thus the Crown attempted to sweep away all land claims of the thirteen colonies and the West to stop the expansion westward. Although he never actually applied, this measure, in the eyes of the colonists, constituted a breach of their right highhanded the most basic to occupy and use land in the West, if necessary.
More serious in its repercussions was the new financial policy of the British government, which needed more money to support the growing empire. Unless the taxpayer in England was provide all the colonies should contribute. But revenues could be extracted from colonies by strengthening the central government at the expense of colonial autonomy.
The first stage of the inauguration of the new system was the adoption of the Act of 1764 sugar. This was designed to raise revenue without control of their trade. In fact, he replaced the Molasses Act of 1733, which had put a prohibitive tariff on import of rum and molasses from non-English areas. The amended Sugar Act prohibits the importation of foreign rum; put a modest duty on molasses from all sources and levied duties on wines, silks, coffee, and a number of other luxury items. To apply, Customs officials were ordered to show more energy and precision. British warships in American waters have been invited to seize smugglers, and "writs of assistance" (cover warrants) authorized the king's officers to search suspected premises.
5. tax litigation
It was not so much the new duties that caused consternation among the merchants of New England. Was rather the fact that measures were taken for their effective implementation, an entirely new development. For more than a generation, New England had been used to import most of molasses for their rum distilleries from the French and Dutch West Indies without paying right. They have now argued that the payment of even the small duty imposed would be ruinous.
In this case, the preamble of the Act sugar, the settlers have the opportunity to rationalize their discontent on constitutional grounds. The power of Parliament to tax colonial commodities to regulate commerce has long been accepted in theory but not always in practice, but the power of taxation "for the improvement revenue of this Kingdom, as indicated in the Revenue Act of 1764, is new and therefore questionable.
The constitutional question has become a corner of the entry in the great dispute which was finally to wrest the American colonies of England. "A single act of Parliament," wrote James Otis, orator fiery Massachusetts, has more people of a thought in six months, more than they did in their whole lives ahead. "Legislatures merchants and town meetings protested against the expediency of the law, and colonial lawyers like Samuel Adams in the preamble of the first intimation of "Taxation without representation", the slogan that was a lot of people to the cause of American patriots against the mother country.
Later that same year, Parliament adopted a Currency Act "to prevent paper bills of credit hereafter issued in colonies Her Majesty to be legal. "Since the colonies were a deficit area and were constantly short of cash "Hard," added that a heavy burden on the colonial economy. History of American Money also undesirable from the point of view colonial Act was the cantonment, adopted in 1765, which required colonies to provide housing and supplies for royal troops.
Forte, as the opposition these acts, it was the last action of the inauguration of the colonial system that has triggered new organized resistance. Known history as the "Postal Law", it provided that revenue stamps are affixed to all newspapers, broadsides, pamphlets, licenses, leases or other legal documents, receipts (collected by American agents) to use to "defend, protect and secure" the colonies. The burden seemed if evenly distributed and slightly that the measure adopted by Parliament with little debate.
The violence of the reaction in the thirteen colonies however, surprised moderate men everywhere. The act aroused the hostility of the most powerful and articulate groups of the population, journalists, lawyers, priests, merchants and businessmen, north and south, east and west, because it also covered all sections of the country. Soon leading merchants, each of lading would be taxed, organized for resistance and forming associations non-importation.
Trade with mother country fell off sharply in the summer of 1765. prominent men organized as "Sons of Liberty, and the political opposition soon degenerated into rebellion. Inflamed crowds paraded through the streets of Boston. From Massachusetts to South Carolina, the act was canceled, and the crowds, forcing officials to resign from their unfortunate offices, destroyed the hated stamps.
Led by Patrick Henry, the Virginia Assembly passed a series of resolutions denouncing taxation without representation as a threat to colonial liberties. A few days later, the Massachusetts House invited all the colonies to appoint delegates to a convention in New York to discuss the threat Stamp Act. The congress, held in October 1765, was the first inter-colonial never summoned to the U.S. initiative. Twenty-seven men from nine colonies seized the opportunity to mobilize colonial opinion against parliamentary interference in American affairs. After lengthy discussions, Congress passed a series of resolutions affirming that "no more taxes have been or may be imposed by the Constitution, but by their assemblies respective "and that the Stamp Act was a" manifest tendency to subvert the rights and liberties of the colonists. "
6. Reduced litigation Tax
The issue thus drawn centered on the question of representation. From a colonial point of view, it was impossible to consider themselves represented Parliament unless they actually elected MPs in the House of Commons. But this contradicts the principle of English orthodox "virtual representation , That is, representation by classes and interests rather than by locality.
Most British officials held that Parliament is a representative body of imperial and exercise the same authority over the colonies on the country: We can pass laws for Massachusetts because it could, Berkshire, England.
U.S. officials argued that no "imperial" Parliament existed, their only relationship were legal with the Crown. It was the king who had agreed to establish colonies beyond the sea and the king gave them with governments. That the king was also a king of England and King of Massachusetts they have agreed, but they also insisted that the British Parliament has more the right to make laws for the Massachusetts legislature had to enact laws for Britain.
The British Parliament did not accept the colonial contentions. British merchants, however, are feeling the effects of the American boycott, launched their weight behind a repeal movement, and 1766, Parliament gave the repeal of the Stamp Act and modifying the Sugar Act. The colonies rejoiced. merchants of the colony abandoned non-importation agreement, the Sons of Liberty subsided, trade resumed its course, peace seemed at hand.
But it was only respite. The year 1767 brought another series of measures that stirred anew all the elements of discord. Charles Townshend, British Chancellor of the Exchequer, was asked to develop a new financial program. Intent on reducing British taxes by making more efficient the collection of fees on American trade, he tightened customs administration, at the same time sponsorship rights on paper, glass, lead, and tea exported Great Britain for the colonies.
This was designed to raise revenue to be used in part to support colonial governors, judges, Customs officers and the British army in America. Another proposed law Townshend authorized the superior courts of the colonies to issue assistance orders, which gives the specific legal authority for search warrants typically already hated by the settlers.
The excitement following the adoption of human Townshend was less violent than that generated by the stamp act, but it was nonetheless strong. Merchants once again use the non-importation agreements. Men clad in homespun clothing, women have found substitutes for tea. The Students used paper colonialism. Houses painted. In Boston, where the mercantile interests in the most sensitive to interference, the application the new regulations provoked violence. When customs officials sought to collect duties, they were attacked by the mob and abused. For this, two regiments were sent to protect the customs commissioners.
The presence of British troops in Boston was a standing invitation to disorder. On March 5, 1770, after 18 months of resentment, antagonism between citizens and soldiers erupted. What started as a harmless snowballing of the redcoats degenerated into a mob attack. Someone gave the order to fire, three Bostonians lay in the snow, and colonial agitators had a problem n valuable their campaign to arouse the hostility towards England. Nicknamed the Boston Massacre, the incident was considerably image as insensitive and British tyranny.
Faced with Such opposition Parliament in 1770 opted for a strategic retreat and repealed all the Townshend duties except that on tea. The tax on tea was chosen because, as George III said, it must always be a tax to keep up right. For most of the settlers of the action of Parliament is, indeed, a repair "Grievance" and the campaign against England was largely abandoned. A ban on "tea English "has continued, but was not too scrupulously observed.
In general, the situation seemed to bode well for relations with the Empire. The prosperity is increasing and most colonial leaders were willing to let the future take care of itself. Inertia and neglect seems to succeed where the boldest policy had failed. Element moderate everywhere predominant in the colonies, welcomed the peaceful interlude.
7. The Boston Tea Party
During a three-year interval of calm, a relatively small number of "patriots" or "radicals" trying to keep alive with energy controversy. While the tea tax remained, they contended, the principle of the right of Parliament over the colonies remained. And at any time in the future, the principle could be applied in its entirety with a devastating effect on colonial liberties.
Typical of the Patriots was their leader The most effective Samuel Adams of Massachusetts, who has worked tirelessly for a single goal: independence. From the time he graduated from Harvard College Adams was a servant to a certain extent-inspector of chimneys, tax collector, moderator of town meetings. A consistent failure in business, He was advised and power in politics, meeting with New England town, the scene of his action.
Adam's tools were men: his goal was to win the confidence and support of ordinary people to liberate them from fear of their political and social superiors, make them aware of their own importance, and encourage their action. To do this, he has published articles in newspapers and made speeches in town meetings, prompting resolutions calling impulses Democratic settlers.
In 1772 he induced the Boston meeting to select a "committee of correspondence" to state the rights and grievances of the colonists, to communicate with other cities on these issues, and ask them to draft replies. Quickly, the idea spread. Committees have been established in almost all the colonies, and they soon became a foundation for effective organizations revolutionaries.
In 1773, Great Britain furnished Adams and his colleagues a question you want. The powerful East India Company, located financially troubled critics, appealed to the British government and was granted a monopoly on all tea exported to the colonies. In Due to the Townshend duty on tea, the colonists had boycotted the tea company, and after 1770, as a flourishing business there might be illegal that nine-tenths of the tea consumed in America was of foreign origin and imported duty free.
Company decided to sell its tea through its own agents at a price well under that of use, therefore making both smuggling unprofitable and eliminating market independent of the colony. Woke up not only by the loss of the tea trade, but also by the monopolistic practice involved, colonial traders joined the patriots. In almost all the colonies, steps were taken to prevent the East India Company in the execution of his design.
In other ports Boston, agents of the company were "persuaded" to resign, and new shipments of tea were returned to England or warehoused. In Boston, the agents refused to resign and, with the support of the royal governor, preparations were made to land incoming cargoes regardless of opposition. The response of patriots led by Samuel Adams, was violence. On the night of December 16, 1773, a group of men disguised as Mohawk Indians boarded three British ships at anchor and dumped their cargo of tea in Boston Harbor.
8. British repression
A crisis now confronted Britain. The East India Company conducted an Act of Parliament, and if the destruction of the tea went unheeded, Parliament would admit to the world that he had no control over the colonies. Official opinion in Britain almost unanimously condemned the Boston Tea Party as an act of vandalism and advocated legal measures to bring the settlers insurgents online.
Parliament responded with new laws, called by the settlers "coercive." The first, the Boston Harbor Project Act, which closed Boston Harbor until the tea was paid, threatens the very life of the city of Boston to exclude the sea means a disaster economy. other legislation prescribed by the king appointed advisers Massachusetts, previously elected by the settlers, and the summoning of jurors by Sheriffs, who were agents of the governor. So far, the jurors had been chosen during the colonial town meetings. Also, the Governor authorization would be required to hold meetings in town, and the appointment and dismissal of judges and sheriffs would be in his hands. Legislation cantonment troops required local authorities to find a suitable place for British troops.
The Quebec Act, passed about the same time, extended the boundaries of the Province of Quebec and guaranteed the right of the French inhabitants to enjoy religious freedom and their own legal customs. The colonists opposed the Act because, disregarding old charter claims to western lands, it threatened to disrupt westbound traffic and seemed to hem them in the north and northwest by a Roman Catholic-dominated province. While the Quebec Act had not been adopted as a punitive measure, it has been classified by the Americans with coercive acts, and all became known as the "Five Intolerable Acts." These acts, instead of submitting Massachusetts, as they had planned to do, rallied its sister colonies to her aid.
At the suggestion of the Bourgeoisie of Virginia, the colonial representatives were summoned to meet in Philadelphia September 5, 1774, "to see the current colonies unhappy. "The delegates to this meeting, known as the First Continental Congress, were chosen by provincial assemblies or popular conventions. Every colony except Georgia sent at least one delegate, and the total number of 55 was large enough for diversity of opinions, but small enough for genuine debate and effective action.
The division of opinion in the colonies posed a genuine dilemma for the Congress: must give an appearance of firm unanimity to induce the British government to make concessions and, at the same time it must avoid all demonstrations radicalism or "spirit of independence" that alarmed the American moderates. A cautious rhetoric, followed by a determination "that no obedience is due to coercive laws, ended with a declaration of rights and grievances to the people of Great Britain.
The single most important step taken by Congress, however, was the formation of an association, which provides for the renewal of the trade boycott and a committee system to inspect customs entries, publish the names of merchants who violated the agreements, confiscate their imp0rtations, and encourage frugality, economy and industry.
The Association provided leadership throughout, stimulating new local organizations to end what remained of royal authority. These intimidate hesitant to join the popular movement and punished the hostile. They began collecting supplies military and mobilization of troops. And they fanned public opinion into revolutionary ardor.
A gap that had developed slowly among people with expanded activities of the Association Committees. Many Americans, opposed to the encroachment on the rights British-American, has fostered discussion and compromise that the appropriate solution. This group includes most of those of official rank (officials Elect), many Quakers and members of other religious sects opposed to the use of violence, many merchants, particularly the middle colonies, and some disgruntled farmers and pioneers of the southern colonies. The Patriots, on the other hand, drew their support not only less to do, but many professional class, including lawyers, most of the great Southern planters, and a number of merchants.
While the course happened after the passage of Acts left the loyalists appalled coercive and scared, the king might well have made a covenant with them and, timely concessions to strengthen their position that the Patriots would have found it difficult to conduct hostilities. But George III had not intend to make concessions. In September 1774, in defiance of a petition by Philadelphia Quakers, he wrote: "The die is cast, the Colonies must either submit or triumph. "This cuts the grass under the loyalists or" Tories "as they came to be called.
GeneralThomas Gage, an amiable English gentleman with an American-born wife, was commander of the garrison of Boston, where political activity has almost completely replaced the trade. A leading patriot of the city, Dr. Joseph Warren, wrote to an English friend on February 20, 1775:
"It is still not too late to receive the dispute amicably, but I feel that if once General Gage should lead his troops in the country with the design to apply the last acts of Parliament, Great Britain may take her leave, at least in New England, and if I am correct, any America. If there is no wisdom in the nation, God, it can quickly be called before! "
General duty Gage was to enforce the coercive laws. News reached him that the Massachusetts patriots were collecting powder and munitions of war within City of Concord, 32 miles from Boston. On the night of April 18, 1775, he sent a strong detail of his garrison to confiscate these munitions and to seize Samuel Adams and John Hancock, who had both been ordered sent to England to stand trial for their lives. But the whole campaign had been alerted by Paul Revere and two other messengers.
When British troops after a night of marching, reached the village of Lexington, they saw through the morning mist of dark band of 50 minutemen – armed colonists – lined up along the joint. There was a moment of hesitation, cries and orders from both sides and amidst the noise, a shot. Gunfire broke out along both lines, and the Americans dispersed, leaving eight of their dead on the green. The first blood the war for American independence had been paid.
The British drove to Concord, where farmers "under siege" in North Bridge "fired the shot heard around the world." Their purpose partly accomplished, British forces began on March return. All along the road behind stone walls, hills and houses in the village militia and firm targets the bright red coats of the British soldiers. When the column of weary stumbled Boston its losses totaled nearly three times higher than those suffered by the settlers.
9. The Congressional debates on independence
The news of Lexington and Concord flew from a local authority to another in the thirteen colonies. Within 20 days, he spoke a common spirit of American patriotism from Maine to Georgia.
While the alarms of Lexington and Concord were still re-rings, the Second Continental Congress met in Philadelphia May 10, 1775. Its president was John Hancock, a wealthy Boston merchant. Benjamin Franklin, who had returned from London, where, as "agent" for several of these colonies, he had vainly sought conciliation. The Congress was organized just before he was called deal with the issue of open warfare. Although some opposition was present, the real character of the Congress was revealed by declaration of agitation 'Causes and the need to take up arms, "the joint product of John Dickinson and Jefferson:
"Our cause is just. Our union is perfect. Our internal resources are large, and, if necessary, foreign assistance is undoubtedly attainable …. The arms we have been compelled by our enemies to assume, we … used for the preservation of our liberties, being with a mind resolved to die rather the freemen of slaves living. "
Even that statement was the subject of debate, Congress has taken the militia service Continental and appointed Colonel George Washington commander of U.S. forces. Yet, despite the military involvement and the appointment of a commander in chief, the idea of complete separation from England was still repugnant to some members of Congress and a important part of the American people. It is clear, however, that the colonies could not remain forever half and one half of the British Empire.
10. The stiffening of resolution
As the months passed, the difficulties of prosecuting a war in any part of the British Empire has become increasingly apparent. No compromise came from England, and August 23, 1775, King George issued a proclamation declaring the colonies to be in a state of rebellion.
Five months later, Thomas Paine published a 50 page pamphlet, Common Sense, driving home in a vigorous style the need for independence. Paine, a political theorist who came to America from England in 1774, even dared to attack the sacred person of the king, ridiculing the idea of hereditary monarchy and declaring that one honest man is more valuable to society that "all crowned ruffians that ever lived." Convincingly, he presented the alternatives – continued submission to a tyrannical king and an outdated government or freedom and happiness as a self-sufficient, independent republic. Distributed in all the colonies, the brochure has helped to crystallize conviction and rally the undecided to the cause of separation.
He still had the task of winning approval each colony to a formal declaration of separation. It was agreed that the Continental Congress should not take such an approach ultimately that independence without first receiving explicit instructions of the colonies. But Congress has heard all the days of the establishment of other Extrajudicial new colonial governments and delegates to be allowed to vote for independence. At the same time, the predominance radicals within the Congress have increased as they extended their correspondence committees strengthened weak and the spirit stirring patriotic fire resolutions.
Finally, May 10, 1776, a resolution to "cut the Gordian knot" has been adopted. Today, only a statement formal was needed. On June 7, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia introduced a resolution declaring in favor of independence, foreign alliances, and the American federation. Immediately, a committee of five people, headed by Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, has been appointed to prepare a official declaration "setting forth the causes which led us to this great resolution."
11. Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence, adopted July 4, 1776 – not only announced the birth of a new nation, it also sets a philosophy of human freedom now as a dynamic force in the Western world. It was based not on specific grievances, but on a broad basis of freedom individual that could support general throughout America. His political philosophy is clear:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed: That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the people's right to alter or to abolish it and institute a new government, its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. "
The Declaration of Independence is a goal well beyond a public notice of separation. Its ideas inspired mass fervor for the American cause, because it gave ordinary people a sense of their own importance, inspiring them to fight for personal freedom, self-government, and a dignified place in society.
The Revolutionary War lasted more than six years, with fighting in every colony. Even before the declaration of Independence, there were military operations that have had a significant influence on it after the war – for example, squeezing Carolina Northern loyalists in February 1776 and in March the forced evacuation of British forces in Boston.
For many months after independence has been declared, the Americans suffered serious setbacks. The first of them was in New York. In the battle of Long Island, the U.S. position ununtenable became, and he executed a masterly retreat in small boats from Brooklyn to Manhattan shore. Wind north, the British warships do could not come up the East River. Thus, the British general William Howe lost a chance to address the American cause a blow, perhaps to end the war.
Washington, but constantly rejected, has managed to keep his forces intact until the very end of the year. important victories at Trenton and Princeton revived hopes colonial, then a disaster struck again. In September 1777, Howe captured Philadelphia, prompted Congress in flight, and left Washington for the winter with his men at Valley Forge.
However, 1777 also saw the biggest American victory of the war, the military turning point of the Revolution. British General John Burgoyne moved down from Canada with a force to take control of Lake Champlain-Hudson River line and thereby isolate New England from other colonies. Burgoyne reached the upper Hudson River, but before he could continue south, was forced to wait for the supply until mid-September.
Ignorance of American geography led him to believe it would be easy to force raid in March in the Hampshire Grants (Vermont) along the Connecticut River horses and back, collection, livestock, and cars along the way the use of his army, while the space of two weeks. For this feat, he chose 375 Hessian dragoons and about 300 Canadians and Indians. They did not even reach the threshold of Vermont. The militia of Vermont met near Bennington. Few ever returned Hessians.
The Battle of Bennington joined the New England militia, and Washington sent reinforcements to the lower Hudson. When Burgoyne again put his force in motion, the army of General Horatio Gates was waiting for him. Led by Benedict Arnold, the Americans twice repulsed the British. Burgoyne fell at Saratoga, and on October 17, 1777, he surrendered. The decisive blow of the war has brought France to the U.S..
Conclusion: the final victory colonies
From the time the Declaration of Independence was signed, France had not been neutral. The government was eager for reprisal against England since the defeat of France in 1763. In addition, the enthusiasm for the American cause was high: the French intellectual world was itself in revolt against feudalism and privilege. Yet, if France had welcomed Benjamin Franklin at the French court and had given the U.S. support in the form of food and ammunition, he was reluctant to risk direct intervention and open war with England.
After the capitulation of Burgoyne, however, Franklin was able to obtain commercial treaties and alliances. Even before that, many French volunteers had sailed to America. The most important of them was the Marquis de La Fayette, a young officer, who, in the winter of 1779-80, is went to Versailles and persuaded his government to make a real effort to bring the war to an end. Shortly after, Louis XVI sent to America an expeditionary 6,000 men under the Comte de Rochambeau. In addition, the French fleet exacerbated the difficulties the British had in the provision and strengthening their forces, and French joined American blockade runners in inflicting heavy losses on British commerce.
In 1778, the British been forced to evacuate Philadelphia because of threatened action by the French fleet. During the same year in the Ohio Valley, they underwent a series of setbacks that have ensured the dominance of American northwest. Nevertheless, the British continued to press the war in the south. Early in 1780 they captured Charleston, the main port south, and came out of Carolina country. The following year, they made an effort to conquer Virginia. But French fleet, which has temporarily taken control of America's coastal waters in summer, transported Washington and Rochambeau's troops in boats to the Chesapeake Bay. Their combined armies, totaling 15,000 men, under the pen of the army of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown in 8000 the coast of Virginia. On October 19, 1781, Cornwallis surrendered.
When news of the American victory at Yorktown reached Europe, the House of Commons voted to end the war. Peace negotiations began in April 1782 and continued until November, when treated have been signed before. It was not take effect until France concluded peace with Great Britain. In 1783, they were signed in the final and final. The peace settlement acknowledged the independence, freedom and sovereignty of the 13 states in which it granted the west the coveted territory in Mississippi, and set the northern boundary of the nation almost since it works now. The Congress was to recommend to States they return the confiscated property of Loyalists.
Bibliography
1. Billings, George Athan, ed. Revolution U.S.: How the Revolution was it? New York: Holt Rinehart and Winston, Inc., 1990.
2. Beard, Charles A. and Mary. Basic History of the United States. New York: Doubleday, Doran and Company, 1944.
3. Eliot, George Fielding. American Revolution. Microsoft Encarta 1997 CD-ROM
Hafstadter. The United States. 4th Ed. 74, 76-77, 80.
4. Brinton, Crane. Anatomy of the Revolution. Vintage Books: New York, 1965
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6. Origins Miller, John C. of the American Revolution. Stanford University Press: Stanford, 1959.
7. Thomas, Peter DG Tea Party to Independence: The third phase of the American Revolution, 1773-1776. Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1991.
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