American Revolution
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This article is about political and social developments, and the origins and aftermath of the war. For military actions, see American Revolutionary War. For other uses, see American Revolution (disambiguation).
In this article, inhabitants of the Thirteen
Colonies who supported the American Revolution are primarily referred to
as "Americans" or "Patriots," and sometimes as "Whigs," "Rebels" or "Revolutionaries." Colonists who supported the British side are called "Loyalists" or "Tories".
In accordance with the policy of this encyclopedia, this article uses
American English terminology; in British English these events are known
as the "American War of Independence".
The Patriots fought the British and loyalists in the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783). Formal acts of rebellion against British authority began in 1774 when the Patriot Suffolk Resolves effectively replaced the royal government of Massachusetts, and confined British control to the city of Boston. Tensions escalated to the outbreak of fighting between Patriot militia and British regulars at the at Lexington and Concord in April 1775. Patriots in each of the thirteen colonies formed a Provincial Congress that usurped power from the old colonial governments and suppressed loyalism. Resistance to the British was coordinated through the Second Continental Congress. Claiming King George III's rule was tyrannical and violated the rights of Englishmen, the Continental Congress declared the colonies free and independent states in July 1776. These thirteen states became known as the United States of America, a loose confederacy under the 1777 Articles of Confederation. The Patriot leadership professed the political philosophies of liberalism and republicanism to reject monarchy and aristocracy, and proclaimed that all men are created equal. Congress rejected British proposals for compromise that would keep them under the king.
The British were forced out of Boston in 1776, but then captured and held New York City for the duration of the war, nearly capturing General Washington and his army. The British blockaded the ports and captured other cities for brief periods, but failed to defeat Washington's forces. In early 1778, after an invading British army from Canada was captured by the Americans, the French entered the war as allies of the United States. The naval and military power of the two sides were about equal, and France had allies in the Netherlands and Spain, while Britain had no major allies in this large-scale war. The war later turned to the American South, where the British captured an army at South Carolina, but failed to enlist enough volunteers from Loyalist civilians to take effective control. A combined American–French force captured a second British army at Yorktown in 1781, effectively ending the war in the United States. A peace treaty in 1783 confirmed the new nation's complete separation from the British Empire. The United States took possession of nearly all the territory east of the Mississippi River and south of the Great Lakes, with the British retaining control of Canada and Spain taking Florida. Among the significant results of the revolution was the creation of a democratically-elected representative government responsible to the will of the people.
The period after the peace treaty came in 1783 involved debates between nationally-minded men like Washington who wanted a strong national government, and leaders who wanted strong states but a weak national government. The former group won out the ratification of a new United States Constitution in 1788. It replaced the weaker Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union. The new Constitution established a relatively strong federal national government that included a strong elected president, national courts, a bicameral Congress that represented both states in the Senate and population in the House of Representatives. Congress had powers of taxation that were lacking under the old Articles. The United States Bill of Rights of 1791 comprised the first ten amendments to the Constitution, guaranteeing many "natural rights" that were influential in justifying the revolution, and attempted to balance a strong national government with strong state governments and broad personal liberties. The American shift to liberal republicanism, and the gradually increasing democracy, caused an upheaval of traditional social hierarchy and gave birth to the ethic that has formed a core of political values in the United States.[1][2]
Contents
- 1 Origins
- 2 Creating new state constitutions
- 3 Military hostilities begin
- 4 Independence and Union
- 5 Defending the Revolution
- 6 Peace treaty
- 7 Finance
- 8 Concluding the Revolution
- 9 Ideology and Factions
- 10 Other participants
- 11 Effects of the Revolution
- 12 See also
- 13 Notes
- 14 References
- 15 Bibliography
- 16 External links
Origins
Background to 1763
English colonization of North America began in the 17th century, with the first permanent settlement established in Jamestown, Virginia in 1607. The colonies that were established along the coast were governed by charters granted by the King, each permitting a substantial amount of self-governance. Crown colonies (Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia) imitated the "mixed monarchy" constitutional structure of Great Britain. Each had an elected assembly which constituted the lower house of the legislature, a council appointed (except in Massachusetts) by the crown constituting the upper house, and an appointed governor with executive powers representing the King. All laws had to be submitted to the home government for approval, but otherwise there was little interference. Proprietary colonies (Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland) also had elected legislatures but the proprietors, not the crown, appointed the governors. Charter colonies (Connecticut and Rhode island) elected both legislatures and governors and did not have to submit their laws for approval.[3]Britain controlled the foreign relations of the colonies and, as far back as the time of Oliver Cromwell, maintained that the British parliament could bind the colonies with their acts. In practice, Parliament usually only legislated regarding matters of an imperial concern. The Navigation Acts of the late 17th century restricted colonial trade in accordance with mercantilist theory. Other acts would impose custom duties, establish a postal system, restrain paper currency, forbid manufacturing, and authorize the seizure of private property for debt payments.[4]
The French and Indian War broke out in 1754 over conflicting claims of the British and French to the Ohio country. The war ended in 1763 with the conquest of French Canada and the virtual expulsion of France from mainland North America. A major consequence this, foreseen by the French foreign minister,[5] was that the American colonists could now afford to challenge British rule without the fear of leaving themselves at the mercy of France. British policymakers were nonetheless determined to push for various reforms. They wished to maintain a standing army in the colonies, impose taxes so the colonies would share the defense burden, and make the crown-appointed governors and judges more independent of the assemblies which paid their salaries.
1764–1766: Taxes imposed and withdrawn
Further information: No taxation without representation and Virtual representation
Notice of Stamp Act of 1765 in Newspaper
The colonists objected chiefly on the grounds not that the taxes were high (they were low),[6] but because they had no representation in the Parliament. Benjamin Franklin testified in Parliament in 1766 that Americans already contributed heavily to the defense of the Empire. He said local governments had raised, outfitted and paid 25,000 soldiers to fight France—as many as Britain itself sent—and spent many millions from American treasuries doing so in the French and Indian War alone.[7][8] Stationing a standing army in Great Britain during peacetime was politically unacceptable. London had to deal with 1,500 politically well-connected British officers who became redundant; it would have to discharge them or station them in North America.[9]
In 1765 the Sons of Liberty formed. They used public demonstrations, violence and threats of violence to ensure that the British tax laws were unenforceable. While openly hostile to what they considered an oppressive Parliament acting illegally, colonists persisted in sending numerous petitions and pleas for intervention from a monarch to whom they still claimed loyalty. In Boston, the Sons of Liberty burned the records of the vice-admiralty court and looted the home of the chief justice, Thomas Hutchinson. Several legislatures called for united action, and nine colonies sent delegates to the Stamp Act Congress in New York City in October 1765. Moderates led by John Dickinson drew up a "Declaration of Rights and Grievances" stating that taxes passed without representation violated their rights as Englishmen. At the same time, however, they rejected the idea of being provided with representation in Parliament, declaring it impossible due to the distance involved. Colonists emphasized their determination by boycotting imports of British merchandise.[10]
The Parliament at Westminster saw itself as the supreme lawmaking authority throughout all British possessions and thus entitled to levy any tax without colonial approval.[11] They argued that the colonies were legally British corporations that were completely subordinate to the British parliament and pointed to numerous instances where Parliament had made laws binding on the colonies in the past.[12] They did not see anything in the unwritten British constitution that made taxes special[13] and noted that Parliament had taxed American trade for decades. Parliament insisted that the colonies effectively enjoyed a "virtual representation" like most British people did, as only a small minority of the British population elected representatives to Parliament.[14] Americans such as James Otis maintained the Americans were not in fact virtually represented.[15]
In London, the Rockingham government came to power (July 1765) and Parliament debated whether to repeal the stamp tax or to send an army to enforce it. Benjamin Franklin made the case for repeal, explaining the colonies had spent heavily in manpower, money, and blood in defense of the empire in a series of wars against the French and Indians, and that further taxes to pay for those wars were unjust and might bring about a rebellion. Parliament agreed and repealed the tax (February 21, 1766), but in the Declaratory Act of March 1766 insisted that parliament retained full power to make laws for the colonies "in all cases whatsoever".[16] The repeal nonetheless caused widespread celebrations in the colonies.
1767–1773: Townshend Acts and the Tea Act
Main articles: Townshend Acts and Tea Act
On March 5, 1770 a large mob gathered around a group of British soldiers. The mob grew more and more threatening, throwing snowballs, rocks and debris at the soldiers. One soldier was clubbed and fell.[17] All but one of the soldiers fired into the crowd. They hit 11 people; three civilians died at the scene of the shooting, and two died after the incident. The event quickly came to be called the Boston Massacre. Although the soldiers were tried and acquitted (defended by John Adams), the widespread descriptions soon became propaganda to turn colonial sentiment against the British. This in turn began a downward spiral in the relationship between Britain and the Province of Massachusetts.[17]
Responding to protests, in 1770 Parliament withdrew all taxes except the tax on tea, giving up its efforts to raise revenue. This temporarily resolved the crisis and the boycott of British goods largely ceased, with only the more radical patriots such as Samuel Adams continuing to agitate.
In 1772 it became known that the Crown intended to pay fixed salaries to the governors and judges in Massachusetts. Samuel Adams in Boston set about creating new Committees of Correspondence, which linked Patriots in all 13 colonies and eventually provided the framework for a rebel government. In early 1773 Virginia, the largest colony, set up its Committee of Correspondence, on which Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson served.[19]
A total of about 7000 to 8000 Patriots served on "Committees of Correspondence" at the colonial and local levels, comprising most of the leadership in their communities — Loyalists were excluded. The committees became the leaders of the American resistance to British actions, and largely determined the war effort at the state and local level. When the First Continental Congress decided to boycott British products, the colonial and local Committees took charge, examining merchant records and publishing the names of merchants who attempted to defy the boycott by importing British goods.[20]
In 1773 private letters were published in which Massachusetts Governor Thomas Hutchinson called for an abridgement of English liberties, and Lieutenant Governor Andrew Oliver called for the direct payment of colonial officials. The letters, whose contents were exaggerated into a systematic plot against American rights, discredited Hutchinson in the eyes of the people and the Assembly petitioned for his recall. Benjamin Franklin, post-master general for the colonies, acknowledged that he leaked the letters which led to him being berated by British officials and fired from his job.
Meanwhile, Parliament decided to lower the price of taxed tea exported to the colonies in order to undersell smuggled Dutch tea. Special consignees were appointed to sell the tea in order to bypass colonial merchants. In most instances the consignees were forced to resign and the tea was turned back, but Massachusetts governor Thomas Hutchinson refused to give into pressure. A town meeting in Boston determined that the tea would not be landed, and ignored a demand from the governor to disperse. On December 16, 1773 a group of men, led by Samuel Adams and dressed to evoke American Indians, boarded the ships of the government-favored British East India Company and dumped an estimated £10,000 worth of tea from their holds (approximately £636,000 in 2008) into Boston Harbor. This event became known as the Boston Tea Party and remains a significant part of American patriotic lore.[21]
1774–1775: Intolerable Acts and the Quebec Act
Main articles: Quebec Act and Intolerable Acts
The British government responded by passing several Acts which came to be known as the Intolerable Acts, which further darkened colonial opinion towards the British. They consisted of four laws enacted by the British parliament.[22] The first, the Massachusetts Government Act, altered the Massachusetts charter and restricted town meetings. The second Act, the Administration of Justice Act, ordered that all British soldiers to be tried were to be arraigned in Britain, not in the colonies. The third Act was the Boston Port Act,
which closed the port of Boston until the British had been compensated
for the tea lost in the Boston Tea Party. The fourth Act was the Quartering Act of 1774, which allowed royal governors to house British troops in the homes of citizens without requiring permission of the owner.[23]In response, Massachusetts patriots issued the Suffolk Resolves and formed an alternative shadow government known as the "Provincial Congress" which began training militia outside British-occupied Boston.[24] In September 1774, the First Continental Congress convened, consisting of representatives from each of the colonies, to serve as a vehicle for deliberation and collective action. During secret debates conservative Joseph Galloway proposed the creation of a colonial Parliament that would be able to approve or disapprove of acts of the British Parliament but his idea was not accepted. The Congress instead endorsed the proposal of John Adams that Americans would obey Parliament voluntarily but would resist all taxes in disguise. Congress called for a boycott beginning on 1 December 1774 of all British goods; it was enforced by new committees authorized by the Congress.[25]
The Quebec Act of 1774 extended Quebec's boundaries to the Ohio River, shutting out the claims of the 13 colonies. By then, however, the Americans had little regard for new laws from London; they were drilling militia and organizing for war.[26]
The British retaliated by confining all trade of the New England colonies to Britain and excluding them from the Newfoundland fisheries. Lord North advanced a compromise proposal in which Parliament would not tax so long as the colonies made fixed contributions for defense and to support civil government. This would also be rejected.
Creating new state constitutions
Following the Battle of Bunker Hill in June 1775, the Patriots had control of most of Massachusetts; the Loyalists suddenly found themselves on the defensive. In all 13 colonies, Patriots had overthrown their existing governments, closing courts and driving British governors, agents and supporters from their homes. They had elected conventions and "legislatures" that existed outside any legal framework; new constitutions were used in each state to supersede royal charters. They declared they were states now, not colonies.[27]On January 5, 1776, New Hampshire ratified the first state constitution, six months before the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Then, in May 1776, Congress voted to suppress all forms of crown authority, to be replaced by locally created authority. Virginia, South Carolina, and New Jersey created their constitutions before July 4. Rhode Island and Connecticut simply took their existing royal charters and deleted all references to the crown.[28]
The new states had to decide not only what form of government to create, they first had to decide how to select those who would craft the constitutions and how the resulting document would be ratified. In states where the wealthy exerted firm control over the process, such as Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, New York and Massachusetts - the last-mentioned of these state's constitutions still being in force in the 21st century, continuously since its ratification on June 15, 1780 - the results were constitutions that featured:
- Substantial property qualifications for voting and even more substantial requirements for elected positions (though New York and Maryland lowered property qualifications);[27]
- Bicameral legislatures, with the upper house as a check on the lower;
- Strong governors, with veto power over the legislature and substantial appointment authority;
- Few or no restraints on individuals holding multiple positions in government;
- The continuation of state-established religion.
- universal white manhood suffrage, or minimal property requirements for voting or holding office (New Jersey enfranchised some property owning widows, a step that it retracted 25 years later);
- strong, unicameral legislatures;
- relatively weak governors, without veto powers, and little appointing authority;
- prohibition against individuals holding multiple government posts;
Military hostilities begin
In the winter of 1775, the Americans invaded Canada. General Richard Montgomery captured Montreal but a joint attack on Quebec was a total failure; many Americans were captured or died of smallpox.
In March 1776, with George Washington as the commander of the new army, the Continental Army forced the British to evacuate Boston. The revolutionaries were now in full control of all 13 colonies and were ready to declare independence. While there still were many Loyalists, they were no longer in control anywhere by July 1776, and all of the Royal officials had fled.[31]
Prisoners
Main article: Prisoners of war in the American Revolutionary War
In August 1775, George III declared Americans in arms against royal
authority to be traitors to the Crown. Although Lord Germain took a hard
line, the British generals on the scene never held treason trials; they
treated captured enemy soldiers as prisoners of war.[32]
The dilemma was that tens of thousands of Loyalists were under American
control and American retaliation would have been easy. The British
built much of their strategy around using these Loyalists.[33]Following their surrender at the Battles of Saratoga in October 1777, there were thousands of British and Hessian soldiers in American hands. Therefore, no Americans were put on trial for treason. The British maltreated the prisoners they held, resulting in more deaths to American sailors and soldiers than from combat operations.[33] At the end of the war, both sides released their surviving prisoners.[34]
Independence and Union
Johannes Adam Simon Oertel. Pulling Down the Statue of King George III, N.Y.C., ca. 1859. The painting is a romanticised version of the Sons of Liberty destroying the symbol of monarchy following the reading of the United States Declaration of Independence to the Continental Army and residents on the New York City commons by George Washington, July 9th, 1776
Further information: Lee Resolution, Articles of Confederation, Committee of Five and United States Declaration of Independence
In April 1776 the North Carolina Provincial Congress issued the Halifax Resolves, explicitly authorizing its delegates to vote for independence.[35] In May Congress called on all the states to write constitutions, and eliminate the last remnants of royal rule.By June nine colonies were ready for independence; one by one the last four —Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and New York — fell into line. Richard Henry Lee was instructed by the Virginia legislature to propose independence, and he did so on June 7, 1776. On the 11th a committee was created to draft a document explaining the justifications for separation from Britain. After securing enough votes for passage, independence was voted for on July 2. The Declaration of Independence, drafted largely by Thomas Jefferson and presented by the committee, was slightly revised and unanimously adopted by the entire Congress on July 4, marking the formation of a new sovereign nation, which called itself the United States of America.[36]
The Second Continental Congress approved a new constitution, the "Articles of Confederation," for ratification by the states on November 15, 1777, and immediately began operating under their terms. The Articles were formally ratified on March 1, 1781. At that point, the Continental Congress was dissolved and on the following day a new government of the United States in Congress Assembled took its place, with Samuel Huntington as presiding officer.[37][38]
Defending the Revolution
Main article: American Revolutionary War
British return: 1776–1777
Further information: New York and New Jersey campaign, Staten Island Peace Conference, Saratoga campaign and Philadelphia campaign
After Washington forced the British out of Boston in spring 1776,
neither the British nor the Loyalists controlled any significant areas.
The British, however, were massing forces at their naval base at Halifax, Nova Scotia. They returned in force in July 1776, landing in New York and defeating Washington's Continental Army at the Battle of Brooklyn
in August, one of the largest engagements of the war. After the Battle
of Brooklyn, the British requested a meeting with representatives from
Congress to negotiate an end to hostilities.[39][40]A delegation including John Adams and Benjamin Franklin met Howe on Staten Island in New York Harbor on September 11, in what became known as the Staten Island Peace Conference. Howe demanded a retraction of the Declaration of Independence, which was refused, and negotiations ended until 1781. The British then quickly seized New York City and nearly captured General Washington. They made the city their main political and military base of operations in North America, holding it until November 1783. New York City consequently became the destination for Loyalist refugees, and a focal point of Washington's intelligence network.[39][40]
The British also took New Jersey, pushing the Continental Army into Pennsylvania. In a surprise attack in late December 1776 Washington crossed the Delaware River back into New Jersey and defeated Hessian and British armies at Trenton and Princeton, thereby regaining New Jersey. The victories gave an important boost to pro-independence supporters at a time when morale was flagging, and have become iconic events of the war.
In 1777, as part of a grand strategy to end the war, the British sent an invasion force from Canada to seal off New England, which the British perceived as the primary source of agitators. In a major case of mis-coordination, the British army in New York City went to Philadelphia which it captured from Washington. The invasion army under Burgoyne waited in vain for reinforcements from New York, and became trapped in northern New York state. It surrendered after the Battle of Saratoga in October 1777. From early October 1777 until November 15 a pivotal siege at Fort Mifflin, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania distracted British troops and allowed Washington time to preserve the Continental Army by safely leading his troops to harsh winter quarters at Valley Forge.
American alliances after 1778
Further information: France in the American Revolutionary War and Spain in the American Revolutionary War
The capture of a British army at Saratoga encouraged the French to
formally enter the war in support of Congress, as Benjamin Franklin
negotiated a permanent military alliance in early 1778, significantly
becoming the first country to officially recognize the Declaration of
Independence. On February 6, 1778, a Treaty of Amity and Commerce and a Treaty of Alliance were signed between the United States and France.[41] William Pitt
spoke out in parliament urging Britain to make peace in America, and
unite with America against France, while other British politicians who
had previously sympathised with colonial grievances now turned against
the American rebels for allying with Britain's international rival and
enemy.[42]Later Spain (in 1779) and the Dutch (1780) became allies of the French, leaving the British Empire to fight a global war alone without major allies, and requiring it to slip through a combined blockade of the Atlantic. The American theater thus became only one front in Britain's war.[43] The British were forced to withdraw troops from continental America to reinforce the valuable sugar-producing Caribbean colonies, which were considered more important.
Because of the alliance with France and the deteriorating military situation, Sir Henry Clinton, the British commander, evacuated Philadelphia to reinforce New York City. General Washington attempted to intercept the retreating column, resulting in the Battle of Monmouth Court House, the last major battle fought in the north. After an inconclusive engagement, the British successfully retreated to New York City. The northern war subsequently became a stalemate, as the focus of attention shifted to the smaller southern theater.[44]
The British move South, 1778–1783
Further information: Southern theater of the American Revolutionary War and Naval operations in the American Revolutionary War
The British strategy in America now concentrated on a campaign in the
southern colonies. With fewer regular troops at their disposal, the
British commanders saw the "southern strategy" as a more viable plan, as
the south was perceived as being more strongly Loyalist, with a large
population of recent immigrants as well as large numbers of slaves who
might be captured or run away to join the British.[45]Beginning in late December 1778, the British captured Savannah and controlled the Georgia coastline. In 1780 they launched a fresh invasion and took Charleston as well. A significant victory at the Battle of Camden meant that royal forces soon controlled most of Georgia and South Carolina. The British set up a network of forts inland, hoping the Loyalists would rally to the flag.[46]
Not enough Loyalists turned out, however, and the British had to fight their way north into North Carolina and Virginia, with a severely weakened army. Behind them much of the territory they had already captured dissolved into a chaotic guerrilla war, fought predominantly between bands of Loyalist and American militia, which negated many of the gains the British had previously made.[46]
Yorktown 1781
Main article: Siege of Yorktown
The end of the war
Historians continue to debate whether the odds for American victory were long or short. John E. Ferling says the odds were so long that the American victory was "Almost A Miracle."[49] On the other hand, Joseph Ellis says the odds favored the Americans, and asks whether there ever was any realistic chance for the British to win. He argues that this opportunity came only once, in the summer of 1776 and the British failed that test. Admiral Howe and his brother General Howe, "missed several opportunities to destroy the Continental Army....Chance, luck, and even the vagaries of the weather played crucial roles." Ellis's point is that the strategic and tactical decisions of the Howes were fatally flawed because they underestimated the challenges posed by the Patriots. Ellis concludes that once the Howe brothers failed, the opportunity for a British victory "would never come again."[50]Support for the conflict had never been strong in Britain, where many sympathized with the rebels, but now it reached a new low.[51] Although King George III personally wanted to fight on, his supporters lost control of Parliament, and no further major land offensives were launched in the American Theater.[44][52]
Washington could not know that after Yorktown the British would not reopen hostilities. They still had 26,000 troops occupying New York City, Charleston and Savannah, together with a powerful fleet. The French army and navy departed, so the Americans were on their own in 1782–83.[53] The treasury was empty, and the unpaid soldiers were growing restive, almost to the point of mutiny or possible coup d'état. The unrest among officers of the Newburgh Conspiracy was personally dispelled by Washington in 1783, and Congress subsequently created the promise of a five years bonus for all officers.[54]
Peace treaty
Main article: Treaty of Paris (1783)
The peace treaty with Britain, known as the Treaty of Paris, gave the
U.S. all land east of the Mississippi River and south of the Great
Lakes, though not including Florida (On September 3, 1783, Britain
entered into a separate agreement with Spain under which Britain ceded
Florida back to Spain.) The British abandoned the Indian allies living
in this region; they were not a party to this treaty and did not
recognize it until they were defeated militarily by the United States.
Issues regarding boundaries and debts were not resolved until the Jay Treaty of 1795.[55]
Since the blockade was lifted and the old imperial restrictions were
gone, American merchants were free to trade with any nation anywhere in
the world, and their businesses flourished.Impact on Britain
Losing the war and the 13 colonies was a shock to Britain. The war revealed the limitations of Britain's fiscal-military state when it discovered it suddenly faced powerful enemies, with no allies, and dependent on extended and vulnerable transatlantic lines of communication. The defeat heightened dissension and escalated political antagonism to the King's ministers. Inside parliament, the primary concern changed from fears of an over-mighty monarch to the issues of representation, parliamentary reform, and government retrenchment. Reformers sought to destroy what they saw as widespread institutional corruption.[56][57]The result was a powerful crisis, 1776–1783. The peace in 1783 left France financially prostrate, while the British economy boomed thanks to the return of American business. The crisis ended after 1784 thanks to the King's shrewdness in outwitting Charles James Fox (the leader of the Fox-North Coalition), and renewed confidence in the system engendered by the leadership of the new Prime Minister, William Pitt. Historians conclude that loss of the American colonies enabled Britain to deal with the French Revolution with more unity and better organization than would otherwise have been the case.[56][57] Britain turned towards Asia, the Pacific and later Africa with subsequent exploration leading to the rise of the Second British Empire.[58]
Finance
Britain's war against the Americans, French and Spanish cost about £100 million. The Treasury borrowed 40% of the money it needed.[59] Heavy spending brought France to the verge of bankruptcy and revolution, while the British had relatively little difficulty financing their war, keeping their suppliers and soldiers paid, and hiring tens of thousands of German soldiers.[60]Britain had a sophisticated financial system based on the wealth of thousands of landowners, who supported the government, together with banks and financiers in London. The efficient British tax system collected about 12 percent of the GDP in taxes during the 1770s.[60]
In sharp contrast, Congress and the American states had no end of difficulty financing the war.[61] In 1775 there was at most 12 million dollars in gold in the colonies, not nearly enough to cover current transactions, let alone finance a major war. The British made the situation much worse by imposing a tight blockade on every American port, which cut off almost all imports and exports. One partial solution was to rely on volunteer support from militiamen, and donations from patriotic citizens.[62]
Another was to delay actual payments, pay soldiers and suppliers in depreciated currency, and promise it would be made good after the war. Indeed, in 1783 the soldiers and officers were given land grants to cover the wages they had earned but had not been paid during the war. Not until 1781, when Robert Morris was named Superintendent of Finance of the United States, did the national government have a strong leader in financial matters.[62]
Morris used a French loan in 1782 to set up the private Bank of North America to finance the war. Seeking greater efficiency, Morris reduced the civil list, saved money by using competitive bidding for contracts, tightened accounting procedures, and demanded the national government's full share of money and supplies from the confederated states.[62]
Congress used four main methods to cover the cost of the war, which cost about 66 million dollars in specie (gold and silver).[63] Congress made two issues of paper money, in 1775–1780, and in 1780–81. The first issue amounted to 242 million dollars. This paper money would supposedly be redeemed for state taxes, but the holders were eventually paid off in 1791 at the rate of one cent on the dollar. By 1780, the paper money was "not worth a Continental", as people said.[64]
The skyrocketing inflation was a hardship on the few people who had fixed incomes—but 90 percent of the people were farmers, and were not directly affected by that inflation. Debtors benefited by paying off their debts with depreciated paper.The greatest burden was borne by the soldiers of the Continental Army, whose wages—usually in arrears—declined in value every month, weakening their morale and adding to the hardships suffered by their families.[65]
Beginning in 1777, Congress repeatedly asked the states to provide money. But the states had no system of taxation either, and were little help. By 1780 Congress was making requisitions for specific supplies of corn, beef, pork and other necessities—an inefficient system that kept the army barely alive.[66][67]
Starting in 1776, the Congress sought to raise money by loans from wealthy individuals, promising to redeem the bonds after the war. The bonds were in fact redeemed in 1791 at face value, but the scheme raised little money because Americans had little specie, and many of the rich merchants were supporters of the Crown. Starting in 1776, the French secretly supplied the Americans with money, gunpowder, and munitions in order to weaken its arch enemy, Great Britain. When France officially entered the war in 1778, the subsidies continued, and the French government, as well as bankers in Paris and Amsterdam loaned large sums to the American war effort. These loans were repaid in full in the 1790s.[68]
Concluding the Revolution
Main articles: Philadelphia Convention and United States Bill of Rights
See also: Annapolis Convention (1786) and Federalist Papers
Creating a "more perfect union" and guaranteeing rights
After the war finally ended in 1783, there was a period of prosperity. The national government, still operating under the Articles of Confederation, was able to settle the issue of the western territories, which were ceded by the states to Congress. American settlers moved rapidly into those areas, with Vermont, Kentucky and Tennessee becoming states in the 1790s.[69]However, the national government had no money to pay either the war debts owed to European nations and the private banks, or to pay Americans who had been given millions of dollars of promissory notes for supplies during the war. Nationalists, led by Washington, Alexander Hamilton and other veterans, feared that the new nation was too fragile to withstand an international war, or even internal revolts such as the Shays' Rebellion of 1786 in Massachusetts.
Calling themselves "Federalists," the nationalists convinced Congress to call the Philadelphia Convention in 1787.[70] It adopted a new Constitution that provided for a much stronger federal government, including an effective executive in a check-and-balance system with the judiciary and legislature.[71] After a fierce debate in the states over the nature of the proposed new government, the Constitution was ratified in 1788. The new government under President George Washington took office in New York in March 1789.[72] As assurances to those who were cautious about federal power, amendments to the Constitution guaranteeing many of the inalienable rights that formed a foundation for the revolution were spearheaded in Congress by James Madison, and later ratified by the states in 1791.
National debt
Further information: United States public debt and Alexander Hamilton
The national debt after the American Revolution fell into three
categories. The first was the $12 million owed to foreigners—mostly
money borrowed from France. There was general agreement to pay the
foreign debts at full value. The national government owed $40 million
and state governments owed $25 million to Americans who had sold food,
horses, and supplies to the revolutionary forces. There were also other
debts that consisted of promissory notes
issued during the Revolutionary War to soldiers, merchants, and farmers
who accepted these payments on the premise that the new Constitution
would create a government that would pay these debts eventually.The war expenses of the individual states added up to $114 million compared to $37 million by the central government.[73] In 1790, at the recommendation of first Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, Congress combined the remaining state debts with the foreign and domestic debts into one national debt totaling $80 million. Everyone received face value for wartime certificates, so that the national honor would be sustained and the national credit established.[74]
Ideology and Factions
The population of the 13 Colonies was far from homogeneous, particularly in their political views and attitudes. Loyalties and allegiances varied widely not only within regions and communities, but also within families and sometimes shifted during the course of the Revolution.Ideology behind the Revolution
Main articles: American Enlightenment, Liberalism in the United States and Republicanism in the United States
The ideological movement known as the American Enlightenment was a
critical precursor to the American Revolution. Chief among the ideas of
the American Enlightenment were the concepts of liberalism,
republicanism and fear of corruption. Collectively, the acceptance of
these concepts by a growing number of American colonists began to foster
an intellectual environment which would lead to a new sense of
political and social identity.Natural rights and republicanism
Main articles: John Locke and Republicanism in the United States
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The Declaration also referred to the "Laws of Nature and of Nature's God" as justification for the Americans' separation from the British monarchy. Most eighteenth-century Americans believed that nature, the entire universe, was God's creation.[citation needed] Therefore he was "Nature's God." Everything, including man, was part of the "universal order of things", which began with God and was pervaded and directed by his providence.[79] Accordingly, the signers of the Declaration professed their "firm reliance on the Protection of divine Providence." And they appealed to "the Supreme Judge [God] for the rectitude of [their] intentions." Like most of his countrymen, George Washington was firmly convinced that he was an instrument of providence, to the benefit not only of the American people but of all of humanity.[80]
The theory of the "social contract" influenced the belief among many of the Founders that among the "natural rights" of man was the right of the people to overthrow their leaders, should those leaders betray the historic rights of Englishmen.[81][82] In terms of writing state and national constitutions, the Americans heavily used Montesquieu's analysis of the wisdom of the "balanced" British Constitution.
A motivating force behind the revolution was the American embrace of a political ideology called "republicanism", which was dominant in the colonies by 1775, but of minor importance back in Britain. The republicanism was inspired by the "country party" in Britain, whose critique of British government emphasized that corruption was a terrible reality in Britain.[83] Americans feared the corruption was crossing the Atlantic; the commitment of most Americans to republican values and to their rights, energized the revolution, as Britain was increasingly seen as hopelessly corrupt and hostile to American interests. Britain seemed to threaten the established liberties that Americans enjoyed.[84] The greatest threat to liberty was depicted as corruption—not just in London but at home as well. The colonists associated it with luxury and, especially, inherited aristocracy, which they condemned.[85]
The Founding Fathers were strong advocates of republican values, particularly Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, George Washington, James Madison and Alexander Hamilton,[86] which required men to put civic duty ahead of their personal desires. Men had a civic duty to be prepared and willing to fight for the rights and liberties of their countrymen and countrywomen. John Adams, writing to Mercy Otis Warren in 1776, agreed with some classical Greek and Roman thinkers in that "Public Virtue cannot exist without private, and public Virtue is the only Foundation of Republics." He continued:
"There must be a positive Passion for the public good, the public Interest, Honour, Power, and Glory, established in the Minds of the People, or there can be no Republican Government, nor any real Liberty. And this public Passion must be Superior to all private Passions. Men must be ready, they must pride themselves, and be happy to sacrifice their private Pleasures, Passions, and Interests, nay their private Friendships and dearest connections, when they Stand in Competition with the Rights of society."[87]For women, "republican motherhood" became the ideal, exemplified by Abigail Adams and Mercy Otis Warren; the first duty of the republican woman was to instill republican values in her children and to avoid luxury and ostentation.
Fusing republicanism and liberalism
Paine provided a new and widely accepted argument for independence, by advocating a complete break with history. Common Sense is oriented to the future in a way that compels the reader to make an immediate choice. It offered a solution for Americans disgusted and alarmed at the threat of tyranny.[88]
Impact of Great Awakening
Main article: First Great Awakening
Dissenting (i.e. Protestant, non-Church of England) churches of the day were the "school of democracy."[89] President John Witherspoon of the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University)
wrote widely circulated sermons linking the American Revolution to the
teachings of the Hebrew Bible. Throughout the colonies, dissenting
Protestant ministers (Congregationalist, Baptist, and Presbyterian) preached Revolutionary themes in their sermons, while most Church of England clergymen preached loyalty to the King.[90]
Religious motivation for fighting tyranny reached across socioeconomic
lines to encompass rich and poor, men and women, frontiersmen and
townsmen, farmers and merchants.[89]Historian Bernard Bailyn argues that the evangelicalism of the era challenged traditional notions of natural hierarchy by preaching that the Bible taught all men are equal, so that the true value of a man lies in his moral behavior, not his class.[91] Kidd argues that religious disestablishment, belief in a God as the guarantor of human rights, and shared convictions about sin, virtue, and divine providence worked together to unite rationalists and evangelicals and thus encouraged American defiance of the Empire, whereas Bailyn denied that religion played such a critical role.[92] Alan Heimert argued, however, that New Light antiauthoritarianism was essential to the further democratization of colonial American society, and set the stage for a confrontation with British monarchical and aristocratic rule.[93]
Class and psychology of the factions
Looking back, John Adams concluded in 1818:- "The Revolution was effected before the war commenced. The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people ... This radical change in the principles, opinions, sentiments, and affections of the people was the real American Revolution."[94]
By contrast, Patriots by number tended to be yeomen farmers, especially in the frontier areas of New York and the backcountry of Pennsylvania, Virginia and down the Appalachian mountains.[citation needed] They were craftsmen and small merchants. Leaders of both the Patriots and the Loyalists were men of educated, propertied classes. The Patriots included many prominent men of the planter class from Virginia and South Carolina, for instance, who became leaders during the Revolution, and formed the new government at the national and state levels.[citation needed]
To understand the opposing groups, historians have assessed evidence of their hearts and minds. In the mid-20th century, historian Leonard Woods Labaree identified eight characteristics of the Loyalists that made them essentially conservative; traits to those characteristic of the Patriots.[95] Older and better established men, Loyalists tended to resist innovation. They thought resistance to the Crown—which they insisted was the only legitimate government—was morally wrong, while the Patriots thought morality was on their side.[96][97]
Loyalists were alienated when the Patriots resorted to violence, such as burning houses and tarring and feathering. Loyalists wanted to take a centrist position and resisted the Patriots' demand to declare their opposition to the Crown. Many Loyalists, especially merchants in the port cities, had maintained strong and long-standing relations with Britain (often with business and family links to other parts of the British Empire).[96][97]
Many Loyalists realized that independence was bound to come eventually, but they were fearful that revolution might lead to anarchy, tyranny or mob rule. In contrast, the prevailing attitude among Patriots, who made systematic efforts to use mob violence in a controlled manner, was a desire to seize the initiative.[96][97] Labaree also wrote that Loyalists were pessimists who lacked the confidence in the future displayed by the Patriots.[95]
Historians in the early 20th century, such as J. Franklin Jameson, examined the class composition of the Patriot cause, looking for evidence of a class war inside the revolution.[98] In the last 50 years, historians have largely abandoned that interpretation, emphasizing instead the high level of ideological unity.[99] Just as there were rich and poor Loyalists, the Patriots were a 'mixed lot', with the richer and better educated more likely to become officers in the Army.[100][101]
Ideological demands always came first: the Patriots viewed independence as a means to gain freedom from British oppression and taxation and, above all, to reassert what they considered to be their rights as English subjects. Most yeomen farmers, craftsmen, and small merchants joined the Patriot cause to demand more political equality. They were especially successful in Pennsylvania but less so in New England, where John Adams attacked Thomas Paine's Common Sense for the "absurd democratical notions" it proposed.[100][101]
King George III
Main article: George III of Great Britain
The war became a personal issue for the king,
fueled by his growing belief that British leniency would be taken as
weakness by the Americans. The king also sincerely believed he was
defending Britain's constitution against usurpers, rather than opposing
patriots fighting for their natural rights.[102]Patriots
Main article: Patriot (American Revolution)
Further information: Sons of Liberty
At the time, revolutionaries were called "Patriots", "Whigs",
"Congress-men", or "Americans". They included a full range of social and
economic classes, but were unanimous regarding the need to defend the
rights of Americans and uphold the principles of republicanism
in terms of rejecting monarchy and aristocracy, while emphasizing civic
virtue on the part of the citizens. Newspapers were strongholds of
patriotism (although there were a few Loyalist papers), and printed many
pamphlets, announcements, patriotic letters and pronouncements.[103]According to historian Robert Calhoon, the consensus of historians is that 40–45% of the white population in the Thirteen Colonies supported the Patriots' cause, 15–20% supported the Loyalists, and the remainder were neutral or kept a low profile.[104] Mark Lender explores why ordinary folk became insurgents against the British even though they were unfamiliar with the ideological rationales being offered. They held very strongly a sense of "rights" that they felt the British were violating – rights that stressed local autonomy, fair dealing, and government by consent. They were highly sensitive to the issue of tyranny, which they saw manifested in the British response to the Boston Tea Party. The arrival in Boston of the British Army heightened their sense of violated rights, leading to rage and demands for revenge. They had faith that God was on their side.[105]
Loyalists
Main article: Loyalist (American Revolution)
The revolution could divide families. The most dramatic example was when William Franklin, son of Benjamin Franklin and royal governor of the Province of New Jersey, remained loyal to the Crown throughout the war; they never spoke again.[108] Recent immigrants who had not been fully Americanized were also inclined to support the King, such as recent Scottish settlers in the back country; among the more striking examples of this, see Flora MacDonald.[109]
After the war, the great majority of the 450,000–500,000 Loyalists remained in America and resumed normal lives. Some, such as Samuel Seabury, became prominent American leaders. Estimates vary, but about 62,000 Loyalists relocated to Canada, and others to Britain (7,000) or to Florida or the West Indies (9,000). The exiles represented approximately 2% of the total population of the colonies.[110] Nearly all black loyalists left for Nova Scotia, Florida, or England, where they could remain free.[111] When Loyalists left the South in 1783, they took thousands of their slaves with them to be slaves in the British West Indies.[110]
Neutrals
A minority of uncertain size tried to stay neutral in the war. Most kept a low profile, but the Quakers, especially in Pennsylvania, were the most important group to speak out for neutrality. As Patriots declared independence, the Quakers, who continued to do business with the British, were attacked as supporters of British rule, "contrivers and authors of seditious publications" critical of the revolutionary cause.[112]Role of women
Main article: Women in the American Revolution
Women contributed to the American Revolution in many ways, and were
involved on both sides. While formal Revolutionary politics did not
include women, ordinary domestic behaviors became charged with political
significance as Patriot women confronted a war that permeated all
aspects of political, civil, and domestic life. They participated by
boycotting British goods, spying on the British, following armies as
they marched, washing, cooking, and tending for soldiers, delivering
secret messages, and in a few cases like Deborah Samson, fighting disguised as men. Also, Mercy Otis Warren held meetings in her house and cleverly attacked Loyalists with her creative plays and histories.[113]
Above all, they continued the agricultural work at home to feed their
families and the armies. They maintained their families during their
husbands' absences and sometimes after their deaths.[114]American women were integral to the success of the boycott of British goods,[115] as the boycotted items were largely household items such as tea and cloth. Women had to return to knitting goods, and to spinning and weaving their own cloth — skills that had fallen into disuse. In 1769, the women of Boston produced 40,000 skeins of yarn, and 180 women in Middletown, Massachusetts wove 20,522 yards (18,765 m) of cloth.[114]
A crisis of political loyalties could disrupt the fabric of colonial America women's social worlds: whether a man did or did not renounce his allegiance to the King could dissolve ties of class, family, and friendship, isolating women from former connections. A woman's loyalty to her husband, once a private commitment, could become a political act, especially for women in America committed to men who remained loyal to the King. Legal divorce, usually rare, was granted to Patriot women whose husbands supported the King.[116][117]
Other participants
Further information: Diplomacy in the American Revolutionary War
France
Main article: France in the American Revolutionary War
In early 1776, France set up a major program of aid to the Americans,
and the Spanish secretly added funds. Each country spent one million
"livres tournaises" to buy munitions. A dummy corporation run by Pierre Beaumarchais concealed their activities. American rebels obtained some munitions through the Dutch Republic as well as French and Spanish ports in the West Indies.[118]Spain
Main article: Spain in the American Revolutionary War
Spain did not officially recognize the U.S. but became an informal ally when it declared war on Britain on June 21, 1779. Bernardo de Gálvez y Madrid, general of the Spanish forces in New Spain,
also served as governor of Louisiana. He led an expedition of colonial
troops to force the British out of Florida and keep open a vital conduit
for supplies.[119]Native Americans
Main article: Native Americans in the United States
Further information: Western theater of the American Revolutionary War
Most Native Americans rejected pleas that they remain neutral and
supported the British Crown, both because of trading relationships and
its efforts to prohibit colonial settlement west of the Appalachian
Mountains. The great majority of the 200,000 Native Americans east of
the Mississippi distrusted the colonists and supported the British
cause, hoping to forestall continued colonial encroachment on their
territories.[120]
Those tribes that were more closely involved in colonial trade tended
to side with the revolutionaries, although political factors were
important as well.Although there was limited participation by Native American warriors except for those associated with four of the Iroquois nations in New York and Pennsylvania, the British provided Indians with funding and weapons to attack American outposts. Some Indians tried to remain neutral, seeing little value in joining a European conflict and fearing reprisals from whichever side they opposed. The Oneida and Tuscarora peoples of western New York supported the American cause.[121]
The British provided arms to Indians, who were led by Loyalists in war parties to raid frontier settlements from the Carolinas to New York. They killed many scattered settlers, especially in Pennsylvania. In 1776 Cherokee war parties attacked American colonists all along the southern frontier of the uplands.[122] While the Chickamauga Cherokee could launch raids numbering a couple hundred warriors, as seen in the Chickamauga Wars, they could not mobilize enough forces to fight a major invasion without the help of allies, most often the Creek.
Joseph Brant of the powerful Mohawk nation, part of the Iroquois Confederacy based in New York, was the most prominent Native American leader against the rebel forces. In 1778 and 1780, he led 300 Iroquois warriors and 100 white Loyalists in multiple attacks on small frontier settlements in New York and Pennsylvania, killing many settlers and destroying villages, crops and stores.[123] The Seneca, Onondaga and Cayuga of the Iroquois Confederacy also allied with the British against the Americans.[124]
In 1779 the Continentals retaliated with an American army under John Sullivan, which raided and destroyed 40 empty Iroquois villages in central and western New York.[124] Sullivan's forces systematically burned the villages and destroyed about 160,000 bushels of corn that comprised the winter food supply. Facing starvation and homeless for the winter, the Iroquois fled to the Niagara Falls area and to Canada, mostly to what became Ontario. The British resettled them there after the war, providing land grants as compensation for some of their losses.[125]
At the peace conference following the war, the British ceded lands which they did not really control, and did not consult their Indian allies. They "transferred" control to the Americans of all the land east of the Mississippi and north of Florida. The historian Calloway concludes:
- Burned villages and crops, murdered chiefs, divided councils and civil wars, migrations, towns and forts choked with refugees, economic disruption, breaking of ancient traditions, losses in battle and to disease and hunger, betrayal to their enemies, all made the American Revolution one of the darkest periods in American Indian history.[126]
African Americans
Main article: African Americans in the Revolutionary War
Free blacks in the North and South fought on both sides of the Revolution, but most fought for the patriots.
Gary Nash reports that recent research concludes there were about 9000
black Patriot soldiers, counting the Continental Army and Navy, and
state militia units, as well as privateers, wagoneers in the Army,
servants to officers, and spies.[129]
Ray Raphael notes that while thousands did join the Loyalist cause, "A
far larger number, free as well as slave, tried to further their
interests by siding with the patriots." [130] Crispus Attucks, who was shot dead by British soldiers in the Boston Massacre
in 1770, is an iconic martyr to Patriots. Both sides offered freedom
and re-settlement to slaves who were willing to fight for them,
especially targeting slaves whose owners supported the opposing cause.Many African-American slaves sided with the Loyalists. Tens of thousands used the turmoil of war to escape, and the southern plantation economies of South Carolina and Georgia especially were disrupted. During the Revolution, the British tried to turn slavery against the Americans,[131] but historian David Brion Davis explains the difficulties with a policy of wholesale arming of the slaves:
But England greatly feared the effects of any such move on its own West Indies, where Americans had already aroused alarm over a possible threat to incite slave insurrections. The British elites also understood that an all-out attack on one form of property could easily lead to an assault on all boundaries of privilege and social order, as envisioned by radical religious sects in Britain's seventeenth-century civil wars.[132]Davis underscored the British dilemma: "Britain, when confronted by the rebellious American colonists, hoped to exploit their fear of slave revolts while also reassuring the large number of slave-holding Loyalists and wealthy Caribbean planters and merchants that their slave property would be secure".[133] The colonists accused the British of encouraging slave revolts.[134]
American advocates of independence were commonly lampooned in Britain for what was termed their hypocritical calls for freedom, at the same time that many of their leaders were planters who held hundreds of slaves. Samuel Johnson snapped, "how is it we hear the loudest yelps for liberty among the [slave] drivers of the Negroes?"[135] Benjamin Franklin countered by criticizing the British self-congratulation about "the freeing of one Negro" (Somersett) while they continued to permit the Slave Trade.[136]
Phyllis Wheatley, a black poet who popularized the image of Columbia to represent America, came to public attention when her Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral appeared in 1773.[137]
During the war, slaves escaped from across New England and the mid-Atlantic area to British-occupied cities, such as New York. The effects of the war were more dramatic in the South. In Virginia the royal governor Lord Dunmore recruited black men into the British forces with the promise of freedom, protection for their families, and land grants. Tens of thousands of slaves escaped to British lines throughout the South, causing dramatic losses to slaveholders and disrupting cultivation and harvesting of crops. For instance, South Carolina was estimated to lose about 25,000 slaves, or one third of its slave population, to flight, migration or death. From 1770 to 1790, the black proportion of the population (mostly slaves) in South Carolina dropped from 60.5 percent to 43.8 percent; and in Georgia from 45.2 percent to 36.1 percent.[138]
When the British evacuated its forces from Savannah and Charleston, it also gave transportation to 10,000 slaves, carrying through on its commitment to them.[139] They evacuated and resettled more than 3,000 "Black Loyalists" from New York to Nova Scotia, Upper and Lower Canada. Others sailed with the British to England or were resettled in the West Indies of the Caribbean. More than 1200 of the Black Loyalists of Nova Scotia later resettled in the British colony of Sierra Leone, where they became leaders of the Krio ethnic group of Freetown and the later national government. Many of their descendants still live in Sierra Leone, as well as other African countries.[140]
Effects of the Revolution
Loyalist expatriation
About 60,000 to 70,000 Loyalists left the newly founded republic; some left for Britain and the remainder, called United Empire Loyalists, received British subsidies to resettle in British colonies in North America, especially Quebec (concentrating in the Eastern Townships), Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia.[141] The new colonies of Upper Canada (now Ontario) and New Brunswick were created by Britain for their benefit. However, about 80% of the Loyalists stayed and became loyal citizens of the United States, and some of the exiles later returned to the U.S.[142]Interpretations
Interpretations about the effect of the Revolution vary. Contemporary participants referred to the events as "the revolution."[143] Greene argues that the events were not "revolutionary," as the colonial society was not transformed but replaced a distant government with a local one.[144] Historians such as Bernard Bailyn, Gordon Wood, and Edmund Morgan accept the contemporary view of the participants that the American Revolution was a unique and radical event that produced deep changes and had a profound effect on world affairs, based on an increasing belief in the principles of the Enlightenment as reflected in how liberalism was understood during the period, and republicanism. These were demonstrated by a leadership and government that espoused protection of natural rights, and a system of laws chosen by the people.[145] However, what was then considered the people was still restricted to free white males who were able to pass a property-qualification, about 1/9 of the population.[146] Such a restriction made a significant gain of the revolution irrelevant to women, African-Americans and slaves, poor white men, young adults, and Native Americans.[147][148] Only with the development of the American system over the following centuries would a government by the people promised by the revolution be won for a greater inclusion of the population.[146]As an example or inspiration
Further information: Atlantic Revolutions
After the Revolution, genuinely democratic politics became possible.[149]
The rights of the people were incorporated into state constitutions.
Concepts of liberty, individual rights, equality among men and hostility
toward corruption became incorporated as core values of liberal
republicanism. The greatest challenge to the old order in Europe was the
challenge to inherited political power and the democratic idea that
government rests on the consent of the governed.
The example of the first successful revolution against a European
empire, and the first successful establishment of a republican form of democratically
elected government, provided a model for many other colonial peoples
who realized that they too could break away and become self-governing
nations with directly elected representative government.[150]The Dutch Republic, also at war with Britain at that time, was the next country after France to sign a treaty with the United States, on October 8, 1782.[41] On April 3, 1783, Ambassador Extraordinary Gustaf Philip Creutz, representing King Gustav III of Sweden, and Benjamin Franklin, Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States of America, signed a Treaty of Amity and Commerce with the U.S.[41]
The American Revolution was the first wave of the Atlantic Revolutions: the French Revolution, the Haitian Revolution, and the Latin American wars of independence. Aftershocks reached Ireland in the Irish Rebellion of 1798, in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and in the Netherlands.[151]
The Revolution had a strong, immediate influence in Great Britain, Ireland, the Netherlands, and France. Many British and Irish Whigs spoke in favor of the American cause. The Revolution, along with the Dutch Revolt (end of the 16th century) and the English Civil War (in the 17th century), was among the examples of overthrowing an old regime for many Europeans who later were active during the era of the French Revolution, such as Marquis de Lafayette. The American Declaration of Independence influenced the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen of 1789.[152][153] The spirit of the Declaration of Independence led to laws ending slavery in all the Northern states and the Northwest Territory, with New Jersey the last in 1804—long before the British Parliament acted in 1833 to abolish slavery in its colonies. States such as New Jersey and New York adopted gradual emancipation, which kept some people as slaves for more than two decades longer.[154]
Status of American women
The democratic ideals of the Revolution inspired changes in the roles of women.[155]The concept of republican motherhood was inspired by this period and reflects the importance of Republicanism as the dominant American ideology. It assumed that a successful republic rested upon the virtue of its citizens. Women were considered to have the essential role of instilling their children with values conducive to a healthy republic. During this period, the wife's relationship with her husband also became more liberal, as love and affection instead of obedience and subservience began to characterize the ideal marital relationship. In addition, many women contributed to the war effort through fundraising and running family businesses in the absence of husbands.
The traditional constraints gave way to more liberal conditions for women. Patriarchy faded as an ideal; young people had more freedom to choose their spouses and more often used birth control to regulate the size of their families. Society emphasized the role of mothers in child rearing, especially the patriotic goal of raising republican children rather than those locked into aristocratic value systems. There was more permissiveness in child-rearing. Patriot women married to Loyalists who left the state could get a divorce and obtain control of the ex-husband's property.[156] Whatever gains they had made, however, women still found themselves subordinated, legally and socially, to their husbands, disfranchised and usually with only the role of mother open to them. But, some women earned livelihoods as midwives and in other roles in the community, which were not originally recognized as significant by men.
Abigail Adams expressed to her husband, the president, the desire of women to have a place in the new republic:
- I desire you would remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favourable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands.[157]
Memory
See also: United States Bicentennial
Governor's Palace, Colonial Williamsburg, a restored colonial city, Williamburg, Virginia
Crider points out that in the 1850s editors and orators both North and South claimed their region was the true custodian of the legacy of 1776, as they used the Revolution symbolically in their rhetoric.[161] Ryan, noting that the Bicentennial was celebrated only a year after the humiliating 1975 withdrawal from Vietnam, says the Ford administration stressed the themes of renewal and rebirth based on a restoration of traditional values, and presented a nostalgic approach to 1776 that made it seem eternally young and fresh.[162]
Albanese argues that the Revolution became the main source of the non-denominational "American civil religion" that has shaped patriotism and the memory and meaning of the nation's birth ever since.[163] She says that specific battles are not central (as they are for the Civil War) but rather certain events and people have been celebrated as icons of certain virtues (or vices). Thus she points out the Revolution produced a Moses-like leader (George Washington),[164] prophets (Thomas Jefferson, Tom Paine), disciples (Alexander Hamilton, James Madison) and martyrs (Boston Massacre, Nathan Hale), as well as devils (Benedict Arnold), sacred places (Valley Forge, Bunker Hill), rituals (Boston Tea Party), emblems (the new flag), sacred holidays (Independence Day) and a holy scripture whose every sentence is carefully studied and applied in current law cases (The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights).[163]
See also
- Bibliography of the American Revolutionary War
- Timeline of the American Revolution
- Diplomacy in the American Revolutionary War
- Founding Fathers of the United States
- List of plays and films about the American Revolution
- Second American Revolution
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