Ch 8: America Secedes from the Empire (1775-1783)
How American Loyalty to the Crown turned into a Call for Independence
A) Second Continental Congress (May 10 1775)
B) Part 1: A War of Contradiction (April 1775 – July 1776)
1. Ams affirm loyalty to crown, but raise armies to shoot redcoats
2. E Allen & B Arnold capture Brit garrisons at Ft Ticonderoga & Crown Pt (May 1775)
C) The Decl (actually an explanation) of Ind Changes Purpose of War
E) Part 2: Perfect War (March 1776 – Sept 1777)
1. NY & NJ Campaign (July 1776 – January 1777)
F) Part 3: World War (Feb 1778 – Sept 1783)
1. In response to humiliation at Saratoga, Parl passes measure offering Ams home rule
- All 13 colonies represented
- Hoped that king & Parl would redress grievances, so drafted new appeals
- However, raised $ to create army & navy in case of rebuff
- Appted G Wash as commander of army: Served as great moral force (tho wasn’t military genius)
B) Part 1: A War of Contradiction (April 1775 – July 1776)
1. Ams affirm loyalty to crown, but raise armies to shoot redcoats
2. E Allen & B Arnold capture Brit garrisons at Ft Ticonderoga & Crown Pt (May 1775)
- Secure artillery & gunpowder for siege of Boston
- Brit soldiers stationed in Boston after Tea Party that disbanded self-govt
- 11-mo siege resulting in Am victory→ Brit evacuate
- Ams capture B Hill to menace Brit in Boston
- Ams slaughter Brit soldiers at first, but run out of gunpowder
- Brit victory, but suffered great casualties
- Professed Am loyalty to crown, begging king to prevent further hostilities
- Hwvr, King George III declared col’s in rebellion = treason (hanging crime)
- King hired thousands of Hessians, German mercenaries→Ams feel betrayed
- Goal: to remove Brit threat from Fr Canada
- Hwvr, Gen Montgomery & Gen Arnold fail to conquer Quebec
- Such a large-scale attack denied Ams’ claim that they were fighting defensively
- In the meantime, Brit put the torch to cities, e.g. Falmouth, ME & Norfolk, SC
C) The Decl (actually an explanation) of Ind Changes Purpose of War
- Originally loyal Ams now shocked by Brit cruelties→ recognize need to secede from Brit
- Thomas Paine publishes pamphlet Common Sense (1776)
- Radical call for independence and republic that fell on receptive ears
- New Eng’s town meetings; cols had committees of correspondence
- D of I argued that bc king flouted col’s rights, they had right to cut connection
- As a result, foreign aid became easier to solicit
- Line bw Patriot & Loyalist more clearly drawn
E) Part 2: Perfect War (March 1776 – Sept 1777)
1. NY & NJ Campaign (July 1776 – January 1777)
- Brit concentrate on NY (pluses: seaport + Loyalists)
- Brit chase Wash until Ams retreat to PA
- Battle of Trenton: Wash crosses DE, captures Hessians (victory→moral boost)
- Battle of Princeton: Wash inflicted sharp defeat on smaller Brit detachment
- Goal: to isolate New E (hot bed of rev) by seizing Hudson River & Lake Champlain
- How: Burgoyne along Lake Ch + St. Leger along Mohawk Riv; meet up at Albany
- Burgoyne recapt Ticond, but slowed by terrain & loses 1000 men seizing supplies
- St. Leger stalled by Am control of Ft Stanwix & retreats to Canada
- Meanwhile, delays allow Ams to set up at defensive position along Hudson that controlled all mvt thru river valley (Brit need river to ship supplies)
- Despite shortage of men & supplies, Burg still determined to head to Albany
- Thru fierce fighting, Brit escape to Saratoga; Ams follow & surround→surrender
- Results: Am moral boost; convinced France to join war
- Instead of heading up Hudson to help Burg, Howe captures Philadelphia
- Defeats Wash in battles at Brandywine & Germantown (PA)
- Wash rests for winter at Valley Forge (near Phila) where Prussian drillmaster, Baron von Steuben, whips militia into professional army
F) Part 3: World War (Feb 1778 – Sept 1783)
1. In response to humiliation at Saratoga, Parl passes measure offering Ams home rule
- Fr don’t want Ams & Brit to reunite, bc if Brit loses war & col, it will seize to be at top of world→ Fr has hope of becoming world power again
- Ben Franklin (envoy) played skillfully on Fr fears of Anglo-Am reconciliation
- France signs Treaty of Alliance (Feb 1778): both bound to fight til US fully free
- Spain & Holland enter in 1779 against Brit
- Russia organized Armed Neutrality, which lined up all remaining Eur neutrals in an attitude of passive hostility toward Britain
- War now fought in Eur, N Am, S Am, Caribbean, Asia
- Brit evacuate Philadelphia & concentrate in NYC
- Devise plan to roll up col, beginning w. Loyalist South
- Now, Brit naval authority challenged by Fr fleets & Am (legalized) pirates
- Brit Gen Cornwallis retreats to Chesapeake Bay at Yorktown to wait for supplies
- Fr navy + Am & Fr military corner Cornwallis→ surrendered entire force of 7000
- Fighting continues for another year, but Yorktown proves to be last major engagement in Am, effectively ending war in Am favor
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