Daniel Zhu

The

The American Revolution, 1763-1783

Crisis Begins
Consolidating the Empire
The rulers in London passed many new regulations to
control the economy of the colonies (Wool Act, Hat Act, Iron
Act (werent allowed to make these), Molasses Act (tax on
French molasses) and other acts). These acts were mostly
ignored by colonists.
Board of Trade attempted to strengthen imperial authority
but the colonies or Britain didnt really care.
However, after treating the colonies as allies in the 7 years
war, they began to see them as subordinates to enrich the
mother country.
Britain felt that the colonists should be grateful to the
empire and help pay off its debt. Britain passed more acts
taxing the colonists.
However, Britons believed that parliament had the right to
tax them.
Colonists complained about lack of representation. They
also couldnt smuggle as much because the British issued
Writs of Assistance which allowed officials to search for
smuggled goods.
Many lawyers like James Otis and John Adams were
enraged and colonists were upset about the Proclamation
of 1763.
Taxing the Colonies
In 1764, the Sugar Act was introduced by PM George
Greenville.
This reduced tax on importing molasses from the French
Indies but, they set harsher regulations about getting
caught smuggling and the consequences.
A Revenue Act placed goods like wool and hides on the
enumerated list, so they had to be shipped through
England. This threatened the profits of merchants and
aggravated them.
A Currency Act banned the issue of legal tender
bills/paper money.
The Stamp Act Crisis
The Stamp Act (1765) was issued to reiterate the
Navigation Acts. It directly taxed printed materials
(newspapers, court documents, books, almanacs). A
stamp was supposed to be purchased and placed on the
document.

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This was to raise money for the Empire, mostly for

stationing British Troops in NA.
The Stamp Act affected all the colonists, rich and poor. It
was resented by the public sphere, who wrote documents
that required stamps (books, newspapers, pamphlets).
Also, the thought of a British Army stationed in North
America alarmed citizens. Parliament also imposed the tax
without colonial consent.
Nearly all political leaders in the colonies opposed the act.
They invoked the right of the freeborn man. Also, they
talked about the famous BRITISH principle: a community
should not be taxed except by its elected representatives.
Taxation and Representation
American leader viewed the colonies as places where
settles enjoyed the same rights as the mother country.
Colonies in India, West Indies and Canada all wanted the
same rights too.
However, the British thought Parliament was the
sanctuary of liberty, but the colonists didnt.
Many colonists thought Britain had no right to tax them at
all, because they were unrepresented in the House of
Commons. No taxation without representation became a
battle cry.
They asserted that the colonies should have the same
rights as the British. The House of Burgesses, especially,
took on the opinion of Patrick Henry, who was blatantly
against the Acts.
27 delegates from nine colonies met in NY in 1765. They
took Virginias side and created resolutions against the
British.
Soon, colonial merchants began to boycott Stamp Act
goods.
Liberty and Resistance
The Stamp Act signified liberty, with it as the anti-liberty.
Colonists would bury liberty and revive it at the last
moment. A large elm tree in Boston became the tree of
liberty after a stamp distributor, Andrew Oliver was
hanged.
In NYC a mast was erected and called the Liberty Pole.
Colonial leaders encouraged colonies to oppose the acts
(Stamp, Currency, and Sugar). Now, new committees of
correspondence arose just to find ways to resist the acts.
John Adams wrote that the act caused people to pay more
attention to liberty, defend them and unite the colonies.

Daniel Zhu

Politics in the Streets

Many protests on the streets occurred against the stamp
act. In NYC in 1765, hundreds of residents shouting
liberty paraded the city.
They were organized by the Sons of Liberty, a new
organization that protested the unfair acts.
They posted notices saying Liberty, Property, and No
Stamps. They also led in enforcing the boycott of British
goods.
The colonists started assaulting various places they
deemed against liberty like Thomas Hutchinsons house in
Boston, Fort George at the tip of Manhattan and they even
destroyed Major Thomas Jamess house, because he
boasted that he would force stamps down New Yorkers
throats.
In 1766, parliament repealed the Stamp Act, who didnt
want to lose American Markets. However, this was
followed by the Declaratory Acts, which said Parliament
could levy American Taxes without representation.

The Regulators
Other violent turmoil brewed in the 1760s. Rural farmers
resisted land owning proprietors from taking their land.
In the mid-1760s a group of wealthy whites from the
backcountry called the Regulators protested the lack of
representation of the western settlements. They wanted to
establish law and order in the frontiers.
Another movement in North Carolina was started by local,
small farmers that refused to pay taxes, kidnapped officials
and plundered rich people.
The Regulators and the farmers both complained about the
corrupt officials. The Regulators condemned the rich and
powerful who took advantage of poor farmers.
The regulators numbered over 8,000, until they were
suppressed in 1771 by the colonys militia.
The Tenant Uprising
Tenants of several aristocratic families in NY (Livingston,
Philipse, and Cortland) stopped paying rent and seized
land. They called themselves the Sons of Liberty.
However, the original Sons opposed the rebellion and the
rebellion was suppressed by local militia and British
soldiers.

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The

Also, farmers in the Green Mountains took up arms to

protect their land from NY landlords. Their leader, Ethan
Allen, insisted that the people who work the land get the
land. They eventually gained the region (Vermont) in the
1770s.
Social division also caused riots and turmoil in the
backcountry. The rich were afraid so they didnt really
challenge British rule because they needed their
protection.
Road to Revolution
The Townshend Crisis
The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Charles Townshend,
persuaded parliament to impose new taxes on goods
imported from the colonies and created a new board of
customs to prevent smuggling.
Many merchants opposed these new acts, however,
opposition developed slower.
This caused leaders to re-impose bans on British goods.
Homespun Virtue
The boycotts began in Boston and spread. Homespun
clothing began increasing in popularity because it showed
they didnt need to rely on the British.
It also symbolized liberty and self sacrifice. Women who
spun at home were called the Daughters of Liberty.
This idea appealed to Chesapeake planters, who owned
money to British merchants. Virginia also imposed a
temporary ban on the importation of slaves so colonists
could rely more on themselves.
Artisans, also happy about the ban (no more competition),
supported the boycott. Although merchants in Phillly and
NY were reluctant to take part at first, they did.
Non importation caused more turmoil, as people tried to
enforce the ban on British goods.
The Boston Massacre
In 1768, Royal troops were stationed in the city after the
British seized the ship Liberty for violating trade
regulations.
The ship belonged to John Hancock, a prominent merchant.
The soldiers became more and more unpopular.
On March 5, 1770, a fight between a snowball throwing
crowd and soldiers caused the soldiers to fire at the crowd
leaving 5 dead.
One dead was Crispus Attucks, a sailor of Indian and white
ancestry. He was martyred.

Daniel Zhu

The commanding soldier and 8 soldiers were put on trial,

and were defended by John Adams. 7 were freed and 2
were charged with manslaughter.
Paul Revere, a Son of Liberty, stirred up indignation against
the British by circulating a picture of the British firing into
an unarmed crowd.
By the 1770s, merchants began to lose money and the
elite wanted British goods. The value of imports declined
by 1/3 in 1769.
British merchants also wanted the Townshend duties.
When they were and British soldiers were removed, the
boycott was over.
Wilkes and Liberty
A radical journalist John Wilkes had been elected to
Parliament in London, but was quickly expelled. Wilkes
and Liberty became a popular rallying cry.
Rumors that the Anglican Church was going to send
bishops to America were passed. They were supposedly
here to establish religious courts.
The Tea Act
The East India Company acquired British possession in
India. Another bubble formed, with its stock price
increasing and then collapsing. In order to help the
company, Britain decided to market Chinese tea in NA.
Britain offered the East India Company rebates and tax
exemptions. This allowed the company to sell low priced
tea in the colonies.
However, they put a tax on the tea.
Many colonists thought if they paid the taxes, it would
acknowledge that Britain could tax the colonies. The
colonists started to rebel against the tax.
On Dec. 16, 1773, a group of colonists dressed as Indians
boarded three ships and threw over 300 chests of tea into
the ocean. This was called the Boston Tea Party. The East
India Company lost 10,000 pounds (more than 4 million
today).
The Intolerable (Coersive) Acts
The government, in response to the Boston Tea party,
closed the port of Boston until all the tea was paid for.
Also, the British changed the Massachusetts Charter of
1691 to restrict council and assembly meetings.
Parliament also enabled military commanders to lodge
soldiers in private homes (Quartering Act). These acts
were seen as intolerable and a threat to their freedom.

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The

Also, Parliament passed the Quebec Act, giving Canada the

Ohio River and granted toleration to the Roman Catholic
Church in Canada. This served to tie Canadas allegiance
to Britain: give them privileges that regular Britons dont
have.
This act threw in questions to land claims and caused fears
of political and religious tyranny. In New England, liberty
became the cause of god.
In Farmington Connecticut in May 1774, there was a
meeting of its 1,000 residents, proclaiming they would
resist the British attempts to take their liberty away.
Coming of Independence
The Continental Congress (1774)
New laws and acts urged people to refuse to obey laws,
withhold taxes and prepare for war (Suffolk Reserves in
Massachusettes).
A Continental Congress convened in Philly to coordinate
the resistance. All the colonies except Georgia sent in
prominent leaders, like the Adams, Washington, Henry and
Lee.
There Henry made his famous speech, I am not a
Virginian, but an American.
A year later he made his most famous, legendary credo,
Give me liberty or give me death!
The Continental Association
The Continental Congress adopted the Continental
Association, which called for an almost complete halt of
trade with Britain. This encouraged domestic
manufacturing.
The Congress authorized local Committees of Safety to
oversee its new mandates and to take action against the
enemy.
The Committees of Safety began transferring British
political power to the people. More and more people were
in committees, which became training grounds where
people discussed politics.
The colonist began to enforce their right to liberty and the
Continental Association.
The Sweets of Liberty
By 1775, everyone dreamed about liberty. 1775, a British
immigrant said that They are all liberty mad.
They all used their right to resist oppressive authority, and
identified liberty with god. In 1774, a mass meeting in

Daniel Zhu

Northampton Pennsylvania occurred. More and more

militias and resistance groups were formed.
Colonist began to refer to natural rights and universal
freedom. John Lockes theory of natural rights became
justification for resistance. People demanded liberty and
the same freedoms as English colonies.
Jefferson said the empire was all equal, not one part could
control another.
The Outbreak of War
In April 119, 1775, British soldiers tried to seize arms in
Concord. Paul Revere made his famous ride and warned
colonial leaders. Skirmished took place at Lexington and
Concord, where 49 Americans died and 73 Britons died.
In May 1775, Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold, along with
the Green Mountain Boys and other militia, Surrounded
Fort Ticonderoga and captured it.
Henry Knox, the Commander of Artillery, took some canons
from the fort and dragged them hundreds of miles to
Boston, where the colonies had the British under siege.
In July 17, 1775, the British dislodged militiamen from
Breeds Hill (Called battle of Bunker Hill, hill next door).
Dont fire until you see the whites of their eyes.
The British (Howe) were forced to leave Boston in 1776 and
they also cut down the original liberty tree.
The Continental Congress ordered the printing of money to
pay for an army. Britain declared the colonies in a state of
rebellion, sent troops, and closed down ports.
Independence?
At the end on 1775, the bond between Britain and America
would never be the same, but many people didnt want to
separate from it. Many people still felt pride from being in
the British Empire.
This caused stress for property owners because they felt
that after independence, their land would be divided.
In Massachusetts (intolerable acts) and Virginia, elites felt
the need to break away from Britain. In the south, they
were upset that a British military commander Dunmore
offered freedom to any slave that escaped and took up
arms with Britain.
In NY and Penn, the population was mostly merchants, so
they felt that it was difficult to see how far to resist the
British.
Joseph Galloway, a Pennsylvania leader, wanted a
compromise with Britain. He said independence would

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cause disputes within America and even predicted a war

between the north and south.
Common Sense
In July 1775, the Continental Congress issued the Olive
Branch Petition to King George III, pleading reconciliation to
the crown.
In 1776, Thomas Paine wrote Common Sense a pamphlet
about how English was tyrannical and unjust.
He also said it was absurd that such a large country is
controlled by a small island. He also emphasized
commercial freedom and the Britain dragged the colonies
into their conflicts (France and Spain). Membership of
Britain was a burden not a benefit.
Paines Impact
Even though what Paine wrote wasnt original, it was
smartly directed towards the common citizen, not the elite.
This expanded the public sphere dramatically. It sold over
150,000 copies.
In 1776, Mass leader Joseph Hawley commented that
Common Sense had been driven deep into everyone mind.
In 1775-1776, the Americas failed to invade Canada while
the British burned Falmouth (Portland) Maine, bombarded
Norfolk, Virginia, which added weight to independence. In
1776, the colonies decided draft a document declaring
independence.
The Declaration of Independence
On July 2, 1776, the Continental Congress declared
America an independent nation. The Declaration of
Independence was approved two days later.
Thomas Jefferson mostly wrote about grievances directed
against King George III (taxes, quartering, absolute
tyranny). The restriction of slave trade was overruled by
South Carolina and Georgia.
Preamble most famous, We hold these truths to be selfevident, 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.
The document is an assertion of the right of revolution.
The Declaration and American Freedom
The Declaration declared that all rights applied to
everyone; liberty became universal.

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His arguments were based on John Lockes social contract

theory. However, Jefferson substituted the pursuit of
happiness for property.
An Asylum for Mankind
The United States has always served as an asylum for
tyranny, as a place for freedom (American Exceptionalism).
The people of America were never burdened by monarchy,
aristocracy or a national church.
John Hancock was the first signature (it was very large so
King George could read it without his glasses).
The Global Declaration for Independence
The Americans hoped to win international recognition. The
Declaration also became an international symbol and
inspiration to other countries struggling for independence.
It was quickly translated into French and German.
In Belgium, the Caribbean, China, Vietnam, Europe, and
Spanish America all modeled declarations after the one
written by Jefferson. However, few affirmed natural rights.
The idea that the people or everyone possessed rights
spread like wildfire and caused conflicts and wars all over
the world.
Securing Independence
The Balance of Power
Britain wanted to crush the rebellion and seemed to have
an advantage (better soldiers, most powerful navy,
experienced military commanders). Meanwhile, the
Continental army was inadequately equipped and many
didnt want to obey rules.
However, the Americans were fighting for their cause.
Over 200,000 Americans fought from 1775-1783. Over one
in 20 died.
The British didnt want to pay for a lengthy war and
misjudged the support for independence and the number
of soldiers fighting.
Also, France welcomed a British defeat.
Blacks in the Revolution
At first, George Washington refused to accept black
recruits. That changed after Lord Dunmores proclamation.
Over 5,000 blacks fought in the war and many were slaves
that were freed if they fought in place of their owner.
Blacks were in integrated regiments, not segregated.
In all southern colonies except South Carolina and Georgia,
the southern colonies enrolled slaves and other free blacks

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to fight. Many slaves were given freedom after the war

ended.
800 slaves also joined Lord Dunmores Ethiopian regiment.
Many other slaves worked with the British as spies, guides,
cooks, laundresses and construction workers. 17 of George
Washingtons slaves escaped to fight with the British.
The First Years of the War
If William Howe, the British general had fought more
vigorously, the Americans might have lost. However he
suffered defeats and Washington avoided direct
confrontations.
In 1776, Howe had NY surrounded by Washington managed
to escape. Washingtons army was growing smaller. In
order to reinvigorate the cause, he surprised attacked
hessian soldiers at Trenton on December 26, 1776. He also
defeated British forces at Princeton on January 3, 1777.
Before the famous crossing of the Delaware, Washington
had Thomas Paines The American Crisis read to his troops
for a morale boost.
The Battle of Saratoga
In 1776, another British army, led by John Burgoyne, came
south from Canada, hoping to isolate New England by
meeting with Howe. However, the Continental Congress
fled to Lancaster and Howe went to Philadelphia.
American forces blocked Burgoynes army and forced him
to surrender at Saratoga, boosting morale.
During the winter of 77-78, Washingtons army was
camped in the freezing Valley Forge, while the British took
part in parties in Philadelphia.
However, the victory at Saratoga persuaded the French
that the Americans could win and Ben Franklin signed the
Treaty of Amity and Commerce with France. France would
recognize America as a country and provided military
assistance.
The French hoped to weaken the British and regain some
land. Also, Spain joined America, in hopes of regaining
Florida.
The French also attacked the British in the West Indies and
Gibraltar, causing the British to be spread out.
The War in the South
In 1778, the war shifted to the south where the British
hoped to exploit conflicts between the wealthy plantation
owners and the poor backcountry farmers. Many elites
remained loyal to the British.

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In December 1778, British captured Savannah, Georgia. In

1780, they captured Charlestown South Carolina, with
5,000 men.
1780 was the low point of the war, when Congress had no
money and the army wasnt paid. Benedict Arnold also
defected and almost turned West Point to the British.
Soldier mutinys also happened. 1,500 in Penn killed their
officers and marched towards the congress. Harsh
treatments happened.
However, American militia harassed British forces. Francis
Marion (aka the Swamp Fox) used guerilla warfare and
stayed hidden in swamps and struck.
This caused a civil war between North and South Carolina,
with both loyalist and revolutionaries fighting. The brutal
treatment of citizens by British General Tarleton caused
many Americans to join the Patriots cause.
Victory at Last
In January 1781, Daniel Morgan crushed Tarleton at the
Battle of Cowpens, South Carolina. Two months later,
Nathanial Greene beat Charles Cornwallis at Guildfords
Court House and forced him to retreat to Yorktown,
Virginia.
There, troops commanded by Lafayette and Washington
blocked a land escape and a French fleet blocked British
supply ships. On October 18, 1781, Cornwallis
surrendered. Britain was quick to forget the defeat.
Two years later, the Treaty of Paris was signed by John Jay,
John Adams and Ben Franklin. America gained the entire
region east of the Mississippi. Colonists who remained
loyal to Britain werent persecuted. America was the first
independent nation of the western hemisphere.