CHAPTER 5
The American Revolution: From Elite Protest to PopularRevolt, 1763–1783
SUMMARY
This chapter covers the years that saw the colonies emerge as an independent nation.
The colonial rebellion began as a protest on the part of the gentry, but military victory
required that thousands of ordinary men and women dedicate themselves to the ideals of
republicanism.
I. STRUCTURE OF COLONIAL SOCIETY
In the period following the Seven Years' War, Americans looked to the future with great
optimism. They were a wealthy, growing, strong, young people.
A. Breakdown of Political Trust
There were suspicions on both sides of the Atlantic that the new king, GeorgeIII, was attempting to enlarge his powers by restricting the liberties of hissubjects, but the greatest problem between England and America came down tothe question of parliamentary sovereignty. Nearly all English officials assumedthat Parliament must have ultimate authority within the British Empire.
B. No Taxation Without Representation: The American Perspective
The Americans assumed that their own colonial legislatures were in some waysequal to Parliament. Since Americans were not represented at all in Parliament,only the colonial assemblies could tax Americans.
C. Ideas About Power and Virtue
Taxation without representation was not just an economic grievance for thecolonists. They had learned by reading John Locke and the"Commonwealthmen" that all governments try to encroach upon the people'sliberty. If the people remained "virtuous," or alert to their rights and determinedto live free, they would resist "tyranny" at its first appearance.
II. ERODING THE BONDS OF EMPIRE
England left a large, expensive army in America at the end of the French and Indian War.
To support it, England had to raise new revenues.
A. Paying Off the National Debt
In 1764 Parliament passed the Sugar Act, which was clearly designed toraise revenue and not just regulate trade. Merchants protested, but mostAmerican ignored it.
B. Popular Protest
The Stamp Act united the gentry and the mass of the population. The protestspilled into the streets, and groups of workingmen, organized as the Sons ofLiberty, rioted and pressured tax collectors to resign. Boycotts became popularand allowed women to enter the protest. The more moderate protestors met at aStamp Act Congress and petitioned the King and Parliament for repeal.
C. Failed Attempt to Save the Empire
The American protest coincided with a political crisis in England. A newgovernment took office, sympathetic to English merchants whose business washurt by turmoil in America. The new ministry wanted to repeal the Stamp Act,but dared not appear to be giving in to the Americans. Repeal was therefore tiedto the Declaratory Act of 1766 which claimed that Parliament was sovereignover America "in all cases whatsoever." While the crisis of 1765 did not turn intorebellion, the Stamp Act controversy did cause the colonists to look upon
English officials in America as alien representatives of a foreign government.
D. Fueling the Crisis
In 1767, Charles Townshend, chancellor of the exchequer, came up with a newset of taxes on American imports of paper, lead, glass and tea. Townshend alsocreated the American Board of Customs Commissioners in order to ensurerigorous collection of the duties. Americans again resisted. The Sons of Libertyorganized a boycott of English goods, and the Massachusetts House ofRepresentatives sent a circular letter urging the other colonial assemblies tocooperate in protesting the Townshend Acts. When the English governmentordered the Massachusetts assembly to rescind its letter, ninety-two of therepresentatives refused, and their defiance inspired Americans everywhere.
E. Fatal Show of Force
In the midst of the controversy over the Townshend taxes, the Englishgovernment, in order to save money, closed many of its frontier posts inAmerica and sent troops to Boston. Their presence heightened tensions. OnMarch 5, 1770, English soldiers in Boston fired on a mob and killed fiveAmericans.Just when affairs reached a crisis, the English government changed again. LordNorth headed a new ministry and repealed all of the Townshend taxes except forthe duty on tea, which North retained to demonstrate Parliament's supremacy.
E. Last Days of the Old Order, 1770--1773
Lord North's government did nothing to antagonize the Americans for the nextthree years, and a semblance of tranquility characterized public affairs. Customscollectors in America, however, contributed to bad feelings by extorting bribesand by enforcing the trade acts to the letter, while radicals such as SamuelAdams still protested that the tax on tea violated American rights. Adams helpedorganize committees of correspondence that built up a political structure
independent of the royally established governments.
F. The Final Provocation: The Boston Tea Party
In 1773, Parliament aroused the Americans by passage of the Tea Act. This act,designed to help the East India Company by making it cheaper for them to selltea in America, was interpreted by Americans as a subtle ploy to get them toconsume taxed tea. In Boston, in December 1773, a group of men dumped thetea into the harbor.The English government reacted to the "Tea Party" with outrage and passed theCoercive Acts, which closed the port of Boston and put the entire colony underwhat amounted to martial law.At the same time, Parliament passed the Quebec Act, establishing anauthoritarian government for Canada. The English considered this act in isolationfrom American affairs, but the colonists across the continent saw it as finalproof that Parliament was plotting to enslave America. They rallied to supportthe Boston colonists and protest the British blockade.The ultimate crisis had now been reached. If Parliament continued to insist on itssupremacy, rebellion was unavoidable. Ben Franklin suggested that Parliament
renounce its claim so that the colonies could remain loyal to the king and thusremain within the empire. Parliament rejected this advice.
III. STEPS TOWARD INDEPENDENCE
Americans organized their resistance to England by meeting in a continental congress.This section traces the major events, from the seating of the First Continental Congressin September 1774 to the decision for independence in July 1776.
A. Shots Heard Around the World
On April 19, 1775, a skirmish broke out between Americans and English troopsin Lexington, Massachusetts. The fighting soon spread, and the English wereforced to retreat to Boston with heavy losses.
B. Beginning "The World Over Again"
The Second Continental Congress took charge of the little army that had emergedaround Boston by appointing George Washington commander.The English government decided to crush the colonists by blockading their portsand hiring mercenary troops from Germany. Royal governors urged slaves totake up arms against their masters. These actions infuriated the colonists.Thomas Paine, in his pamphlet Common Sense, pushed them closer toindependence by urging Americans to cut their ties to England.On July 2, 1776, Congress voted for independence, and on July 4, Congressissued the Declaration of Independence, a statement of principles that stillchallenges the people of the world to insist upon their rights as humans.
IV. FIGHTING FOR INDEPENDENCE
In the ensuing war, the English had a better-trained army than did the Americans, butEngland's supply line was long, and the English army faced the task not only ofoccupying terrain, but also that of crushing the spirit of a whole people.
A. Building a Professional Army
Washington realized that America would eventually win independence if only hecould assemble enough able troops and keep his army intact.
B. Testing the American Will
During July and August 1776, English forces routed the American army on LongIsland, captured New York City, and forced Washington to retreat through NewJersey.
C. "Times That Try Men's Souls"
As Washington's army fled toward Philadelphia, the English military authoritiescollected thousands of oaths of allegiance from Americans, many of whom hadsupported independence. The cause seemed lost, but Washington rekindled theflame of resistance by capturing two English outposts in New Jersey, Trentonand Princeton.
D. Victory in a Year of Defeat
In 1777, General John Burgoyne led English forces out of Canada in a drivetoward Albany, New York. Americans interrupted Burgoyne's supply lines andfinally forced him to surrender at Saratoga, New York.General William Howe, who was supposed to help Burgoyne, instead decided tocapture Philadelphia, which he did easily. Washington's discouraged army spent
that miserable winter at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.
E. The French Alliance
France supplied the Americans with arms from the beginning of hostilities. AfterSaratoga, England feared an open alliance between France and America andproposed peace. Parliament offered to repeal all acts passed since 1763, torespect the right of Americans to tax themselves, and to withdraw all Englishtroops. The Americans, however, preferred full independence and alliedthemselves with France in 1778.
F. The Final Campaign
After 1778, the English turned their attention to securing the South. They tookSavannah and Charleston, and in August 1780, routed an American army atCamden, South Carolina. Washington sent General Nathanael Greene to theSouth to command American forces, and Greene's forces defeated English generalLord Cornwallis in several battles. When Cornwallis took his army to Yorktown,Virginia, for resupply, Washington arranged for the French navy to blockadeChesapeake Bay while the Continental Army marched rapidly to Yorktown,where Cornwallis was trapped. He surrendered his entire army on October 19, 1781. The English government now realized it could not subdue the Americans,and began to negotiate for peace.
V. THE LOYALIST DILEMMA
Americans who had remained openly loyal to the king during the Revolution receivedpoor treatment from both sides. The English never fully trusted them, and the patriotstook away their property and sometimes imprisoned or executed them. When the warended, more than one hundred thousand Loyalists left the United States.
VI. WINNING THE PEACE
Ben Franklin, John Adams, and John Jay negotiated the peace treaty that ended theevolutionary War. By playing France against England, the Americans managed tosecure highly favorable terms: independence and transfer of all territory east of theMississippi River, between Canada and Florida, to the Republic.
VII. CONCLUSION: PRESERVING INDEPENDENCE
The American Revolution was more than armed rebellion against England; it was thebeginning of the construction of a new form of government. The question had yet to bedecided whether this would be a government of the elite or a government of the people.