Effects of the American Revolution

The American Revolution impacted society. From 90,000 Loyalists, 20,000 became former slaves, and 45,000 became refugees in Canada. The Revolution created 2 new regions: Dominion of Canada, and United Stated of America. Indians made treaties with USA. Indians had to give up massive amounts of lands (Tennessee and Kentucky lands) so the British would not attack them. By 1790, there were 100,000 people already living in Tennessee and Kentucky.

The Revolution impacted women. Women were called "Republican Mothers". Abigail Adams, John Adams's wife, fought for women's right and wrote a letter to her husband saying to remember and consider women when John was writing the Constitution. She wanted laws of protection. John Adams did not pay attention to the letter. Women couldn't vote, only widows. They couldn't have/own property or make contracts.

African Americans were also affected by the Revolution. 1 of every 5 Americans were from African descendants. The Revolution encouraged the slaves to fight for their freedom. Lincoln declared slavery was illegal in the South. About 5,000 slaves joined the Continental militia. About 50,000 slaves escaped to join the British. Emancipation came to the North States, but failed in the South. 5% of the population in the North were slaves, while in the South, 1/3 of the population were slaves. Virginia and Maryland released their slaved in a practice known as manumission.

Battle of Yorktown

There were 4 main factors that contributed to the Patriot's success:
- The British made tactical mistakes
- The British misunderstood the political nature of the conflict
- The Patriots were highly motivated by George Washington's leadership
- The Patriots received crucial assistance from the French


During the late summer, on September 15, 1781, Washington marched his troops south to Yorktown. Cornwallis plans plans to get to Yorktown and receive support ships from New York. Washington's plan was to block the entrance for the ships and preventing Cornwallis to escape or get ammunitions. Now they had to rely on the French to block the entrance and trap Cornwallis and he had to surrender. The coordination they had in order to trap him was luck for the patriots.

General George Washington, commanding a force of 17,000 French and Continental troops, begins the Battle of Yorktown against British General Lord Cornwallis and 9,000 British troops at Yorktown, in the most important battle of the Revolutionary War. The french fleet departed for the Chesapeake Bay. Washington realized that it was time to act. He ordered Marquis de Lafayette and an American army of 5,000 troops to block Cornwallis' escape from Yorktown by land while the French naval fleet blocked the British escape by sea.

By September 28, Washington had completely trapped Cornwallis and Yorktown with the combined forces of Continental and French troops. After three weeks, Cornwallis surrendered to Washington in the field at Yorktown on October 17, 1781, ending the War for Independence. Cornwallis did not attend the formal surrender ceremony, held on October 19. Instead, General Charles O'Hara carried Cornwallis' sword to the American and French commanders. Although the war persisted on the high seas and in other theaters, the Patriot victory at Yorktown ended fighting in the American colonies. Peace negotiations began in 1782, and on September 3, 1783, the Treaty of Paris was signed, formally recognizing the United States as a free and independent nation.

Abigail Adams

       Abigail Adams is was born on November 22, 1774 and died October 28, 1818. She is married to the second President of the United States, John Adams. She is best known for simply being the "First Lady" back then, also for the stance she took for women's rights in the letters to her husband. But she should be known as a competent farm manager and financial manager. She was educated at home, but she learned quickly and read widely.

       Her marriage with John Adams was loving and warm. She had four children before John became involved in the Continental Congress. During the time that John wasn't around the house anymore, Abigail was left with doing everything at home. Abigail managed the family and the farm. During the war, Abigail also served as the primary educator of the children, including the future sixth president, John Quincy Adams.

      When Adams served in Europe as a diplomatic representative of the new nation, Abigail decided to join him. John Adams served as Vice President of the United States from 1789 to 1797 and then as a President 1797-1801. Abigail spent some of her time at home, she had to manage her family, financial affairs and part of her time in the federal capital. After John retired from the public life at the end of his presidency, he and his wife, lived quietly and happily in Massachusetts.

Treaty Of Paris (1783)

   
       Through the fall and following winter, British colonies in the Caribbean fell to enemy forces. So this made Lord North's government fell in late March 1782 and was replaced by Lord Rockingham. They saw that North's government had fallen, so Benjamin Franklin, who was the American ambassador in Paris, took action. He decided to write to Rockingham expressing a desire to begin peace negotiations. He understood that making peace was necessary, so he elected to give it an opportunity. This pleased Franklin and his  negotiators.

      Although Cornwallis and his men surrendered at Yorktown in the Fall of 1781 was what marked the end of the Revolutionary War. However that didn't end the War officially and there still were minor battles between the British and the colonists for another two years. This war has been going on for way too long and it needed to end soon before it caused even more damage that it has caused already. An official treaty was needed to finish this war for once and for all.

       Then the Treaty Of Paris was proposed and was signed by Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and John Jay. Under the terms of the Treaty, Britain recognized the independent nation of the United States of America. They also agreed to remove all of the troops from the new nation. The treaty set new boarders for the United States, including all land from the Great Lakes on the north to Florida on the south, and from the Atlantic Ocean all the way to the Mississippi River. The US agreed to allow British troops that were still in America to leave and agreed also to pay all the debts they owed to Great Britain. The United States agreed not to persecute the loyalists that were still in America and allowed those that had left America before, to return.

George Washington

George Washington was born in 1732 into a planter family from Virginia. There, he learned body of knowledge for a Virginia gentleman, morals,  and manners. He pursued his two interests; western expansion and military arts. When he was a teen, he fought the first skirmishes of what grew later into the French and Indian War. George served in the Virginia House of Burgesses and managed his own land around Mount Vernon from 1759 to the outbreak of the American Revolution. He married a widow, Martha Dandridge Custis. Washington had a busy and happy life. Like others, he felt pressured/exploited by the British.

George Washington was elected to be the commander of the Continental Army in the Second Continental Congress on Philadelphia in May 1775. On July 3, 1775, he took his soldiers and embarked on a war that was to last for six years. When the war had just started, he started thinking that they had to harass the British, so he told Congress "We should on all Occasions avoid a general Action, or put anything to the Risque, unless compelled by a necessity, into which we ought never to be drawn. "

Washington wanted to retire and live in Mount Vernon, but he saw that Nation under its Articles of Confederation was not working well. So he returned and became a prime mover in the steps that lead to the Constitutional Convention at Philadelphia in 1787. The Electoral College unanimously elected Washington President. When the French Revolution led to a major war between France and England, Washington refused to accept at all the recommendations of his Secretary of State (Thomas Jefferson), and his Secretary of the Treasury (Alexander Hamilton). Instead, he insisted upon a neutral state until the United States could grow stronger.

Battle of Bunker Hill

    
       On June 17, 1775 the British defeated the Patriots at the Battle of Bunker Hill in Massachusetts. Even though the Americans lost, this battle provided them with a confidence boost. This battle is referred as "The Battle of Bunker Hill" but it actually occurred nearby Breed's Hill. The colonials had proven themselves strong enough to defeat the British army, a force superior in training, equipment and organization. On April 19,1775 the citizens of Boston found themselves between two armies. On June 15, the colonists learned that the British planned to occupy Charlestown and so to make them angry they decided to act first.

       The next morning, the British were stunned to see the Americans threatening them. In the 18th century, British military custom demanded that the British attack the Americans, even though the Americans were in a higher position militarily. Major General William Howe, who led the British forces, could have surrounded the Americans with the ships at sea, but instead he decided to march his troops uphill. Howe believed that the Americans would retreat in the face of smashing, head-on attack, but he was so wrong.

       Howe's majesty's ship opened fire on the Americans. Early in the afternoon, 28 barges of British soldiers crossed the Charles River and stormed the hills. The Americans waited until the British were within 15 paces and then released a bloody fusillade. A lot of British troops were either killed or wounded and the rest retreated down the hill. Again, the British rushed the hill for a second time and again the same thing happened the first time they rushed the hill. They tried one last time, a third time, and by this time, the Americans were running low on ammunitions so they had to fight with their bare hands. The British eventually took the hill, but at a great cost. Of the 2,300 British soldiers who had gone in the first place 1,054 were either killed or wounded.

Lord William Howe

Lord William Howe was a British commander that wanted to prove that his British army was invincible. He was born on was born August 10, 1729. His grandmother had been the mistress of King George I. As a result, Howe and his 3 brothers were the uncles of King George III. On January 4, 1756, Howe was appointed major of the newly formed 60th Regiment, and traveled with the unit to North America for operations against the French.

On March 1776, British army decides to attack New York City. After several nights Lord Howe took over New York City on September 15, 1776 with 30,000 British and German soldiers. They almost entirely crushed the poorly trained Continental Army. Washington decided to get revenge and attacked a group of German soldiers that belonged with the British army at midnight on December 26, 1776. They were in a garrison stationed near a place called Trenton. As a result, Howe pulled back many of his outposts.

Howe defeated Washington at the Battle of Brandywine on September 11. Outnumbering the Americans, Howe captured the city(New York City) without a fight eleven days later. In the fall of 1777, Lord Howe won over Washington and got Philadelphia. Later on June 1778, they evacuate Philadelphia into New York City. On the way to New York City they fought with George Washington's army on Monmouth. British are attacked by the Continental Army, so they turn their attention to the south colonies.

Thomas Paine

  

       Thomas Paine was born in Thetford, England on January 29, 1737 and died on June 8, 1809. He was an influential writer of essays and pamphlets. His father was a quaker and he had an anglican mother. Thomas received a not so formal educate, but he did learn how to read and write. When he was 13 years old, he began working with his father as a corset maker and later on started working as an officer, hunting smugglers and collecting tobacco and liquor taxes. He did not succeed in this work and his life in England was very much full of failures.

       Around 1760, his wife and child both died at childbirth, and his company of corset making didn't go too well and went down. In 1772,  he published "The Case of The Officers of Excise" this was an article in defense of a higher pay for all excise officers. This was his first political work, and in 1774, he got fired from the excise office. Luckily for him, he met Benjamin Franklin who advised him to move to America, and so he did. He arrived in Philadelphia in 1774, the job he got when he first got there, was helping to edit the Pennsylvania Magazine. At this time he had already started writing and publishing several articles. 

       Five months after his arrival in America, the most important event on the most famous work he did would occur. After the battles in Lexington and Concord in 1775, which were the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary war Paine argued that America shouldn't just revolt against taxation, but what they should do is demand their Independence from Britain completely. He mentioned this in a pamphlet called "Common Sense" which was printed on January 10, 1776. This pamphlet was very powerful, it changed people's ideas and pushed them towards wanting Independence. He mentioned three important things in this pamphlet and those were; declare Independence from Great Britain, to become a Republican State Government and to Unite the States.

Funny Cartoons

Continental Army

The Continental Army was a group of soldiers under the command of George Washington. This army was different from the state militias. the Continental Army stood around 230,000 strong, while the state militias could count around 164,000 men, although only 20,000 men were actively fighting at any one time. Washington commanded the Continental Army from June 1775 to the end of the war in 1783.



Washington had gained plenty of military experience during the French and Indian War. The original Continental Army was made up of the New England army. The Second Congressional Congress co-opted this force as the new U.S. army and ordered that 10 companies of riflemen be recruited from other states. This would provide for the larger force that developed as the war continued. Many of the soldiers came from agricultural backgrounds and were poorly trained, poorly paid, not used to military discipline and refused to leave their farms for extended periods.



Washington developed tactics to take advantage of the opportunities available to his armies. He tried to maintain a strong army and avoid situations where his soldiers were outnumbered and could be trapped and captured or killed. His men would not hesitate to retreat if that was the best option open to them. He also used small mobile forces to harass, confuse and distract the British.

Olive Branch Petition

      On May 1775, The Second Continental Congress met to discuss some problems that have been going on between Britain and the colonies. After forming the Continental Army and putting George Washington as commander, they tried their best effort to avoid war. So, on July 1775 Congress sent an "Olive Branch Petition" to the king of Britain. This Petition was the Americans trying to make peace and pleaded, they even declared their loyalty to the crown. This "Olive Branch Petition" was their last attempt to find a peaceful end to the revolution.

      Congress drafted the Olive Branch Petition, it outlined their issues and asked the British government to respond and deal with them. The King didn't like the Americans and this affected his decision over the Petition. He didn't even want to read it, he refused to receive the Olive Branch Petition. Instead he declared the colonies to be in state of rebellion in August. He truly believed the Americans to be in a rebellion and believed it could be ended with military force. 

     The Olive Branch Petition has been called different names, like for example, The Second Petition to the King and The Humble Petition. Although the King refused the Petition it still served a very important purpose in the Independence. The King's rejection, actually gave John Adams and his radicals a chance they need in order to move forward to the Independence. Even though the Congress did their last effort at ending the war in peace with Britain, which unfortunately, the stubborn King, refused, it was still a success.

Second Continental Congress

     

      After the battles of Concord and Lexington Second Continental Congress (the thirteen colonies) met in Philadelphia on May 1775. They assumed full responsibility for what happened in Massachusetts. There were now some delegates that were not in the First Continental Congress. These new delegates included Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and the new president of the Continental Congress who was John Hancock. Some radical people like for example, Benjamin Franklin wanted to claim Independence, but the other delegates realized that they were not ready for that and that it was not a good idea.

      The Second Continental Congress decided many important things. Some of these things included organizing the militia of the colonies better. So they decided to form an army called Continental Army. They also decided to put George Washington as the commander of this army. He knew that this army was going to face great difficulty. Great Britain was the most powerful nation on earth, so its frightening just to think that the Continental Army would might need to fight against Britain.

     Another thing the Congress discussed was if they were going to print paper money. This passed and later on it was done, paper money started to be printed. The Second Continental Congress was one of the most important government meeting in the history of the United States. The very first time the Continental Congress met was on September 5, 1774 and October 26, 1774 also in Philadelphia. Although that time all the colonies joined except for Georgia and it was still a success. This Congress decided most of the important decisions, including the making of the Continental Army and others. 

The Battles of Lexington and Concord

                                    The Battles of Lexington and Concord, fought on April 19, 1775, started off the American Revolutionary War. Tensions had been building for many years between people of the 13 American colonies and the British Parliament/King, mainly in Massachusetts. War erupted between Lexington and Concord. General Thomas Gage sent troops to capture and arrest John Hancock and Samuel Adams. Paul Revere wanted to warn the colonists that the British were coming.

The battles marked the outbreak of open armed conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and its thirteen colonies in the mainland of British North America. They received details about British plans on the night before the battle and were able to rapidly notify the area militias of the enemy movement. About 700 British Army regulars were given secret orders to capture and destroy military supplies that were reportedly stored by the Massachusetts militia at Concord.


The superior British killed 7 Americans on Lexington Green and marched to Concord with new regiments who had joined them. But American militias arriving at Concord before the British in advance. when the advance guard of nearly 240 British soldiers arrived in Lexington, they found about 70 minutemen formed on the Lexington Green waiting for them. Suddenly, a bullet went through the morning air. It was "the shot heard round the world."

The Quartering and Stamp Acts

After the British Parliament decided the colonies should pay more to them. George Grenville was the Prime Minister of Great Britain. Grenville created courts to collect taxes. In 1765, British Parliament passed an unpopular law called The Quartering Act of 1765. This law or act required the colonists to provide housing and supplies to the British soldiers. The soldiers were placed in the colonies to protect the land. This got colonists angry, plus they started to think the British Parliament had the soldiers placed in their houses to spy on them.

Parliament was able to gain power from the king through the Glorious Revolution, which meant Parliament was a governing body representing the people in England. British citizens were given protection from unfair taxes by the Magna Carta. King George said the colonists deserved to be taxed because the British protected them. He had more power then the Parliament. Money was being spent faster than it was brought in. One of these reasons was because the colonists needed money to pay the troops being used to protect their colonies, and because they had to pay the English governors who had been assigned to the colonies.


On March 1765, British Parliament passed a bill that was intended to raise more money from the colonists called Stamp Act. This bill consisted of the colonists paying taxes for everything they printed. It was the first time the colonists made a direct tax. Colonists claimed that threatened their prosperity and liberty. They did not have a representation in the British Parliament. People from the colonies thought the Stamp Act created a conspiracy to destroy American liberties. Parliament saw the colonists selfish and narrow-minded. Parliament had the right to levy taxes on them. The Stamp Act lasted only one year before Parliament repealed it.

Boston Tea Party

    
      The British East Indian Company would bring tea to the colonies. The British Parliament passed a law allowing this company to sell the tea directly to the colonists. This made the tea cheaper than the one the colonists smuggle. Even though the tea the British East Indian Company sold was cheaper, the colonists refused to buy their tea.

On December 16, 1773, the Boston Patriots dressed up like Mohawk Indians for disguise, and boarded on ships that brought tea from England. After getting in, they threw all the tea into the ocean and this was called The Boston Tea Party. Over 300 boxes of English tea were thrown into the sea. This act was to protest the taxes they had placed on tea. The Sons of Liberty organized this Boston Tea Party. The Sons of Liberty was an organization trying to stop the British from taxing them.


According to a participant of this party called Ebenezer Stevens, they never really dressed as indians. Approximately 2/3 of the people who participated were supposedly under the age of 20. 9 protesters were age 40 and over, and there were 16 teenagers. A member of the Sons of Liberty tried to steal some tea before it was dumped into the harbor. A member of this organization was forbidden to steal tea from the ships. This member was punished. This more than 300 containers thrown into the sea totaled 90,000 pounds of tea.

The Sons of Liberty

      Those who opposed British taxes started calling themselves Patriots. These patriots then made an organization or association known as The Sons of Liberty. This is an association that was formed initially to protest the Stamp Act. The colonists at this point, when the Stamp Act was declared, they got really angry and decided to make this association. These organizations started initially in Boston and New York, but then some other colonies adopted it as well.

      By the end of the year the Sons of Liberty existed in every single colony. Their main objective was to make the tax collectors, to stop collecting the taxes. With this the Patriots in Boston came with an idea. This idea was known as Tarring and Feathering. This was a physical punishment, the victim would be stripped to his waist, then hot tar was either poured or painted onto the person while the person couldn't move, and last but not least either the victim had feathers thrown at him or he was rolled around on a pile of feathers so these would stick to the tar. The Bostonians would pour hot tea down the throat of a tax collector who has been tarred and feathered. When the tax collectors saw what the Sons of Liberty would do to them, they were very scared and eventually they stopped collecting taxes. So by the end of the year there were no tax collectors in order to collect the taxes.

      Thomas Hutchinson was the Massachusetts Governor and he said that it was the colonists duty to pay for the taxes, England had imposed. The colonists heard this and they got so angry that they burned down Hutchinson's house. After the Stamp Act was repealed (1766), a year passed and the Sons of Liberty disbanded. But their Patriotic spirit and the name did not vanish.

The French and Indian War

     The French and Indian War was also known as The Seven Year War. This war was known to Europe as The Seven Year War while in America it was known as The French and Indian War. This war started on 1756 and ended on 1763. Many people think that this war was a fight between the French and the Indians, but it was the French and Indians fighting against England. All Indian Tribes from the eastern part, except for one tribe, fought with the French and against the British.

      The British and French battled for colonial domination in North America, the Caribbean and in India. This war spread through Europe, Africa and the West Indies. From 1756 to 1757, France destroyed British forts, while the Indians raided frontier settlements in Pennsylvania. On 1758 to 1759, the war shifts, the British somehow managed to stop the shipping from the French to the Indians, leaving the Indians with no ammunitions to fight with. As a result the Indians desert the French and stop fighting against the British. 

      The British can now take over Quebec since the Indians are not protecting it anymore. In 1759 England captures Quebec. By 1760 they had control over Canada, meaning that the British won the war. Then the Treaty of Paris (1763) officially declared that the British got most of the French land in North America and this finally ended the Seven Year War.

About Us

This blog is a project for our US History class on the American Revolution. Two students will be managing this blog and our names are Mariale and Daniela. (from left to right)