The roots of the American Revolution lie in the writings of European Enlightenment thinkers like Baron de Montesquieu, John Locke, and Thomas Hobbes. These men were the first to question the governments of their time, and the first to try to find ways to make them better. Ideas like the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, were based on Locke’s writings. The separation of powers equally within the government came from Montesquieu. The Americans were the first to physically revolt instead of just writing about how cruel England was. In this paper I’ll tell you how they wrote the book on revolution.
From the beginning this was a mismatched war. There was the giant power of England versus the tiny fledgling that was America. England had the world’s largest navy, thanks to their defeat of the Spanish Armada almost 200 years prior to the war, they had a professional army with 50,000 soldiers and trained officers; efficient factories that produced war goods like guns, backpacks, and uniforms; a strong government; and Indian allies in the Iroquois. They were going against a country that didn’t have money to support the war because the Continental Congress couldn’t tax the states. They had undisciplined minutemen who didn’t serve for very long, who only fought when the war was near where they lived, and who often deserted when the going got tough. They had a very small navy, mostly made up of privateers. The Americans also had a few things going for them. First of all they had the desire for freedom which made them much more willing to fight than the British. To further help them, the Patriots knew the landscape. Unlike the British, they could blend in with the non-Patriots, and they used guerrilla warfare tactics, like hiding behind rocks and trees, taking a shot as the troops walked down the road, and then going home to tend the fields. The British preferred open-field battles which meant they would take a break at midday for lunch or tea while the Americans picked them off. They also wore bright, red coats, hence the name "redcoats,” and they marched in straight lines that you couldn’t miss. Going back to the support of the war, there were English politicians and merchants who didn’t support the war. During the fights there were many Hessians who deserted, about 5,000 in fact, and there were “press gangs,” men who were forced into service after being picked up off the streets, who would also desert or defect to the Patriots. America’s final two advantages were that they were “rifled” while the British were “smooth boarded,” and that America was 3,000 miles from Britain, which made travel tough for the British.
Other points that mark the start of war are the first battles of Ft. Ticonderoga and The Battle of Bunker Hill, also known as the The Battle of Breed’s Hill. Before even the formation of a real army there were bands of colonists who were fighting on their own. Ethan Allen’s Green Mountain Boys and Benedict Arnold’s band of 400 soldiers met up on May 10, 1775 to attack Fort Ticonderoga, on New York’s Lake Champlain. They snuck into the fort quietly during the night and took the fort. The victory gave the Americans 50 cannons and some much needed ammunition. They dragged the cannons, which weighed 2-6 tons each, 200 miles to Boston. A month later, on June 17, 1775, 1,200 Americans, lead by Colonel William Prescott, dug into Bunker Hill and Breed’s Hill near Boston to stop from being driven out of the city by General Gage’s troops. The 2,000 British soldiers, with heavy packs on, struggled up the hills. The American troops, mostly militiamen, were told not to fire,“until you see the whites of their eyes,” since they were low on ammunition. The British tried two attacks and failed on both of them. On the third charge the Americans didn’t have any gunpowder and had to retreat. One-thousand British died while only 400 Americans were found dead. Even though they retreated, it was a moral victory because it showed that America could put up a fight.
The final step towards independence was the Declaration of Independence,written by Thomas Jefferson . It was signed on July 4, 1776 by all the delegates of the Second Continental Congress. It was divided into four parts: the Preamble which explains why the Second Continental Congress drew up the Declaration, the Declaration of Rights which lists the rights of citizens, the List of Grievances which explains what the colonists didn’t like about King George’s policies, and the Resolution of Independence by the United States that colonies are free and independent states with the power to make war, to form alliances, and to trade with other countries. This document made them Americans fighting for independence, not rebellious Englishmen.
The two things that turned the war around to where the Americans were winning were the battles of Princeton and Trenton, and the help from Europe. The Americans had just been defeated at New York by General Howe when they retreated into Pennsylvania. The Americans were in bad shape because they didn’t have much food and they were very tired. Many gave up and left for home. To save his troops’ spirits, Washington planned a surprise attack on the drunk, sleeping Hessians who lay across the Delaware River in Trenton, NJ. During the night of December 26, 1776, Washington’s 2,400 men crossed the river unseen and took the Hessians in one and one-half hours without even one shot being fired. On January 3, 1777 he defeated General Cornwallis at Princeton. Both of these victories gave the U.S. soldiers hope and it raised their morale.
Help from Europe came in the form of many troops, but I’m only going to tell you about five outstanding ones. Baron Friedrich von Steuben of Germany spent the winter at Valley Forge with Washington and his troops. He helped train the troops and he told them how to work as a unit. His good humor while telling them military tactics gave them good spirits. Marquis de Lafayette of France fought with Washington in Pennsylvania. He became a general for the Continental Army at the age of 19. Thaddeus Kosciuszko of Poland told the U.S. how to build trenches. Casimir Pulaski, also form Poland, trained the 1st American cavalry. Bernardo de Galvez, the governor of Spanish Louisiana, secretly gave supplies to the U.S. during the early years of the Revolution. He defeated the British at Natchez and Baton Rouge. He also captured Mobile in 1780 and Pensecola in 1781. He diverted the British from other warfronts, and took off some of the pressure that was on the Americans.
The end of the war is obviously Yorktown. General Cornwallis led his 7,500 troops to Yorktown, Virginia after being attacked continuously by hit and run operations in the South. From Yorktown he was able to get supplies, have access to the ocean, and have a safe haven for his army. On August 29, 1781 a fleet of 29 French ships blockaded Chesapeake Bay. At the same time 7,000 of Washington’s men marched towards Yorktown. They arrived on September 14th, and after unsuccessful escape attempts, Cornwallis surrendered on October 19, 1781.
The war was over and on September 3, 1783 the Treaty of Paris was signed. It stated that the United States would be acknowledged as an independent country, that it would get the lands from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River and from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. Spain would have Florida returned to them, and the Loyalists would be repaid for any damaged property. This last law was ignored by most people. This revolution was the first armed conflict against a colonial power by anyone and it cleared the way for all future rebellions.
