American Revolution (1776–1783) – Session 3 Comprehensive Notes

Economic roots
- Navigation Acts (in force since $1600s$ ) regulated colonial exports (tobacco, sugar, later all staples) so goods flowed to England first.
- Post–French & Indian War debt (war fought $1756\text{–}1763$ ) prompts Parliament to tax colonies.
Enlightenment inspiration
- European thinkers of the $1700s$ (John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, etc.) write on natural rights $\bigl(\text{life, liberty, property}\bigr)$ , popular sovereignty, elections.
- Colonial elite (planters, merchants, lawyers) read, discuss, and publicize these works.
- Desired reform: real representation in Parliament, not merely obedience to imperial trade policy.
English historical precedent
- English Civil War of the $1640s$ saw merchants vs. King Charles I over taxation without representation—colonists invoke the same tradition.

New revenue acts
- Currency Act $1764$ : all imports paid in gold/silver—colonial merchants lack hard specie.
- Stamp & Sugar Acts (mid- $1760s$ ) tax documents and molasses.
- Declaratory Act $1766$ : denies seats to colonial delegates, offers only "virtual representation," re-asserts Parliamentary supremacy.
- Townshend Duties $1767$ tax ${\text{paper, glass, paint, lead, tea}}$ at ports.
Massachusetts takes the lead in resistance; trade restrictions and specie shortages hit Boston merchants hardest.

Formed in Massachusetts; key leaders: James Otis, John Adams, Sam Adams.
Tactics
- Pamphleteering: short essays explaining Locke, the Social Contract, natural rights to largely illiterate public (only $\approx20\%$ literacy).
- Boycotts & smuggling: urge colonists to avoid British goods, import through Dutch, French, or Portuguese traders instead.
- Mob action: harassment, tar-and-feathering customs officials; burning Governor Thomas Hutchinson’s home.
British troops arrive (about $4\,000$ ) to protect officials—tensions rise.
Boston Massacre ( $5$ March $1770$ ): crowd confronts soldiers; gunfire kills one civilian—propagandized as "massacre."

Tea Act $1773$ grants East India Company monopoly on importing & retailing tea; can undersell all rivals.
Seven tea-laden ships dispatched (three to Boston). Sons of Liberty blockade harbor.
Night raid: colonists disguised as Mohawk Indians dump $90\,000$ lbs of tea into harbor—"Boston Tea Party."

Massachusetts Government Act
- Revokes private Massachusetts Bay charter; colony becomes royal, property theoretically the King’s.
- Local councils & town meetings dissolved; officials henceforth appointed by Crown.
Boston Port Act closes harbor until East India Company compensated.
Other coercive measures reinforce troop quartering & trials in Britain.
Intended as exemplary punishment—signal to other colonies what defiance brings.

First Continental Congress (Philadelphia, $1774$ )
- Delegates from all $13$ colonies meet; send petitions to King George III seeking redress, NOT independence.
- Delegate alignment: $\approx70\%$ Loyalist vs. $\approx30\%$ Revolutionary.
- News of armed clashes at Lexington & Concord (April $1775$ ) reaches Congress—war has begun.
Thomas Paine’s "Common Sense" (published Jan $1776$ )
- $60$ -page pamphlet commissioned by Benjamin Franklin; argues it is "common sense" that:
- America’s vast resources & geography favor prosperity as an independent nation.
- Free trade & westward land access require release from Navigation Acts & Proclamation Line.
- War already under way; neutrality impossible.
- Widely read; flips public opinion: now $\approx70\%$ in favor of independence.
Second Continental Congress (May–July $1776$ ) tasks Thomas Jefferson to draft a formal declaration.

Philosophical foundation: natural rights ( $\text{life, liberty, property}$ ) & consent of the governed.
English precedents cited to justify rebellion (parallels with Civil War grievances).
List of key grievances
- Cutting off trade via Navigation Acts.
- Taxation without representation.
- Dissolving colonial legislatures (esp. Massachusetts).
- Impressment of colonists into Royal Navy.
- Quartering of troops in private homes.
- Hiring of German Hessian mercenaries.

Continental Army formed; Commander-in-Chief: George Washington (Virginia).
British strategy
- Recruit Native American allies; promise western lands remain closed to settlers.
- Emancipate enslaved Africans who join British forces (thousands flee plantations).
Colonial diplomacy
- Benjamin Franklin secures French & Dutch support.
- France supplies $\approx90\%$ of gunpowder; sends officers & fleet.
- Dutch banks finance war effort at favorable rates.
British disadvantages
- Long supply lines ( $3\,000$ mi/ $4\,800$ km $).$
- Other European wars divide attention.
- Colonial population ethnically mixed; perhaps $50\%$ non-English (German, Irish, Scots) → weak loyalty to Crown.
Protracted conflict drains British treasury; political will to continue wanes.

Britain formally recognizes independence of $13$ states, collectively styled "United States of North America."
(Name later shortened to "United States of America" in common usage.)
Provisional borders set between U.S. & British Canada; ambiguity will spark later disputes (e.g., War of $1812$ ).
Population shifts
- $\approx250\,000$ Loyalists leave for Canada, Britain, or British Caribbean (Jamaica).
- Thousands of freed African Americans evacuate with British or disperse to Native territory.
Southern planter losses → long-term resentment; repeated petitions to Britain for compensation.

Demonstrates Enlightenment ideals can underpin a successful anti-imperial revolution.
Introduces republican government based on written constitutions & elected representation.
Highlights contradictions: first large-scale emancipation in the South (via British policy) yet slavery persists and will expand.
Sets economic precedent for free-trade aspirations and westward expansion that will dominate early U.S. policy.