AM Revolution

Key Players:

• Sam Adams

  • a beer brewer

  • hype man/instigator in AM Rev

    • e.g. instigating the Tea Party

  • leader of the Sons of Liberty

• John Adams

  • cousin of Sam Adams

  • opposite of Sam (calm, cool, collected)

  • lawyer 4 redcoats during the Boston Massacre

  • first VP + second Pres.

  • didn’t own slaves

• Benedict Arnold

  • biggest traitor in AM history

    • started fighting for US, but kept getting passed over for promotion → defected to BR

    • gave BR info on US to convince them to accept him on their side (led to BR winning battles)

• Ben Franklin

  • flew the kite w/the key 4 electricity (actually sent his son to do it)

  • invented bifocal glasses

  • started 1st fire department

  • made Franklin stove

  • is on $100 bill

  • had newspaper, Pennsylvania Gazette

  • Minister to France (convinced, w/Lafayette, France to help US)

  • loved George Whitefield

• G. Washington

  • general of Continental Army

  • first Pres

  • made name for himself in French-Indian War

• Baron von Steuben

  • Prussian

  • met Franklin in France, connected him w/G.Wash at Valley Forge

    • Valley Forge - extreme cold, hunger → soldiers were leaving

  • if Steuben didn’t show up + bring food, clothes, ammunitions, US wouldn’t have had a military, would still be British

    • ran a training camp; wrote a book about training that US still uses

• Nathaniel Greene

  • started guerilla warfare

    • BR had been fighting a “gentlemen’s war” - fighting in lines, out in the open, taking turns

    • now US would hide + surprise attack

• John Hancock

  • biggest signature on the Constitution, in the middle

    • did it as a jab at the King (the King would know he had signed it + committed “treason”)

  • at first, didn’t want to be a part of the AM Rev

    • was a rlly rich smuggler to Britain

    • BR General Gage showed up at his house + told him he was taking over his house, ships, goods

    • this led to him joining the AM Rev (financed the US)

• Nathan Hale

  • spy 4 Washington

  • captured + hanged

    • last words = “my one regret is that i have but one life to give to my country”

    • became a motto for Rev

      • later became CIA motto

• Hamilton

  • first Secretary of Treasury

  • set up economy

• Patrick Henry

  • “give me liberty or give me death”

• John Jay

  • one of the writers of the Federalist Papers

  • one of first Justices of the Supreme Court

  • failed treaty = Jay’s Treaty

• Thomas Jefferson

  • wrote D.O.I in 2 days (plagiarized)

  • Louisiana Purchase

  • House of Burgesses

  • gave separation of Church and State

• James Madison

  • “Father of the Constitution”

  • an author of Federalist Papers

• George Mason

  • wrote VA Dec. of Rights

    • became the Bill of Rights

• Thomas Paine

  • wrote “Common Sense” pamphlet

    • need to separate; how can BR control from across an ocean

• Betsy Ross

  • did NOT sew the flag

  ---

  Stamp Act

  • BR needs bcuz of FR/indian war debt

    • benefits of BR rule = trade + protection

  • taxes on all printed materials (legal docs, newspapers, cards, etc); also sugar is taxed (Sugar Act)

  • also taxed alcohol (1 pence per gal=$2 today); but colonies had big alcohol problem

    • they drank 3x the amount of alcohol than we do today

    • why? the water wasn’t clean but they needed something to drink

  • all the taxes upset the colonists

  • Sons of Liberty: formed in response to taxes + boycotted goods

    • S. Adams = leader

    • wrote letter to King George III about their dissatisfaction

      • letters = how they expressed anger/upset during this time

    • they said they fought for the BR, it was unfair, etc

    • “taxation w/o representation” vs “virtual representation”

      • the colonies weren’t literally represented bcuz of continent difference (obvs), but they wanted to have a voice

      • King George III said they had “virtual representation” bcuz they were British citizens; also said that all BR citizens are being taxed (not just the colonies)

    • committees of correspondence were started to get everyone on the same page

      • boycotts needed everyone in order to be successful, not just Boston ppl

  • Stamp Act Congress - meant to create unified resistance of colonists

Townshend Act

• replaced the Stamp Act

• placed tax on glass, lead, tea (common items): tax increased to 4 pence per lb ($8 today)

  • no plastic yet, so everything was in glass

• tax money was going to pay BR officials, soldiers, etc

  • colonists didn’t like this + BR army was there w/o consent

  • boycott goods again

• Boston Massacre- March 5, 1770

  • Crispus Attucks threw snowballs w/rocks at the Redcoats

  • crowd joins in, Redcoats start firing, kills 5 ppl (a lot of ppl to them at the time)

• Paul Revere drew pics of the Massacre, sent it to all the colonies for everyone to see

  • painted a dog to show loyalty on the colonists side

  • didn’t show Crispus Attucks bcuz it was also going to the Southern colonies

  • the BR soldiers are in a line, firing at the colonists, to show they were in the wrong

  • doesn’t show the snowballs

• BR perspective = to show the colonists were the antagonists, the BR were defending themselves, includes the snowballs

• 2 diff perspectives on the taxes:

  1. the colonists should help pay off BR debt

  2. BR is alr making money off the colonies via trade

Tea Act (1773)

• monopoly on tea- could only sell/buy East India Co (owned by BR)

  • made colonists upset bcuz put local merchants out of business (could either go bankrupt or sell E. India Co tea)

  • monopoly made BR tea potentially rlly bad quality (no competition)

• ships were taxed based on weight of cargo

  • affected tea, tobacco, and Southern slave merchants (ppl are heavy)

• S. Adams leads Boston Tea Party at Boston Harbor in the evening, not night (everyone could see them)

  • ppl go onto the ships and dump all the tea into the harbor (340 chests = 18,523,000 cups of tea = millions of in profit lost)

  • Adams told them not to touch anything except for the tea + they cleaned up after themselves

• BR punishment = Intolerable (Coercive) Acts

  1. Port Act **- closed Boston Harbor til all tea is repaid

     1. hurt all colonists, not just the ppl involved

  2. Administration of Justice Act - Governor Gage, commander of BR army, sent to AM + could move trials of crown officials to BR instead of trials w/colonists (no jury)

     1. colonists lost their representation in trial

     2. Gage = rlly mean, basically wanted to break the colonists

  3. Massachusetts Govt Act - increased power of governor + lowered Assembly power (made up colonists)

  4. Quartering Act - increased circumstances in which BR soldiers could live in colonists’ houses; it would be their job to take total care of them (food, laundry, etc)

COLONISTS FIGHT BACK!

• Liberty Tree in Boston

  • huge tree that everyone passed by

  • nailed political cartoons, trash talk, etc on this tree (basically the community bulletin board)

• tar + feathered tax collectors (intimidation tool/humilition)

  • crowds would pour hot tar on them + cover them in chicken feathers + drag them out of the city while insulting them

  • would leave scars on them

Battles:

Lexington + Concord - April 18-19, 1775

• “shot heard around the world”

• no one knows who fired the first shot

• started the War

• b4, Paul Revere’s ride

  • didn’t actually go and yell “the brits are coming” - they were alr there in the ppl’s house (Quartering Act)

  • a group of riders would go around and knock on ppl’s doors and tell them the Brits are coming

  • the “midnight ride” was penned by a poet ~100 years later

    • was actually more like a 10pm ride

  • they knew if the BR were coming by land/ocean by either lighting 1 or 2 lanterns

Bunker Hill - June 1775

• Prescott (US) vs Gage (BR)

• BR wasn’t expecting a lot from US bcuz most ppl weren’t professional soldiers

  • US did still lose, but took out 1/2 of BR soldiers

• “don’t shoot until you can see the whites of their eyes”

  • they needed to be rlly close to be accurate (due to the weapon quality + inexperience)

• after the battle, King G3 said that US was in rebellion, ordered to arrest Adams, Washington, etc.

Washington crossing the Delaware/Battle of Trenton - Dec 25, 1776

• G. Wash surprise the Hessians + capture them as POWs

• Brits were waiting for the Hessians that never came

Valley Forge (tech not a battle) - ‘77-’78 winter

• thousands of men are dying from smallpox

• many soldiers are leaving

• Baron von Steuben saves the day

  • teaches them how to properly fight, boosted morale, etc.

• turning point bcuz if not for Steuben, could’ve lost the war (no army)

Battle of Saratoga - Sept - Oct 1777

• turning point of the war (battle-wise)

• FR and SP join in as allies after the battle

Yorktown - Oct 1781

• G. Wash comes by land, FR Rochambeau come by sea, surround the BR

  • BR Cornwallis surrenders

  • when it came time for the surrender to actually happen, Cornwallis didn’t show up - he told his other general to did it for him (called in sick)

• America wins the war!

Advantages + Disadvantages:

• BR was an ocean away

  • adv 4 AM, dis 4 BR

• AM had better leaders

• AM fought a defensive war

  • home field advantage

• Lack of supplies on both sides (smallpox on both)

• BR had more men

• FR/SP allies with AM

• GER allies with BR

• AM had reason to fight (love of liberty, underdogs)

Black solders in the war

• main issue is freedom

  • both sides were offering freedom to slaves, so they just picked which side they thought would win

• Washington cuts black recruits from Continental Army (had to many ppl), but adds them back in after Valley Forge

  • black troops only made up 10% of army

• Role in Yorktown for BR

  • the black soldiers on the BR side had to make decision: either stay in AM and be re-enslaved OR go to BR

    • some ppl did go to BR; but BR left a lot of the black troops in AM (left them to be re-enslaved)

• famous

  • Colonel Tye (BR)

    • used guerilla warfare

    • led most feared division

    • got shot in the wrist, got infected, turned into gangrene, died

  • Prince Hall, Salem Poor, Peter Salem (AM)

    • got sent into army by their massas

    • Hall opened a school for black ppl

  • Agrippa Hull (AM)

    • fought in every major battle w/G. Wash

  • James Armistead “Lafayette”

    • was a double spy for AM + gave info about BR side

    • BR wanted him to be a double agent for them as well

      • gave AM all the real, useful info

      • gave BR all the useless info

  • James Forten (AM)* involved in the Civil War

    • taken as a BR POW for 7 months

    • 15 yrs old

    • becomes friends w/BR captain’s son; got the opportunity to go to BR + live with him, but denied it so he could fight with AM

  • Prince Whipple (AM)

    • only black man on the ship with G Wash when they crossed Delaware

Women in War

• supported boycotts - Daughters of Liberty/Daughters of the American Revolution

  • DOL figured out what to use instead of paper (glass, etc)

• raised money + supplies, made uniforms

• defenders of homes/land, had to be careful bcuz they could become a problem through their letters to loved ones

  • this the same role women had in other wars (doing both the men and the women’s jobs)

  • letters were an issue for G. Wash bcuz some soldiers would leave the army + return home due to what some of the letters said

    • Wash would read all the letters b4hand to make sure that nothing would persuade the soldiers to go back home

• some women/children followed the army, had to earn their keep - women were given ½ a man’s rations, kids given ¼ men’s rations

  • if the family was poor, the family would follow the husband (soldier), cuz they couldn’t pay for their homes + lives w/o the husband

  • was an issue for G. Wash

• nurses, laundry, cooks

• famous ladies - Abigail Adams, Mercy Otis Warren, Sarah Fulton, “Molly Pitcher,” Betty Zane

  • Adams - famous for her “remember the ladies” letter

    • not a normal society lady; she wore the pants in the relationship (controlled their finances)

    • big supporter of her husband; upset that no one built him a memorial

    • owned zero slaves

  • Warren - first historian to write down what happened in the American Revolution

  • Fulton - house was the hangout spot for the Sons of Liberty

    • got them the Native disguises for the Boston Tea Party

  • “Molly Pitcher” - glorified water boy for the army

    • husband was a canon loader, she saw him get shot (didn’t die) - moved him out of the way and started loading the canon

    • became the canon loader for the army

  • Zane - delivered gun powder on the battle field

• Deborah Sampson

  • pulled a Mulan

  • dressed as her brother Robert + fought as a man in the army for over 1 year;

• Patience Lovell Wright (an AM in BR)

  • sculptor, lived in London

  • moved in elite circles - was able to overhear info about the war from the men

    • wrote down the info, put it inside the sculptures, and sent them to the AM army

  • William Pitt wax sculpture = the only wax sculpture still have from her

• Sybil Ludington… maybe??

  • allegedly rode from CT to NY, saying the BR were coming

  • allegedly the female Paul Revere

Native Americans in War

• most were pro-BR

  • they alr knew what they were getting into

  • independent AM posed far greater threat to their interest

  • thought BR presence would restrain AM westward expansion (Proclamation of 1763)

• pretty much all but 2 tribes were pro-BR

  • served as guides + interpreters 4 BR

• Iroquois Chief Joseph Brant

  • pro-BR

  • said “a defeat of the BR meant a defeat of Natives as well”

    • was lowk right

IMPORTANT GROUPS

• Sons of Liberty

• Daughters of Liberty

• Committees of Correspondence

• 1st + 2nd Continental Congress

  • both met in Philadelphia (Independence Hall)

  • all the important ppl are there

  • 1st - 1774

    • response to the Intolerable Acts (Boston’s ports have been closed)

    • ideas of what to do w/the Loyalists

      • tar + feather them

      • seize their property

      • burn down their businesses

      • make their lives hell ‘til they leave

  • 2nd - 1775

    • write Olive Branch Petition

      • last letter to King G3; tried to reason, KG3 says no

    • G. Wash is leader of the Continental Army

    • assign 5 ppl to write the DOI

      • Jefferson writes the most of it

• Culper Spy Ring

  • made of men, women, some Loyalists who had switched sides

  • used invisible ink

  • codes in how their laundry was hung

  • “BR was not outmatched, but out-spied”

• POWs

  • kept in the bottom of ships

  • conditions = bad

    • smallpox, dysentery

  • between 8-11K who died

AFTERMATH OF THE WAR

• Treaty of Paris 1783: Franklin, Jay, J Adams negotiate it

  • even though 1781 is the surrender, they needed time to get word out, get everything settled, etc.

• terms:

  • AM is free from BR

    • other countries had to also say they were free (FR + SP)

  • AM has to pay any debts owed to BR (econ. depression begins)

    • no AM currency = no money

  • Established boundaries of AM

    • pretty much the 13 colonies

    • agriculture = 90% of AM

      • wheat, rice, tobacco, etc.

  • ~25K died (mostly from disease - no sanitation)

    • 4 million = population

  • had to establish their own government

    • this is the hard part - setting up democratic republic

    • has to be a united nation, not just individual states

Declaration of Independence

• argued over more than any other document (including the Constitution) in AM history; brought about by the 2nd CC

  • also misquoted (it’s “We the People,” not “We hold these truths to be self-evident”)

• experiment of nation-building

  • know what we DON’T want, not really what we DO want

• central document of AM political life

• last argument w/BR; created a common cause - defending AM liberty

• advances the cause of democracy, equal rights, and individual liberty at home + around the world