Independence and the Birth of a National Military Study Guide

Chronology of Independence and the Birth of a National Military

• $1765$: Stamp Act.
• $1766$: Declaratory Act.
• $1767$: Townshend Duties.
• $1770$: Boston Massacre.
• $1773$: Boston Tea Party.
• $1774$: Coercive Acts.
• $1775$:
  • Battles of Lexington and Concord.
  • Continental Army and Navy formed.
  • George Washington appointed commander-in-chief by Congress.
• $1776$:
  • Siege of Boston; Battles of Bunker Hill and Breed's Hill.
  • Battles of New York, White Plains, and Trenton.
  • Colonies formally declare independence from Great Britain.
• $1777$: Battles of Princeton, Brandywine, Germantown, and Saratoga.
• $1778$:
  • Battle of Monmouth.
  • France enters the War of American Independence.
• $1779$:
  • Battle of Stony Point.
  • John Paul Jones defeats HMS Serapis.
• $1780$:
  • British occupy Charleston.
  • Battles of the Waxhaws, Camden, and King's Mountain.
• $1781$:
  • Articles of Confederation ratified to govern the United States.
  • Battles of Cowpens and Guilford Courthouse.
  • Cornwallis surrenders at Yorktown.
• $1783$:
  • Treaty of Paris ratified by Congress.
  • Newburgh Conspiracy.
• $1786$: Shays' Rebellion.
• $1787$: Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia.

Introduction to the Conflict

• The Great War for Empire left Great Britain as the dominant global imperial power but with a nearly empty treasury.
• To raise revenue, Parliament attempted to:
  • Permanently station British regulars in American colonies.
  • Restrict colonial settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains.
• These measures inadvertently sparked a revolution costing the crown thirteen North American colonies.
• The United States faced difficulty configuring its postwar military because of deeply held traditions:
  • Loathing of centralized authority.
  • Abhorrence of standing militaries.
  • High regard for the militia system.

Toward a Break with Great Britain

• Financial and Strategic Pressures: Britain passed revenue acts on colonists who previously managed their own affairs under "salutary neglect."
• Proclamation Line of $1763$: Prohibited colonial settlement west of the Appalachians to prevent conflict with Indians; colonists viewed western lands as spoils of victory over the French and saw the Line as insulting.
• The Cost of Defense: Parliament asserted that colonists should absorb the hundreds of thousands of pounds required annually to maintain several thousand British troops.
• Sugar Act ($1764$) and Stamp Act ($1765$): These revenue acts triggered protests, riots, and attacks on tax collectors.
• Stamp Act Congress: A meeting of representatives from across the colonies to formally protest the Stamp Tax.
• Declaratory Act ($1766$): Passed after the repeal of the Stamp Act (due to lack of revenue, not necessarily protest), affirming Parliament's supremacy over the colonies.
• Townshend Duties ($1767$): Led to nonimportation movements and boycotts.
• Boston Massacre ($1770$): An angry mob squared off against soldiers at the Boston customs house. Several Bostonians were killed. The Sons of Liberty used this incident as propaganda, though John Adams successfully defended the soldiers in court.
• Tea Act ($1773$): Sparked the Boston Tea Party (December $1773$), where the Sons of Liberty dumped hundreds of pounds of East India Tea Company tea into the harbor.
• Coercive Acts ($1774$): Known to the British as the acts to punish Massachusetts; they closed the port of Boston, limited assembly, and included the Quartering Act (housing troops in private homes).
• Martial Law: Boston was placed under military control. The First Continental Congress met in Philadelphia to prepare for armed resistance while hoping for a peaceful resolution.

The Outbreak of War: Lexington and Concord

• The Provocation: King George III declared Massachusetts in rebellion in $1775$. General Thomas Gage sent $700$ men to secure arms stores near Concord.
• The Conflict: At Lexington, British regulars encountered militiamen. Volleys were exchanged, leaving $10$ Massachusetts militiamen dead.
• The Retreat: After a skirmish at Concord, the British retreated toward Boston. Militiamen used guerrilla-style "potshots," causing the British to fall into panic.
• Casualties: The British suffered over $20$ percent casualties from a total force of over $1,500$.
• The Siege of Boston: Within days, over $20,000$ militiamen besieged Gage's regulars.
• Formation of the Army: On June $14$, $1775$, the Second Continental Congress created the Continental Army.

Strategic Landscapes and Military Capabilities

• Population Comparison ($1775$):
  • Colonies: $2.5 \times 10^{6}$ ($2.5 \text{ million}$) people, including $500,000$ slaves.
  • Great Britain: Population several times larger than the colonies.
• British Military Power: Professionally trained army of at least $50,000$ men and a superior navy.
• American Advantages:
  • Familiarity with the land and waterways.
  • Localism: A better grasp of the political mood/conditions.
  • Defensive Strategy: The Americans did not need a decisive win; they only needed to avoid losing.
• American Disadvantages: Lack of professionalism, no money, no navy, divided populace, and bickering among colonies.
• Strategic Needs:
  • American: Survival of the army; avoiding decisive set-piece battles; securing a foreign ally (France).
  • British: Containment (initially around Boston); attempting to lure the Americans into set-piece battles; reliance on deepwater ports for logistics.
• Population Alignment: Traditionally estimated as $1/3$ Patriot, $1/3$ Loyalist, and $1/3$ Neutral.

The Northern Phase ($1775-1777$)

• Dual Army Tradition: The coexistence of a national Continental Army and state-controlled militias.
• George Washington's Command: Chosen because of his military experience and political status as a Virginian to make the rebellion a "continental" movement.
• The Siege of Boston: Henry Knox brought $50$ cannon from Fort Ticonderoga to Boston ($300 \text{ miles}$ over snow). Placed on Dorchester Heights, these guns forced Major General William Howe to withdraw to Nova Scotia in March $1776$.
• Invasion of Canada: Benedict Arnold’s unsuccessful attempt to enlist Canadian support. Montreal was taken, but the assault on Quebec (December $1775$) failed due to weather and Arnold being wounded.
• The Fight for New York ($1776$):
  • Howe brought over $30,000$ men and a large fleet commanded by Vice Admiral Richard Howe.
  • Washington split his $20,000$ men between Long Island and Brooklyn Heights.
  • Americans suffered heavy losses and retreated through Manhattan to New Jersey.
  • Washington's force dwindled to fewer than $3,000$ men.
• Trenton and Princeton ($1776-1777$):
  • Washington crossed the Delaware River on Christmas night, $1776$, to overwhelm the Hessian garrison at Trenton.
  • A follow-up victory at Princeton forced a British strategic reconsider.
• Saratoga ($1777$):
  • General John Burgoyne pushed from Canada with $8,000$ men, hacking through wilderness.
  • Major General Horatio Gates baited the British into attacking strong defensive positions.
  • Burgoyne surrendered in October $1777$. This was the war's turning point, convincing France to provide money, arms, and troops.
• Valley Forge ($1777-1778$):
  • Continentals suffered from freezing temperatures and lack of supplies.
  • Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, a former Prussian officer, trained the army.
  • Robert Morris used creative financing to supply the force.
• Battle of Monmouth (June $1778$): General Henry Clinton (replacing Howe) withdrew toward New York. Washington hit his flank. This was a European-style battle that demonstrated the Army's improved training.

The Southern Phase ($1778-1781$)

• Expansion of War: In $1778$, the conflict became a world war involving France, Holland, and Spain, with operations in India, the Mediterranean, and the South Atlantic.
• British Southern Strategy: Clinton believed Southern loyalists and slaveholders could be rallied. He offered freedom to slaves who joined the British, which ironically alienated loyalist slaveholders.
• Disaster at Charleston ($1780$): Major General Benjamin Lincoln surrendered over $5,000$ Continentals, the greatest American disaster of the war.
• The Waxhaws: Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton and his British Legion butchered surrendering Virginia militia.
• Battle of Camden (August $1780$): Horatio Gates collided with Cornwallis. Gates placed undisciplined militia on the flank; they fled, and the regulars were destroyed.
• The Guerrilla War: Nathanael Greene replaced Gates. Greene used irregular bands to harass supply lines. The conflict in the Carolinas became a civil war (colonist vs. colonist).
• King's Mountain (October $1780$): Rebel militia wiped out loyalists under British command.
• Battle of the Cowpens (January $1781$): Brigadier General Daniel Morgan used superior tactical terrain to defeat Tarleton.
• Guilford Courthouse (March $1781$): A disorganized battle that left the British battered and short on supplies, forcing Cornwallis to move toward Virginia.

The Naval War

• Privateering: Congress granted letters of marque to privateers. More than $1,500$ privateers captured over $600$ British ships.
• Continental Navy: Formally created in October $1775$. At its height, it had fewer than $60$ ships, including $13$ frigates ($10$ of which were captured or destroyed).
• Naval Leadership: Captains like Nicholas Biddle and John Paul Jones successfully harassed British merchant trade. Jones operated effectively off the British coast.
• Commercial Losses: The British merchant fleet suffered over $\$60 \text{ million}$ in losses during the war.
• The Turtle: In $1776$, Ezra Lee operated the first combat submarine, unsuccessfully attempting to mine the HMS Eagle in New York.
• The Role of France: After $1778$, the French navy challenged the Royal Navy's dominance, allowing Americans more latitude for raiding and trapping British land forces.

The Final Campaign: Yorktown

• Trap at Yorktown: Cornwallis gathered his forces on the Yorktown peninsula. Lafayette, Washington, and Rochambeau (with $7,000$ French troops) converged by land.
• Battle of the Chesapeake: Admiral de Grasse and the French fleet defeated the British fleet under Hood and Graves in September $1781$, cutting off Cornwallis from sea rescue.
• The Siege: For three weeks, Americans and French hammered the British.
• Surrender (October $19$, $1781$): Cornwallis surrendered his $8,000$ men as the band played "The World Turned Upside Down."
• Political Fallout: Lord North’s ministry fell in $1782$. Britain decided to let the colonies go.

The End of the Continental Army and the Newburgh Conspiracy

• Treaty of Paris ($1783$): Guaranteed independence, established control west to the Mississippi, and required British withdrawal from western posts.
• The Newburgh Conspiracy ($1783$): Continental officers, promised a half-pay pension for life in $1780$, grew impatient for pay. Some nationalists in Congress encouraged a mutiny to strengthen the central government's power.
• Washington's Response: At a meeting in the Newburgh barracks, Washington appealed to his officers' sense of duty. He famously put on eyeglasses, stating he had grown gray and was now "growing blind" in their service, which moved the officers to tears and ended the conspiracy.
• Civilian Control: The event affirmed the precedent of military noninterference in government affairs.
• Establishment of the 1st American Regiment: In $1784$, the Continental Army was largely dissolved. Congress raised a temporary force of $700$ militiamen, which became the 1st American Regiment under Josiah Harmar.

Shays' Rebellion and the Constitution

• Shays' Rebellion ($1786-1787$): Armed uprising of western Massachusetts farmers led by Daniel Shays over property taxes and foreclosures. They attempted to seize the Springfield arsenal but were defeated by militia under Benjamin Lincoln.
• Significance: The inability of Congress to handle the crisis under the Articles of Confederation underscored the need for a stronger national government and military power.
• The Constitutional Convention ($1787$): George Washington presided. The delegates created a system of balance and separation of powers.
• Military Provisions in the Constitution:
  • Article 1: Congress can establish an army/navy, collect taxes for their maintenance (limited to two-year funding cycles), and regulate militia.
  • Article 2: The President is the commander-in-chief of national military forces.
  • State Powers: States lost the right to declare war or maintain armies in peacetime but kept the right to maintain militias and appoint their officers.
• Bill of Rights:
  • Second Amendment: Established the militia as a failsafe against abusive federal power, granting the right to bear arms.
  • Third Amendment: Prohibited the quartering of troops in private homes.

Conclusion

• The United States was born through the force of arms and a dual-citizen army of both militia and volunteers.
• The war resulted in over $25,000$ American deaths, mostly from disease (just under $1 \text{ percent}$ of the population).
• George Washington's role as a strategist and embodiment of public virtue was essential to creating a national movement and ensuring civilian control over the military.