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American Independence The Early Idea

American Independence The Early Idea During the American Revolution, the idea of independence spread like wildfire The news of the fighting, which occurred in April of 1775, spread quickly across the New England countryside. Across the region, companies of militiamen, known as Minutemen, assembled and set off to Boston. Within a few days, more than 10,000 American Minutemen were encamped outside of Boston and determined to show the British Army that they meant business. Keep in mind that as of yet, there was no real authority in charge. The Continental Congress in Philadelphia was about the closest thing to a national government at the time, and even they hadn’t officially recognized the troops gathered in Boston as any kind of formal army. Throughout the spring of 1775, American troops were incredibly successful. The New England militia was able to keep the main body of British troops at bay in Boston—British authorities there didn’t really know what to do and were waiting on orders from their superiors across the Atlantic. A small force of militia captured Fort Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain in May of 1775, and captured artillery pieces from the British. In June, the British tried to break out of the city of Boston and attacked the American force on Breed’s Hill. Now let me say emphatically that the Battle of Breed’s Hill (or as it became commonly known, the Battle of Bunker Hill) was a strategic failure for the Americans—they failed to hold their position and the British secured the area. But more important than military tactics at this point in the Revolution was the incredible showing by the American troops. It took three almost suicidal attempts by British troops—proud members of the most feared military force in the world—to take Breed’s Hill. And when they did take, it the British suffered about 1,000 casualties (that’s dead and wounded) out of a force of 2,500. The British general Henry Clinton wrote that this battle was a “dear bought victory . . . another such would have ruined us.” For the next ten months, British military forces avoid another engagement with American troops. British General Thomas Gage, the officer who had ordered the march on Lexington and Concord, admitted that he and other British officers had underestimated the fighting spirit of the Americans. He wrote, “These People Show a Spirit and Conduct against us they never showed against the French, and every body had Judged of them from their former Appearance, and behavior . . . which has led many into great mistakes.” The New England militia units used their good showing against the British to strengthen their forces and in June of 1775 they asked the Second Continental Congress, which had convened in May of 1776, for official recognition and reinforcements. Congress agreed and sent militia units from Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. Congress also appointed a general for this new Continental Army: George Washington. The same guy who had made the tactical blunder at Fort Necessity. Washington was a bit more mature, and it was obvious that he wanted the job. He showed up at meetings of the Continental Congress in his militia uniform. And the Continental Congress thought it would be a good idea to appoint Washington—they thought that having a southern general lead a force made mostly of New England troops would have a unifying effect upon the colonies. Washington arrives in Boston in early July of 1775 and is faced with a difficult task. He must make these volunteers into an army. This was a problem because the New England troops were militia, and not regular soldiers. Most had only signed up for nine months, and didn’t expect their service to last even that long. Moreover, they thought they were defending their homes from British tyranny and not joining an army and becoming professional soldiers. Washington nonetheless begins to train his troops outside of Boston as if they were a regular army—he flogs soldiers that step out of line, and some troops desert the cause. But by the spring of 1776, the Americans place the cannons they had captured at Fort Ticonderoga on hills within Boston and the British decide it is time to leave. On March 17, 1776, British forces evacuate Boston. Meanwhile, American colonists are struggling with what to do with their Revolution. Are they going to seek reconciliation with the British? Will they appeal to their friends in Parliament? Should they strike out on their own? In July of 1775, the Second Continental Congress actually drew up two appeals to the King of England. The first was called, The Declaration of Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms, which argued that the colonists were simply defending their rights. The Declaration of Causes said that “we do not mean to dissolve that union which has so long and happily subsisted between us, and which we sincerely wish to see restored. . . . We fight not for glory or conquest.” The second appeal was known as the Olive Branch Petition, and it similarly appealed to the British government to make some statement regarding the rights of the colonists in order to stop the fighting. King George ignored these appeals, declared the colonies to be in open rebellion, and ordered a major military mobilization. Parliament following the King’s leadership—it stopped all trade to the colonies and ordered all American ships seized. These actions—while indicative of how British authorities didn’t really understand the conviction of the colonists—only confirmed what many Americans were beginning to believe: there was a conspiracy to oppress them in the British government. Two events then pushed American ideas of resistance into American ideas of independence. The first was the publication of Common Sense, by former corset-maker and radical Thomas Paine in January of 1776. There were three main aspects to Paine’s ideas that made it so persuasive. The first was the idea that a republic, in which government officials are elected by the people, is preferable to monarchy. When the King’s troops fired on colonists at Lexington and Concord, Paine wrote: “I rejected the hardened, sullen tempered Pharoah of England for ever; and distain the wretch, that with the pretended title of Father of his people, can unfeelingly hear of their slaughter, and composedly sleep with their blood upon his soul.” (68) Some might say Britain is a parent country, but Paine argued that “Even brutes do not devour their young; nor savages make war on their families.” The second idea that Paine pushed was the equality of rights among citizens. England had an aristocracy that tended naturally to corruption, and Paine thought that equality, not aristocracy, should be the defining characteristic of American politics. Finally, Paine argued for the international significance of the American Revolution. Paine drew from well-established traditions of America. He argued that in a world “overrun with oppression,” America would be an “asylum of mankind.” This sounds suspiciously like John Winthrop’s sermon “City on the Hill.” But instead of making a New England, Paine suggested that America could be a new kind of nation altogether. Common Sense was a colonial best-seller and went a long way toward convincing colonists of all persuasions: southern planters, Quakers, New England merchants—folks from across the colonies—that it would be best for all to break cleanly with the “Royal Brute.” The second event that occurred was the Declaration of Independence. Following the crown’s rejection of the colonists’ appeals and Paine’s call for independence, the Continental Congress was ready to take action. In June, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia put before the Continental Congress a resolution for independence, and Congress appoints a committed of five members to compose a statement of American goals. These five include John Adams of Massachusetts, Roger Sherman of Connecticut, Robert Livingston of New York, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, and Thomas Jefferson of Virginia. Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence, and after several revisions and drafts, Congress adopts it on July 4. (Congress actually votes on independence on July 2—so that’s a good trivia question). The Declaration of Independence is important for a number of reasons, but of all the things we can say about the Declaration of Independence, we can’t say that it was really original. There were two main inspirations for Jefferson. The first was the ideas of John Locke—that figure of the Enlightenment that we talked about earlier. Many of the phrases and wording of the Declaration come directly from Locke, and the idea that it is legitimate to dissolve a government when it becomes tyrannical or arbitrary comes directly from Locke. The second inspiration is from a political ideology long established in Britain practiced by folks known as Real Whigs or Country Whigs. If we look at the Declaration, we see a really strong emphasis upon corruption and conspiracy. Jefferson drew this from the Whigs, a political faction in England that tried to keep the British crown in check. Colonists drew upon Whig writings for inspiration and justification, and Jefferson incorporated it into the Declaration. So by the time Congress passed the document, its members were very familiar with the reasoning. In fact, John Adams wrote that “there is not an idea in it but what had been hackneyed in Congress for two years before.” So, in a sense, the Declaration is old wine in a new bottle—but what a bottle. Like Paine, Jefferson wrote that “The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations,” and went on to list them [go through list on Bibliobase]. He argued that the actions were not the result of incompetence or misunderstanding, but instead were the product of a malicious and conscious design that had, in his words, “in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States.” In the face of this evil plan, Americans had no choice but to fight for their independence. Listen to Jefferson’s words: “it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.” The Declaration of Independence had very little effect upon the British. King George refused to see how colonists could defy his rule, and even the colonists’ allies in Parliament began to think that the Americans had gone too far. But the Declaration did have an enormous effect on Americans who tended to favor independence from Great Britain. American read Common Sense and the Declaration and in the end, about 2/5 of American colonists openly declared to the patriot cause. (out of a population around 2.5 million, so we have about a million patriots) Some other Americans were less impressed. About 2/5 of the American colonists blew in the wind and didn’t really take a side on the issue. But, if my math is correct, this leaves about 1/5 of the colonists. These were the loyalists (so you all are in the minority). About 500,000 colonists actively supported the British cause. The loyalists were especially strong in the middle and southern colonies and included government officials appointed by the King, merchants who had strong connections to British firms, clergymen of the Church of England. Some even sided with the British because their enemies had sided with the Patriots. For example, in New York, elite families such as the Livingstons and the Van Rensselaers sided with the Patriots, so their political enemies became loyalists. The loyalists played a critical role in the Revolution: they spied for the British, helped supply the British army, and even raised militia units of their own. The British also tried to take advantage of the racial divisions of the southern colonies. Remember that in many southern colonies, there was actually a majority of African-American slaves. In November of 1775, Lord Dunmore, the royally appointed governor of Virginia, issued a proclamation that granted freedom to any slaves who would take up arms against the Patriots. About 1,000 African-American slaves take up Dunmore on their offer and they actually formed a military unit which briefly saw action against white Virginians in December of 1775. [if ask, mention that they had to flee the mainland in 1776 and boarded ships, where many of them died from disease]. Now don’t get the idea that Dunmore wanted to end slavery—he was a slaveowner himself. But Dunmore did want Patriot slaveowners to get nervous. In that respect, Lord Dunmore’s proclamation succeeded. Historians estimate that about 50,000 slaves in Virginia and South Carolina ran from their owners, which disrupted the planting of crops and supply lines throughout the Revolutionary War. So today I hope that you understand how many American colonists came to view independence as their only course of action by 1776, but just declaring independence didn’t necessarily make it so. There was a war to be fought—and frankly the British Army looked pretty unbeatable. [show overhead] How would these ragtag bunch of guys ever defeat the most powerful fighting force in the world? That’s a fascinating and interesting topic, so interesting that we’ll take it up next lecture. Bibliography:

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