recall from our last lecture that the tea act passed in uh great britain produced a crisis situation in the americas and culminated then in the passage of the coercive acts which were known in the colonies as the intolerable acts which of course had the effect of closing down boston harbor and restructuring the colonial assembly and it was in the aftermath of these intolerable acts then that samuel adams the leader of the sons of liberty and perhaps one of the most prominent of spokesmen for the city of boston began corresponding with leaders in other colonial cities and ultimately their correspondence resulted in the formation of a correspondence committee a group of men writing letters to one another to exchange information letting people know what was going on in their particular location and perhaps laying the ground and planning for what to do in the future well the formation of this correspondence committee resulted ultimately in 1774 september of 1774 in the convening of a continental congress the first continental congress the first continental congress convened in philadelphia in september of 1774. 55 men arrived representing the colonies uh and their ultimate objective then was to discuss the various strategies to undertake in trying to address the um oppressive uh legislation that was coming out of parliament and and again the intolerable acts especially had been um designed to um to to recover payment for lost t but that um repayment was basically and the punishment was being uh levied upon the entire city of boston it was an intolerable um circumstance so the first continental congress um began to strategize ways to um protest the uh intolerable acts and and to assure that those intolerable acts weren't applied elsewhere in the colonies as well there were three very important outcomes um that i want to talk about with respect to the first continental congress all right there was more to it but in a very general way um i want to just kind of give you a sense of of what um came out of this first continental congress first of all it is important to remember that the year is 1774 all right it's still two years before independence and to be honest with you nobody is talking about declarations of independence at this time all right they are not thinking about dissolving their ties to england they are thinking about ways that they can work within the british empire in a way that is more equitable and more just for them so rather than thinking about war and revolution they're thinking about the ways that they can use economic power to influence parliament okay their hope is that they have enough economic power and influence that they can force parliament to repeal the coercive acts so the first of these outcomes is what we call the suffolk resolves the suffolk resolves was basically a resolution that the colonies all of them were going to engage in an economic boycott they were not going to purchase manufactured goods coming from england now remember within a mercantilist system the economies of the colonies were never geared towards manufacturing manufactured goods had always been purchased directly from the mother country the colonies provided raw materials the the mother country furnished the manufactured goods so the point is that this economic boycott now is a boycott against manufactured goods right the hope was that the mother country would need the raw materials more than the colonists needed the finished manufactured goods okay that was the hope now in order to help help the colonists get through this economic boycott there was going to have to be considerable cooperation among the colonies themselves so the second important outcome was the organization of a continental association and this continental association effectively amounted to an economic alliance between the the various colonies all right the colonies were now going to start trying to cooperate um economically with one another so for example the northeastern colonies where shipbuilding um and and the production of shipbuilding uh materials um had had kind of laid the foundation for some sort of manufacturing well they were gonna start thinking about manufacturing now in the new england colonies and in the northeast and in the meantime of course they're thinking in the south about agriculture well tobacco may have been a valuable cash crop but on the other hand what the colonists were going to need more at this time would be food crops and so the southern colonies might start thinking more in terms of food crops the northern colonies might start thinking more about manufacturing on a wider basis and the net result then is through this continental association the hope was that there would be an economic alliance that would allow all of the colonies to coexist with one another without relying upon england all right so it's an economic strategy that they're adopting in this first continental congress the third important outcome is that they agree that in may of 1775 which is what about eight months later in the spring uh the following spring they're going to reconvene a second continental congress all right and at that point the intention was to um evaluate the economic strategy okay was it working was it not working what could be done um to improve it and hopefully if everything went well um the the coercive acts would have been um repealed by that time and they may be able to return to a somewhat normal uh operating uh relationship between and among the colonies all right so the second continental congress was basically um scheduled to kind of evaluate um the progress that was being made um as a result or in the aftermath of these coercive acts now here's what you need to know about the second continental congress by the time it convened in may of 1775 and it most definitely did convene in may of 1775 but by that time the fighting of the american revolution had already started okay so let's talk a little bit about now how um well the first shots of the american revolution were fired all right so i put up a map here just to kind of help you understand the geography of the area around boston and ultimately how um how the the events unfolded here all right so remember that the uh coercive acts had had restructured um the colonial assembly and and basically as far as the the people of massachusetts were concerned the crown had effectively taken over the colonial assembly so a man by the name of john hancock a man who is especially remembered for his flowing ornate signature on the declaration of independence john hancock is going to help now organize or reorganize the massachusetts assembly okay they can't meet in boston so they're going to reconvene in the town of concord okay concord as you can see was west and north of the city of boston and so the provincial congress was organized um under hancock's leadership um with many other prominent bostonians uh participating uh in this process and as part of the organization of this congress now um the um they realized that what they were doing was against the law okay this was an illegal assembly as far as the british were concerned and that it would be very possible that thomas gage that the the british um would uh be prepared to shut down this this um congress and so in order to defend the congress uh they began stockpiling arms and munitions uh in concord okay there was a small armory that was being built there and that these um congressmen these representatives were beginning to stockpile now of course the british learned all about this thomas gage the commanding officer uh in boston um had an entire network of of communications intelligence and he learned uh very well what was going on in concord he knew very well what was going on in concord and so you had a situation where um the displaced bostonians were located in concord they were keeping a very close eye on what was going on in boston hoping for the repeal of the coercive acts and in the meantime um thomas gage and the boss uh the british uh army they were monitoring what was going on uh in concord to make sure um that nothing was threatening of the british position but fully aware also that at some point in time thomas gage and his men would have to move to shut down that congress okay thomas gage would have to move and the and the um colonists the massachusetts colonists fully realized that he would have to move okay and so what happened was um they developed a a communication network okay a communication network that um basically relied on um horsemen what were called minute men the minutemen had to be ready in a minute's notice not only to send out word that the uh british were moving that thomas gage and his troops were moving towards concord but also minutemen who would be ready and able to take up their arms in order to defend um that that assembly in concord all right so that was the situation then that existed um in the spring of 1775 okay a few months after um the first continental congress by april of 1775 the british um were ready uh to move okay so what happened well on the night of april uh 19th sorry april 18th actually um the british troops began to move out of boston okay and when they did of course paul revere um and and two other writers immediately began writing um throughout the countryside and especially all along the road um to concord uh that um the british uh were moving the troop movement had started the british are coming the british are coming all right the minutemen that he notified again these were militiamen they were volunteer um army uh and they were there to defend against the um the british movement now again from a british perspective this is not a volunteer army um these are traitors these are our revolutionaries who are launching a revolution against um the crown against the the government um their own government all right nevertheless um the minutemen now began to organize right and and the first encounter now is actually going to take place at the town of lexington all right lexington if you go back to the previous well i'll go back real quickly if you go back you can see lexington is on the road to concord about two-thirds of the way a little over halfway between boston and concord is the village of lexington and it was left at lexington during the early morning hours of april 19th now that the first clash occurred okay on lexington green and it was um just kind of as the sun was starting to come up okay it was um in some ways still dark it was still getting light and because it wasn't completely light outside that's part of the reason why there was so much confusion people couldn't see real well what was going on okay what we do know is that the first british troop movement was under the command of a man by the name of of major john pitcairn okay pitcairn arrived with his british uh regulars the so-called red coats uh and when they arrived in lexington they encountered a group of minutemen they encountered a group of militia under the command of general or excuse me major john parker at least he claimed the title major john parker okay according to pitcairn uh and parker um the command was given to disband right and it is at that point that pitcairn and parker had two very different um recollections of what happened okay according to parker um he uh honored the the command of pitcairn uh and he and his men began to disband uh and when they did um the british fired upon them okay um in an effort to make a statement um that they would not tolerate the uh resistance any kind of resistance parker on the other hand uh or excuse me pitcairn um on the other hand argued that he gave the command to to disband uh and when he did parker and his men started to disband but then they turned and fired on the british okay so exactly what happened up to this day remains um disputed and unclear okay what we do know is that when the smoke had cleared from from the firing that did take place uh eight of parker's men eight uh minute men were dead on lexington uh lexington green and the shot heard round the world had been fired or the so-called shot heard around the world okay it's sometimes called the shot heard round the world because this was the first shot of the american revolution and some would argue that this was in many ways the first firing the shot against um monarchical rule monarchical tyranny okay it's debatable whether this is really the shot heard around the world but certainly from the mind or in the opinion of of the americans um it had that that kind of impact as as kind of um the first in in a series of revolutions against monarchical rule okay whatever the case um the civil war had now started okay pitcairn and his men the british continued to march on uh to concord remember their objective was to to occupy uh concord and shut down congress when they got to concord um they found that the the town had been abandoned there was nobody there all right the people had left the arms had been taken uh and um the british uh elected to withdraw and return up to boston and when they did that is when they encountered a fire fight okay the minutemen had lined the road to boston uh and basically had laid uh a an ambush uh and the british marched right into that ambush um all the way back to boston um they they encounter encountered fire and by the time they got back 73 british soldiers were dead 174 others were wounded and now what was clear is that the british were going to have to take actions against a rebellious group of colonists right so lexington and concord in april of 1775 the first shots of the american revolution now remember 1775 is still a year before the declaration of independence so even though the fighting had started americans were not convinced that a declaration of independence was necessary okay there were still very mixed feelings about this just because the revolution had started it's still going to be another 14 months before a declaration was signed all right so let's talk then about the second continental congress the events that basically um now are going to culminate in a declaration of independence but it is going to take time so in may of 1775 the continental congress reconvened for a second time by this time what was clear is that the um fighting had already started all right so that being the case there were a variety of different uh questions to be asked okay should they raise an army should the continental congress raise an army and support the the rebellion in in massachusetts or should they not do that okay even if they do or if they do um they're gonna need money and if they need money um they're gonna have to come up with a way of making money alright so here's what they do one of the things that the second continental congress agreed to do was to begin printing its own money okay the common currency was called a continental okay they weren't called dollars they were called continentals okay and you can actually see continental currency was measured in dollars but um they were referred to popularly as continentals all right and that's what you're looking at um in in this slide okay two continentals now initially if you look at the one on the top you see that um this is basically printed by hall and sellers it's authorized to be printed by um the continental congress but notice that it's not redeemable um in precious metal okay and the reason it wasn't pre redeemable in precious metals because the continental congress didn't have gold or silver to back their currency all right so they had to back it with their own good word meaning that the continental on the top was just a piece of paper that a group of 55 men in philadelphia said was worth money okay which meant would you as a merchant honor that continental dollar um as you know those twenty dollars would you accept that in exchange for twenty dollars worth of goods and the answer is probably not because it's not backed by anything precious which ultimately means these dollars became devalued right it may have said it was worth twenty dollars but this twenty dollar note probably would have bought maybe five to ten dollars worth of goods depending upon the merchant many merchants didn't even want these continental dollars all right over time certainly especially after 1777 france and spain are going to get involved in this conflict okay spain's role in supporting the american revolution has often been overlooked we talk about france um extensively but spain also had a a significant hand to play because if you look at this at the bottom the continental currency on the bottom this bill entitles the bearer to receive blah blah blah spanish milled in gold and silver okay the point is that the spanish government actually began sponsoring and supporting continental dollars okay the point is that spanish loans in gold and silver began propping up the american currency and gave them value all right so while we talk extensively about france's contribution to the american revolution not to be overlooked is the role that the spanish played as well especially in helping to prop up a currency which is critical to paying soldiers soldiers when they started getting notes that could be backed in precious metals they began um well they began to be more happy they could pay their bills all right these continentals on the top were worth nothing okay they couldn't pay their bills with that all right so the continental currency very important and the role of the spanish very important okay well one of the men who was in favor of organizing an army and supporting the rebellion in massachusetts was none other than the virginia planter george washington the man who had attempted uh to defeat the french at um at fort duquesne during the french and indian war and who was largely responsible for precipitating the french and indian war george washington arrived in philadelphia in may of 1775 dressed out in his full blue uniform okay his dress blues as they would say okay he had gone out to a tailor and had a tailor stitch him a a general's uniform and he showed up um in philadelphia and assured um the delegates at philadelphia that he was prepared to take command of a continental army he just needed the authorization to go forward with it well over time george washington was able to convince um others at the convention to support the continental army and so he did okay or i should say they did and the continental army was formed okay the continental army is now going to begin mustering troops and george washington is going to begin the process of preparing to march those troops from philadelphia northward um to massachusetts now of course one of the big questions that george washington had okay and it is a question that is so frequently overlooked in american history and one that it's absolutely um it's almost criminal that this is forgotten uh in the historical record but you have to remember a significant percentage of the population especially in the south a significant percentage of the population was black and they were enslaved okay the point being is this if you're george washington a slave owner and he was a slave owner one of your biggest concerns going into this conflict is what will the slave population do okay who will they support will they support the revolution okay will they support the continentals or will they support the crown will they support the mother country and the answer to this question of course is going to hinge on which side the slave population sees as representing their best interests and their best interests are associated with their freedom who will give them freedom will the continental army will the patriots give them their freedom or will the crown give them their freedom whoever guarantees their freedom that's the side that the the the slave population is very likely to support all right so if george washington um wants the um black population to support him he needs to guarantee them their freedom but he's a slave owner and he's not going to do that the slave labor is critical to southern agriculture so he's not going to guarantee their freedom nor initially is he going to give them an opportunity to fight in the continental army initially he's going to say no if you're black you cannot fight in the continental army this will be a white man's army only okay well while this was going on while all of these events were unfolding in philadelphia now a man by the name of lord dunmore lord john dunmore was the governor of washington's colony okay virginia and lord dunmore now saw the slaves as an important uh ally of the british crown okay and so lord dunmore basically is going to begin the process of of offering concessions to the slaves with the possibility um that they might be able to secure their um might be able to secure their freedom okay now one of those slaves was a man by the name of joseph harris okay joseph harris had fled um his his owner and basically uh had begun to work with the governor lord dunmore okay lord dunmore um had effectively begun to recognize that joseph harris could contribute to um the british cause okay and he was a navigator joseph harris wasn't a man who worked on a plantation someplace he was a ship pilot he knew how to navigate not only did he know how to navigate he knew the waters of the coast okay he knew all the the ways to get places and and so forth he was very valuable up to the virginia governor and so lord dunmore began to um compensate joseph harris um for his assistant assistants at one point lord gunmar dunmore began gathering up um all of the gun powder as much of the gun powder as he could and basically relocating that gunpowder out onto a ship um in chesapeake bay and and the colonists um were up in arms arguing that if the if a slave rebellion started they'd have no way of of defending themselves and so the the colonists were outraged with with the governor okay they were outraged raged for these actions they were outraged for his treatment of of joseph harris okay and ultimately um joseph harris um basically was piloting a ship and this becomes kind of an involved story but he was piling and piloting a ship that was run aground okay and when it was run aground um the patriots ransacked it okay they they took everything okay the colonists seized everything on on board that ship and there was all kinds of things on the ship the governor wanted that material those materials back okay and the colonists wanted joseph harris returned to um slavery okay so ultimately that was the basis for what happened in september of 1775 what's called the battle of hampton it's actually the first battle of the american revolution that was fought in in the south it was a war fought largely over the actions of the governor over the actions of um the governor as he in his relations or actions towards slavery okay ultimately lord dunmore issued an emancipation proclamation he basically said that any slave who will serve in the king's army and help put down the um revolution or the rebellion any slave will receive his freedom in exchange for military service all right so slavery did very much uh have a role to play in the coming of the american revolution we hear all about taxes and and and tea and so forth no slavery especially in the south is a very a very important issue right so by this the fall of 1775 we have fighting that is now broken out in the south we have fighting that has taken place uh in the north and yet we're still not sure about um independence okay well in the winter of 1775 and 1776 a virginian a man by the name of thomas payne now is going to publish one of the most important uh pamphlets one of the most important publications in american history it was called very simply common sense okay common sense was basically a common sense statement about the question of declaring independence okay it was very much based on in the ideas of the um the enlightenment okay the natural rights he talked about the natural rights of individuals and again if a government is not protecting and promoting the rights of individuals the natural rights then those individuals have no choice to but but to rise up against that government it's not a complex situation it's simple common sense okay there's no doubt okay and common sense went through many printings during the spring of 1776 okay there were efforts to to suppress this publication nevertheless um it was wed read widely okay and finally in june of 1776 now the um leader of the convention john adams basically uh tapped um thomas jefferson of virginia to draft a declaration of independence okay and jefferson's declaration of independence became one of the most important documents and certainly in american history and in some ways in in world history okay but there are aspects of this document that are seldom discussed in history and we're going to talk a little bit about this okay because if you read the written text of thomas jefferson's declaration not the text that was approved but his original text in that document he very clearly blamed great britain for slavery okay slavery was something that was introduced by the british not the colonists uh but the british okay now why would he include that language well the the reason is obviously quite simple if the british were responsible for slavery then slaves would not be inclined to want to support the british slaves wouldn't join in um with the british cause slaves would not join um governor dunmore and others right so if you blame the british for slavery then you discourage slave as a slave uprising enslaved contribution to the british side in the war okay but that language was stricken from the declaration so the question then became why why is it that these men struck that language from the the declaration and the reason is actually obviously quite simple remember there were quakers um in in this convention and ultimately they fully realized there is no truth to this the british and were not responsible for slavery okay slavery was a result of the economy that was developing in the colonies themselves and if you blame the british for slavery then what happens after the independence is earned and achieved okay once british is gone then what happens will the black population of of the united states of america tolerate um slavery and the answer was quite simple no they will not we will have a counter-revolution we will have a massive slave uprising because if the slave population thinks that britain was responsible for slavery then slavery should be swept away with the british and it was not going to be so thomas jefferson's language was not included in the declaration of independence he was not happy about that okay but in the end um the declaration of independence on july 4th of 1776 was ratified and now the united states has officially declared its independence but remember it's one thing to declare independence it's another thing to have independents recognized and ultimately then that's why the revolution would be fought to try and force the british to now recognize american independence okay i'm out of time we'll come back in our next lecture and we'll say some things about the the revolution itself