the american yap chapter 5 the american revolution section 1 introduction in the 1760s benjamin rush a native of philadelphia recounted a visit to parliament upon seeing the king's throne in the house of lords rush said he felt as if he walked on sacred ground with emotions that i cannot describe throughout the 18th century colonists had developed a significant emotional tie with both the british monarchy and the british constitution the british north american colonists had just helped to win a world war and most like rush had never been more proud to be british and yet in little over a decade those same colonists would declare their independence and break away from the british empire seen from 1763 nothing would have seemed as improbable as the american revolution the revolution built institutions and codified the language and ideas that still define americans image of themselves moreover revolutionaries justified their new nation with radical new ideals that changed the course of history and sparked a global age of revolution but the revolution was as paradoxical as it was unpredictable a revolution fought in the name of liberty allowed slavery to persist resistance to centralized authority tied disparate colonists ever closer together under new governments the revolution created politicians eager to foster republican selflessness and protect the public good but also encouraged individual self-interest and personal gain the founding fathers instigated and fought a revolution to secure independence from britain but they did not fight that revolution to create a democracy to successfully rebel against britain however required more than a few dozen founding fathers common colonists joined the fight unleashing popular forces that shaped the revolution itself often in ways not welcomed by elite leaders but once unleashed these popular forces continued to shape the new nation and indeed the rest of american history section two the origins of the american revolution the american revolution had both long-term origins and short-term causes in this section we will look broadly at some of the long-term political intellectual cultural and economic developments in the 18th century that set the context for the crisis of the 1760s and 1770s between the glorious revolution of 1688 and the middle of the 18th century britain had largely failed to define the colony's relationship to the empire and institute a coherent program of imperial reform two factors contributed to these failures first britain was at war from the war of the spanish succession at the start of the century through the seven years war in 1763 constant war was politically consuming and economically expensive second competing visions of empire divided british officials old whigs and their tory supporters envisioned an authoritarian empire based on conquering territory and extracting resources they sought to eliminate britain's britain's growing national debt by raising taxes and cutting spending on the colonies the radical or patriot whigs based their imperial vision on trade and manufacturing instead of land and resources they argued that economic growth not raising taxes would solve the national debt instead of an authoritarian empire patriot wiggs argued that the colonies should have equal status with the mother country there were occasional attempts to reform the administration of the colonies but debate between the two sides prevented coherent reform colonists developed their own understanding of how they fit into the empire they saw themselves as british subjects entitled to all the natural essential inherent and inseparable rights of our fellow subjects in great britain the 18th century brought significant economic and demographic growth in the colonies this success they believed resulted partly from britain's hands-off approach to the colonies by mid-century colonists believe that they held a special place in the empire which justified britain's hands-off policy in 1764 james otis jr wrote quote the colonists are entitled to as ample rights liberties and privileges as the subjects of the mother country are and in some respects to more end quote in the same period the colonies developed their own local political institutions samuel adams in the boston gazette described the colonies as each being a separate body politic from britain almost immediately upon each colony's settlement they created a colonial assembly these assemblies assumed many of the same duties as the commons exercised in britain including taxing residents managing the spending of the colony's revenue and granting salaries to royal officials in the early 1700s colonial leaders unsuccessfully lobbied the british government to define their assembly's legal prerogatives but britain was too occupied with european wars in the first half of the 18th century royal governors tasked by the board of trade attempted to limit the power of the assemblies but the assembly's power only grew many colonists came to see their assemblies as having the same jurisdiction over them that parliament exercised over those in england they interpreted british in action as justifying their tradition of local governments the crown and parliament however disagreed colonial political culture in the colonies also developed differently than that of the mother country in both britain and the colonies land was the key to political participation but because land was more easily obtained in the colonies a higher proportion of male colonists participated in politics colonial political culture drew inspiration from the country party in britain these ideas generally referred to as the ideology of republicanism stressed the corrupting nature of power and the need for those involved in self-governing to be virtuous i.e putting the public good over their own self-interest patriots would need to be ever vigilant against the rise of conspiracies centralized control and tyranny only a small fringe in britain held these ideas but in the colonies they were widely accepted in the 1740s two seemingly conflicting bodies of thought the enlightenment and the great awakening began to combine in the colonies and challenge older ideas about authority perhaps no single philosopher had a greater impact on colonial thinking than john locke in his essay concerning human understanding locke argued that the mind was originally a tabula rasa or blank slate and that individuals were formed primarily by their environment the aristocracy then were wealthy or successful because they had greater access to wealth education and patronage and not because they were innately superior locke followed this essay with some thoughts concerning education which introduced radical new ideas about the importance of education education would produce rational human beings capable of thinking for themselves and questioning authority rather than tacitly accepting tradition these ideas slowly came to have far-reaching effects in the colonies and later the new nation at the same time that locks ideas about knowledge and education spread in north america the colonies also experienced an unprecedented wave of evangelical protestant revivalism between 1739 and 1740 the reverend george whitefield an an enigmatic itinerant preacher traveled the colonies preaching calvinist sermons to huge crowds unlike the rationalism of locke his sermons were designed to appeal to his listeners emotions whitefield told hill told his listeners that salvation could only be found by taking personal responsibility for one's own unmediated relationship with god a process that came to be known as a conversion experience he also argued that the current church hierarchies populated by unconverted ministers only stood as barrier between the individual and god in his new in sorry in his wake new traveling preachers picked up his message and many congregations split both locke and whitefield had empowered individuals to question authority and to take their lives into their own hands in other ways 18th century colonists were becoming more culturally similar to britons a process often referred to as anglicization as colonial economies grew they quickly became an important market for british manufacturing exports colonists with disposable income and access to british markets attempted to mimic british culture by the middle of the 18th century middling class colonists could also afford items previously thought of as luxuries like british fashions dining wares and more the desire to purchase british goods meshed with the desire to enjoy british liberties these political intellectual cultural and economic developments built tensions that rose to the surface when after the seven years war britain finally began to implement a program of imperial reform that conflicted with colonists understanding of the empire and their place in it section three the causes of the american revolution most immediately the american revolution resulted directly from attempts to reform the british empire after the seven years war the seven years war culminated nearly a half century of war between europe's imperial powers it was truly a world war fought between multiple empires on multiple continents at its conclusion the british empire had never been larger britain now controlled the north american continent east of the mississippi river including french canada it had also consolidated its control over india but the realities and responsibilities of the post-war empire were daunting war let alone victory on such a scale was costly britain doubled the national debt to 13.5 times its annual revenue britain faced significant new costs required to secure and defend its far-flung empire especially the western frontiers of the north american colonies these factors led britain in the 1760s to attempt to consolidate control over its north american colonies which in turn led to resistance king george iii took the crown in 1760 and brought tories into his government after three decades of whig rule they represented an authoritarian vision of empire in which colonies would be subordinate the royal proclamation of 1763 was britain's first major post-war imperial action targeting north america the king forbade settlement west of the appalachian mountains in an attempt to limit costly wars with native americans colonists however protested and demanded access to the territory for which they had fought alongside the british in 1764 parliament passed two major reforms the sugar act sought to combine widespread smuggling of molasses in new england by cutting the duty in half but increasing enforcement also smugglers would be tried by vice admiralty courts and not juries parliament also passed the currency act which restricted colonies from producing paper money hard money such as gold and silver coins was scarce in the colonies the lack of currency impeded the colonies increasingly sophisticated transatlantic economies but it was especially damaging in 1764 because a post-war recession had already begun between the restrictions of the proclamation of 1763 the currency act and the sugar acts cancelling of trials by jury for smugglers some colonists began to fear a pattern of increased taxation and restricted liberties in march 1765 parliament passed the stamp act the act required that many documents be printed on paper that had been stamped to show the duty had been paid including newspapers pamphlets diplomas legal documents and even playing cards the sugar act of 1764 was an attempt to get merchants to pay an already existing duty but the stamp act created a new direct or internal tax parliament had never before directly taxed the colonists instead colonies contributed to the empire through the payment of indirect external taxes such as customs duties in 1764 daniel delaney of maryland wrote quote a right to impose an internal tax on the colonies without their consent for the single purpose of revenue is denied a right to regulate their trade without their in their consent is admitted end quote also unlike the sugar act which primarily affected merchants the stamp act directly affected numerous groups throughout colonial society including printers lawyers college graduates and even sailors who played cards this led in part to broader more popular resistance resistance to the stamp act took three forms distinguished largely by class legislative resistance by elites economic resistance by merchants and popular protest by common colonists colonial elites responded by passing resolutions in their assemblies the most famous of the anti-stamp act resolutions were the virginia resolves passed by the house of burgesses on may 30 1765 which declared that the colonists were entitled to all the liberties privileges franchises and immunities possessed by the people of great britain when the virginia resolves were printed throughout the colonies however they often included a few extra far more radical resolutions not passed by the virginia house of burgesses the last of which asserted that only the general assembly of this colony have any right or power to impose or lay any taxation and that anyone who argued differently shall be deemed an enemy to his majesty's colony these additional items spread throughout the colonies and helped radicalize subsequent responses in other colonial assemblies these responses eventually led to the calling of the stamp act congress in new york city on october 1765. nine colonies sent delegates who included benjamin franklin john dickinson thomas hutchinson phillip livingston and james otis the stamp act congress issued a declaration of rights and grievances which like the virginia resolves declared allegiance to the king and all do subordination to parliament but also reasserted the idea that colonists were entitled to the same rights as britons those rights included trial by jury which had been abridged by the sugar act and the right to be taxed only by their only elected representatives as daniel delaney wrote in 1765 quote it is a it is an essential principle of the english constitution that the subject shall not be taxed without his consent end quote benjamin franklin called it the prime maxim of all free government because the colonies did not elect members to parliament they believed that they were not represented and could not be taxed by that body in response parliament and the crown argued that the colonies were virtually represented just like the residents of those boroughs or counties in england that did not elect members to parliament however the colonists rejected the notion of virtual representation with one pamphleteer calling it a monstrous idea the second type of resistance to the stamp act was economic while the stamp act congress deliberated merchants in major port cities were preparing non-importation agreements hoping that their refusal to import british goods would lead british merchants to lobby for the repeal of the stamp act in new york city upwards of 200 principal merchants agreed not to import sell or buy any goods wares or merchandises from great britain in philadelphia merchants gathered at a general meeting to agree that they would not import any goods from great britain until the stamp act was repealed the plan worked by january 1766 london merchants sent a letter to parliament arguing that they had been reduced to the necessity of pending ruin by the stamp act and the subsequent boycotts the third and perhaps most crucial type of resistance was popular protest riots broke out in boston crowds burned and appointed stamp distributor for massachusetts ah andrew oliver in effigy and pulled a building he owned down to the ground in five minutes oliver resigned the position the next day the following week a crowd also set upon the home of his brother-in-law lieutenant governor thomas hutchinson who had publicly argued for submission to the stamp tax before the evening was over much of hutchinson's home and belongings had been destroyed popular violence and intimidation spread quickly throughout the colonies in new york city posted notices read quote pro patria the first man that either distributes or makes use of stamped paper let him take care of his house person and effects vox populi we dare by november 16th all of the original 12 stamp distributors had resigned and by 1766 groups calling themselves the sons of liberty were formed in most colonies to direct and organize for the resistance these tactics had the dual effect of sending a message to parliament and discouraging colonists from accepting appointments as stamp collectors with no one to distribute the stamps the act became unenforceable pressure on parliament grew until in february 1766 it repealed the stamp act but to save face and to try to avoid this kind of problem in the future parliament also passed the declaratory act asserting that parliament had the full power and authority to make laws to bind the colonies and people of america in all cases whatsoever however colonists were too busy celebrating the repeal of the stamp act to take much notice of the declaratory act in new york city the inhabitants raised a huge lead statue of king george iii in honor of the stamp act's repeal it could be argued that there was no moment at which the colonists felt more proud to be members of the free british empire than 1766. but britain still needed revenue from the colonies the colonies had resisted the implementation of direct taxes but the declaratory act reserved parliament's right to impose them and in the colonists dispatches to parliament and in numerous pamphlets they had explicitly acknowledged the right of parliament to regulate colonial trade so britain's next attempt to draw revenues from the colonies the townsend acts were passed in june 1767 creating new customs duties on common items like lead glass paint and tea instead of direct taxes the acts also created and strengthened formal mechanisms to enforce compliance including a new american board of customs commissioners and more vice admiralty courts to try smugglers revenues from customs seizures would be used to pay customs officers and other royal officials including governors thereby incentivizing them to convict offenders these acts increased the presence of the british government in the colonies and circumscribed the authority of the colonial assemblies since paying the governor's salary had long given the assemblies significant power over them unsurprisingly colonists once again resisted even though these were duties many colonial resistance authors still referred to them as taxes because they were designed primarily to extract revenues from the colonies not to regulate trade john dickinson in his letters from a farmer in pennsylvania wrote quote that we may legally be bound to paid any general duties on these commodities relative to the regulation of trade is granted but we being obliged by her laws to take them from great britain any special duties imposed on their exportation to us only with intention to raise a revenue from us only are as much taxes upon us as those imposed by the stamp act end quote hence many authors asked once the colonists ascended to a tax in any form what would stop the british from imposing ever more and greater taxes on the colonists new forms of resistance emerged in which elite middling and working-class colonists participated together merchants reinstituted non-importation agreements and common colonists agreed not to consume these same products lists were circulated with signatories promising not to buy any british goods these lists were often published in newspapers bestowing recognition on those who had signed and led to pressure on those who not women too became involved in to an unprecedented degree in resistance to the townsend acts they circulated subscription lists and gathered signatures the first political commentaries in newspapers written by women appeared also without new imports of british clothes colonists took to wearing simple homespun clothing spinning clubs were formed in which local women would gather at one of their homes and spin cloth for homespun clothing for their families and even for the community homespun clothing quickly became a marker of one's virtue and patriotism and women were an important part of this cultural shift at the same time british goods and luxuries previously desired now became symbols of tyranny non-importation and especially non-consumption agreements changed colonists cultural relationship with the mother country committees of inspection monitored merchants and residents to make sure that no one broke the agreements offenders could expect to be shamed by having their names and offenses published in the newspaper and in broadsides non-importation and non-consumption helped forge colonial unity colonies formed committees of correspondence to keep each other informed of the resistance efforts throughout the colonies newspapers reprinted exploits of resistance giving colonists a sense that they were part of a broader political community the best example of this new continental conversation came in the wake of the boston massacre britain sent regiments to boston in 1768 to help enforce the new axe and quell the resistance on the evening of march 5th 1770 a crowd gathered outside the custom house and began hurling insults snowballs and perhaps more at the young century when a small number of soldiers came to the centuries aid the crowd grew increasingly hostile until the soldiers fired after the smoke cleared five bostonians were dead including one of the ringleaders crispus addicts a formerly enslaved man turned free dock worker the soldiers were tried in boston and won acquittal thanks in part to their defense attorney john adams news of the boston massacre spread quickly through the new resistance communication networks aided by a famous engraving initially circulated by paul revere which depicted bloodthirsty british soldiers with grins on their faces firing into a peaceful crowd the engraving was quickly circulated and reprinted throughout the colonies generating sympathy for boston and anger with britain resistance again led to repeal in march 1770 parliament repealed all of the new duties except the one on t which like the declaratory act was left in part to save face and assert that parliament still retained the right to tax the colonies the character of colonial resistance had changed between 1765 and 1770. during the stamp act resistance elites wrote resolves and held congresses while violent popular mobs burned effigies and tore down houses with minimal coordination between colonies but methods of resistance against the towns and acts became more inclusive and more coordinated colonists previously excluded from meaningful political participation now gathered signatures and colonists of all ranks participated in the resistance by not buying british goods and monitoring and enforcing the boycotts britain's failed attempts at imperial reform in the 1760s created an increasingly vigilant and resistant colonial population and most importantly an enlarged political severe both on the colonial and continental levels far beyond anyone could have imagined a few years earlier a new sense of shared grievances began to join the colonists in a shared american political identity section 4 independence tensions between the colonies in england eased for a time after the boston massacre the colonial economy improved as the post-war recession receded the sons of liberty in some colonies sought to continue non-importation even after the repeal of the townsend acts but in new york a door-to-door poll of the population revealed that the majority wanted to end non-importation yet britain's desire and need to reform imperial administration remained in april 1773 parliament passed two acts to aid the failing east india company which had fallen behind in the annual payments it owed britain but the company was not only drowning in debt it was also drowning in tea with almost 15 million pounds of it stored in warehouses from india to england in 1773 parliament passed the regulating act which effectively put the troubled company under government control it then passed the tea act which would allow the company to sell its tea in the colonies directly and without the usual import duties this would greatly lower the cost of tea for colonists but again they resisted merchants resisted the tea act because they resented the east india company's monopoly but like the sugar act the tea act affected only a small specific group of people the widespread support for resisting the tea act had more to do with principles by buying tea even though it was cheaper colonists would be paying the duty and thereby implicitly acknowledging parliament's right to tax them according to the pennsylvania chronicle prime minister lord north was a great schemer who sought to quote outwit us and to effectually establish the act which will forever be pleaded as a per precedent for every imposition the parliament of great britain shall think proper to saddle us with end quote the tea act stipulated that the duty had to be paid when the ship unloaded newspaper essays and letters throughout the summer of 1773 in the major port cities debated what to do upon the ship's arrival in november the boston sons of liberty led by samuel adams and john hancock resolved to prevent the landing and the sale of the t and the payment of any duty thereon and to do so quote at the risk of their lives and property end quote the meeting appointed men to guard the wharves and make sure the tea remained on the ships until they returned to london this worked and the tea did not reach the shore but by december 16th the ships were still there hence another town meeting was held at the old south meeting house at the end of which dozens of men disguised as mohawks made their way to the wharf the boston gazette reported what happened next quote but behold what followed a number of brave and resolute men determined to do all in their power to save the country from the ruin which their enemies had plotted in less than four hours emptied every chest of tea on board the three ships amounting to 342 chests into the sea without the least damaged onto the ships or any other property end quote as word spread throughout the colonies patriots were emboldened to do to do the same to the tea sitting in their harbors tea was either dumped or seized in charleston philadelphia and new york with numerous other smaller tea parties taking place throughout 1774. popular protests spread across the continent and down through all levels of colonial society 51 women in in edinton north carolina for example signed an agreement published in numerous newspapers in which they promised to quote do everything as far as it lies in our power to support the boycotts the ladies of edinton end quote were not alone in their desire to support the war effort by what means they could women across the 13 colonies could most readily express their political sentiments as consumers and producers because women often made decisions regarding household purchases their participation in consumer boycotts held particular weight some women also took to the streets as part of more unruly mob actions participating in grain riots raids on the offices of royal officials and demonstrations against the impressment of men into naval service the agitation of so many helped elicit responses from both britain and the colonial elites britain's response was swift the following spring parliament passed four acts known collectively by the british as the coercive acts colonists however referred to them as the intolerable acts first the boston port act shut down the harbor and cut off all trade to and from the city the massachusetts government act put the colonial government entirely under british control dissolving the assembly and restricting town meetings the administration of justice act allowed any royal official accused of a crime to be tried in britain rather than by massachusetts courts and juries finally the quartering act passed for all colonies allowed the british army to quarter newly arrived soldiers in colonists homes boston had been deemed in open rebellion and the king his advisors and parliament acted decisively to end the rebellion the crown however did not anticipate the other colonies coming to the aid of massachusetts colonists collected food to send to boston virginia's house of burgesses called for a day of prayer and fasting to show their support rather than isolating massachusetts the coercive acts fostered the sense of shared identity created over the previous decade after all if the crown in parliament could dissolve massachusetts governor nothing could stop them from doing the same to any of her sister colonies in massachusetts patriots created the provincial congress and throughout 1774 they seized control of local county governments and courts in new york citizens elected committees to direct the colony's response to the coercive acts including a mechanics committee of middling colonists by early 1774 committees of correspondence and or extra-legal assemblies were established in all of the colonies except georgia and throughout the year they followed massachusetts example by seizing the powers of the royal governments committees of correspondence agreed to send delegates to a continental congress to coordinate an intercolonial response the first continental congress convened on september 5th 175 1774 over the next six weeks elite delegates from every colony but georgia issued a number of documents including a declaration of rights and grievances this document repeated the arguments that colonies had made been making since 1765. colonists retained all the rights of native britons including the right to be taxed only by their own elected representatives as well as the right to a trial by jury most importantly the congress issued a document known as the continental association the association declared that the present unhappy situation of our affairs is occasioned by a ruinous system of colony administration adopted by the british ministry about the year 17 set 1763 evidently calculated for enslaving these colonies and with them the british empire end quote the association recommended that a quote that a committee be chosen in every country city and town whose business it shall be attentively to observe the conduct of all persons touching this association end quote these committees of inspection would consist largely of common colonists they were effectively deputized to police their communities and instructed to publish the names of anyone who violated the association so they may be publicly known and universally condemned as the enemies of american liberty the delegates also agreed to a continental non-importation non-consumption and not exportation agreement and to quote wholly just continue the slave trade end quote in all the continental association was perhaps the most radical document of the period it sought to unite and direct 12 revolutionary governments establish economic and moral policies and empower common colonists by giving them an important and unprecedented degree of on-the-ground political power but not all the colonists were patriots indeed many remained faithful to the king and parliament while a good number took a neutral stance as the situation intensified throughout 1764 1774 and early 1775 factions emerged within the resistance movements in many colonies elite merchants who traded primarily with britain anglican clergy and colonists holding royal offices depended on and received privileges directly from their relationship with britain initially they sought to exert a moderating influence on the resistance committees but following the association a number of these colonists began to worry that the resistance was too radical and aimed at independence they like most colonists in this period still expected a peaceful conciliation with britain and grew increasingly suspicious of the resistance movement however by the time the continental congress met again in may 1775 war had already broken out in massachusetts on april 19 1775 british regiments set out to seize local militias arms and powder stores in lexington and concord the town militia met them at the lexington green the british ordered the melissa militia to disperse when somebody fired setting off a volley from the british the battle continued all the way to the next town concord news of the events at lexington spread rapidly throughout the countryside militia members known as minutemen responded quickly and inflicted significant casualties on the british regiments as they chased them back to boston approximately 20 000 colonial militiamen laid siege to boston effectively trapping the british in june the militia set up fortifications on breeds hill overlooking the city in the misnamed battle of bunker hill the british attempted to dislodge them from the position with a frontal assault and despite eventually taking the hill they suffered severe casualties at the hands of the colonists while men in boston fought and died the continental congress struggled to re to organize a response the radical massachusetts delegates including john adams samuel adams and john hancock implored the congress to support the massachusetts melissa who without supplies were laying siege to boston meanwhile many delegates from the middle colonies including new york new jersey and philadelphia took a more moderate position calling for renewed attempts at reconciliation in the south the virginia delegation contained radicals such as richard henry lee and thomas jefferson while south carolina's delegation included moderates like john and edward rutledge the moderates worried that supporting the massachusetts militia would be akin to declaring war the congress struck a compromise agreeing to adopt the massachusetts militia and form a continental army naming virginia delegate george washington commander-in-chief they also issued a declaration of the causes and necessities of taking up arms to justify to the the decision at the same time the moderates drafted an olive branch petition which assured the king that the colonists most ardently desired the former harmony between the mother country and these colonies many understood that the opportunities for reconciliation were running out after colonists or sorry after congress had approved the document benjamin franklin wrote to a friend saying quote the congress will send one more petition to the king which i suppose will be treated as the former was and therefore will probably be the last and quote congress was in the strange position of attempting reconciliation while publicly raising an army the petition arrived in england in august 13 1775. but before it was delivered the king issued his own proclamation for suppressing rebellion and sedition he believed his subjects in north america were being misled by dangerous and ill-designing men who were traitorously preparing ordering and levying war against us in an october speech to parliament he dismissed the colonist's petition the king had no doubt that the resistance was manifestly carried on for the purpose of establishing an independent empire by the start of 1776 talk of independence was growing while this prospect of reconciliation dimmed in the opening months of 1776 independence for the first time became part of the popular debate town meetings throughout the colonies approved resolutions in support of independence yet with moderates still hanging on it would take another seven months before the continental congress officially passed the independence resolution a small 46-page pamphlet published in philadelphia and written by a recent immigrant from england captured the american conversation thomas paine's common sense argued for independence by denouncing monarchy and challenging the logic behind the british empire saying quote there is something absurd in supposing a continent to be perpetually governed by an island end quote his combination of easy language biblical references and fiery rhetoric proved potent and the pamphlet was quickly published throughout the colonies arguments over public political philosophy and rumors of battlefield developments filled taverns throughout the colonies george washington had taken control of the army and after laying siege to boston forced the british to retreat to halifax in virginia the royal governor lord dunmore issued a proclamation declaring martial law and offering freedom to all endangered servants negroes and others if they would leave their enslavers and join the british though only about 500 to 1 000 people joined lord dud moore's ethiopian regiment thousands more flocked to the british ladder later in the war risking capture and punishment for a chance at freedom formerly enslaved people occasionally fought for primarily served in companies called black pioneers as laborers skilled workers and spies british motives for offering freedom were practical rather than humanitarian but the proclamation was the first mass emancipation of enslaved people in american history enslaved people could now choose to run and risk their lives for possible freedom with the british army or hope that the united states would live up to its ideals of liberty dunmore's proclamation unnerved white southerners already suspicious of rising anti-slavery sentence in the mother country four years earlier english courts dealt a serious blow to slavery in the empire in somerset v stewart james somerset sued for his freedom and the court not only granted it but it also undercut the very legality of slavery on the british mainland somerset and now dunmore began to convince some enslavers that a new independent nation might offer a sure protection for slavery indeed the proclamation laid the groundwork for the very unrest that loyal southerners hoped to avoid consequently enslavers often used violence to prevent their enslaved laborers from joining the british or rising against them virginia enacted enacted regulations to prevent freedom seeking threatening to ship rebellious enslaved people to the west indies or to execute them many enslavers transported their enslaved people inland away from the coastal temptation to join the british armies sometimes separating families in the process on may 10 1776 nearly two months before the declaration of independence the congress voted on a resolution calling on all colonies that had not already established revolutionary governments to do so and to wrest control from royal officials the congress also recommended that the colonies should begin preparing a new written constitutions in many ways this was the congress's first declaration of independence a few weeks later on june 7th richard henry lee offered the following resolution quote resolved that these united colonies are and of right ought to be free and independent states and that they are absolved from all allegiance to the british crown and that all political connection between them and the state of britain is and ought to be totally dissolved end quote delegates went scurrying back to their assemblies for new instructions and scarcely a month later on june 2nd the resolution finally came to a vote it passed 12-0 with new york under imminent threat of british invasion abstaining the passage of lee's resolution was the official legal declaration of independence but between the proposal and the vote a committee had been named to draft a public declaration in case the resolution passed virginian thomas jefferson drafted the document with edits being made by his fellow committee members john adams and benjamin franklin and then again by the congress as a whole the famous preamble went beyond the arguments about the rights of british subjects under the british constitution instead referring to natural law quote we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal and that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights that among these are life liberty and the pursuit of happiness that to secure these rights governments are instituted among men deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it and to institute a new government end quote the majority of the document outlined a list of specific grievances that the colonists had with with british attempts to perform imperial administration during the 1760s and 1770s an earlier draft blamed the british for the transatlantic slave trade and even for discouraging attempts by the colonists to promote abolition delegates from south carolina and georgia as well as those from northern states who profited from the slave trade all opposed to this language and it was removed neither the grievances nor the rhetoric of the preamble were new instead they were the culmination of both a decade of popular resistance to imperial reform and decades of more long-term developments that saw both sides develop incompatible understandings of the british empire and the colonies place within it the congress approved the document on july 4th 1776 however it was one thing to declare independence it was quite another to win it on the battlefield section 5 the war for independence the war began at lexington and concord more than a year before congress declared its independence in 1775 the british believed that the mere threat of war and a few minor incursions into sea supplies would be enough to count the colonial rebellion these minor incursions however turned into a full-out military conflict despite an early american victory at boston the new states faced the daunting task of taking on the world's largest military in the summer of 1776 the british forces that had abandoned boston arrived at new york the largest expeditionary force in british history including tens of thousands of german mercenaries known as hessians followed soon after new york was the perfect location to launch expeditions aimed at seizing control of the hudson river and isolating new england from the rest of the continent also new york contained many loyalists particularly among its merchant and its anglican communities in october the british finally launched an attack on brooklyn and manhattan the continental army took severe losses before retreating through new jersey with the onset of winter washington needed something to lift morale and encourage reenlistment therefore he launched a successful surprise attack on the hessian camp at trenton on christmas day by ferrying the few thousand men he had left across the delaware river under the cover of knight the victory won the continental army much-needed supplies and a morale boost following the disaster at new york an even greater success followed in upstate new york in 1777 british general john burgoyne led an army from canada to secure the hudson river in upstate new york he was to meet up with a detachment of william general house forces marching north from manhattan however howl abandoned the plan without telling burgoyne and instead sailed to philadelphia to capture the new nation's capital the continental army defeated burgoyne's men at saratoga new york this victory proved a major turning point in the war benjamin franklin had been in paris trying to secure a treaty of alliance with the french however the french were reluctant to back what seemed like an unlikely cause news of the victory at saratoga convinced the french that the cause might not have been as unlikely as they had thought it a treaty of amity and commerce was signed on february 6 1778. the treaty effectively turned a colonial rebellion into a global war as fighting between the british and french soon broke out in europe and in india howe had taken philadelphia in 1777 but returned to new york once winter ended he slowly realized that european military tactics would not work in north america in europe armies fought head-on battles in attempt to seize major cities however in 1777 the british had held philadelphia and new york yet still weakened their position meanwhile washington realized after new york that the largely untrained continental army could not win head-on battles with the professional british army so he developed his own logic of warfare that involved smaller more frequent skirmishes and avoided major engagements that would risk his entire army as long as he kept the army intact the war would continue no matter how many cities the british captured in 1778 the british shifted their attentions to the south where they believed they enjoyed more popular support campaigns from virginia to south carolina and georgia captured major cities but the british simply did not have the manpower to retain military control and upon their departures severe fighting ensued between local patriots and loyalists often pitting family members against one another the war in the south was truly a civil war by 1781 the british were also fighting france spain and holland the british public's support for the costly war in north america was quickly waning the americans took advantage of the british southern strategy with significant aid from the french army and navy in october washington marched his troops from new york to virginia in an effort to trap the british southern army under the command of general charles cornwallis cornwallis had dug his men and at yorktown awaiting supplies and reinforcements from new york however the continental and french armies arrived first quickly followed by a french navy contingent encircling cornwallis's forces and after laying siege to the city forcing his surrender the capture of another army left the british without a new strategy and without public support to continue the war peace negotiations took place in france and the war came to an official end on september 3rd 1783 americans celebrated their victory but it came at a great cost soldiers suffered through brutal winters with inadequate resources during the single winter at valley forge from 1777 to 1778 over 2500 americans died from disease and exposure life was not easy on the home front either women on both sides of the conflict were frequently left alone to care for their households in addition to their existing duties women took on roles usually assigned to men on farms and in shops and taverns abigail adams addressed the difficulties she encountered while minding family affairs on their farm in braintree massachusetts abigail managed the planting and harvesting of crops in the midst of severe labor shortages and inflation while dealing with several tenants on the adam's property raising her children and making clothing and other household goods in order to support the family economically during john's frequent absences and the uncertainties of war abigail also invested in several speculative schemes and sold imported goods while abigail remained safely out of the fray other women were not so fortunate the revolution was not only fought on distant battlefields it was fought on women's very doorsteps in the fields next to their homes there was no way for women to avoid the conflict or the disruptions and devastations it caused as the leader of the state militia during the revolution melee mary silliman's husband gold was absent from their home for much of the conflict on the morning of july 7 1779 when a british fleet attacked nearby fairfield connecticut it was mary who calmly evacuated her household including her children and servants to north stratford when gold was captured by loyalists and held prisoner mary six months pregnant with their second child wrote letters to try and secure his release when such appeals were ineffectual mary spearheaded an effort along with connecticut governor john trumbull to capture a prominent tory leader and to exchange for her husband's freedom black americans enslaved and free also impacted and were impacted by the revolution the british were the first to recruit black or ethiopian regiments as early as dunmore's proclamation of 1775 in virginia which promised freedom to any enslaved person who would escape their enslavers and join the british cause at first washington an enslaver himself resisted allowing black men to join the continental army but he eventually relented in 1775 peter salem's enslaver freed him to fight with the militia salem faced british regulars in the battles at lexington and monker hill where he fought valiantly with around three dozen other black americans salem not only contributed to the cause he earned the ability to determine his own life after his enlistment ended salem was not alone but many more enslaved people seized on the two melt of war to run away and secure their own freedom directly historians estimate that between 30 000 and 100 000 formerly enslaved people deserted their enslavers during the war men and women together struggled through years of war and hardship for patriots and those who remained neutral victory brought new political social and economic opportunities but it also brought new uncertainties the war decimated entire communities particularly in the south thousands of women throughout the nation had been widowed the american economy weighed down by war debt and depreciated currencies would have to be rebuilt following the war state constitutions had created governments but now men would have to figure out how to govern the opportunities created by the revolution had come at great cost in both lives and fortune and it was left to the survivors to seize those opportunities and help forge and define the new state section 6 the consequences of the american revolution like the earlier distinction between origins and causes the revolution also had short and long-term consequences perhaps the most important immediate consequence of declaring independence was the creation of state constitutions in 1776 and 1777. the revolution also unleashed powerful political social and economic forces that would transform the new nation's politics and society including increased participation in politics and governments the legal institutionalization of religious toleration and the growth and diffusion of the population particularly westward the revolution affected native americans by opening up western settlement and creating governments hostile to their territorial claims even more broadly the revolution ended the mercantilist economy opening new opportunities in trade and manufacturing the new states drafted western drafted written constitutions which at the time was an important innovation from the traditionally unwritten british constitution these new state constitutions were based on the idea of popular sovereignty that is that the power and authority of the government derived from the people most created weak governors and strong legislatures with more regular elections and moderately increased the size of the electorate a number of states followed the example of virginia and included a declaration or bill of rights in their constitution designed to protect the rights of individuals and circumscribe the prerogative of the government pennsylvania's first state constitution was the most radical and democratic they created a unicameral legislature and an executive council but no genuine executive all free men could vote including those who did not own property massachusetts constitution passed in 1780 was less democratic in structure but underwent a more popular process of ratification in the fall of 1779 each town sent delegates 312 in all to a constitutional convention in cambridge town meetings debated the constitutional draft and offered suggestions anticipating the later federal constitution massachusetts established a three-branch government based on checks and balances between the branches independence came in 1776 and so did an unprecedented period of constitution making and state building the continental congress ratified the articles of confederation in 1781. the articles allowed one each state one vote in the continental congress but the articles are perhaps most notable for what they did not allow congress was given no power to levy or collect taxes regulate foreign or interstate commerce or establish a federal judiciary these shortcomings rendered the post-war congress weak and largely ineffectual political and social life changed drastically after independence political participation grew as more people gained the right to vote leading to greater importance being placed on representation within government in addition more common citizens or quote new men quote played increasingly important roles in local government and state government hierarchy within the states underwent significant changes society became less differentiated rest less deferential and more egalitarian less aristocratic and more meritocratic the revolution's most important long-term economic consequence was the end of mercantilism the british empire had imposed various restrictions on the colonial economies including limiting trade settlement and manufacturing the revolution opened new markets and new trade relationships the americans victory also opened the western territories for invasion and settlement which created new domestic markets americans began to create their own manufacturers no longer content content to rely on those in britain despite these important changes the american revolution had its limits following their unprecedented expansion into political affairs during the imperial resistance women also served the patriot cause during the war however the revolution did not result in civic equality for women instead during the immediate post-war period women became incorporated into the polity to some degree as quote republican mothers end quote republican societies required virtuous citizens and it became mother's responsibility to raise and educate future citizens this opened opportunity for women regarding education but they still remained largely on the peripheries of the new american polity approximately 60 000 loyalists ended up leaving america because of the revolution loyalists came from all ranks of american society and many lived the rest of their lives in exile from their homeland a clause in the treaty of paris was supposed to protect their property and require the americans to compensate loyalists who had lost property during the war because of their allegiance the americans however reneged on this promise and throughout the 1780s states continued seizing the property held by loyalists some colonists went to england where they were strangers and outsiders in what they had thought of as their mother country many more however settled on the peripheries of the british empire throughout the world especially nova scotia new brunswick and quebec the loyalists had come out on the losing side of a revolution and many lost everything that they had and were forced to create new lives far from the land of their birth in 1783 thousands of formerly enslaved loyalists fled with the british army they hoped that the british government would uphold the promise of freedom and help them establish new homes elsewhere in europe the treaty of paris which ended the war demanded that british troops leave formally enslaved people behind but the british military commanders upheld earlier promises and evacuated thousands of freedmen transporting them to canada and the caribbean or great britain they would eventually play a role in settling nova scotia and through the subsequent efforts of david george a black loyalist and baptist preacher some settled in sierra leone in africa black loyalists however continued to face social and economic marginalization including restrictions on land ownership within the british empire the fight for liberty led some americans to manumit their enslaved laborers and most of the new northern states soon passed gradual emancipation laws some manumissions also occurred in the upper south but in the lower south some enslavers revoked their offers of freedom for service and other freedmen were forced back into bondage the revolution's rhetoric of equality created a revolutionary revolutionary generation of enslaved people and free black americans that would eventually encourage the anti-slavery movement slave revolts began to incorporate claims for freedom based on revolutionary ideas in the long term the revolution failed to reconcile slavery with these new egalitarian republican societies a tension that eventually boiled over in the 1830s and 1840s and effectively toward the nation in two in the 1850s and 1860s the native americans too participated in and were affected by the revolution many native american groups such as the sauni creek cherokee and iroquois had sided with the british they had hoped for a british victory that would continue to restrain the land-hungry colonial settlers from moving west beyond the appalachian mountains unfortunately the americans victory and native american support for the british created a pretense for justifying rapid and often brutal expansion into the western territories native american peoples would continue to be displaced and pushed further west throughout the 19th century ultimately american independence marked the beginning of the end of what had remained of native american independence section 7 conclusion the american revolution freed colonists from british rule and offered the first blow in what historians have called the age of democratic revolutions the american revolution was a global event revolutions followed in france then haiti and then south america the american revolution meanwhile brought significant changes to the british empire many british historians even used the revolution as a dividing point between a first british empire and a second british empire at home however the revolution created a new nation-state the united states of america by september 1783 independence had been won what the new nation would look like however was still very much up for grabs in the 1780s americans would shape and then reshape the nation-state first with the articles of confederation ratified in 1781 and then with the constitution in 1787 and 1788 historians have long argued over the causes and character of the american revolution was the revolution caused by british imperial policy or by internal tensions within the colonies were colonists primarily motivated by constitutional principles ideals of equality or economic self-interest was the revolution radical or conservative but such questions are hardly limited to historians from abraham lincoln's use of the declaration of independence in the gettysburg address to 21st century tea party members wearing knee breeches the revolution has remained at the center of american political culture indeed how one understands the revolution often dictates how one defines what it means to be american the revolution was not won by a few founding fathers men and women of all ranks contributed to the colony's most improbable victory from the commoners who protested the stamp act to the women who helped organize boycotts against the townsend duties from the men black and white who fought in the army to the women who contributed to its support the revolution however did not aim to end all social and civic inequalities in the new nation and in the case of native americans it created new inequalities but over time the revolution's rhetoric of equality as encapsulated in the declaration of independence helped highlight some of those inequalities and became a shared aspiration for future social and political movements including among others the abolitionist and women's rights movements of the 19th century the suffragist in civil rights movements of the 20th century and the gay rights movement of the 21st century