Crash Course U.S. History: The American Revolution

Types of Revolutions

• Revolutions can either:
  • Change things (e.g., Industrial Revolution)
  • Not change things (360-degree turns like the French Revolution)
• American Revolution: A mix of both; rhetoric vs. reality

War for Independence

• British strategy: capture cities to force surrender
  • Captured Boston, New York, Charleston
• American strategy: Hold the countryside, don't quit
  • Home-field advantage, knowledge of terrain
• Famous battles:
  • Trenton: Washington crossed Delaware on Christmas, surprise victory
  • Saratoga: Significant British defeat due to poor leadership
  • Yorktown: Key southern battle; British surrender

Impact on People

• Morale: Poor among Continental soldiers; low rations, unpaid
• Diverse involvement:
  • Loyalists: Some colonists, including slaves, fought for British
  • Pacifists: Quakers faced property confiscation
  • Native Americans: Mostly neutral; Iroquois divided
• Effect on Slaves:
  • Lord Dunmore's proclamation offered freedom for fighting for British
  • 100,000 slaves fled, 15,000 left with British

Women's Role

• Women like Deborah Sampson fought but gained little post-war
• Emergence of Republican Motherhood: Educating women to educate future citizens

Revolutionary Ideas

• Political Ideas: "All men are created equal"
  • New constitutions, expanded voting, though mostly for property-owning white males
• Religious Freedom: Separation of Church and State
  • Jefferson's wall of separation praised in his tombstone
• Economic Changes: Decline of apprenticeship, shift towards paid labor in North

Slavery and Equality

• Hypocrisy: Liberty rhetoric vs. slavery reality
• Some protests against slavery, especially in Northern states
  • Gradual abolition in North; significant increase in free black population
• Revolutionary Process: Change over time, not an event

Legacy: Equality and Opportunity

• Gordon Wood's Radicalism: Equality in opportunity and treatment
• Idea of no inherent superiority was revolutionary
• Influences other revolutions, promotes respect and opportunity

Additional Info

• Produced by Stan Muller, directed by Stan and Mark Olsen
• Written by Raoul Meyer and John Green
• Available commentary by historians in comments