Transcription
Recall from our last lecture that the Tea Act, passed in Great Britain, produced a crisis situation in the Americas and culminated in the passage of the Coercive Acts. These 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.
It was in the aftermath of these Intolerable Acts that Samuel Adams, the leader of the Sons of Liberty and perhaps one of the most prominent spokesmen for the city of Boston, began corresponding with leaders in other colonial cities. 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.
The formation of this correspondence committee resulted, ultimately, in 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. Fifty-five men arrived, representing the colonies, and their ultimate objective was to discuss the various strategies to undertake in trying to address the oppressive legislation that was coming out of Parliament. Again, the Intolerable Acts, especially, had been designed to recover payment for lost tea, but that repayment was basically, and the punishment was being levied upon the entire city of Boston; it was an intolerable circumstance. So the First Continental Congress began to strategize ways to protest the Intolerable Acts and to assure that those Intolerable Acts weren't applied elsewhere in the colonies as well. There were three very important outcomes 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, I want to just kind of give you a sense of what 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 mother country furnished the manufactured goods. So the point is that this economic boycott is now 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 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. This Continental Association effectively amounted to an economic alliance between the various colonies. All right, the colonies were now going to start trying to cooperate economically with one another. So, for example, the northeastern colonies, where shipbuilding and the production of shipbuilding materials had kind of laid the foundation for some sort of manufacturing, well, they were going to start thinking about manufacturing now in the New England colonies and in the Northeast. 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. 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 about eight months later, in the following spring—they're going to reconvene a Second Continental Congress. All right, and at that point the intention was to evaluate the economic strategy. Okay, was it working? Was it not working? What could be done to improve it? And hopefully, if everything went well, the Coercive Acts would have been repealed by that time, and they may be able to return to a somewhat normal operating relationship between and among the colonies. All right, so the Second Continental Congress was basically scheduled to kind of evaluate the progress that was being made as a result of, 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 how 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 the events unfolded here. All right, so remember that the Coercive Acts had restructured the colonial assembly and, basically, as far as 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 under Hancock's leadership, with many other prominent Bostonians participating in this process. As part of the organization of this Congress, 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—the British commanding officer in Boston—would be prepared to shut down this Congress. And so, in order to defend the Congress, they began stockpiling arms and munitions in Concord. Okay, there was a small armory that was being built there, and that these Congressmen, these representatives, were beginning to stockpile. Now, of course, the British learned all about this. Thomas Gage, the commanding officer in Boston, had an entire network of communications intelligence, and he learned 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 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. In the meantime, Thomas Gage and the British army, they were monitoring what was going on in Concord to make sure that nothing was threatening 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 Massachusetts colonists fully realized that he would have to move. Okay, and so what happened was they developed a communication network—a communication network that basically relied on horsemen, what were called Minutemen. The Minutemen had to be ready at a minute's notice not only to send out word that the 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 that assembly in Concord. All right, so that was the situation, then, that existed in the spring of 1775. Okay, a few months after the First Continental Congress, by April of 1775, the British were ready to move. Okay, so what happened? Well, on the night of April 18th, actually, the British troops began to move out of Boston. Okay, and when they did, of course, Paul Revere and two other riders immediately began riding throughout the countryside and especially all along the road to Concord that the British 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 army—and they were there to defend against the British movement. Now, again, from a British perspective, this is not a volunteer army; these are traitors, these are revolutionaries who are launching a revolution against the Crown, against the government—their own government. All right, nevertheless, the Minutemen now began to organize, right, and the first encounter 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 at Lexington, during the early morning hours of April 19th, that the first clash occurred. Okay, on Lexington Green, and it was just kind of as the sun was starting to come up. Okay, it was, 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 Major John Pitcairn. Okay, Pitcairn arrived with his British regulars, the so-called Redcoats, 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 and Parker, the command was given to disband, right, and it is at that point that Pitcairn and Parker had two very different recollections of what happened. Okay, according to Parker, he honored the command of Pitcairn, and he and his men began to disband, and when they did, the British fired upon them. Okay, in an effort to make a statement that they would not tolerate the resistance, any kind of resistance. Parker, on the other hand—or excuse me, Pitcairn, on the other hand—argued that he gave the command to disband, 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 disputed and unclear. Okay, what we do know is that when the smoke had cleared from the firing that did take place, eight of Parker's men—eight Minutemen—were dead on Lexington Green, and the shot heard round the world had been fired, or the so-called shot heard round 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 monarchical rule, monarchical tyranny. Okay, it's debatable whether this is really the shot heard round the world, but certainly, from the mind or in the opinion of the Americans, it had that kind of impact, as kind of the first in a series of revolutions against monarchical rule. Okay, whatever the case, the civil war had now started. Okay, Pitcairn and his men, the British, continued to march on to Concord. Remember, their objective was to occupy Concord and shut down Congress. When they got to Concord, they found that the town had been abandoned; there was nobody there. All right, the people had left; the arms had been taken, and the British elected to withdraw and return up to Boston. And when they did that, is when they encountered a firefight. Okay, the Minutemen had lined the road to Boston and basically had laid an ambush, and the British marched right into that ambush all the way back to Boston; they 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 are now 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 fighting had already started. All right, so that being the case, there were a variety of different questions to be asked. Okay, should they raise an army? Should the Continental Congress raise an army and support the rebellion in Massachusetts, or should they not do that? Okay, even if they do, or if they do, they're going to need money, and if they need money, they're going to have to come up with a way of making money. All right, 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 they were referred to popularly as Continentals. All right, and that's what you're looking at in this slide. Okay, two Continentals. Now, initially, if you look at the one on the top, you see that this is basically printed by Hall and Sellers; it's authorized to be printed by the Continental Congress, but notice that it's not redeemable in precious metal. Okay, and the reason it wasn't redeemable in precious metals is 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—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 extensively, but Spain also had 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—well, they began to be more happy; they could pay their bills. All right, these Continentals on the top were worth nothing; 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 to defeat the French 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—his dress blues, as they would say. Okay, he had gone out to a tailor and had a tailor stitch him a general's uniform, and he showed up in Philadelphia and assured 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 others at the convention to support the Continental army, and so he did—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 to Massachusetts. Now, of course, one of the big questions that George Washington had—and it is a question that is so frequently overlooked in American history, and one that it's absolutely—it's almost criminal that this is forgotten 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 slave population is very likely to support. All right, so if George Washington wants the 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—Virginia—and Lord Dunmore now saw the slaves as an important ally of the British Crown. Okay, and so Lord Dunmore basically is going to begin the process of offering concessions to the slaves, with the possibility that they 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 his owner and basically had begun to work with the governor, Lord Dunmore. Okay, Lord Dunmore had effectively begun to recognize that Joseph Harris could contribute to 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 ways to get places and so forth; he was very valuable to the Virginia governor. And so Lord Dunmore began to compensate Joseph Harris for his assistance. At one point, Lord Dunmore began gathering up all of the gunpowder—as much of the gunpowder as he could—and basically relocating that gunpowder out onto a ship in Chesapeake Bay, and the colonists were up in arms, arguing that if a slave rebellion started, they'd have no way of defending themselves. And so the colonists were outraged with the governor. Okay, they were outraged for these actions; they were outraged for his treatment of Joseph Harris. Okay, and ultimately, Joseph Harris basically was piloting a ship—and this becomes kind of an involved story—but he was piloting a ship that was run aground. Okay, and when it was run aground, the Patriots ransacked it. Okay, they took everything. Okay, the colonists seized everything 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 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 the South; it was a war fought largely over the actions of the governor, over the actions of 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 revolution or the rebellion, any slave will receive his freedom in exchange for military service. All right, so slavery did very much have a role to play in the coming of the American Revolution. We hear all about taxes and tea and so forth; no, slavery, especially in the South, is a very, 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 in the North, and yet we're still not sure about independence. Okay.
Well, in the winter of 1775 and 1776, a Virginian, a man by the name of Thomas Paine, is now going to publish one of the most important 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 the ideas of 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 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 suppress this publication; nevertheless, it was widely read. Okay, and finally, in June of 1776, the leader of the convention, John Adams, basically tapped Thomas Jefferson of Virginia to draft a Declaration of Independence. Okay, and Jefferson's Declaration of Independence became one of the most important documents, certainly in American history and, in some ways, 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, but the British. Okay, now why would he include that language? Well, 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 with the British cause; slaves would not join 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 declaration? And the reason is actually obviously quite simple: Remember, there were Quakers in this convention, and ultimately they fully realized there is no truth to this; the British 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 the British are gone, then what happens? Will the Black population of the United States of America tolerate 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, the Declaration of Independence, on July 4th, 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 independence 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 revolution itself.