Transcription
If you were to place a bet on who you thought was going to win the American Revolution in 1775, you probably would have put your money on Great Britain. The reason was quite simple: they had, um, the most powerful navy in the world, whereas the Americans had no navy whatsoever. They had a powerful and very well-organized army; the Americans were literally having to fabricate their army out of nothing. The British had an advantage in terms of the economy; they had manufacturing on their side. They were able to produce, um, the necessities to fight a war, um, whereas the Americans had to literally try and fabricate and make these necessities, uh, out of nothing. Okay, uh, and so the British had a tremendous advantage.
The only advantage that the, uh, colonists really had, uh, was that of geography. That is, um, they were fighting on land that they knew and that the British did not. Not only did they know the land, uh, but also, um, the British supply line, um, was something like 3,000 miles long. Okay. The point being, um, all of those, uh, weapons of war that they had had to be shipped across the ocean. So geography was definitely on the side of the colonists, and in the end, to a very large degree, it was geography that allowed these Americans to overcome the economic disadvantages and win their independence.
So let's talk a little bit about the American Revolution in this lecture, and hopefully we'll get a better idea of how it was that the Americans were able to overcome these considerable disadvantages. Um, you'll recall from our last lecture that in the spring of 1775, fighting started at Lexington and Concord. In the aftermath of Lexington and Concord, the militia, the colonial militia, set up a camp near Bunker Hill, um, just north of Boston. And, um, Thomas Gage, the British general, uh, moved quickly to try and crush the colonial camp. He hoped that by crushing the camp quickly, he could put an end to the revolution before it really got going. And so in June of 1775, Thomas Gage sent 2,200 men across the Charles River to Bunker Hill, where they began an assault on Bunker Hill. All right.
The Americans had very limited, um, ammunition, especially powder, to fight this war. They were not as well organized, uh, but they fought, uh, with great determination. At the Battle of Bunker Hill—I don't have time to get into all of the military strategies; I will, um, summarize by basically saying that while the British were successful—Thomas Gage did finally occupy Bunker Hill; he did, um, close down the colonial encampment—it was not, um, without considerable loss. Out of 2,200 men, um, that, uh, he took onto this, uh, expedition to battle, uh, at Bunker Hill, um, there were more than a thousand casualties. He had almost a 50 percent casualty rate, uh, and that was devastating. Yes, um, the British could claim victory, uh, but it was a hollow victory. In the aftermath of Bunker Hill, now Thomas Gage, um, was quite literally forced to evacuate Boston. Right. So though it was a victory for the British, it was very much a hollow victory. In the aftermath of Bunker Hill, then, um, Thomas Gage left, and his and his principal general, William Howe—you can see from this map—they departed, um, Boston, uh, in the summer of 1775. Actually, they ended up leaving in March of 1776, but they would return; they were coming back. And ultimately, now the man who was coming back, um, was not Thomas Gage, but William Howe. William Howe had been his principal general—Gage's principal general—and now it is Howe who's going to take command of British forces, uh, in North America, and it is Howe who's going to be responsible for, um, defeating the colonists. Now, rather than coming back to Boston, um, William Howe is going to make the decision to focus on New York. Okay.
And so in the summer of 1776, now William Howe and the British forces are going to return, and they're going to return in much larger numbers, um, than they had before. Okay. Whereas he had—whereas Thomas Gage had anywhere from four to seven thousand men at any given time—now William Howe is returning, and he actually had kind of organized his troops in in Newfoundland—sorry, Nova Scotia—in any case, now they're coming from Canada down to New York, 32,000 men strong. The British forces greatly, um, were vastly superior to George Washington's men, and that showed, um, in the summer and fall of 1776. Howe and his men were able to defeat the colonists in in New York, on Long Island, and then in the lower Hudson River Valley. Washington began to turn southwards in his retreat, and his ultimate goal was to defend Philadelphia. His fear was that Philadelphia, the capital where the Congress was meeting, would fall, and he would have to prevent that from happening. And so he turned southward and began defending back in the direction of Pennsylvania and specifically Philadelphia. By Christmas of 1776, now, um, Washington's men had been forced to cross the Delaware River back into, uh, into Pennsylvania. New Jersey now had been taken and occupied by British forces. But then on Christmas night of 1776, George Washington, uh, launched what became a surprise attack. Okay.
On Christmas night of 1776, with the British completely unexpecting, George Washington and his men crossed the Delaware River. You've probably seen these famous paintings of of Washington crossing the Delaware. It was a river that was frozen; there were ice chunks and ice flows that he had to navigate. They loaded into, I think it was about a hundred Durham boats, and they crossed over the river on Christmas night. In the early morning hours of December 26th, basically Washington and his men marched on the town of Trenton. Now Trenton was occupied—Trenton, New Jersey was occupied by a group of Hessians, almost a thousand of them. Hessians were Germans, and they were mercenaries; they were basically Germans who were paid soldiers in the service of the English Crown, fighting for, uh, the English Crown. So these were not the highly trained, um, the British regular troops. But on the other hand, um, Washington had had removed about a thousand men from the battle; they had been taken prisoner. And perhaps more importantly, uh, he had seized a very valuable, um, cache of of weapons—not only 1,200 rifles but a great considerable amount of ammunition and powder—and that was very important in in the fight. Equally important is that it began to change the morale in Washington's camp. He had been in retreat ever since Howe had arrived in the summer of 1776, and his men were tired of retreating. His men, especially in the winter, were cold; they were hungry; they were—they needed something to kind of lift their spirit. And ultimately, the battle at Trenton, um, uh, did that. There was a subsequent battle at Princeton a few, a week or so later, um, that was equally important in in lifting the morale of, uh, George Washington's men. Okay.
And so what George Washington quickly discovered as a result now is that the way to defeat the the British, um, was not to stand toe-to-toe with them, not to, um, not to meet them on a field of battle in the traditional kind of European manner of fighting, but rather it was to retreat and hit—retreat and strike. It was to strike when unexpected; it was to ambush; it was to do everything that they could to to surprise and frustrate the British. And ultimately, what was most important was to live to fight another day. That is what, um, that is kind of the strategy now that Washington is going to develop, um, in waging war against the British. All right. So he knew he would have been destroyed on a conventional battlefield, but if he can fight an unconventional war, he could possibly surprise the British. And ultimately, the most important thing that that Washington wanted to do was to defeat the British army, okay, not just a group of mercenaries, but to capture one of of of the British armies. If he could do that, that would be not only an incredible lift in the morale but it would also demonstrate to perhaps Spain and France that perhaps the Americans might be able to succeed in in winning their independence. And if they did, they might be able to solicit support from the French and the Spanish. All right.
So with that in mind, William Howe is now going to launch the, um, one of the most controversial military maneuvers certainly of the American Revolution, but one of the most controversial, um, literally in American military history. Okay. And it's called, um, the three-prong attack. It was it was called the three-prong attack. If you look at the map on the right in this slide, you can see, um, the three prongs, um, that developed. General John Burgoyne was sent up into Canada, uh, up the St. Lawrence River to the city of of Montreal. And from Montreal, uh, Burgoyne, the the English general, the British general, was going to come southward, um, through the Lake Champlain district. If he could control upstate New York and and and Lake Champlain, um, that would help to isolate, um, New England. Okay. At the mean—in the meantime, um, General Barry St. Leger was going to go further up the St. Lawrence River and into the Ontario—Lake Ontario region. And when he arrived there, then, uh, he was to organize an alliance with the Iroquois Confederation. Okay. The Iroquois was a confederation of many different tribes, um, in upstate New York, uh, and they were under the leadership of a man by the name of Thayendanegea. Okay. Thayendanegea was known popularly, um, to the colonists and to the British as Joseph Brant. That was his English name; his Iroquois name was Thayendanegea. In any case, he he was the spokesman of of several tribes in upstate New York, and even early in the war he had traveled, um, to London to basically pledge his, uh, support to the British cause in the hopes that the British then would be able to help prevent colonial encroachments on, um, Iroquois lands. All right. So Barry St. Leger, uh, arrived in Lake Ontario then to organize a a an alliance with Joseph Brant. And Joseph Brant now and Barry St. Leger are going to cooperate; they're going to march, um, eastward from from Lake Ontario, and they're going to engage the Americans in the Mohawk River Valley. They're going to come into the Hudson River Valley, um, from the, uh, from the west. Okay.
The third prong in this British attack was to be organized by, um, William Howe himself. Howe, uh, had occupied New York, and he was going to go up the Hudson River Valley from New York, uh, and basically converge, uh, on the confluence of the Mohawk River Valley, uh, and the upper Hudson. Okay. And so three prongs—one going from the north, um, St. Leger from the west, uh, and then basically, um, William Howe from the south. And if you look at the map, you can see Burgoyne's march; you can see St. Leger's march. What you can't see is William Howe's march, and the reason for that is because at the last minute, Howe changed his mind. Howe decided to change his direction and march from New York to Philadelphia. He hoped to occupy Philadelphia, and he believed that Burgoyne and St. Leger could control the upper, uh, Hudson River Valley on their own, uh, and that by doing this, uh, if Burgoyne and and St. Leger controlled the Hudson River, uh, and he, uh, could control Philadelphia, well, he would force the colonists to to abandon the fight, to give up the fight, and they would have successfully crushed the, um, the rebellion. Well, it didn't turn out that way. The decision not to march up the Hudson River turned out to be disastrous because the colonial forces under General Horatio Gates arrived at Saratoga to basically intercept John Burgoyne as Burgoyne was heading south. Horatio Gates and the Continental Army clashed at Saratoga. And Saratoga—now the battles at Saratoga in the summer of 1777 are going to be a critical, um, series of engagements. Okay. At Saratoga, now Horatio Gates is going to capture John Burgoyne's army. Okay. Six thousand men, um, were captured. And in so doing, now, um, Burgoyne, in surrendering his army, has suffered a humiliating defeat. And now William Howe has to explain to the Crown that he has lost an army of six thousand men. Okay. It's gonna cost Howe, uh, his his appointment. Okay. He's gonna lose his position, uh, as commander of of forces, uh, in North America. And perhaps more importantly, now this is going to be a sign that the Americans are indeed in a position, um, to stand on the battlefield, um, with the British, and that the Americans may even be able to successfully, um, secure their independence.
Well, Saratoga sent a powerful message to Europe, and that is that the Americans might be able to win their independence. And because of that, now, um, Benjamin Franklin is going to arrive in Paris with the intention of signing an alliance—establishing an alliance between the Americans and France. Okay. The Franco-American alliance was critical for a number of different reasons. Okay. First of all, prior to Saratoga, France would not recognize American independence. France looked upon this, um, war in North America as a British matter. Okay. It was an internal dispute; it was not an international dispute; it was not something that the Americans, uh, or that the, uh, French should get involved in. So France had always refrained from getting involved in this conflict. Spain had refrained—France from getting involved in this conflict. But in the aftermath of Saratoga, now, um, basically Benjamin Franklin now was able to arrive and and negotiate an alliance. Okay. Franklin, um, an elderly man by this time, but highly respected in Europe and certainly recognized as one of America's great statesmen. And so in 1777, he orchestrated a treaty—signed a treaty with France. And ultimately, now this treaty is going to have very important implications not only for the revolution but also for, um, America. Okay. Because first of all, and this is perhaps the most important thing, right, France is now recognizing the United States as independent. Okay. It's—as independent. By signing a treaty with the United States, France is effectively saying, "You are an independent country, and now you have the authority to enter into treaties. Okay. We are recognizing you as independent." So so even though Britain was not recognizing the United States as independent, France now was becoming the first country to say, "Yes, we recognize the United States as an independent country." Okay. And as part of this alliance, we are going to provide naval support. Remember, the Americans had a ragtag navy; the British had great, um, naval superiority. But now the French are going to offer naval support, and that means the British are going to have to fight an organized navy off the coast of North America and in in Europe as well. That ultimately is going to give, um, the Americans considerable, uh, support. The French are also going to send ground troops to North America, as we'll see. When the British finally surrender, they're going to surrender not to the Americans but to a joint French and American army—a Franco-American army. All right. So it's very important to understand the French are now going to send troops to North America to help the Americans secure their independence. Okay. And for their part in this, um, the French are going to secure a commercial trade partner. Okay. Remember, in a mercantilist system, the Crown—the British Crown—prevented trade between the United States, uh, and France. But now, under, um, this independent, um, Franco-American alliance, there's gonna be economic—commercial trade that is part of this as well. So it's not just a military alliance; it's an economic alliance as well. Okay.
Now, one of the important provisions of this treaty that we can't overlook is that neither party in this treaty—neither France nor the United States—was going to be allowed to enter into a separate peace with Great Britain. Okay. In other words, France was—in this—until the Americans were ready to sign a peace, and the United States was in this until the French were ready to sign a peace. And that is critical to understand because this conflict was not just taking place in North America. Okay. It was taking place in Europe as well. Okay. The French and the British were now at war with one another, and the United States was not going to be able to sign a peace until the French were ready to sign a peace. Right. So critical to remember—that's one of the provisions of this Franco-American alliance. And after 1777, then the outcome of this conflict, um, well, it changed dramatically. Okay. The the appearance—the prospects for this war began to change dramatically. Right. Now the French were going to lend support, and ultimately the British began to focus their attention more and more on the southern colonies. Okay. There were a couple of reasons for that. First of all, the southern colonies were agricultural colonies, and those agricultural colonies were especially valuable to an island country. Okay. One of the things that the British did not have is agricultural land. Those agricultural colonies could provide even foodstuffs—not just tobacco but a variety of different agricultural goods that the English especially needed. They might lose the northern colonies, but they especially wanted to hold on to the southern colonies. They also believed that in the south they might be able to recruit the slave population to fight for them—that there were potential soldiers in the south, um, to support, um, their their cause. All right. So for a variety of reasons, now in 1780 the British are especially going to focus on, um, on on the southern colonies. Okay. The new general, um, General Clinton, um, is going to send Lord Cornwallis, um, to the south. And in 1780, Cornwallis is going to launch the southern campaign of this war. Okay. 14,000 troops are going to arrive at Charleston, South Carolina. Okay. And after much fighting, yes, um, Cornwallis was able to occupy, um, the southern town of Charleston. Okay. But if you look at what happens then, okay, Cornwallis is going to move inland, uh, and then the arrows just turn into a mass of of lines that are going everywhere in every direction. And that's because the the, um, colonists—the Americans—now are going to frustrate Cornwallis again. They're going to adopt, um, the the duck and weave, you know, duck and bob, uh, approach to warfare. They're not going to engage Cornwallis directly; they're going to hit him and then retreat; they're going to ambush him; they're going to move about; they're going to frustrate Cornwallis, and they did. He was never able to capture a large number of Americans; they just continued, uh, to fight and to frustrate. Finally, Cornwallis, by 1781, was forced to retreat back to the coast at Wilmington, okay, and effectively give up the Carolina campaign. He was not able, um, to subdue the Southerners and the Carolinas, and so he turned north and went to Virginia. He hoped to be able to control the Virginia, um, theater and ultimately, um, uh, control, um, the Chesapeake. That proved to be frustrating because when Cornwallis arrived in Virginia, he not only encountered George Washington's troops in Virginia, but now he's going to encounter a large French force. French reinforcements came from General Lafayette. Lafayette, uh, combined with Washington, now produced an army of some 17,000 Franco-American troops. They now outnumbered the British; um, Cornwallis's men were, um, you know, they had been beaten up in the Carolina campaign; they were low on not just morale but supplies, and they were ultimately forced to retreat to the coast down the York, uh, peninsula up to Chesapeake Bay. And Cornwallis had hoped that when he got to Chesapeake Bay, there would be, um, British ships, um, there, and these British ships would be able to, um, resupply his men. But when he got there, he found not British ships but rather French ships. That is, the French had taken control of the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, and ultimately there were no provisions for Cornwallis's men. Basically, he was cornered on the York Peninsula; the French fleet cornered him at sea, and the joint Franco-American army under Washington, uh, and Lafayette, uh, controlled on the mainland. And at that point, uh, in October of 1781, now Cornwallis was forced to surrender, uh, his army. And in so doing, now, um, Cornwallis was effectively surrendering, um, the British cause. Okay.
In the aftermath of Yorktown, um, basically, um, Brit—the British people—the people in England, um, began to lose interest in this in this fight. Okay. It had been basically five years of fighting—almost six years of fighting—now, and ultimately, um, nothing had been gained. It had cost a lot of money, and the Americans, especially with French support now, um, could not be stopped. And so by October of 1781, the British, um, were ready to give up the fight; the fighting portion of this war, for all intents and purposes, was over. Okay. And it looked as though the Americans were ready to secure their independence, but there was this problem, and it was called the Franco-American alliance. Okay. Remember, under the terms of this alliance, the United States could not sign a treaty with Great Britain until the French were ready to sign a treaty, and the French had another ally in this fight, and that ally was the Spanish. Okay. The Spanish were still at war with the British, and the Spanish had been helping the United States as well, especially with their currency. So the point is, as long as the Spanish, um, were continuing the fight, um, the French and the Americans, um, were still in this fight, uh, as well. All right.
So what was the fight all about? Well, the fight between Spain and Great Britain was over control of Gibraltar. Okay. Gibraltar is an—is literally a rock—an island rock, um, that sits, uh, in the water between Spain and Africa, and it effectively guards the entrance from the Atlantic Ocean into the Mediterranean Sea. In fact, that strait that separates Spain and Africa is called the Strait of Gibraltar. And the story of Gibraltar is an incredibly strategic—incredibly important strategic location. Right. Who controls Gibraltar controls access or traffic in and out of the Mediterranean Sea. This was territory that was claimed by Spain, but it was occupied by Great Britain—using Great Britain's navy. Okay. So Great Britain's navy allowed it to occupy and controlled Gibraltar, and Spain wanted the British off of Gibraltar, and they wanted Gibraltar for, um, themselves. Okay. And they were not going to give up the fight until Gibraltar was transferred, um, to Spain. The war continued for another two years. Okay. And it wasn't until 1783 that the Spanish were finally forced to give up the fight for Gibraltar. The cost of the fight was getting too much; the French were losing interest in in supporting the Spanish. And so ultimately, peace had to be restored. And just kind of as a footnote, I'll tell you that to this very day the British are occupying and control Gibraltar. Okay. So the the Gibraltar entanglement was just a mess; it did keep the war going for two more years, but finally in 1783, now, um, France and the United States were in a position to sign a treaty with Great Britain. And finally, in 1783, the Treaty of Paris was signed. Okay. What did the U.S. Treaty of Paris do? Well, first of all, it established independence, um, for the United States of America. Okay. Second, it established boundaries for the, um, newly created United States of America. Okay. So the first boundaries of the United States—the United States did not look anything like it does today. Okay. The western boundary of the United States was not the Pacific Ocean but the Mississippi River. Okay. The southern boundary was not the Gulf of Mexico but rather was Florida. Okay. Remember, Florida remained part of Spain at this time; it was a Spanish territory. We'll talk about how the United States secured Florida later on. Okay. Finally, the northern border of the United States was the Great Lakes, uh, and British Canada. The British still retained control of Canada, but the United States now controlled all territory northward to the Great Lakes. All right. So the Treaty of Paris—very important—it established, um, and the United States is—or the British now are going to recognize the United States as an independent country. Okay. The revolution—well, independence was declared in 1776; now in 1783 the British are officially going to recognize U.S. independence. All right. And the boundaries of the United States have also been established. Okay. That's going to wrap up our brief discussion of the American Revolution. I wish we had been able to deal with it, um, in in more detail, but unfortunately, in a brief American history survey class like this, you don't have time to get into all of the detail that you would like to get into. Okay. Nevertheless, hopefully that gives you a good idea—basic idea—of what happened during, you know, some of the major events of the American Revolution. In our next lecture, then, when we come—come back, we're actually going to start talking about, um, the formation of a new government, um, in the independent United States of America.