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The war for independence


The development of the colonies:

 

By 1770 2,3 million people lived in the American colonies. They exported Tobacco, Indigo, rice, skins, lumber, rum and iron (more than England and Wales together)

Due to very strict restrictions only ships sailing under the "Union Jack" were allowed to anchor in American harbours.

 

Fairly soon every colony elected an assembly, the Virginians for example set up their House of Burgesses only 12 years after Jamestown had been settled.

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The 13 colonies all had grievances against the mother country, nevertheless each colony was jealous of the others. At the Albany Congress in 1754, which has been called because of the Indian danger, only 7 of the 13 colonies sent representatives in spite of the Indian danger to all colonies.

 

Pre-War events:

 

The French war, which ended in 1763, made England master of Canada and of the land between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River. Now all costs for governing this vast region were shifted from France to England. The British people already suffered from an immense national debt and the taxes where higher than ever before. So new taxes where introduced in America. The Sugar Act, The Stamp Act and The Quartering Act demanded taxes from the colonists for imported goods, newspapers, most commercial and legal documents and for the British troops, stationed in the colonies. By 1764 the Currency Act once more increased the load of taxes.

The colonies complained that they were not represented in the English Parliament and argued that only a locally elected assembly could tax them.

The first pre-revolutionary incident took place in Boston in 1773, when a group of citizens, disguised as Indians, tossed tea, worth L15.000, from a ship of the East India Company into the harbour. This incident is now known as the "Boston Tea Party"

 

The war for independence:

 

The colonists set up militaristic patriotic associations, which committed violent attacks.

The first battle was fought on April 19th 1775 at Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts, when British regulars attempted to seize munitions stored in Concord. They were awaited by some 6000 -20000 colonists who defeated them and forced them to retreat to Boston. The siege of Boston lasted until March 17th 1776 when the British regulars evacuated the town.

 

The war for independence lasted as long as five and a half years because at the beginning the American forces just consisted of colonial militia headed by local leaders. The Army had no central systems for housing, paying or feeding the troops. Another handicap of the Americans was that only a third of the people were patriots, two thirds of the colonists either did not fight or were enlisted in the British army.

The finances also possessed a great problem, so thousands of Loyalists were driven out of their home and the States confiscated their wealth.

At the second Continental Congress, George Washington was elected CINC (Commander-in- Chief) of the Continental Army. He and all the other leaders like Benjamin Franklin, who negotiated with France, or Thomas Jefferson made it possible that an Army of settlers without any structure at the beginning and no central systems defeated the world's most powerful country.

 

The war in the North:

 

On October 17th 1777 the American irregulars defeated the British troops in the North.

Gen. Burgoyne surrendered with his remaining force of about 5,800 men at Saratoga. The British attempt to split the States had failed.

 

Although the British forces had been defeated in the North, Gen. Howe entered Philadelphia which then was the American capital, on September 11th and the Continental Congress had to flee to York, PA.

However on June 28th the irregulars retook the city forcing the British to withdraw.

 

The war in the South:

 

In May 1780 Gen. Clinton and Cornwallis sailed south from New York, which was in British hands, to concentrate their forces in Savannah. They took Charleston which was defended by Gen. Lincoln.

In December 1780 Gen. Nathaniel Greene took command of American forces in the South. He divided his force and continued the "hit-and-run" war on Cornwallis. Cornwallis moved his forces northward to Guilford Court House where a famous battle was fought in which Cornwallis lost more than 500 men. Full of fear his army retreat eastward to Yorktown to be near the British fleet. Around Yorktown Cornwallis threw up defences but from then on laid trapped between sea and ground enemies as on August 30th Gen. De Grasse's fleet of some 24 ships arrived off Yorktown. 19 English ships attempted to rescue Cornwallis but failed. On October 19th 1781 Gen. Cornwallis' surrender of 7,247 men ended the war.

The peace treaty:

 

The provisional treaty was signed on November 30th 1782 in Paris. The Americans secured their independence and the land west to the Mississippi. Both, citizens of the United States and Britain were to have the right to use the Mississippi.

The Congress recommended that the States compensate the Loyalists for property taken from them during war.

France accepted this treaty and made final on September 3rd 1783 by the Treaty of Paris.

On May 25th 1787 fifty-five state delegates and George Washington as their president convened in Philadelphia to form a government.

Three months later the US Constitution was officially signed and George Washington took oath as first President of the United States of America.

 

The American Revolution was a great social movement toward democracy. Vast estates of land had passed from the king, from colonial proprietors and from Loyalists into the hands of the new state governments. Broken up into small tracts, these were sold at low cost or given to patriot soldiers.

The barriers to westward movement had been removed and a flood of settlers poured into the lands beyond the mountains. State governments had been elected and the first experiment in national union was in progress.