History 2301E Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Ochlocracy, Grand Banks Of Newfoundland, Mercantilism
2 May 2018
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September 28th, 2017
The American Revolution
➢ Loyalists
➢ The War for Independence, 1775-1778
➢ The Franco-American Alliance, 1778
➢ Britain Turns South
➢ The Peace of Paris Treaty, 1783
➢ The Making of a Constitution
o The Articles of Confederation, 1781-1787
o The Constitution, 1789
20 years of the colonists pushing to have representation
no one looking for independence until July 4 1776
Americans don’t win, Britain loses
Loyalists
- Numbers
o 1/3 colonists thought independence was a bad and wrong idea
- Who
o Government officials
▪ Worked for the governor’s office
▪ A monetary stake
o Pragmatists
▪ Lack of a bank and manufacturing
▪ No way we are going to win, so why choose the losing side?
o Republican ideology
▪ Government by the people and for the people
▪ “Mob rule”
• need an elite
• an elite ruling class or monarchy
• masses should not have political power
o Southern colony
o The clergy- paid by the church of England
- Where do they go
o after the constitution, some stayed
o the richest were able to go back to England
▪ those whose jobs were connected to England
▪ Caribbean: British colonies in Barbados and
▪ Canadian: the united empire loyalist
The War for Independence:
The Battle at Bunker Hill, June 1775
- Boston
o Thousands and thousands of troops
o Battle between England and the Massachusetts Militia
- Massachusetts militia
- Tactics
o Don’t shoot until you see the whites of their eyes
o Ran out of gun powder
▪ War of attrition
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- Implications
o British
▪ Fighting for a cause
o Continental Congress (American perspective)
▪ Need more soldiers
▪ Every able body male had to join the continental army or a local militia
▪ Not a formal draft system
▪ Have to get involved
New York and New Jersey Staten Island, July 2, 1776
- British landing
o Going to attack the port of New York
o Goal to isolate Massachusetts
▪ Cut of Boston from the other colonies
▪ 32,000 British troops showed up + 9,000 German hessians = 41,000
- Washington’s retreat
o All other battles had been led by militia groups
o first battle which involved the Continental Army
o 4,000 men
o very quick and bloody defeat for Washington
▪ things not going well for either militia or the Continent Army
Thomas Paine, The American Crisis
- Common sense about unity
- this is about morale
- “These are the times that try men’s souls”
- may lose battles and men
o are cause is righteous
o we are on the right side of history
Washington crosses the Delaware (photo)
- Christmas eve
- Washington’s men re-engage the British
- Don’t reclaim any territory
- Really good for morale
- Can never underestimate psychological victories
Valley Forge, 1777-1778
- Britain and Philadelphia, 1777
o Home to the Continental Congress
o Architects of the Declaration of Independence
o Going after the political head and leadership of this revolution
o Washington’s Army and the Americans lost
▪ Philly falls to the British
▪ British now in control of Boston, New York and Philadelphia
o More men needed
- Brutal winter
o Men in Continental Army encamped in Valley forge
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