American Revolutionary War

[45] The Royal Proclamation of 1763 was designed to refocus colonial expansion north into Nova Scotia and south into Florida, with the Mississippi River as the dividing line between British and Spanish possessions in America.

A banking crisis led to the near-collapse of the East India Company, which dominated the British economy; to support it, Parliament passed the Tea Act, giving it a trading monopoly in the Thirteen Colonies.

[60] While denying its authority over internal American affairs, a faction led by James Duane and future Loyalist Joseph Galloway insisted Congress recognize Parliament's right to regulate colonial trade.

[64] After the Patriot victory at Concord, moderates in Congress led by John Dickinson drafted the Olive Branch Petition, offering to accept royal authority in return for George III mediating in the dispute.

[72] The employment of German soldiers against people viewed as British citizens was opposed by many in Parliament and by the colonial assemblies; combined with the lack of activity by Gage, opposition to the use of foreign troops allowed the Patriots to take control of the legislatures.

[76] Identifying inhabitants of the Thirteen Colonies as "one people", the declaration simultaneously dissolved political links with Britain, while including a long list of alleged violations of "English rights" committed by George III.

Washington quickly had his troops assembled and ferried them across the East River to Manhattan on flat-bottomed freight boats without any losses in men or ordnance, leaving General Thomas Mifflin's regiments as a rearguard.

[153] The 1776 campaign demonstrated that regaining New England would be a prolonged affair, which led to a change in British strategy to isolating the north by taking control of the Hudson River, allowing them to focus on the south where Loyalist support was believed to be substantial.

[156] Reasonable in principle, this did not account for the logistical difficulties involved and Burgoyne erroneously assumed Howe would remain on the defensive; Germain's failure to make this clear meant he opted to attack Philadelphia instead.

[178] Vergennes persuaded Louis XVI to secretly fund a government front company to purchase munitions for the Patriots, carried in neutral Dutch ships and imported through Sint Eustatius in the Caribbean.

[181] Silas Deane was sent to Paris to begin negotiations with Vergennes, whose key objectives were replacing Britain as the United States' primary commercial and military partner while securing the French West Indies from American expansion.

In return for French guarantees of American independence, Congress undertook to defend their interests in the West Indies, while both sides agreed not to make a separate peace; conflict over these provisions would lead to the 1798 to 1800 Quasi-War.

[185] Although Spain ultimately made important contributions to American success, in the Treaty of Aranjuez, Charles agreed only to support France's war with Britain outside America, in return for help in recovering Gibraltar, Menorca and Spanish Florida.

[193] The British government failed to take into account the strength of the American merchant marine and support from European countries, which allowed the colonies to import munitions and continue trading with relative impunity.

Victory would leave a truncated United States facing British possessions in the south, Canada to the north, and Ohio on their western border; with the Atlantic seaboard controlled by the Royal Navy, Congress would be forced to agree to terms.

[225] Despite battlefield success, the British could not control the countryside and Patriot attacks continued; before moving north, Cornwallis sent Loyalist militia under Major Patrick Ferguson to cover his left flank, leaving their forces too far apart to provide mutual support.

[244][ac] The war in the west stalemated with the British garrison sitting in Detroit and the Virginians expanding westward settlements north of the Ohio River in the face of British-allied Indian resistance.

[254] An agreement by the Spanish Navy to defend the French West Indies allowed Admiral François Joseph Paul de Grasse to relocate to the Atlantic seaboard, a move Arbuthnot did not anticipate.

While Spain did not formally join the war in America, they provided access to the Mississippi River and captured British possessions on the Gulf of Mexico that denied bases to the Royal Navy, retook Menorca and besieged Gibraltar in Europe.

[275] The development of the Continental Army was always a work in progress and Washington used both his regulars and state militias throughout the war; when properly employed, the combination allowed them to overwhelm smaller British forces, as they did in battles at Concord, Boston, Bennington, and Saratoga.

In the American Revolutionary War, reinforcements had to come from Europe, and maintaining large armies over such distances was extremely complex; ships could take three months to cross the Atlantic, and orders from London were often outdated by the time they arrived.

[307] This meant that, unlike Europe where the fall of a capital city often ended wars, that in America continued even after the loss of major settlements such as Philadelphia, the seat of Congress, New York, and Charleston.

[314] While Ferling argues Patriot victory was nothing short of a miracle,[315] Ellis suggests the odds always favored the Americans, especially after Howe squandered the chance of a decisive British success in 1776, an "opportunity that would never come again".

[324] Howe's responsibility is still debated; despite receiving large numbers of reinforcements, Bunker Hill seems to have permanently affected his self-confidence and lack of tactical flexibility meant he often failed to follow up opportunities.

[341] The prospect of foreign German soldiers being used in the colonies bolstered support for independence, more so than taxation and other acts combined; the King was accused of declaring war on his own subjects, leading to the idea there were now two separate governments.

[342][343] By apparently showing Britain was determined to go to war, it made hopes of reconciliation seem naive and hopeless, while the employment of what was regarded as "foreign mercenaries" became one of the charges levelled against George III in the Declaration of Independence.

The Virginia General Assembly later cited her bravery: she fought while dressed as a man and "performed extraordinary military services, and received a severe wound at the battle of Germantown ... with the courage of a soldier".

Parliament would recognize Congress as the governing body, suspend any objectionable legislation, surrender its right to local colonial taxation, and discuss including American representatives in the House of Commons.

[388] Key agreements for the United States in obtaining peace included recognition of US independence; all of the territory east of the Mississippi River, north of Florida and south of Canada; and fishing rights in the Grand Banks, off the coast of Newfoundland and in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence.

Two Treatises of Government has long been cited as a major influence on Revolutionary-era American thinking, but historians David Lundberg and Henry F. May contend that Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding was far more widely read.

MAP of the 1763 Treaty of Paris claims in North America by the British and Spanish. The British claim east of the Mississippi River, including the Floridas ceded by Spain, and the previous French North America along the St. Lawrence River, west through the Great Lakes, and southerly along the east bank of the Mississippi River. Spanish claims added French cessions from French Louisiana east to the Mississippi River.
Map showing the territorial gains of Great Britain and Spain following the French and Indian War with lands held by the British prior to 1763 (in red), land gained by Britain in 1763 (in pink), and lands ceded to the Kingdom of Spain in secret during 1762 (in light yellow).
The artist's recreation of the Declaration signing with portraits of the entire Second Congress, as though all members were present. The Committee of Five are standing centered together presenting a parchment on the table.
The Committee of Five , who were charged with drafting the Declaration of Independence , including (from left to right): John Adams (chair), Roger Sherman , Robert Livingston , Thomas Jefferson (the Declaration's principal author), and Benjamin Franklin
Snow-covered street fighting of British and Tory Provincials repulsing an American assault
The British repulse a Continental Army attack at the Battle of Quebec in December 1775
Continental Sergeant William Jasper of the 2nd South Carolina Regiment, on a parapet raising the fort's South Carolina Revolutionary flag with its white crescent moon.
Sergeant William Jasper of the 2nd South Carolina Regiment raises the fort's flag at the Battle of Sullivan's Island in Charleston, South Carolina , in June 1776
Sailing ships on the Hudson River from afar, the scene emphases the two tall bluffs overlooking either side of the Hudson Narrows.
The British used the Narrows , connecting Upper and Lower New York Bay , to isolate Fort Washington in the Battle of Fort Washington in November 1776.
Washington standing up in a freight boat crossing a windy river filled with winter chunks of ice.
Washington Crossing the Delaware , an iconic 1851 Emanuel Leutze portrait depicting Washington's covert crossing of the Delaware River on December 25–26, 1776
James Monroe , the last U.S. president to fight in the Revolutionary War as a Continental Army officer, took part in the crossing of the Delaware River and the Battle of Trenton alongside George Washington
Saratoga campaign maneuvers and (inset) the Battles of Saratoga in September and October 1777
From the left, in the background three sailing warships at sea, one clearly flying a British naval ensign; in the center-right foreground, three sailing warships, two of them firing broadsides with gun smoke starting to cover them up. There was no US flag on the American ship, so the British said John Paul Jones was a pirate.
The Battle of Flamborough Head with U.S. warships in European waters with access to Dutch , French , and Spanish ports
From the left, a coastal town set in the background of a harbor; in the foreground center-right in the approach to the harbor and curving into the right background, a line of French warships, one firing a broadside at the town.
French Admiral d'Estaing 's joint expedition with Sullivan at the Battle of Rhode Island in August 1778
A close up of Continental infantry fighting in a street; a company on line firing to the left off the painting; in the center the officer; right foreground a drummer boy and behind him a soldier reloading a musket.
Continentals repulsing the British at the Battle of Springfield in June 1780; "Give 'em Watts, boys!"
A birds-eye view over the British lines of artillery besieging the port of Charleston in the center-background, and landing some shots at the docks.
The British siege of Charleston in May 1780
A close-up of a cavalry melee on large horses with sabers and pistols drawn; Three redcoats center-right are engaging two Patriots in blue along with an African-American in a brown linen shirt and white pants, with his pistol drawn and leveled at a redcoat.
The Continental Army routs the British Legion at the Battle of Cowpens in Cowpens, South Carolina , in January 1781
At left center, Virginia militia Colonel George Rogers Clark with buckskinned uniformed militia lined up behind him; at right center, red-coated British Quebec Governor Hamilton surrendering with ranks of white-uniformed Tory militia behind receding into the background; a drummer boy in the foreground; a line of British Indian allies lined up on the right receding into the background.
Province of Quebec Governor Henry Hamilton surrenders to Colonel George Rogers Clark at Vincennes in July 1779
Two lines of warships at sea sailing with full sails downwind away from the viewer and firing broadsides at one another; in the center foreground receding into the left background, six of the French fleet; in the right foreground receding to the center four of the British fleet.
A French Navy fleet (left) engages the British in the Battle of the Chesapeake on September 5, 1781
Center foreground a British officer on the left standing surrenders to a mounted Continental officer; far left foreground receding into the center background, a British line of infantry then mounted cavalry, with a large white flag of surrender; far right foreground receding into the center background, a Continental line of infantry, then mounted cavalry, with a large US flag of the Army.
British general Cornwallis surrenders at Yorktown in October 1781
West Point Military Academy MAP of America east of the Mississippi River. Campaigns noted in New England; in the middle colonies with three British (red sailing ship) naval victories; in the South with two British naval victories, and in Virginia with one French (blue sailing ship) naval victory. A Timeline bar graph below shows almost all British (red bar) victories on the left in the first half of the war, and almost all US (blue bar) victories on the right in the second half of the war.
A map of principal campaigns in the American Revolutionary War [ 268 ] with British movements in red and American movements in blue; the timeline shows the British won most battles in the war's first half, but Americans won the most in the second.
Formal painting of General George Washington, standing in uniform, as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army
A 1776 portrait of Washington by Charles Willson Peale , now housed in the Brooklyn Museum
Sail warships at sea with full sail; in the center middle ground, the US ship; in the background, four French warships in a haze giving it a cannon salute with gunpowder; small boats also in the water in the middle ground.
USS Ranger commanded by Captain John Paul Jones
Portrait of the British commander-in-chief, Sir Thomas Gage in dress uniform.
Sir Thomas Gage , British Army Commander from 1763 to 1775
Hessian troops surrender after Battle of Trenton, December 1776
Hessian troops surrender after Washington 's victory at the Battle of Trenton in December 1776
A wounded British officer falls from his horse after being struck by gunfire; another British officer to his rights puts his hands forwards to support the wounded rider; troops skirmish in the background; men lie dead at the riders feet.
American Patriots routed Loyalists at the Battle of Kings Mountain in 1780, raising Patriot morale.
Scene of Nancy Morgan Hart on the left with musket raised and child hiding behind her skirts, and behind; on the right two Loyalist soldiers are lying on the floor, and three are raising their hands defensively in alarm.
Nancy Hart single-handedly captured six Loyalist soldiers who barged into her home intending to ransack it.
A scene of four uniformed soldiers of the Continental 1st Rhode Island Regiment. On the left, a black and a white soldier formally at "Attention" with Brown Bess muskets; on the right, a downcast white soldier walking back into formation with an officer barking at him holding a cat-o-nine tails for flogging.
Continental Army soldiers, including one from the 1st Rhode Island Regiment on the left
Portrait of British regular army Colonel Joseph Brant, Iroquois Mohawk.
Colonel Joseph Brant of the British-led Iroquois Mohawks in the war
Portrait of the four principal US ministers in Paris; left to right, John Jay, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Henry Laurens, and their secretary on the far right.
Treaty of Paris by Benjamin West portrays the American mission of (left–right): John Jay , John Adams , Benjamin Franklin , Henry Laurens , and William Temple Franklin . The portrait was never completed because the British commissioners refused to pose. Laurens, pictured, was actually in London at the time it was painted. [ 381 ]
A New York City street scene with a mounted George Washington riding at the head of a parade.
Washington enters New York City at British evacuation , November 1783. St. Paul's Chapel is on left. The parade route in 1783 went from Bull's Head Tavern on Bowery , then continued down Chatham , Pearl , Wall , and ended at Cape's Tavern on Broadway .
A cemetery; grave stones in the foreground in staggered, irregular rows; behind them grass covered mounds of dead; an American flag in the background along a tree line.
Mass graves from the Battles of Saratoga in Salem, New York
The U.S. motto Novus ordo seclorum , meaning "A New Age Now Begins", is paraphrased from Thomas Paine 's Common Sense , published January 10, 1776. "We have it in our power to begin the world over again", Paine wrote in it. [ 409 ]