Topic of Discussion – the American Revolutionary War

Discussion 7-4 US History ~ Chapter 7 Topic Discussions E Lundberg Topic of Discussion – The American Revolutionary War

Related Topics Chapter Information ~ Ch 7; 4 sections; 35 pages The French and Indian War Influence on Independence The American Revolution (1775-1783) The British Rescind Salutary Neglect approach Section 1 ~ The Early Years of the War Pages 194-203 Section 2 ~ The War Expands Pages 204-211 The Colonial American Response to British Assertiveness Section 3 ~ The Path to Victory Pages 212-221 The Revolution Can Be Understood as a Civil War Section 4 ~ The Legacy of the War Pages 222-228 The Legacy of the War had a Great International Impact

Key Ideas Key Connections - 10 Major (Common) Themes 1. How cultures change through the blending of different ethnic groups. The War Forced people in the America to choose sides 2. Taking the land. 3. The individual versus the state. Loyalist and Patriots cause a great division in America 4. The quest for equity - slavery and it’s end, women’s suffrage etc. 5. Sectionalism. The War tore many families a part 6. Immigration and Americanization. 7. The change in social class. The American Army was not as prepared as the British 8. Technology developments and the environment. 9. Relations with other nations. The American people had more to fight for 10. Historiography, how we know things. The Legacy of the War had along term Impact.

Talking Points I Introduction

1. The American Revolution was a political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century, in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America. They first rejected the authority of the Parliament of Great Britain to govern them from over- seas without representation, and then expelled all royal officials.

2. By 1774, each colony had established a Provincial Congress, or an equivalent governmental institution, to form individual self-governing states. The British responded by sending combat troops to re-impose direct rule. Through representatives sent in 1775 to the Second Continental Congress, the new states joined together, initial- ly, to defend their respective self-governance and manage the armed conflict against the British, known as the American Revolutionary War. Ultimately, the states collectively determined that the British monarchy, due to its acts of tyranny, could no longer legitimately claim their allegiance. They then severed ties with the British Empire in July, 1776, when the Congress issued the Declaration of Independence, rejecting the monarchy on behalf of the new nation. The war ended with effective American victory in October, 1781, followed by formal British abandonment of any claims to the United States with the Treaty of Paris in 1783.

3. The American Revolution initiated a series of social, political and intellectual transformations in early American society and government. Americans rejected the oligarchies common in aristocratic Europe at the time, champi- oning, instead, the development of republicanism based on the Enlightenment understanding of liberalism.

Questions to Think About Supporting Materials What was the Real Cost of the War? The Radicalism of the American revolution by Wood What is a Revolution? America at War by Finn Why was the American Revolution Unique? Leaders of the American Revolution by Wade How did the War Impact the Black slave community? 7 Leadership Lessons from the American Revolution by Antal How did the War Impact the Native Americans? Discussion 7-4 US History ~ Chapter 7 Topic Discussions E Lundberg Topic of Discussion – The American Revolutionary War

Talking Points Among the significant results of the revolution was the creation of a representative government responsible to the will of the people. However, sharp political debates erupted over the appropriate level of democracy desirable in the new government, with a number of Founders fearing mob rule. Many fundamental issues of national governance were settled with the ratification of the Constitution of the United States in1788.

II Review - The French and Indian War

1. The French Indian War caused huge losses of man and material for both sides. The British forces succeeded and ascertained their military supremacy. The most important French Indian War effect was that The British got the right to keep all of Canada in addition to obtaining some other benefits like trading and sea routes in North Ameri- ca.

2. The British victory in the French and Indian War had a great impact on the British Empire. Firstly, it meant a great expansion of British territorial claims in the New World. But the cost of the war had greatly enlarged Britain's debt. Moreover, the war generated substantial resentment towards the colonists among English leaders, who were not satisfied with the financial and military help they had received from the colonists during the war. All these factors combined to persuade many English leaders that the colonies needed a major reorganization and that the central authority should be in London. The English leaders set in motion plans to give London more control over the government of the colonies and these plans were eventually a big part of the colonial resentment towards British imperial policies that led to the American Revolution.

Talking Points 3. The war had an equally profound but very different effect on the American colonists. First of all, the colonists had learned to unite against a common foe. Before the war, the thirteen colonies had found almost no common ground and they coexisted in mutual distrust. But now they had seen that together they could be a power to be reckoned with. And the next common foe would be Britain.

4. With France removed from North America, the vast interior of the continent lay open for the Americans to colo- nize. But The English government decided otherwise. To induce a controlled population movement, they issued a Royal Proclamation that prohibited settlement west of the line drawn along the crest of the Allegheny mountains and to enforce that measure they authorized a permanent army of 10,000 regulars (paid for by taxes gathered from the colonies; most importantly the "Sugar Act" and the "Stamp Act"). This infuriated the Americans who, after having been held back by the French, now saw themselves stopped by the British in their surge west.

5. For the Indians of the Ohio Valley, the third major party in the French and Indian War, the British victory was disas- trous. Those tribes that had allied themselves with the French had earned the enmity of the victorious English. The Iroquois Confederacy, which had allied themselves with Britain, fared only slightly better. The alliance quickly un- raveled and the Confederacy began to crumble from within. The Iroquois continued to contest the English for control of the Ohio Valley for another fifty years; but they were never again in a position to deal with their white rivals on terms of military or political equality

6. One of the positive effects of The French Indian War was the start of a freedom struggle in America which eventu-

Talking Points ally culminated in the American War of Independence. This 7-years war severely demoralized French forces and diminished its power at a greater scale in Asia, Europe and North America at the same time.

The Abandonment of the Practice of Salutary Neglect

1. Britain wanted colonies for the sake of its industries expansion process and to be able to exploit the resources that it lacked back home. It was also interested in building new homes that would support its feudal system and government. The colonies also acted as a source of revenue to Britain through taxation and this helped it finance its operations back home.

2. As a result, the British decided to keep a standing army in America. This decision would lead to a variety of problems with the colonists. In addition, an Indian uprising on the Ohio frontier--Pontiac's Rebellion--led to the Procla- mation of 1763, which forbade colonial settlement west of the Allegany Mountains. This, too, would lead to conflicts with land-hungry settlers and land speculators like George Washington (see map above).

3. British leaders also felt the need to tighten control over their empire. To be sure, laws regulating imperial trade and navigation had been on the books for generations, but American colonists were notorious for evading these regulations. They were even known to have traded with the French during the recently ended war. From the British point of view, it was only right that American colonists should pay their fair share of the costs for their own defense. If additional revenue could also be realized through stricter control of navigation and trade, so much the better. Thus the British began their attempts to reform the imperial system.

Talking Points The American Response to Oppression – A Revolution

1. "No taxation without representation!" was the cry. The colonists were not merely griping about the Sugar Act and the Stamp Act. They intended to place actions behind their words. One thing was clear — no colony acting alone could effectively convey a message to the king and Parliament. The appeals to Parliament by the individual legisla- tures had been ignored. With that, the Stamp Act Congress convened in New York in October 1765.

2. The Congress seemed at first to be a failure. In the first place, only nine of the colonies sent delegates. Georgia, North Carolina, New Hampshire, and the all-important Virginia were not present. The Congress became quickly divided between radicals and moderates. The moderates would hold sway at this time. Only an extreme few believed in stronger measures against Britain than articulating the principle of no taxation without representation. This became the spirit of the Stamp Act Resolves. The Congress humbly acknowledged Parliament's right to make laws in the colonies. Only the issue of taxation was disputed.

3. In the end, the widespread boycotts enacted by individual colonists surely did more to secure the repeal of the Stamp Act than did the Congress itself. But the gesture was significant. For the first time, against all odds, respect- ed delegates from differing colonies sat with each other and engaged in spirited debate. They discovered that in many ways they had more in common than they originally had thought. This is a tentative but essential step to- ward the unity that would be necessary to declare boldly their independence from mother England.

Talking Points Lexington and Concord

1. The Battles of Lexington and Concord signaled the start of the American Revolutionary war on April 19, 1775. The British Army set out from Boston to capture rebel leaders Samuel Adams and John Hancock in Lexington as well as to destroy the Americans store of weapons and ammunition in Concord. The colonists were warned however, that the British Army was approaching. Sam Adams and John Hancock were able to escape and the local militia was able to hide much of their ammunition and weapons.

2. The Battle of Lexington was a very small fight. You could hardly call it a battle, but it's important because it's where the Revolutionary War started. When the British arrived, there were only around 80 American militiamen in the town. They were led by Captain John Parker. They were up against a much larger British force led by Major John Pitcairn. Neither side expected to actually fight, but in the midst of the confusion a gunshot went off forcing the British to attack. Some of the colonists were killed and the rest fled.

3. The gunshot was the first shot of the American Revolution and the start of the war. It was called the "shot heard around the world" by Ralph Waldo Emerson in his poem Concord Hymn. No one is actually sure who fired the first shot or if it was an American or British soldier.

4. After the Americans fled from Lexington, the British marched to the city of Concord. When they first got to Con- cord, they met little resistance and began to search the town for the militia's hidden stash of weapons and muni- tions. The Americans had retreated to the outskirts of Concord and observed the British from other side of the

Talking Points North Bridge. As the Americans waited, more and more local militiamen arrived making their forces stronger and stronger.

5. The Americans decided to cross the North Bridge back into Concord. They defeated the British troops at the North Bridge, giving the Americans renewed confidence. Soon the British commander, Colonel Francis Smith, realized that the American militia resistance was rapidly growing and it was time to retreat.

6. Once the British decided to retreat, they began the long march back to the city of Boston. The Americans continued to gain forces and continued to attack and harass the British during their retreat. By the time the British reached Boston they had lost 73 men and 174 were wounded. The Americans lost 49 men and 41 were wounded.

7. With these battles, the American Revolution had officially begun. Shots had been fired, thousands of militiamen surrounded Boston, and the Americans felt they had pushed back the British giving them the courage to continue to unite and fight.

III The Revolutionary War

1. The issue of separating from Britain divided American society. Historians estimate that 20 to 30 percent of Ameri- cans were Loyalists, 40 to 45 percent were Patriots, and the rest were neutral, or not favoring any one side.

2. The conflict divided Americans along social, religious, and ethnic lines. New England and Virginia had many Patri- ots. Loyalists were numerous in cities, New York State, and the South. Many Loyalists were clergy or members of

Talking Points the Church of England. Some Quakers were active Loyalists, although many were pacifists, people opposed to all war. The Patriots drew support from Congregationalists, Presbyterians, and Baptists.

3. Most Southern states did not allow African Americans to enlist. They feared that armed African Americans might lead slave revolts. In contrast, the British offered enslaved persons their freedom if they joined British forces. Many slaves ran away to fight for the British. In the North, however, about 5,000 African Americans served in the Continental Army.

4. The American Revolution was the largest Indian war in American history. All Native American nations east of the Mississippi were caught up in the fighting. Some Native Americans joined the British because they feared Ameri- cans would take Native American land. Others, who lived within areas settled by the colonists, sided with the Americans.

A Washington Prepares the Continental Army for War

1. In June 1775, Congress named George Washington commander of the Continental Army. This army faced many problems. At first, this new national army was formed from state militias, made up of untrained and undisciplined volunteers. The militia were part-time, emergency fighters who were not prepared for the hardship of a long war. Washington’s main goal was to keep the Revolution alive. To do so, he needed to keep an army in the field, win some battles and avoid a crushing defeat. He knew he could not win a major battle until he had a large, well- trained army.

Talking Points 2. At the start of the war, Congress asked men to enlist only for one year. When the soldiers’ time was up, they went home. As a result, Washington’s army never numbered more than 17,000 men. In the early years of the war, Washington always worried about losing men whose enlistments had expired. Congress’s inability to supply the army also frustrated Washington. The soldiers lacked blankets, shoes, food, and even guns and ammunition. Fortu- nately, many women helped the army. The women cooked, did laundry, and nursed sick or wounded soldiers. Some women even disguised themselves to help fight. But many women who never ventured near a battlefield also helped the nation by managing farms and businesses while their husbands were away fighting. In the days when women had few civil rights and freedoms, the war brought them greater responsibilities.

3. Many British viewed the Americans as disorganized, inexperienced rebels who would be easily defeated. In contrast to Washington’s troops, the British army was experienced and professional. But the British military faced problems of its own. For personal and political reasons, many British officers refused to fight the Americans. Many British people were not enthusiastic about the war, so the king had trouble recruiting soldiers in Britain. In addition, British soldiers signed up for life, which discouraged enlistment. Because of these problems, Britain had to hire mercenaries from the German region of Hesse.

4. Washington had forced the British to retreat from Boston in March 1776. He then hurried his army to New York City, where he expected the British to go next. One British goal was to occupy coastal cities so that their navy could land troops and supplies. From these bases on the coast, they could then launch their military campaigns.

Talking Points 5. Washington’s hunch was correct. In July 1776, Britain’s General William Howe arrived in New York with a large army. Then in August, more soldiers arrived, including about 9,000 Hessian mercenaries. At the Battle of Long Is- land the Americans were defeated.

6. For several months, the British and American armies fought to control New York. Finally, the British forced Wash- ington to retreat through New Jersey. By December, when the American army crossed the Delaware River into Pennsylvania, it was in terrible condition. Washington needed something to encourage his weary men. He also knew that he must attack the British quickly because most of his soldiers would leave once their enlistments ended on December 31.

7. Late on December 25, 1776, Washington’s troops rowed across the icy Delaware River to New Jersey. From there, they marched in bitter, early-morning cold to Trenton to surprise the Hessians, some of whom were sleeping after their Christmas celebration. The Americans captured or killed more than 900 Hessians and gained needed supplies. Washington’s army won another victory at Princeton eight days later before setting up winter camp at Morris- town, New Jersey. These victories proved that the American general was better than many had thought. The American army began to attract new recruits.

B The British Army in the North

1. Meanwhile, the British were pursuing a strategy to seize the Hudson River valley. They believed that New England was the source of the rebellion. If they controlled the Hudson River valley, they could cut off New England from

Talking Points the other states. The strategy called for three armies to meet at Albany, New York. General John Burgoyne would lead a force south from Canada. Lt Colonel Barry St. Leger would come down the Mohawk valley. General Howe would follow the Hudson north from New York City. Burgoyne left Canada in June 1777 with an army of British, Hessians, and Iroquois. In July, they captured Fort Ticonderoga and continued south. Burgoyne’s Slow March Called “Gentleman Johnny” by his soldiers, Burgoyne threw elaborate parties to celebrate victories. But his mood changed as he marched deeper into hostile territory. Not only was the countryside filled with rebel sympathizers, but the forests were swarming with militia from New York and New England. The militia cut down trees to slow Burgoyne’s progress. They burned crops and drove off cattle, leaving no food for the British. Burgoyne realized that the countryside was rising up against him. It was a lesson that other British generals would soon learn: they were not simply fighting an enemy army, they were fighting an entire people.

C Problem Arise with the British Strategy

1. Burgoyne still looked forward to the rendezvous, or meeting, with St. Leger and Howe in Albany. But on August 4, Burgoyne received a message that Howe would not be coming north; instead, he had decided to try to capture Philadelphia—where the Continental Congress met. When Washington heard that Howe was heading south, he rushed to protect Philadelphia. However, in September 1777, Howe defeated Washington at Brandywine. Howe then occupied Philadelphia. In October, Washington attacked Howe at Germantown. Again, Washington lost the battle and retreated to winter camp.

Talking Points 2. As Burgoyne received Howe’s message, St. Leger faced his own obstacle in reaching Albany. In the summer of 1777, he was trying to defeat a small American force at Fort Stanwix, near the valley of New York. St. Leger’s forces included Iroquois led by Mohawk chief Joseph Brant, also called Thayendanegea. Brant had been promised that the British would protect Iroquois land.

3. During August 1777, American general Benedict Arnold led an army up the Mohawk River. He wanted to chase the British away from Fort Stanwix. Arnold sent a captured Loyalist and some Iroquois to spread the rumor that he had a large army. The trick worked, and the British retreated to Fort Oswego. Now no one was left to rendezvous with Burgoyne. Burgoyne’s army was running out of supplies. A raiding party was sent into Vermont where it was defeated by New England militia at the Battle of Bennington on August 16, 1777.

4. Despite these setbacks, Burgoyne’s army continued south. But an American force led by General Horatio Gates blocked their way on a ridge called Bemis Heights, near Saratoga, New York. There the Polish engineer Tadeusz Kosciuszko had helped the Americans create fortifications, or built-up earthen walls.

5. Starting on September 19, Burgoyne attacked the fortifications. Despite heavy casualties, the British held their position, but on October 7, Burgoyne was forced to retreat. Burgoyne’s army moved slowly to a former army camp at Saratoga. By the time they arrived, the men were exhausted. The Continental Army then surrounded Burgoyne’s army and fired on it day and night until Burgoyne surrendered. The series of conflicts that led to this surrender is known as the Battles of Saratoga.

Talking Points 6. The victory at Saratoga was a turning point. It prevented the British from dividing the States and isolating New England. It also showed Europeans that the Americans might win their war for independence. Because of this, some European nations hostile to Great Britain decided to help.

7. After hearing of the American victory at Saratoga, King Louis XVI of France publicly recognized U.S. independence. In 1778, France signed two treaties of alliance with the United States. By doing so, France went to war with Britain. As part of its new alliance, France promised to send badly needed funds, supplies, and troops to America.

8. In 1779, France persuaded its ally Spain to help the Americans. The Spanish governor of Louisiana, acted quickly. He captured the British strongholds in the lower Mississippi Valley. From there, his small army went on to take Mobile and, in 1781, Pensacola, in West Florida. These victories prevented the British from attacking the United States from the southwest. However, like France, Spain wanted more than just to help the United States. These victories helped extend Spain’s empire.

9. By entering the war against Britain, France and Spain forced the British to fight a number of enemies on land and sea. For instance, the British expected to have to fight the French in the West Indies, so they sent troops there. And thousands of British troops were busy fighting Spain in the west. The British now had to spread their military resources over many fronts.

10. Help from France and Spain came when the Americans desperately needed it. In late 1777 Britain’s General Howe had forced Washington to retreat from Philadelphia. In the winter of 1777–1778, Washington and his army

Talking Points camped at Valley Forge in southeast Pennsylvania.

11. On the march to Valley Forge, Washington’s army lacked supplies. Many soldiers had only blankets to cover themselves. They also lacked shoes. The barefoot men left tracks of blood on the frozen ground as they marched. The soldiers’ condition did not improve at camp. Over the winter, the soldiers at Valley Forge grew weak from not having enough food or warm clothing. Roughly a quarter of them died from malnutrition, exposure, or diseases such as smallpox and typhoid fever. Because of this suffering, the name Valley Forge came to stand for the great hardships that Americans endured in the Revolutionary War.

12. Washington appealed to Congress for supplies, but it was slow in responding. Private citizens sometimes helped the soldiers. On New Year’s Day 1778, a group of Philadelphia women drove ten teams of oxen into camp. The oxen were pulling wagons full of supplies and 2,000 shirts. The women had the oxen killed to provide food for the troops.

13. Despite the hardships, American soldiers showed amazing endurance. Under such circumstances, soldiers often desert, or leave military duty without permission. Soldiers did desert, but the army stayed together because of the “Love of our Country.” Once again, Washington’s determination and patriotic vision inspired the troops to keep fighting.

14. After three years of fighting in the North, the British were no closer to victory. Although they had captured many important Northern coastal cities, they didn’t have enough troops to control the countryside. In 1778 the British

Talking Points decided to move the war to the South. They believed that most Southerners were Loyalists, who would support an invading British army. The British also expected Southern slaves to escape and join them because they had promised to grant the slaves freedom. Although thousands of African Americans did join the British, not all were set free.

15. In December 1778, the British captured the port of Savannah, Georgia. They then conquered most of Georgia. In 1780, a British army landed in South Carolina. They trapped American forces in Charleston. The Battle of Charles- ton ended when the city surrendered. The Americans lost almost their entire Southern army. It was the worst American defeat of the war.

16. After that loss, Congress assigned General Horatio Gates—the victor at Saratoga—to form a new Southern army. Gates added about 2,000 new and untrained militia. He then headed for South Carolina, to challenge the army led by the British general Lord Cornwallis. In August 1780, Gates’s army ran into British troops outside Camden. The Americans were in no condition to fight. They were out of supplies and half-starved. Even worse, Gates put the inexperienced militia along part of the frontline instead of behind the veterans. When the British attacked, the militia panicked and ran Gates fled. This second defeat in the South ended Gates’s term as head of an army. Amer- ican spirits fell to a new low.

17. Although the Americans had been defeated, the British were having difficulty controlling the South. The countryside was hostile and filled with more rebel sympathizers than Loyalists. Rebel guerrillas repeatedly attacked British

Talking Points messengers. This made it difficult for British forces moving inland to keep in touch with their bases on the coast. British commanders in the South were discovering what General Burgoyne had realized in the North: the countryside was a dangerous place for the British army.

18. In January 1781, the American Army was sent south to confront Cornwallis. The Americans won a spectacular victory. The victory proved that Americans had mastered the formal battle tactics of the British.

19. Cornwallis’s main army now pursued into North Carolina. The British still had the advantage in a full-scale battle due to their greater firepower. However, the Americans used their knowledge of the landscape to keep one step ahead of the advancing British. Greene’s strategy was to let the British wear themselves out. When the Americans did fight, they did their best to make sure the British suffered heavy losses. In fact, Cornwallis lost so many men at the Battle of Guilford Court House that he decided to retreat to Wilmington, on the coast. With his army exhausted, Cornwallis had to face a bitter truth: there were more active Patriots than Loyalists in the South. Britain’s southern strategy had failed.

D The End of the War

1. Cornwallis was frustrated by his setbacks in the Carolinas. He had come to believe that Southern rebels were rely- ing on Virginia for their supplies. So, in 1781, without waiting for orders, he marched north into Virginia. In August Cornwallis set up his base at Yorktown, located on a peninsula in Chesapeake Bay. From there, his army could receive supplies by ship from New York. It was a fatal mistake.

Talking Points 2. Cornwallis’s decision gave Washington a golden opportunity to trap the British on the peninsula. Washington first joined forces with a French army in New York and headed south. In August 1781, as these armies came south, a large French fleet arrived from the West Indies and blocked Chesapeake Bay. The French fleet prevented the British ships from reaching Yorktown and delivering supplies—and prevented the British in Yorktown from escap- ing.

3. Meanwhile the Battle of Yorktown had begun. The British tried to protect themselves by encircling the town with numerous redoubts or small forts. These forts were meant to keep the allies’ artillery at a distance from the town. But as the allies captured British redoubts, they brought their artillery closer to the town’s defenses. The American and French cannon bombarded York- town, turning its buildings to rubble. Cornwallis had no way out. On October 19, 1781, he surrendered his force of about 8,000 men.

4. By their persistence, the Americans won independence even though they faced many obstacles. The American army lacked training and experience. American soldiers served only for short periods of time. They often lacked proper supplies and weapons. In contrast, the British forces ranked among the best trained in the world. Yet the Americans had advantages that had not been obvious at first; only as the war progressed did American strengths become apparent.

5. The British were defeated not only by the American army, but by civilians who kept the resistance alive. The British were not prepared for a popular uprising. In Europe, only armies fought the wars, and civilians either fled or hid

Talking Points before advancing forces. In America, however, the British discovered that large segments of the population were actively involved in a political cause. Even if the British had succeeded in defeating an American army, they likely would never have been able to conquer the American people.

VI The Aftermath of the War and the Outcome

1. No one knows exactly how many people died in the war, but eight years of fighting took a terrible toll. An estimat- ed 25,700 Americans died in the war, and 1,400 remained missing and over 8,200 Americans were wounded. The British military suffered about 10,000 deaths.

2. Many soldiers who survived the war left the army with no money. They had received little or no pay. Instead of back pay, the government gave some soldiers certificates for land in the West. Many men sold that land to get money for food and other basic needs.

3. Both the Congress and the states had borrowed money to finance the conflict. The war left the nation with a debt of about $27 million—a debt that would prove difficult to pay off.

4. Those who supported the losing side in the war also suffered. Thousands of Loyalists lost their property. Between 60,000 and 100,000 Loyalists left the United States during and after the war. Among them were several thousand African Americans and Native Americans, including Mohawk chief Joseph Brant. Most of the Loyalists went to Can- ada. The Revolution had been a civil war that left both Patriots and Loyalists with bitter memories.

Talking Points 5. Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and John Jay began formal peace negotiations with the British on September 27, 1782. The final Treaty of Paris, which ended the Revolutionary War, was signed on September 3, 1783.

6. The Americans won favorable terms in the peace treaty: a. The United States was independent. b. Its boundaries would be the Mississippi River on the west, Canada on the north, and Spanish Florida on the south. c. The United States would receive the right to fish off Canada’s Atlantic Coast, near Newfoundland and No- va Scotia. d. Each side would repay debts it owed the other. e. The British would return any enslaved persons they had captured. f. Congress would recommend that the states return any property they had seized from Loyalists. 7. Neither Britain nor the United States fully lived up to the treaty’s terms. Americans did not repay the prewar debts they owed British merchants or return Loyalist property. The British did not return runaway slaves.

8. The Treaty of Paris led to boundary disputes with Spain, who could now claim control of both banks of the Missis- sippi river for over 100 miles north of the Gulf of Mexico. This Spanish control threatened American shipping. In the northwest, the British refused to give up military outposts in the Great Lakes area, such as Fort Detroit.

9. “Liberty” had been the rallying cry of the Revolution as Americans freed themselves from British rule. Now, the

Talking Points success of the Revolution challenged the existing world order. For the first time in the Americas, a colonial rebellion against an imperial power had succeeded. By destroying British authority, the Revolution offered political re- formers a chance to prove that republicanism, the idea that a country can be governed by the people, and without a king, could work. Imperial powers around the world began to fear this new threat.

10. At the same time, the war created a new nation—one that valued the ideal of liberty. As Americans built their new society, the ideal of liberty became one of the most important legacies of the Revolution.

11. As early as 1775 British rule had become ineffective in many areas of the colonies. Eventually, in May of 1776, the Continental Congress advised the colonies to establish new governments. By 1777 nearly all the former colonies had adopted written constitutions. Two colonies—Connecticut and Rhode Island—retained the governments established by their royal charters. All the new state constitutions contained some enumeration of individual rights and liberties. For instance, Virginia’s new Constitution of 1776 was based on the Virginia Declaration of Rights. It protected many rights and guaranteed freedom of the press and freedom of religion. Some states, including Dela- ware, prohibited slavery and a state-supported religion. Georgia’s constitution established public schools.

12. The states also realized early on that they needed a national government, if only to conduct the war. By 1777, the Continental Congress had drafted a plan: the Articles of Confederation. The Articles gave very limited powers to the central government—little more than waging war and signing treaties.

Talking Points 13. During the Revolution, some people began to see a conflict between slavery and the ideal of liberty. In response, Vermont outlawed slavery, and Pennsylvania passed a law to free slaves gradually. Individual African Americans also fought to end slavery, sometimes suing for freedom in the courts. For example, Elizabeth Freeman sued for her freedom in a Massachusetts court and won. Her victory in 1781 and other similar cases ended slavery in that state.

14. Despite the efforts to end slavery in the North, in the South slavery continued. However, many people, including Southern plantation owners, were troubled by the new nation’s dependence on slavery. In 1784, Thomas Jeffer- son, a slave owner himself, wrote of his fears for America if slavery were allowed to continue: “I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever.

15. For many Americans, central to the ideal of liberty was the idea that religion is a private matter and that people should have the right to choose and practice their personal religious beliefs. People such as James Madison and Thomas Jefferson called for a “separation of church and state,” meaning that the state should not be involved in religious affairs.

16. In 1777 Thomas Jefferson proposed his Virginia Statue for Religious Freedom. In it, he claimed that people have a “natural right” to freedom of opinion, including religious opinion. Jefferson opposed state laws that prohibited Jews or Catholics from holding public office. He also opposed the practice of using tax money to support churches, because, he wrote, “to compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he

Talking Points disbelieves, is sinful and tyrannical.”

17. Jefferson’s statute was eventually adopted as law in Virginia. Later, it became the basis of the religious rights guaranteed by the Bill of Rights in the U.S. Constitution.

18. For almost two centuries each colony had been governed independently of its neighbors. The colonies had been quarrelsome and often uncooperative. However, as the war turned colonies into states, Americans saw how important it was for these states to work together as a nation. The great challenge that lay ahead was how to remain united as a nation of independent states, despite regional and religious differences.

Talking Points Washington Crossing the Delaware