58 CHAPTER 2 Revolution and the Early Republic

One American's Story

The War for Independence

Benjamin Franklin, the famous American writer, scientist, statesman, and diplo-mat, represented the colonies in London throughout the growing feud withBritain. As resistance in the colonies turned to bloodshed, however, Franklin fledLondon in 1775 and sailed home to Philadelphia.

Ironically, the issue of loyalty versus independence that wasdividing the American colonies from their mother country wasalso dividing Franklin’s own family. Franklin’s son William,the royal governor of New Jersey, was stubbornly loyal toKing George and opposed the rebellious atmosphere inthe colonies. In one of his many letters to Britishauthorities regarding the conflict in the colonies,William stated his position and that of others whoresisted revolutionary views.

A PERSONAL VOICE WILLIAM FRANKLIN

“ There is indeed a dread in the minds of many herethat some of the leaders of the people are aiming toestablish a republic. Rather than submit . . . we havethousands who will risk the loss of their lives in defenseof the old Constitution. [They] are ready to declarethemselves whenever they see a chance of its being of any avail.”

—quoted in A Little Revenge: Benjamin Franklin and His Son

Because of William’s stand on colonial issues, commu-nication between him and his father virtually ceased. Thebreak between Benjamin Franklin and his son mirrored thechasm that now divided the colonies from Britain. Thenotion of fighting Britain frightened and horrified somecolonists even as it inspired others. Both sides believed thatthey were fighting for their country and being loyal to whatwas best for America.

Terms & NamesTerms & NamesMAIN IDEAMAIN IDEA WHY IT MATTERS NOWWHY IT MATTERS NOW

•Loyalists•Patriots•Saratoga•Valley Forge•inflation •Marquis deLafayette

•CharlesCornwallis

•Yorktown•Treaty of Paris•egalitarianism

Key American victoriesreversed British advancesduring the AmericanRevolutionary War.

The American Revolution is todaya national, even international,symbol of the fight for freedom.

William Franklin

PATRIOT FATHER, LOYALIST SONThe Divided House of Benjamin and William Franklin

CALIFORNIA STANDARDS

11.1.2 Analyze the ideological originsof the American Revolution, theFounding Fathers’ philosophy ofdivinely bestowed unalienable naturalrights, the debates on the draftingand ratification of the Constitution,and the addition of the Bill of Rights.

11.5.4 Analyze the passage of theNineteenth Amendment and thechanging role of women in society.

11.10.7 Analyze the women’s rightsmovement from the era of ElizabethStanton and Susan Anthony and thepassage of the Nineteenth Amendmentto the movement launched in the1960s, including differing perspectiveson the roles of women.

11.11.3 Describe the changing roles of women in society as reflected in the entry of more women into thelabor force and the changing familystructure.

HI 2 Students recognize the complexityof historical causes and effects, includ-ing the limitations on determiningcause and effect.

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Long Island, 1776Trenton, 1776

Brandywine,1777

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The War BeginsAs they took on the mighty British Empire, the colonists suffered initial losses inthe Middle States, which served as the Revolutionary War’s early battleground. In time, however, the colonists would battle their way back.

LOYALISTS AND PATRIOTS As the war began, Americans found themselveson different sides of the conflict. Loyalists—those who opposed independenceand remained loyal to the British king—included judges and governors, as wellas people of more modest means. Many Loyalists thought that the British weregoing to win and wanted to avoid punishment as rebels. Still others thoughtthat the Crown would protect their rights more effectively than the new colo-nial governments would.

Patriots—the supporters of independence—drew their numbers from peo-ple who saw political and economic opportunity in an independent America.Many Americans remained neutral.

The conflict presented dilemmas for other groups as well. Many AfricanAmericans fought on the side of the Patriots, but others joined the Loyalistsbecause the British promised freedom to slaves who would fight for the Crown.Most Native Americans supported the British because they viewed colonial set-tlers as a greater threat to their lands.

EARLY VICTORIES AND DEFEATS As part of a plan to stop the rebellion byisolating New England, the British quickly attempted to seize New York City. TheBritish sailed into New York harbor in the summer of 1776 with a force of about32,000 soldiers. They included thousands ofGerman mercenaries, or hired soldiers, knownas Hessians because many of them came fromthe German region of Hesse.

A

REVIEW UNIT 59

Revolutionary War, 1775–1778

GREAT BRITAINStrengths• strong, well-

trained army and navy

• strong centralgovernment withavailable funds

• support of colo-nial Loyalists andNative Americans

Weaknesses• large distance

separating Britainfrom battlefields

• troops unfamiliarwith terrain

• weak militaryleaders

• sympathy of certain Britishpoliticans for theAmerican cause

UNITED STATESStrengths• familiarity of

home ground• leadership

of George Washington and other officers

• inspiring cause—independence

Weaknesses• most soldiers

untrained andundisciplined

• shortage of foodand ammunition

• inferior navy• no central

government toenforce wartimepolicies

Military Strengths and Weaknesses

GEOGRAPHY SKILLBUILDER1. Location From which city did General Burgoyne

march his troops to Saratoga?2. Place What characteristic did many of the battle

sites have in common? Why do you think this was so?

MAIN IDEAMAIN IDEA

A

FormingGeneralizations

How did the thinking ofLoyalists differfrom that ofPatriots?

B

Although the Continental Army attempted to defend New York in lateAugust, the untrained and poorly equipped colonial troops soon retreated.By late fall, the British had pushed Washington’s army across the DelawareRiver into Pennsylvania.

Desperate for an early victory, Washington risked everything on one boldstroke set for Christmas night, 1776. In the face of a fierce storm, he led 2,400men in small rowboats across the ice-choked Delaware River. They thenmarched to their objective—Trenton, New Jersey—and defeated a garrison ofHessians in a surprise attack. The British soon regrouped, however, and inSeptember of 1777, they captured the American capital at Philadelphia.

SARATOGA AND VALLEY FORGE In the meantime, one British generalwas marching straight into the jaws of disaster. In a complex scheme,General John Burgoyne planned to lead an army down a route of lakesfrom Canada to Albany, where he would meet British troops as theyarrived from New York City. The two regiments would then join forces toisolate New England from the rest of the colonies.

As Burgoyne traveled through forested wilderness, militiamen and soldiers from the Continental Army gathered from all over New York andNew England. While he was fighting off the colonial troops, Burgoyne didn’trealize that his fellow British officers were preoccupied with holdingPhiladelphia and weren’t coming to meet him. American troops finally sur-rounded Burgoyne at Saratoga, where he surrendered on October 17, 1777.

The surrender at Saratoga turned out to be one of the most importantevents of the war. Although the French had secretly aided the Patriots since

early 1776, the Saratoga victory bolstered France’s beliefthat the Americans could win the war. As a result, theFrench signed an alliance with the Americans in February1778 and openly joined them in their fight.

While this hopeful turn of events took place in Paris,Washington and his Continental Army—desperately low onfood and supplies—fought to stay alive at winter camp inValley Forge, Pennsylvania. More than 2,000 soldiers died,yet the survivors didn’t desert. Their endurance and sufferingfilled Washington’s letters to the Congress and his friends.

A PERSONAL VOICE GEORGE WASHINGTON

“ It may be said that no history . . . can furnish an instanceof an Army’s suffering uncommon hardships as ours havedone. . . . To see the men without clothes to cover theirnakedness, without blankets to lie upon, without shoes, . . .and submitting without a murmur, is a proof of patience andobedience which in my opinion can scarcely be paralleled.”

—quoted in Ordeal at Valley Forge

Life During the RevolutionOne huge problem that the Continental Congress faced waspaying the troops. When the Congress ran out of hard cur-rency—silver and gold—it printed paper money calledContinentals (like the Revolutionary soldiers). As Congressprinted more and more money, its value plunged, causingrising prices, or inflation. The Congress also struggledagainst great odds to equip the beleaguered army.

60 CHAPTER 2 Revolution and the Early Republic

KEY PLAYERKEY PLAYER

GEORGE WASHINGTON1732–1799

During the Revolutionary War,Commander in Chief GeorgeWashington became a nationalhero. An imposing man,Washington stood six feet twoinches tall. He was broad-shoul-dered, calm, and dignified, andhe was an expert horseman. Butit was Washington’s characterthat won hearts and, ultimately,the war.

Washington persistently rouseddispirited men into a fightingforce. At Princeton, he galloped onhis white horse into the line offire, shouting and encouraging hismen. At Valley Forge, he bore thesame cold and privation as everysuffering soldier. Time and again,Washington’s tactics saved hissmaller, weaker force to fightanother day. By the end of thewar, the entire nation idolizedGeneral Washington, and adoringsoldiers crowded near him just totouch his boots when he rode by.

Background See inflation onpage R42 in theEconomicsHandbook.

MAIN IDEAMAIN IDEA

B

DevelopingHistoricalPerspective

Why werethese earlyvictories soimportant to theContinental Army?

In 1781, the Congress appointed a rich Philadelphia merchant named RobertMorris as superintendent of finance. His associate was Haym Salomon, a Jewish polit-ical refugee from Poland. Morris and Salomon begged and borrowed on their personalcredit to raise money to provide salaries for the Continental Army. They raised fundsfrom Philadelphia’s Quakers and Jews. On September 8, 1781, a Continental majorwrote in his diary, “This day will be famous in the Annals of History for being the firston which the Troops of the United States received one Month’s Pay in Specie [coin].”

The demands of war also affected civilians. When menmarched off to fight, many wives stepped into their hus-bands’ shoes, managing farms and businesses as well ashouseholds and families. Hundreds of women also followedtheir husbands to the battlefield, where they washed andcooked for the troops—while some, including MollyPitcher, even risked their lives in combat.

The war opened some doors for African Americans.Thousands of slaves escaped to freedom in the chaos of war.About 5,000 African Americans served in the ContinentalArmy, where their courage, loyalty, and talent impressedwhite Americans. Native Americans, however, remained onthe fringes of the Revolution, preferring to remain inde-pendent and true to their own cultures.

Winning the WarIn February 1778, in the midst of the frozen winter at ValleyForge, American troops began an amazing transformation.Friedrich von Steuben, a Prussian captain and talented drill-master, helped to train the Continental Army. Other for-eign military leaders, such as the Marquis de Lafayette (mär-kCP dE lBfQC-DtP), also arrived to offer their help.Lafayette lobbied France for French reinforcements in 1779,and led a command in Virginia in the last years of the war.With the help of such European military leaders, the rawContinental Army became an effective fighting force.

C

Molly Pitcher wasthe heroine of the Battle of Monmouthin New Jersey,which was fought in1778. Afterward,General Washingtonappointed her as anoncommissionedofficer to honor herbrave deeds.

SPOTLIGHTSPOTLIGHTHISTORICALHISTORICAL

JOHN PAUL JONESAs the Revolutionary War ragedon land, Britain and the coloniesalso engaged each other at sea.The newly formed Continentalnavy was no match for the mightyBritish fleet. It was only afterFrance and Spain joined thecolonists’ cause that Britain lostits maritime supremacy.

Nonetheless, the colonistsscored several morale-boosting vic-tories over the British navy, due inlarge part to the heroics ofAmerican naval commander JohnPaul Jones. The Scottish-bornJones captured a number of Britishvessels, including the Serapis in1779. It was during his epic battleagainst this ship that Jones reject-ed the British demand that he sur-render by uttering the famous line,“I have not yet begun to fight.”

REVIEW UNIT 61

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MAIN IDEAMAIN IDEA

CSummarizing

What importantcontributions didwomen make in theRevolutionary War?

D

62 CHAPTER 2 Revolution and the Early Republic

Savannah,Dec. 29, 1778

Charles Town,May 12, 1780

Kaskaskia,July 4, 1778

Vincennes,Jan. 29, 1779

Kings Mountain,Oct. 7, 1780

Capes,Sept. 5–9, 1781

Yorktown,Oct. 19,1781

Cowpens,Jan. 17, 1781

Guilford Court House,March 15, 1781

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THE BRITISH MOVE SOUTH After their devastating defeat at Saratoga, theBritish began to shift their operations to the South. At the end of 1778, a Britishexpedition easily took Savannah, Georgia. In their greatest victory of the war, theBritish under Generals Henry Clinton and Charles Cornwallis capturedCharles Town, South Carolina, in May 1780. Clinton then left for New York,while Cornwallis continued to conquer land throughout the South.

In early 1781, despite several defeats, the colonists continued to battleCornwallis—hindering his efforts to take the Carolinas. The British general thenchose to move the fight to Virginia. He led his army of 7,500 onto the peninsulabetween the James and York rivers and camped at Yorktown. Cornwallis plannedto fortify Yorktown, take Virginia, and then move north to join Clinton’s forces.

THE BRITISH SURRENDER AT YORKTOWN Shortly after learning ofCorwallis’s actions, the armies of Lafayette and Washington moved south towardYorktown. Meanwhile, a French naval force defeated a British fleet and thenblocked the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay, thereby obstructing British searoutes to the bay. By late September, about 17,000 French and American troopssurrounded the British on the Yorktown peninsula and began bombarding themday and night. Less than a month later, on October 19, 1781, Cornwallis finallysurrendered. The Americans had shocked the world and defeated the British.

Peace talks began in Paris in 1782. The American negotiating team includ-ed John Adams, John Jay of New York, and Benjamin Franklin. In September1783, the delegates signed the Treaty of Paris, which confirmed U.S. inde-pendence and set the boundaries of the new nation. The United States nowstretched from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River and from Canada tothe Florida border.

Vocabularypeninsula: a piece of land thatprojects into abody of water

Revolutionary War, 1778–1781

GEOGRAPHY SKILLBUILDER1. Place Where were most of the

later Revolutionary War battlesfought?

2. Movement Why might GeneralCornwallis’s choice of Yorktown asa base have left him at a militarydisadvantage?

MAIN IDEAMAIN IDEA

DEvaluating

What was themost importantchallenge thatfaced the newUnited States?

E

The War Becomes a Symbol of LibertyRevolutionary ideals set a new course for American society. During the war,social distinctions had begun to blur as the wealthy wore homespun clothingand as military leaders showed respect for all of their soldiers. Changes likethese stimulated the rise of egalitarianism (G-gBlQG-târPC-E-nGzQEm)—a belief inthe equality of all people. This belief fostered a new attitude: the idea that abil-ity, effort, and virtue, not wealth or family background, defined one’s worth.

The egalitarianism of the 1780s, however, applied only to white males. Itdid not bring any new political rights to women. A few states made it possiblefor women to divorce, but common law still dictated that a married woman’sproperty belonged to her husband.

Moreover, most African Americans were still enslaved, andeven those who were free usually faced discrimination andpoverty. However by 1804, many New England andMiddle states had taken steps to outlaw slavery.

For Native Americans, the Revolution broughtuncertainty. During both the French and Indian Warand the Revolution, many Native American commu-nities had been either destroyed or displaced, andthe Native American population living east of theMississippi had declined by about 50 percent.Postwar developments further threatened NativeAmerican interests, as settlers began taking tribal landsleft unprotected by the Treaty of Paris.

In the closing days of the Revolution, theContinental Congress had chosen a quotation from theworks of the Roman poet Virgil as a motto for the reverse sideof the Great Seal of the United States. The motto, Novus OrdoSeclorum, means “a new order of the ages.” Establishing a govern-ment and resolving internal problems in that new order would be atremendous challenge for citizens of the newborn United States.

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English potter Josiah Wedgwooddesigned this anti-slavery cameo and sent copies of it toBenjamin Franklin.

MAIN IDEA2. TAKING NOTES (11.1.2)

On a chart like the one below, listfive significant events of theRevolutionary War in the column onthe left. Note the significance ofeach event towards the Americancause in the column on the right.

CRITICAL THINKING3. EVALUATING (HI 2)

Do you think the colonists couldhave won their independencewithout aid from foreigners? Explain.Think About:

• the military needs of theAmericans and the strengths of the French

• the colonists’ military efforts in the South

• the Americans’ belief in their fight for independence

4. ANALYZING EFFECTS (HI 2)What were the effects of theRevolutionary War on the Americancolonists? Think About:

• political effects• economic effects• social effects

REVIEW UNIT 63

1. TERMS & NAMES For each term or name, write a sentence explaining its significance.•Loyalists•Patriots•Saratoga

•Valley Forge•inflation•Marquis de Lafayette

•Charles Cornwallis•Yorktown

•Treaty of Paris•egalitarianism

Event Significance

MAIN IDEAMAIN IDEA

E

AnalyzingEffects

How had the AmericanRevolutionaffected the lives of NativeAmericans?