American Revolutionary War - Essay Example

?American Revolutionary War I. Discuss how the Patriots, neutrals, and Loyalists were all affected by the war. The American Revolutionary War startedas a war between the British Empire and the 13 American colonies. Towards the end of the war, it turned out be a conflict between the great powers of Europe. The war had a huge effect on the colonists’ lives and this in turn contributed towards the conduct and course of the war. A large number of American tribes who resided in the east of the Mississippi river found it difficult to decide whether to participate in the war, and if so, then whose side to support. Many of these tribes remained neutral. For centuries the tribes were dominated by the land-hungry colonists, and these tribes feared that the war would bring back the colonists in place of the British. Hence, there were those tribes, the loyalists, who fought on the side of the British, and battled against the colonists on their own. The patriots considered the Indians as a threat during the war. The Patriots identified the Native Americans as savages which only proved their extreme dislike for the tribes. The American Revolutionary War was in many ways a civil war. This can be said because most of the land oriented wars were fought within the United States. Secondly, loyalists who proved their allegiance to the British crown formed 20 to 30 percent of the population. The loyalist groups in many places openly battled against the patriots.1 It is believed that the neutrals formed the largest group. Since a large number of Americans remained in a dilemma whether or not to support the British crown, the war became a battleground to win the confidence of the wider population. If the Patriots with their propaganda agenda could manage to divert the public psychology towards revolution, then it would be an utter failure for the British. After that, the British would lose the allegiance of the common people even if they could gain military victory. Therefore, the British understood the need to garner support from the American public. Many colonists had threefold reasons to support the British – some supported the British in anticipation of military victory, some joined the British side merely out of loyalty, while there were farmers who sold their lands to the British for profit. The loyalists spread misinformation about the patriots, infiltrated within the patriots. The loyalists persistently planted seeds of discord within the wider population. However, in the long run the patriots managed to garner more public support with their war of propaganda. The patriots felt threatened by the loyalists on the home front and so did everything to weaken their strength by arresting them, seizing and burning their property. They subjugated the loyalists by using violence on them.2 Eventually, many of the loyalists left the American soil to settle in Canada, Florida, West Indies or Britain. An estimated 100,000 loyalists left America and they were branded as traitors. The public wrath against the loyalists declined in the 1790s and they could again reenter the American mainstream society. Violence against them ceased, although laws against them remained unchanged till the War of 1812.3 The British faced many military limitations to retain the loyalist’s support like they could not use harsh measures to suppress rebellions. This was an advantage for the patriots, although many neutral colonists were forced to join the ranks of the Revolutionaries. II. What role did women and Native Americans play in the Revolution? The American Revolutionary War was essentially a colonial war fought between the British and the colonists. Between 1772 and 1774 when the tension was at peak, many public figures convinced the ordinary citizens to participate in the war against British oppression. Through the means of propaganda the citizens were provoked against the British.4 There were several prominent people who played active role in instigating the mass public against the British. People like Sam Adams were considered as traitors by the British. There were still others like Joseph Warren, John Adams and Patrick Henry who voiced against the atrocities of the British on the American colonists.5 For most of the Native Americans, the war proved to be a disaster. Many of the common folk fought for their homeland, but the number was too few to make any significant impact on the war. There were thousands others who supported the British, but even then the number was not large enough to allow the British to get a clear victory in any aspect of the war. Then there were those who remained neutral, but almost all colonial tribes suffered when the land-hungry British captured the American land and dominated over the Native Americans’s trade and land. Some prominent American tribes during the war were Iroquois Confederacy in New York and Pennsylvania, combination of five civilized tribes in the southern colonies, and the Ohio Vallet tribes in the Old Northwest. All these tribes used native military practices and diplomatic strategies to fight the British. The common strategies applied by them were stealing and concealment. Raids and ambushes were common as small groups were formed each under the leadership of one person. These groups targeted a particular area for attack mostly during the time of night when the enemy would be least alert. If the attacks were unsuccessful, the groups retired quickly instead of facing greater risks. If the attacks were successful, they were followed by capturing of prisoners and plundering.6 The war did not belong to one gender; the women played numerous roles in the war. The women who remained at home engaged in activities like manufacturing cartridges, collecting materials for ammunitions, raising funds or engaging in violent or non-violent public protects against issues like rising prices. They did the men’s jobs at home like managing farms, administering production and sales, paying taxes, running shops etc. without the help of the male members of their families. There were also women who went to the front lines and played active role in the war. Although this was criticized as distraction of men, it was also true that if women remained at home, the soldiers asked for furloughs to provide for their homeless families. Since the army could not afford to lose soldiers and neither could the army afford to feed every family, so there were strict rules and regulations like only married women and women who provided services like laundry at minimal fees could stay. There were also women who actually took over guns when their husbands were wounded like the famous Revolutionary era woman Nancy Hart who killed several British soldiers.7 The native Americans though had a difficult choice to decide which side to support nevertheless played an important role in the war. The women who joined the men in the fronts sacrificed their security at home to face the danger and hardship. III. How did the Patriots prepare for war? During the revolutionary era, the Native Americans faced the atrocities of the British imperial power within the United States. Towards the end of the era, they were confronted with creation of new United States of American. During the period of conflict, the Native Americans faced the daunting task of either siding with the patriots or the loyalists or somehow remain neutral. However, the Native Americans had their own characteristic issues to worry about like remaining in their homeland and having access to trade and agriculture as the wars captured their lands too. Some fought alongside with the British while others supported the American colonists. In most cases the Native Americans were persuaded to join the army in various ways. Some of the ways can be known as coercive, for instance a large number of regular citizens were forced to join the war rather than on their own free choice in the truest sense. A majority of the patriots were vagrants or were the undesirables who needed parish aid. The sole purpose for this group of Americans to join the war was economic necessity. In contrast to those patriots who volunteered their services in the military regiment, these people who belongs to the lowest strata of the society joined the army because it offered enlistment rewards, an assurance of regular pay which was not usually maintained, promises of food and clothing which were also not available most of the times, and the chance to have a shelter. During the eighteenth century, the foot soldiers were required to obey orders in all circumstances and accept subordination. They also needed to have high endurance level to accept suffering. The poor in the army were forced to face close-range bombardments for hours. It was not uncommon that revolts broke among the patriots, but in the end they displayed remarkable capacity to endure.8 An estimated 5,000 African Americans supported the patriots during the revolutionary war. The blacks constituted no more than 5 percent of the American army, and they were never provided a rank higher than corporal. Initially, the Congress and General Washington did not approve using blacks in the army since proximity of black slaves had the possibility of infuriating the white Americans. General Washington started to permit blacks, in January 1976, who were free from slavery and with prior military experience to join the army. In January 1977, this permission was granted to all the free blacks to fill the exhausted ranks of the army. In the latter part of 1977, all blacks whether free or slaves were allowed to join the army because of deficiency of white soldiers. Most of the blacks came from northern states since from the south only Maryland allowed African Americans to join the army. The British in order to incite slave riots in the south promised the blacks ultimate freedom. This strategy backfired as slave owners joined the patriots to maintain order in their plantations. Moreover, although thousands of blacks took refuge in Britain, less than 1,000 of them enlisted in the British army.9 The patriots fought for the independence of their land. The war is known essentially for the sacrifices made by the patriots. The men and women equally contributed for the freedom of the United States. IV. How did foreign intervention influence the war? The American army had an apparent weakness compared to the British during the revolutionary war. The American army did not have sufficient high ranking officers and lacked the tactical efficiency of the British. Therefore, the American army faced the challenge of being the smaller sized army with less proficiency in the battlefield.10 Therefore the American army followed “strategies founded upon weakness.” (Weigley, 5) George Washington’s goal was to remove the British from the American colonies. However, he was aware that because of limited tactical efficiency, his armies could not carry on a vigorous attack because any offensive strategy would mean battlefield attack where the American army had less possibility to win. Initially, with no other options left, Washington fervently hoped that the then concurrent internal political troubles in Britain would force the British ministry to withdraw participation from the conflict. In the beginning, George Washington had least hopes on foreign intervention on America’s behalf. He was aware that to ask for foreign aid would give a demoralizing message to the Native Americans. On the other hand, to depend on Britain’s political turmoil meant that the revolutionary war could continue for a long time, with probable high risks.11 Historians give emphasis on the direct aid that the Americans received from the British allies. Foreign aid played an important role in the American victory over the British imperialist power. It is also not entirely wrong to say that America had gained independence because of foreign intervention and assistance, more specifically from France. France helped America both with man power for the army and finance for the American government. The French monarchy dispatched not only arms and ammunitions to increase the American arsenal against the British, but also sent clothing for the Native Americans. France also send soldiers to fill the deficiency in the French Navy. The United States government remained solvent during the revolutionary era mainly because of financial aid from the French monarchy.12 The Battle of Yorktown is a true evidence of the magnitude of support received from the French monarchy. George Washington’s Continental Army had 15,000 men and most of those men were French soldiers. All the men in the army wore clothes provided by the French, used French rifles and got their remuneration in the form of French gold. Moreover, it was the French Navy that captured Conwallis’s soldiers at Yorktown by thwarting the British ships dispatched from New York. The importance of foreign interventions in the American Revolutionary War cannot be overestimated. The war ended in 1783 when the British decided to make truce with America in order to strengthen its own military power by fighting the French and the Spanish.13 Finally, it can be said that it was because of France’s logistic and financial support that determined the final result of the war. Due to France’s intervention, Britain could not use its superior military power to the fullest. It was the direct intervention of the French monarchy that shifted the balance of power in the battle of Yorktown. References 1. Carp, E. Wayne. “The Wars of the American Revolution.” n.d. March 25, 2013. http://revolution.h-net.msu.edu/essays/carp.html 2. Fredriksen, John C. Revolutionary War Almanac. Infobase Publishing, 2006 3. Jakobsson, Pia Katarina. “Daughters of Liberty: Women and the American Revolution.” In Women’s Rights: People and Perspectives, edited by Deluzio, Crista & Peter C. Mancall, 35-56. Greenwood Publishing, 2009 4. “Loyalists, Fence-sitters, and Patriots.” ushistory. 2013. March 25, 2013. http://www.ushistory.org/us/11b.asp 5. Minks, Benton, Minks, Louis. & John S. Bowman. Revolutionary War. Infobase Publishing, 2003 6. “Revolutionary War: The Home Front.” LOC. n.d. March 25, 2013. http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/timeline/amrev/homefrnt/ 7. Stephenson, Michael. Patriot Battles: How the Revolutionary War was Fought. HarperCollins, 2009 8. “The American Revolution: Lighting Freedom’s Flame.” NPS. 2008. March 25, 2013. http://www.nps.gov/revwar/about_the_revolution/african_americans.html 9. Tucker, Spencer. The Encyclopedia of North American Indian Wars, 1607–1890: A Political, Social, and Military History. ABC-CLIO, 2011 10. Weigley, Russell Frank. The American Way of War: A History of United States Military Strategy and Policy. Indiana Univ. Press, 1977 Read More