The American Revolutionary War - Report Example

The American revolutionary war The American revolutionary war was fought between 1775-1783.This war is also commonly referred to as the American independence war or basically the Revolutionary War.The war involved a revolt of 13 North American colonies, which were all under Great Britain. These states in 1776 declared themselves autonomous and called themselves the United States of America. There was intervention from France, siding with the newly formed country which afterwards would lead to a war between France and Britain as well as the Netherlands and Spain (Shaara, 2010). Origins The war originated from constitutional resistance to taxes that had been imposed to Americans by the British in 1760s, claiming they were being taxed without being represented. Protests by Patriots turned into boycotts in addition to the devastation of tea shipment at the famous Boston Tea Party (BTP). Massachusetts was punished by the colonial government by having the Boston port closed as well as changing the charter, to pave way for effective imposition of Crown authority by the government(Middlekauff,2006). There was a response from the Patriots who established a substitute shadow government, effectively taking over the province that was in the outskirts of Boston. Massachusetts was supported by 12 other colonies who founded Continental Congress for purposes of coordination, as well as conventions and committees that successfully took over from the British government. Fighting started in April 1775, between British regulars situated at Concord and Lexington and Massachusetts militia entities. General Washington was appointed by Continental Congress to be in charge of these militia entities surrounding British troops in Boston, who later in 1776, March, were forced to vacate (Middlekauff, 2006). 1776 July, after their final petition to King George got ignored, there was declaration of independence by the Continental Congress. Meanwhile, the British forces were busy preparing troops so as to stifle the revolution. William Howe, was brought to New York by a huge fleet, whereby at the Long Island battle, he overpowered George Washington effectively crushing in addition to capturing New Jersey and New York. Capitalizing on Howe’s carelessness, George Washington, captured Hessian detachment (in Trenton) as well as recapturing New Jersey again. A campaign was launched in 1777 by Howe’s forces against a revolting city at Philadelphia and failed to support Burgoyne’s invasion from Canada. Although Howe, once again defeated many armies, he failed to track and crush the Patriot forces. Without any forthcoming help from Howe, Burgoyne’s troops were outnumbered as well as surrounded and eventually were coerced into surrendering in 1777 at Saratoga Battles (Middlekauff, 2006). Beginning early 1776, The Dutch Republic, Spain and France had been offering ammunition, weapons as well as money secretly to the rebels. The defeat of British Army at Saratoga convinced Britain to provide full autonomy to its colonies; however this was a little bit too late since the Patriots were fully committed to having their independence. In 1778, France made a declaration for war which meant that Britain now was facing an adversary with a huge army and weaponry. In 1779, France was joined by Spain as an ally, though not officially allied to America. This involvement of Spain, the Netherlands and France was critical since they contributed important sea and land power to the battle, forcing the Britons to redirect a huge fraction of their possessions away from Northern America considerably overstretching the British armies. In addition Britain lacked key allies and faced a global war to battle. The British after 1778 shifted their focus to the colonies in the south, which gave them preliminary victory when in 1779 -1780; they took back South Carolina and Georgia for the crown .Consequently, British troops in 1781, tried subjugating Virginia, however French naval triumph just outside of Chesapeake Bay resulted to a siege of Franco-American at Yorktown as well as the capturing of more than 7,000 British troops. Increased Franco-Spain pressure in the Mediterranean and the Caribbean as well as Yorktown defeat eventually informed opinion at the British parliament to vote against the war. In February, 1782, there was a vote to end fighting passed by a thin majority of only 19 votes. Restricted warfare went on throughout 1782 as negotiations for peace started. The Paris Treaty in 1783, ended the fighting in addition to recognizing the self-governance of the USA over the region bordered roughly by present-day Canada to the north, River Mississippi to the west and Florida towards the south. There was an agreement on a broader international peace in which there was exchange of many territories. France was pushed into enormous debt by this expensive war and would later lead to the breaking out of French revolution (Shaara, 2010). Causes Britain emerged victorious in 1763, after the end of the 7 Years War (the Indian and French War) that took place in Northern America. The French was driven out of North America in addition to British having a massive debt. In Britain taxes were already extremely high; something that informed the thinking that colonies in America ought to pay all the troops stationed there. In March 1775, Stamp Act was passed by Parliament effectively imposing direct taxation on the colonies beginning 1st November for the very first time ever. This was greeted with a lot of condemnation amongst American spokesmen; claiming that their rights implied that there would be no imposition of taxes on them since they did not have parliament representation. The colonists at similar time discarded the resolution of them being offered with representation, arguing that the circumstances surrounding them, made it difficult for them (Shaara, 2010). The act was prevented from enforcement by mob violence as well as instituting planned boycotting of British products. Thus this opposition was by unforeseen in addition to producing a natural irritation and violence amongst the Britons. It was claimed that colonies were corporations of the British completely subsidiary to the parliament and that the constitution of the British had no difference other kind of legislation and taxes. Initially, the parliament had passed several acts concerning the colonies together with customs duties imposed by the parliament without them knowing. Furthermore the most of Britons were taxed devoid of any representation in parliament (Peterson, 2009). Regime change in Britain resulted in the repealing of the Stamp Act as well as Declaratory Act passage which implied that colonies together with American plantations ought to be reliant on the parliament as well as the imperial crown of the Great Britain. Americans in their declaration deemed such internal taxes as Stamp Act as being unlawful, however no outside taxes such as the old custom duties. Thus in 1767, the Townshend Act was passed by the parliament imposing duties on different British products exported to its colonies. This was quickly denounced by Americans as being illegal because raising income was the intention of the act and not trade regulation. Britons on their side failed to understand why the colonies saw parliamentary trade taxation as being legal but not revenue taxation (Peterson, 2009). 1768 saw the breaking out of violence in Boston leading to 4000 British soldiers being deployed to lay siege on the city. There was a threat by the Parliament to take residents of Massachusetts for treason trial in England. Unbowed by intimidations, colonists instituted new associations so as to shun British products although with little success than initially because Townshend imports were largely used. The killing of 5 colonists in March 1777 sparked outrage. In 1770, a fresh British department headed by Lord North rose to power, resulting in the Britons bowing under strain once more. April of 1770 saw the repealing of all the Townshend duties except the tea one, which had to be preserved so as to save face. The colonial governors were informed by the British that they had no plan of imposing any more taxes. This also saw the colonists ending their boycotts, and some even purchased the taxed tea. However, this short-lived ceasefire came to an end in 1773 when in an attempt to save the East India Company, from cash flow problems, the British tried to raise its sales of tea by excusing the Company from paying the tea tax as well as assigning particular middlemen in America to sell and receive the untaxed tea. There was resistance when this tea landed in every colony, and thus when the Massachusetts royal governor declined to return tea vessels in Boston, the tea chests were destroyed by Patriot mobs (Peterson, 2009). No one was disciplined for BTP and 1774 saw the ordering of closure of Boston harbor till the damaged tea was fully paid for. An Act was also passed so as to discipline a rebellious colony. Some of the other changes also included appointment of the Massachusetts Upper house by the crown, just as was the routine in other colonies, like Virginia and New York. Whereas these activities were unprecedented, still there was outrage from the people in the colony. This led to town meetings leading to Suffolk Resolves, which was a declaration of not cooperating with the crown authorities.October, 1774 saw the establishment of an unlawful provincial congress which effectively assumed authority over Massachusetts which was outside of British –controlled and started training militia for fighting (Thacher, 1829). In 1774, meanwhile, the first ever Continental Congress was organized by colony representatives so as to react to the crisis. A plan to institute an American parliament capable of approving and disapproving British parliament acts was rejected by the Congress. In its place, there was endorsement of the Suffolk Resolves in addition to demanding of the repealing of every parliamentary act legislated from 1763.Furthermore, they claimed that parliament had no control over America’s internal affairs; however, there would be consent to duties for the wellbeing of the empire. The British, this time round, however, failed to yield. A motion by Edmund Burke to have all Parliaments Acts objected by Americans repealed as well as waiving of any British taxing rights was defeated .There was a vote by parliament to limit all colonial trading with Britain, preventing them from utilizing Newfoundland fisheries as well as to raise the number of troops (both navy and army) by 6,000.In 1775, Lord North, the then Prime Minister made a proposal not to enforce taxation if they were to make fixed contributions by themselves. This would act as a safeguard for the taxing rights of all colonies from possible infringement in the future and at the same enable them to participate in maintaining the empire. Nevertheless the proposal was shot down by the congress in July by which time fighting had already started (Fandel, 2013). The war was fought in phases with the first phase beginning in 1775-1778 which actually marked war outbreak in Massachusetts .The second phase started in 1778-1781 whereby the British tried ,making peace. The war left Britain with a massive national debt of 250 million pounds (McCullough, 2006). Works cited Clarence, Peterson. Known Military Dead During the american Revolutionary War,1775-1783. New York: Genealogical Publishing Com, 2009. David, McCullough. Seventeen Seventy-Six. New York: Simonand Schuster, 2006. James, Thacher. A Military Journal During the American Revolutionary War,from 1775-1783. New York: Geneological Press, 1823. Jeff, Shaara. The Glorious Cause. New York: Random Publishing Group, 2010. Jennifer, Fandel. The Rebelious Colonists. New York: Capstone, 2013. Robert, Middlekauff. The Glorious Cause:The American Revolution,1763-1789. London: Oxford University Press, 2006. Read More