1774-1783 American Colonies in Revolt

This seismic event is a foundation stone of US history - the American Revolution. It's the subject of thousands of books, articles, papers and lectures in America, if rather fewer in Britain, where it’s often been termed the American War of Independence. The different names conceal a variable framing of the episode, but as might be expected, each is loaded with myths. No doubt Americans can take care of their own myths, but several on the British side, and maybe on the conflict in general, need busting.

Seeds of rebellion

The Stamp Act, imposed in the British Empire on printed documents, was perhaps what most galvanised the American colonies. It was levied in 1765 on everything, from credit notes to newspapers. In fact the Americans paid only two thirds of what applied in Britain, and overall were generally lightly taxed in comparison. But Parliament’s Stamp Act imposed a charge on a literate colonist society that cost the most to the people best able to complain about it. The voice of outraged virtue - ‘no taxation without representation’ - soon followed.

Old State House, site of the 'Boston Massacre'

Historian Jill Lepore says “The sovereignty of the people, the freedom of the press, the relationship between representation and taxation, debt as slavery: each of these ideas, with origins in England, found a place in the colonists’ opposition to the Stamp Act”. But only 13 colonies actually rebelled. Defiance didn’t extend to Quebec or the Caribbean islands where the Stamp Tax burden was heavier, and where it paid the local defence costs. This was key. In the slave colonies fear of insurrection was ever present. And there was little about freedom for slaves in the ferment about liberty - one of the embarrassing issues of the time.

The Stamp Act was repealed in 1766 after only a year. But the genie was out of the bottle. Debt, taxes, slavery and equality became issues of intense debate. New taxes on lead, paint and glass saw British army units sent to Boston to enforce the law. This caused riots and boycotts and in 1770 troops killed five people in a town meeting (the ‘Boston massacre’). 

Sending the British Army

In 1773 the Tea Act asserted Parliament’s right to tax the colonies. The locals importing tea were called ‘enemies of the country’.The famous Boston Tea Party in December 1773 raised the stakes and in 1774 Britain turned the screw, closing Boston’s harbour. Parliament and the North government endlessly argued about how to react to the unrest. Could the trouble be contained or should they force the issue? Sending an army was not the sudden decision some believe. But to back down would be to lose the colonies, they thought. At last it was done. When in April 1775 a battalion was sent to destroy arms dumps at Lexington and Concord, near Boston, the local militia mustered, shots were fired and the first deaths of the war occurred.

Engraving depicting the 'Boston Tea Party'

In 1774 and early 1775 most people in the American colonies wished for autonomy within the British Empire, not independence, despite writer Tom Paine’s famous pleas. The Second Continental Congress still hoped for reconciliation with Britain but aggrieved radicals from Massachusetts, who had besieged Boston, won sympathy from even the reluctant southern delegates. Attitudes changed as Britain doubled down, treating the colonists as avowed enemies. In June Congress voted to set up a Continental Army with George Washington as commander.

Even then actually declaring independence was put off. Most colonists were loyal. If those from Scots-Ulster Presbyterian stock mainly backed independence, Anglicans mostly supported the Crown. Britain had a professional army and the world’s most powerful navy to supply its troops and blockade American ports. It was widely expected that Britain, with the financial muscle and infrastructure to fund a war, would win any protracted conflict. Part of London’s thinking was that the colonies, all with different systems and rules, found co-operation rather difficult.

Colonies work together

Still, the success of the Massachusetts militia in inflicting major losses on British troops on the Concord road and then at Bunker Hill encouraged the other colonies to co-operate. Without this morale booster it’s doubtful if a viable Continental Army could have been raised in the war’s first year. Just as well. 1776 went badly for the American forces, ending in defeat in New York and New Jersey. Britain's General Howe may at that stage have missed the chance to destroy Washington’s army, but his supply lines were stretched. And, still hoping for a negotiated settlement, he wanted to preserve the peace option.

Viscount Howe, Commander in Chief, British Land Forces

The Continental Army recovered and fought back next year. Congress stopped one year enlistments, so it was upgraded into a professional standing army. Washington at last had the chance to train and equip the force he wanted. In October 1777 Gen. ('Gentleman Johnny') Burgoyne surrendered an army of 6000 at Saratoga, in upstate New York - nearly 25% of British military strength in America. It’s a myth that it was the turning point of the war. Yet it did persuade France in 1778 to join the American side, and within three years this had tipped the scale.

Surrender of Gen Burgoyne's army at Saratoga

Declaration of Independence

During the fighting the Declaration of Independence was proclaimed on 4^th July 1776 in Philadelphia. Signed by Second Continental Congress President John Hancock, one of the colonies’ richest men, it took months to collect all 56 delegates’ signatures. An act of state, it was written to resonate within the law of nations. Arguments over the text were attenuated. Congress struck out a key passage, ‘assemblage of horrors’, blaming George III for slavery. As Jill Lepore brilliantly puts it, “The Declaration …was a stunning rhetorical feat, an act of extraordinary political courage. It also marked a colossal failure of political will, in holding back the tide of opposition to slavery by ignoring it, for the sake of a union that, in the end, could not and would not last”.        

Writing the Declaration of Independence - Franklin, Adams and Jefferson

Almost all slaves sided with Britain, seen as more likely to offer them freedom, as did about 20% of white colonists. Many ‘loyalists’ took up arms against their compatriots. Some 40% of the colonies’ 3m population were ‘patriots’, backing the rebellion and war. The rest, including most Native Americans, were neutral. At the end about 75,000 loyalists, including numerous ex-slaves, left for British ruled Canada and London. The rest stayed to make their peace with the new regime.

France's key role

France provided critical aid to the Americans with troops, naval support and money. Spain and the Netherlands would follow in 1779 and 1780. By that stage Britain emphatically saw the conflict in wider international terms, which concentrated minds in London. In 1778, after failing to crush the rebellion in New England and the mid-Atlantic region, they determined to end things once and for all. The ‘Southern Strategy’ that followed at first achieved impressive results. In 18 months or so British troops reinforced by Hessian mercenaries had defeated three American armies, retaken Georgia and much of the south, and seemed likely to win. Yet in 1780 guerrillas exacted a terrible toll on British and loyalist forces in South Carolina. Gen. Cornwallis then lost more men in North Carolina and Virginia. In October 1781 he was trapped at Yorktown and forced to surrender his 8,000 troops.

Rochambeau and Washington giving last orders at Yorktown

The war effectively ended there, where the French navy had decisively blockaded British forces. In these later stages the French, under Rochambeau, were largely dictating American strategy and tactics. In fact it’s worth pointing out that France had more soldiers and sailors at Yorktown than the Americans. From early on in the conflict France had provided arms, ammunition, warm clothing, and, crucially, money for the Continental Army. It was basic French policy - a way to weaken a traditional rival.    

Wider conflict and legacy

The American colonies were the first significant power grouping to detach themselves from Britain. The war in America may have been over, but not the wider conflict. A British fleet decisively defeated the French and Spanish in the Caribbean, and Gibraltar, besieged from 1779, held out to the end. This strengthened Britain’s hand in the peace talks held in Paris in 1783. There the American delegates had independence confirmed, but demanded all territory east of the Mississippi. France, though, wanted a far more restricted Appalachian frontier. In secret talks Britain happily accommodated the new United States.

Prime Minister Shelburne badly wanted a deal. He saw the potential of friendly relations with America, especially for trade. He was right. Britain sold more to the US after the war than before, and imported a new product, cotton, to supply the textile mills of Lancashire. Britain retained a major export market and access to valuable raw materials, without the attendant defence and administrative costs of an empire.

Lord Shelburne, by Sir Joshua Reynolds

Was the result of this war ever in doubt? Yes. The colonists could easily have lost in 1776 or in 1780 when defeat looked very likely. Poor strategy hurt the Americans, as well as an ill-fated invasion of Canada. By the time of the Yorktown surrender French tactical guidance had taken over to good effect. The colonies would have been independent in the end, of course, as indeed were Canada, Australia and New Zealand, all just too far away from Britain to be remotely run. But in the late 18^th century this was no certainty.