The Revolutionary War

By: Mindy Miller

The Revolutionary War started in 1775 and ended in 1783. It was also known as the United States War of Independence, was an uprising by which 13 of Britain's colonies gained political independence. By the middle 18th century, differences in life, thought, and economic interests began to grow between the colonies and Britain, the mother country. This was followed by many acts and events that violated the colonists' rights.

The Seven Years' War was from 1756 to 1763. It left Great Britain with the expensive responsibility of managing newly obtained territory in North America. The British Parliament passed the Stamp Act in 1765 to raise revenue to pay a share of the country's defense costs. The Stamp Act required the colonists to use specially stamped paper for all official documents, newspapers, and pamphlets. It provoked almost united opposition among the colonists, who believed it was a violation of the English citizen's rights. They thought it to be taxation without representation. Riots broke out in colonial cities and American merchants promised not to buy British goods.One month before the act was to go into effect, riots

organized by the Sons of Liberty broke out and prevented British-appointed stamp vendors from assuming their posts. Parliament repealed the Stamp Act in March of 1766, yielding to the demand of economically unhappy British merchants.

In 1767, Parliament passed the Townshend Acts, which imposed taxes on lead, glass, tea, paint, and paper imported by Americans from Britain. Once again, the colonists protested and boycotted British goods. In 1770, a riot broke out between British troops and the citizens of Boston. The troops fired, killing five people in the Boston Massacre.

Parliament repealed the Townshend Acts, but engaged in the tax on tea. In 1773, Parliament passed the Tea Act, reducing the tax on tea in attempt to rescue the English East India Company from bankruptcy. The colonists refused to buy English tea and would not allow British ships to unload it. One Sunday, a ship with 114 chests of tea came in. Since the colonists were not going to buy tea, they were

going to send it back. The colonists were getting together and developed a plan. They would dress up as Indians so no one would know who they were and dump

the tea off the boat. Then came the night they planned on following through with the plan. They did exactly that. Afterwards, they went to the Liberty tree and sang.

The Revolutionary War started with the Battle of Lexington and Concord.

The English wanted to surprise the colonists and steal their weapons, but the colonists had posted scouts and were ready for their attack. The colonists

managed to hold them off, however, neither side won. Next, at Fort

Ticonderoga, the colonists surprised the English and defeated them, winning

100 cannons. After these two battles, the colonial political leaders assembled at the Second Continental Congress, the First Continental Congress being in 1774 in response to the Intolerable Acts. They sent the King of England the Olive Branch Petition asking him to right his wrongs, but he didn't respond. Then the Americans wrote the Declaration of Independence, officially declaring war on England.

On June 17, 1775 the battle of Bunker Hill took place. In this battle, 1,200

colonial troops, led by Colonel William Prescott, established a position on Bunker Hill to keep any English forces stationed inside Boston from leaving. Many people call this the battle of Bunker Hill, but the fighting really took place on Breeds Hill, which is an adjoining hill. People may call it the Battle of Bunker Hill because it is the bigger of the two hills. Bunker Hill did play a roll in the battle though, the Americans retreated and regrouped at Bunker Hill. General Gage was the British officer who helped the British win many battles in the Revolutionary War. He led the British here. The British lost about 1,100 people while the Americans lost half as many. The Americans won this battle even though the British did drive them out.

In a much needed victory, George Washington's army took the cities of Princeton and Trenton. It was much needed because the moral of Washington's army was very low, because of previous losses. In 1776, Washington was in desperate difficulties. On Christmas Day, 1776. early in the morning, Washington attacked Trenton. The defending Hessians, drunk and sleeping, after their Christmas celebrations, were caught completely by surprise. Washington's troops captured over 900 Hessians who were defending the Trenton garrison. The cost to the Patriot troops was four slightly wounded men.

That same night Washington led his troops on a forced march to Princeton, New Jersey. Again the British garrison was caught completely by surprise and the

patriot troops were victorious. These early victories enabled the rebel forces to gain

valuable ammunition, food and other important supplies which were needed to

survive the winter of 1777. By the time the British Commander General Howe

learned of the raids, the rebel army was long gone.

It is most appropriate to call them the Battles at Saratoga since there were two

contiguous battles. The Saratoga Campaign, battles of the American Revolution fought in upstate New York, permanently ended British hopes of dividing the colonies along the Hudson River. British General John Burgoyne, commanding 6,000 regulars and various auxiliaries, pushed down from Canada in June 1777. His plan was to go to Albany, where he would join forces with Barry St. Leger. The revolutionists offered little resistance at first, but by the time Burgoyne reached Bemis Heights, west of the Hudson, the American Army had been strengthened and given a popular commanding general, Horatio Gates. With time on the American side, Gates allowed Burgoyne to wear down the British forces with costly assaults on the patriot lines. In the first battle of Freeman's farm on September 19, 1777, Burgoyne suffered 600 deaths to Gate's 320. At Bemis Heights, the second Battle of Freeman's farm on October 7, 1777, Burgoyne's men were appalled by Gates, Benedict Arnold and Daniel Morgan. Once again, British losses were almost 600. Outnumbered and surrounded, Burgoyne surrendered on October 17, 1777 at Saratoga, which is now known as Schuylerville.

The Battle of Yorktown was one of the last battles of the American Revolutionary War. It lasted 20 days and ended with British General Charles Cornwallis's surrender on October 19, 1781. The Battle of Yorktown, also named the Siege of Yorktown, is recognized as one of the most skillful military actions in history. The British prime minister, Lord Frederick North, resigned after

Cornwallis's surrender. The new leaders signed the Treaty of Paris on September 3, 1783, which officially ended the revolution.

There were many significant people involved in America's revolution. One of them is George Washington. He may not have been fully successful, but played a major role in the battle of Yorktown. Not only was he the first president and on of the Founding Fathers, he was an important leader.

Another important man was Thomas Paine. Thomas Paine inspired the American Revolution and spoke directly to the people. Common Sense was debated by Americans in taverns, reading clubs, parlors and street corners. The American Crisis, Number 1, the first in a series of essays meant to boost moods and advise the revolution.

Patrick Henry was also notable man in America's history. It is from him that the famous quote: ''I know not what course others may take; but as for me give me liberty or give me death!" comes from. Benjamin Franklin was also very notable. America has never forgotten Benjamin Franklin because he did both. He always was writing as much as he possibly could and by doing even more. He became famous for being a scientist, an inventor, a statesman, a printer, a philosopher, a musician, and an economist. Today, Ben Franklin is honored as one of our Founding Fathers and as one of America's greatest citizens.

The battle of Yorktown signaled the end of the war. At this point, there were many British survivors throughout all of the events. Talks of peace treaties began around 1782. Finally, a peaceful nation may be in their future.

It was 1783 and peace negotiations were still dragging on from the end of the war. Then the Treaty of Paris was signed on September 3, of that year. Great Britain recognized the independence of the former colonies as the United States of America and recognized the country as a free independent nation. England also agreed to pull all of it's troops out of America.

The Constitution was then written in 1787. The Americans wanted to develop a stronger national government than one the Articles of Confederation had presented. In 1791, the Bill of Rights was added to the Constitution. These bills outlined the natural born rights of Americans. They had not found these in the English rule.

Overall, the history of the American Revolution is a very extensive account of the United States and it's fight for freedom from Britain and the many battles fought in order to reach this point. If it weren't for any of this, there surely wouldn't be as much peace as there is today. If you look back on all the leaders in history, you realize how much effort they gave in order to make America what it is now. I learned many things from this project and in conclusion, it was very interesting and factual to learn about.