American Revolution

The American Revolution was a political upheaval that took place between 1765 and 1783 during which colonists in the Thirteen American Colonies rejected the British monarchy and aristocracy, overthrew the authority of Great Britain, and founded the United States of America.

Starting in 1765, members of American colonial society rejected the authority of the British Parliament to tax them without colonial representatives in the government. During the following decade, protests by colonists—known as Patriots—continued to escalate, as in the Boston Tea Party in 1773 during which patriots destroyed a consignment of taxed tea from the Parliament-controlled and favored East India Company.^[1] The British responded by imposing punitive laws—the Coercive Acts—on Massachusetts in 1774, following which Patriots in the other colonies rallied behind Massachusetts. In late 1774 the Patriots set up their own alternative government to better coordinate their resistance efforts against Great Britain, while other colonists, known as Loyalists, preferred to remain aligned to the British Crown.

Tensions escalated to the outbreak of fighting between Patriot militia and British regulars at Lexington and Concord in April 1775. The conflict then evolved into a global war, during which the Patriots (and later their French, Spanish, and Dutch allies) fought the British and Loyalists in what became known as the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783).

Patriots in each of the thirteen colonies formed a Provincial Congress that assumed power from the old colonial governments and suppressed Loyalism, and from there built a Continental Army under the leadership of General George Washington. Claiming King George III's rule to be tyrannical and infringing the colonists' "rights as Englishmen", the Continental Congress declared the colonies free and independent states in July 1776. The Patriot leadership professed the political philosophies of liberalism and republicanism to reject monarchy and aristocracy, and proclaimed that all men are created equal. Congress rejected British proposals requiring allegiance to the monarchy and abandonment of independence.

The British were forced out of Boston in 1776, but then captured and held New York City for the duration of the war. The British blockaded the ports and captured other cities for brief periods, but failed to defeat Washington's forces. In early 1778, following a failed patriot invasion of Canada, a British army was captured at the Battle of Saratoga, following which the French openly entered the war as allies of the United States. The war later turned to the American South, where the British captured an army at South Carolina, but failed to enlist enough volunteers from Loyalist civilians to take effective control.

A combined American–French force captured a second British army at Yorktown in 1781, effectively ending the war in the United States. The Treaty of Paris in 1783 formally ended the conflict, confirming the new nation's complete separation from the British Empire. The United States took possession of nearly all the territory east of the Mississippi River and south of the Great Lakes, with the British retaining control of Canada and Spain taking Florida.^[2][3]

Among the significant results of the revolution was the creation of a new Constitution of the United States. The 'Three-Fifths Compromise' allowed the southern slaveholders to consolidate power and maintain slavery in America for another eighty years,^[4] but through the expansion of voting rights and liberties over subsequent decades the elected government became responsible to the will of the people.^[5] The new Constitution established a relatively strong federal national government that included an executive, national judiciary, a bicameral Congress that represented both states in the Senate and population in the House of Representatives.^[6][7]

Contents

• 1 Origins
  • 1.1 1764–1766: Taxes imposed and withdrawn
  • 1.2 1767–1773: Townshend Acts and the Tea Act
  • 1.3 1774–1775: Intolerable Acts and the Quebec Act

• 2 Creating new state constitutions
• 3 Military hostilities begin
  • 3.1 Prisoners

• 4 Independence and Union
• 5 Defending the Revolution
  • 5.1 British return: 1776–1777
  • 5.2 American alliances after 1778
  • 5.3 The British move South, 1778–1783
    • 5.3.1 Surrender at Yorktown (1781)

• • 5.4 The end of the war

• 6 Peace treaty
  • 6.1 Impact on Britain

• 7 Finance
• 8 Concluding the Revolution
  • 8.1 Creating a "more perfect union" and guaranteeing rights
  • 8.2 National debt

• 9 Ideology and factions
  • 9.1 Ideology behind the Revolution
    • 9.1.1 Natural rights and republicanism
      • 9.1.1.1 Fusing republicanism and liberalism

• • • 9.1.2 Impact of Great Awakening

• • 9.2 Class and psychology of the factions
  • 9.3 King George III
  • 9.4 Patriots
  • 9.5 Loyalists
  • 9.6 Neutrals
  • 9.7 Role of women

• 10 Other participants
  • 10.1 France
  • 10.2 Spain
  • 10.3 Native Americans
  • 10.4 African Americans

• 11 Effects of the Revolution
  • 11.1 Loyalist expatriation
  • 11.2 Interpretations
  • 11.3 Inspiring all colonies
  • 11.4 Status of American women
  • 11.5 Status of African Americans
  • 11.6 Memory

• 12 See also
• 13 Notes
• 14 References
• 15 Bibliography
  • 15.1 Reference works
  • 15.2 Surveys of the era
  • 15.3 Specialized studies
  • 15.4 Historiography
  • 15.5 Primary sources
  • 15.6 Contemporary sources: Annual Register

• 16 External links

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Revolution

Three Signers Captured at the Siege of Charleston by Cornwallis:

During the American Revolutionary War, Middleton served in the defense of Charleston from the attempt to end the way by splitting the colonies by Generals Cornwallis and Clinton.

Clinton had issued the Philipsburg Proclamation in 1779, promising freedom for slaves owned by Patriots who escaped to British lines and aided their cause. Slaves left both the city and countryside around Charleston to join the British around the city. Among those former slaves, known as Black Loyalists, evacuated by the British after the war was John Kizell, who had been captured as a child from the area of Sierra Leone and transported to South Carolina. He eventually returned to Sierra Leone and aided the American Colonization Society.

After the city's fall to the British in 1780, Middleton was sent as a prisoner of war to St. Augustine, Florida (along with Edward Rutledge and Thomas Heyward Jr.), until exchanged in July the following year. Also spent a year on one of the notorious prison ships, the Jersey. Afterward favored tar and feathering loyalists (Am Conn).

Aftermath

The British captured some 5,266 prisoners, 311 artillery pieces, 9,178 artillery rounds, 5,916 muskets, 33,000 rounds of ammunition, 15 Regimental colours, 49 ships and 120 boats, plus 376 barrels of flour, and large magazines of rum, rice and indigo.^[2] Following the surrender, the captured ordnance was brought to a powder magazine. A Hessian officer warned that some of the guns might still be loaded, but he was ignored. One prematurely fired, detonating 180 barrels of powder, further discharging 5,000 muskets in the magazine. The accident killed approximately 200 people and destroyed six houses.^[2]

The prisoners of the siege were diverted to multiple locations, including prison ships, the old barracks where the College of Charleston is today (two barracks buildings are shown on early maps of the campus^[11]), and the Old Exchange and Provost "Dungeon". Prison hulks awaited the majority of the 2,571 Continental prisoners, while parole was granted to the militia and civilians who promised not to take up arms. This ended the power of an American army in the South.^[3]: 70

The defeat was a serious blow to the American cause.^[12] It was the largest surrender of an American force under arms until the 1862 surrender of Union troops at Harper's Ferry during the Antietam Campaign. The surrender left no substantial army in the South, and the colonies were wide open for a British advance. The British troops consolidated their hold, and had driven the remaining Continental Army troops from South Carolina consequent to the May 29 Battle of Waxhaws.

During their surrender the American forces were denied honours of war, leading General George Washington to deny the same to the British during their surrender at the Siege of Yorktown. Washington said, "The same Honors will be granted to the Surrendering Army as were granted to the Garrison of Charles Town."^[10]

On June 5, Clinton sailed back to New York City, believing his presence necessary to defend against a potential Franco-American attack, leaving command of the southern theater to Lord Cornwallis, with orders to reduce opposition in North Carolina. Though the effects of the surrender at Charleston were substantial, the British error in strategy soon became apparent. As no popular uprising of Loyalists took place, control of the countryside was difficult. Instead, resistance in South Carolina degenerated into a period of chaotic guerrilla warfare in the outlying areas.

Multimedia:

Boston Massacre VR interactive

VR Early battle: https://historyview.org/library/american-revolution/ Battle Road back to Boston