A Revolutionary Era, I

Intellectual Origins and the First Successful Colonial Revolt

Intellectual Origins of a Revolutionary Era

Enlightenment-era philosophers developed many of the ideas that inspired the revolutions. Enlightenment: Eighteenth-Century Philosophical Movement that began in France. Emphasized: preeminence of reason over faith and tradition.

Philosophers and Revolution

John Locke: Second Treatise on Civil Government, published in 1689 in England, emphasized the rights of citizens and argued against the divine right of kings. Emphasized rights to life, liberty, and property. Subjects had the right to withdraw their consent from rulers.

Locke, 1632-1704

Voltaire (Franois-Marie Arouet)

Criticized government censorship and persecution of religious minorities. Letters Concerning the English Nation (1734) praised England for its comparatively more tolerant treatment of religious minorities. A Treatise on Toleration (1763) also emphasized toleration of religious minorities. He was a deist; his Henriade (1723) was interpreted as an open indictment of Christianity

Jean-Jacques Rousseau
French-Swiss philosopher who identified with the workers of society.
maintained that human beings were essentially good and equal in the state of nature but were corrupted by the introduction of property, agriculture, science, and commerce.

The Social Contract: People entered into a social contract, establishing governments and educational systems to correct the inequalities brought about by the rise of civilization.

American Enlightenment
Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and Thomas Paine were important intellectual figures behind the American Revolution. They drew their inspiration from Enlightenment figures in Europe. Jefferson, Franklin, and Paine all spent time in France.

Thomas Paine
1776: Published Common Sense in defense of American Independence from England. Traveled with the Continental Army Produced The Crisis (1776-83), which helped inspire the Army. This pamphlet was so popular that as a percentage of the population, it was read by or read to more people than today watch the Super Bowl, percentage-wise. 1791-92: wrote The Rights of Man in response to criticism of the French Revolution. Paine was an outlaw in England for his antimonarchist views.

Thomas Jefferson
Called John Locke, Francis Bacon, and Isaac Newton the three greatest men the world had ever produced. Learned French, but was less influenced by French philosophers. British opposition writers, such as Locke, influenced his emphasis on Republicanism over an aristocratic hierarchy.

Benjamin Franklin
Tho' I seldom attended any public worship, I had still an opinion of its propriety, and of its utility when rightly conducted, and I regularly paid my annual subscription for the support of the only Presbyterian minister or meeting we had in Philadelphia. He us'd to visit me sometimes as a friend, and admonish me to attend his administrations, and I was now and then prevail'd on to do so, once for five Sundays successively. Had he been in my opinion a good preacher, perhaps I might have continued, notwithstanding the occasion I had for the Sunday's leisure in my course of study; but his discourses were chiefly either polemic arguments, or explications of the peculiar doctrines of our sect, and were all to me very dry, uninteresting, and unedifying, since not a single moral principle was inculcated or enforc'd, their aim seeming to be rather to make us Presbyterians than good citizens.

Colonial Identities
In many colonies, especially in the Americas, the colonists formed a separate identity, distinct from the metropolis. Vocabulary terms: metropolis and colony. Pride in the colony and a resentment of the second-rate status of ones colony in the global scheme bred resentment on the part of colonists.

Revolution in British America

Wars, Revolts, and Uprisings in British America

1676: Bacons Rebellion 1712: Insurrection involving slaves and Indians in New York 1740s: Riots over disputed land 1747: Riot against Impressment 1756-1763: French and Indian War

French and Indian War

Was part of larger, global conflict, the Seven Years War. The French-British rivalry was fought in India, America, Austria, Germany, and the Caribbean. In the colonial North America, conflict centered around French territorial expansion.
The Grand Drangement (17551764) (Great Upheaval) was closely tied to the Seven Years War.

Frederick the Great of Prussia, who fought the Austrians in the European theater of the Seven Years War.

Effects of the Seven Years War

Britains win ensured their dominant position in India, North America, and global politics in general. Conflict, in which many American colonists fought, was expensive. Taxes that antagonized the North Americans were imposed:
Sugar Act (1764) Stamp Act (1765) Townshend Act (1767) (lead, paper, paint, glass, and tea) Tea Act (1773) Quartering Act (1765) forced American colonists to provide housing for British troops

Stamp Act, 1765

For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any declaration, plea, replication, rejoinder, demurrer or other pleading, or any copy thereof; in any court of law within the British colonies and plantations in America, a stamp duty of three pence. For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any special bail, and appearance upon such bail in any such court, a stamp duty of two shillings. For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which may be engrossed, written, or printed, any petition, bill, answer, claim, plea, replication, rejoinder, demurrer, or other pleading, in any court of chancery or equity within the said colonies and plantations, a stamp duty of one shilling and six pence. For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which shall be engrossed, written, or printed, any copy of any position, bill, answer, claim, plea, replication, rejoinder, demurrer, or other pleading in any such court, a stamp duty of three pence.

Protests and Revolts

No taxation without representation

Slogan at riot in Boston in 1768, inspired by James Otis

Boston became a hotbed of anti-British activity during the 1760s, led by activities by the Sons of Liberty. British Products boycotted. Boston Tea Party (1773), was a dumping of Tea into Boston harbor as a protest against the Tax Act.

The First Continental Congress, 1774

Met in Philadelphia in 1774 56 representatives from 12 of the 13 colonies met.
Georgia did not send a delegate.

Organized an economic boycott of English products Considered of Pennsylvania conservative Joseph Galloways plan of union, which urged creation of an American parliament to act in concert with the existing British body.

The First Skirmish

April 19, 1775: The Battle of Lexington between 70 minutemen commanded by Captain John Parker, and 700 British soldiers marching on Concord, Massachusetts. American militia, warned of the British approach by Paul Revere and others, assembled to halt the British. Captain Parker: "Stand your ground; don't fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here," The Americans refused to disperse when ordered to do so by the commander of the British.

Gunfire was exchanged and eight Americans were killed before the minutemen retreated.

Declaration of Independence
Drawn up and adopted at the Second Continental Congress. Adopted on 4 July 1776. Written mostly by Thomas Jefferson Heavily influenced by John Locke, it emphasized:
the consent of the governed. Inalienable rights of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.

The Right of the People to alter or abolish (a government) and to institute a new government

Winning Independence

The American colonies faced a distinct disadvantage in warfare, with a small militia facing off against the most powerful military nation in the world at the time

Early Fighting: the Battles of Concord and Bunker Hill

After the Battle at Lexington, the British faced stiffer resistance at Concord, Mass. British withdrew to Boston. Sniper fire led to losses of nearly 20% of the British forces. The British militarily occupied Boston after the attacks.

Map of the Early Fighting

Slavery and Revolution

On 14 November 1775, Virginia Royal Governor Lord Dunmore offered freedom to any slaves or indentured servants in Virginia willing to fight against the colonists. Ideas over the Rights of Man did not extend to slaves. Virginia threatened to execute anyone attempting to take advantage of Dunmore's offer.

Times that Try Mens Souls

Winter of 1776-1777 found the Continental Army poorly fed and equipped and Congress unable to appropriate any money to help. Winter of 1777-1778 found the situation unimproved. The Continental Army spent the winter encamped at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. Of Washingtons 11,000 soldiers, 2,500 either deserted or were killed by the conditions.

The Turning Point: Saratoga

British General John Burgoyne planned to battle the Americans near Buffalo, NY.
His plan called for General St. Leger to attack from the west, General Clinton to attack from the south, and Burgoyne would float an army down the Hudson River and attack from the north.

Burgoyne arrived at Saratoga and found himself alone. St. Leger was defeated at the Battle of Oriskany and Clinton, rather than moving North actually went further south.
Burgoyne quickly found himself surrounded by American soldiers and, after two battles, was forced to surrender.

Outside Assistance
Both the British and the American colonists relied on outside assistance.
British counted on the Hessians, German mercenaries, for some of their best-trained forces.

Geopolitical rivals of the British, including the French and the Spanish, contributed to the cause of American independence.
French and Spanish monarchs did not anticipate that the success of the American Revolution would inspire revolutionary movements in their own countries.

Louisiana Connection: Bernardo de Galvez

Bernardo de Galvez was the Spanish governor of the Louisiana territory during the Revolutionary War
Before any declaration of war, General Galvez sent gunpowder, rifles, bullets, blankets, medicine and other supplies to General George Washington.

Galvez repelled a British and Indian attack in St. Louis, Missouri and captured the British fort of St. Joseph in present-day Niles, Michigan. With reinforcements from Cuba, Mexico, Puerto Rico, General Galvez captured Mobile and Pensacola, the capital of the British colony of West Florida

Louisiana Connection, II: Marquis de Lafayette

In 1777, Lafayette purchased a ship, and with a crew of adventurers set sail for America to fight in the revolution against the British. Lafayette joined the ranks as a major general, assigned to the staff of George Washington He served with distinction, leading America forces to several victories. On a return visit to France in 1779, Lafayette persuaded the French government to send aid to the Americans. After the British surrender at Yorktown, Lafayette returned to Paris. One of the first to advocate a National Assembly, and worked toward the establishment of a constitutional monarchy

The World Turned Upside Down: Yorktown

General Cornwallis retreated to the coast of Yorktown, Virginia for the winter and the protection of the Royal Navy.
But the French navy had defeated the British fleet at the Battle of the Capes in September 1780.

Cornwallis arrived at Yorktown trapped between the French navy and the American army. The Americans and French laid siege to the British position Cornwallis surrendered on 20 October 1781, the end of major fighting in the Revolutionary War.

Peace of Paris, 1783

British formally recognized U.S. Independence.

Loyalists and the Revolution

For many Americans, the Revolution was a civil war. The war divided families and communities between patriot and loyalist. Most famously, this estranged Benjamin Franklin from his son William.
Benjamin Franklin left very little of his inheritance to William out of spite.

William Franklin

Articles of Confederation
First Document organizing the Nation did not emphasize Unity as Strongly as the Constitution.

Shay's Rebellion
Shay's Rebellion was a revolt by farmers in debt in Massachusetts in 1786 and 1787. The rebellion was led by Daniel Shays. A Revolutionary War soldier and politician, he had sympathized with the debtors. Some concluded that the Article of Confederation did not provide for a strong enough federal government.

Constitution of the United States

17 September 1787: Constitution signed by 39 of 55 delegates.

States instructed to either ratify or reject the constitution as an entire document but not to offer provisional acceptance based upon any conditions. Spared the constitution an endless ratification process with often contradictory demands.

Articles of Confederation had required unanimous consent from the states for any change in the national government, the constitution required only the consent of 9 states to be ratified.

Revolution Spreads Southwards

Uprisings soon spread southward into Latin America and across the Atlantic. In South America, Andeans mostly descendants of Incas but many creole Spaniards as well revolted against the crown. In Mexico, a disorganized uprising evolved into an independence movement for the creole elite. In Haiti, the first successful slave revolt took place

Mexican Independence
Spanish Roots of Latin American Independence Spains Government of Resistance the Juntas, the Regency, and the Cortes Cortes wrote constitution of 1812 creating legislative, executive, and judicial branches, freedom of the press and sovereignty in the nation under the king. Cortes replacement by an unelected regency was rejected by juntas. Ferdinands return to power in 1814 arrived with determination to nullify Constitution Ferdinand overthrown in 1820 in Spain by popular revolt, the Riego revolt

Hidalgos Revolt
Creole resentment of peninsular monopoly on highest government offices Miguel Hidalgo and the Grito de Dolores
Mexican National Symbol Virgin of Guadalupe Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla local priest Faced the Inquisition for fornication and political unorthodoxy.

Hidalgo joined widespread conspiracy, which was uncovered. Hidalgo rang parish bells; gave crowd Grito de Dolores; led a huge, mostly indigenous mob toward Mexico City. After hesitating on the edge of the colonial capital, Hidalgos disorganized force was dispersed and Hidalgo was executed in 1811.

The Independence Movement under Morelos

Mestizo priest in poor parishes.

Used a strategy of small mobile units that forced royalist divisions to divide. Won important early victories Gulf Coast, Vera Cruz, Oaxaca and Guerrero.

September 1813: Congress of Chilpancingo proclaimed end to Indian tribute, slavery, and called for land reform. Lost battles after 1813 reduced his control over Chilpancingo Congress By 1815, Congress and its a three-person executive committee, was a fugitive body. Morelos captured while escorting congress, faced Inquisition, executed in December 1815.

Completing the Uprising: Iturbide in 1820

General Agustn de Iturbide
Royalist General until early skirmishes with Vicente Guerrero Well-known for defeating Hidalgos and Moreloss forces.

Created Plan of Iguala, which called for Catholic Church supremacy, creole and peninsular equality, and independence from Spain under monarchy.
Iturbide served as the first emperor after independence secured on September 27, 1821.