The American Revolution | US History to 1865 | Study Hall

Summary

This video script from Study Hall US History to 1865 delves into the complexities leading to the American Revolution. It discusses the diverse perspectives of the Colonists, including Indigenous peoples and enslaved individuals, and their varied responses to British rule. Key events like the Stamp Act, Boston Tea Party, and the formation of the Continental Congress are highlighted, illustrating the growing divide between the Colonies and Britain. The script also touches on the roles of women and people of color, the strategic alliances with France, and the ultimate victory at Yorktown, which shaped the new nation's early history.

Takeaways

• 🏰 Before independence, the American Colonies were diverse, with Indigenous peoples, Colonists seeking freedom, loyalists, and fence-sitters.
• 🌳 Indigenous and enslaved communities had distinct interests and were often excluded from the independence discussions.
• 🛡️ The French and Indian War, part of the Seven Years' War, had significant impacts on the Colonies and Britain's relationship.
• 📜 The Stamp Act of 1765 marked the beginning of direct taxation by Britain, leading to increased tensions.
• 🔥 The Boston Massacre in 1770 was a pivotal event that galvanized anti-British sentiment among the Colonists.
• 🍵 The Boston Tea Party in 1773 was a protest against the Tea Act and symbolized resistance to British economic policies.
• 📝 The Intolerable Acts of 1774 further strained relations and were seen as punitive measures by the Colonists.
• ⚔️ The formation of militias and the battles at Lexington and Concord marked the beginning of the armed conflict.
• 🗽 The Declaration of Independence in 1776 was a formal assertion of the Colonies' intent to be free from British rule.
• 🤝 The alliance with France provided crucial support to the American cause, both militarily and diplomatically.

Q & A

What was the impact of colonization on Indigenous people in the American Colonies?

Colonization irrevocably changed the homelands of Indigenous people, leading to their displacement and loss of control over their lands and resources.

Why did some colonists desire independence from England?

Some colonists were tired of living under the control of the English Crown and felt that independence was necessary to secure their rights and freedoms.

What was the significance of the Stamp Act of 1765 in the lead-up to the American Revolution?

The Stamp Act was one of the first acts by the British Parliament to directly tax the colonies, which led to increased resentment and protests, marking a step towards the American Revolution.

How did the Boston Massacre influence the sentiment towards the British among the colonists?

The Boston Massacre served as a rallying cry for colonists eager to separate from the English monarchy, as it was seen as an act of aggression by British soldiers against the colonists.

What was the role of the Sons of Liberty in the American Revolution?

The Sons of Liberty were instrumental in organizing protests, including the Boston Tea Party, and were key figures in the resistance movement against British rule.

Why were the Intolerable Acts passed by the British Parliament in 1774?

The Intolerable Acts were passed as punitive measures to punish Massachusetts for the Boston Tea Party and to reassert British authority over the colonies.

How did the Quebec Act of 1774 affect the relationship between the British and the American Colonies?

The Quebec Act angered Protestant colonists in New England by allowing the practice of Catholicism in the Canadian colonies, further straining relations and uniting the colonies against British rule.

What was the significance of the Second Continental Congress in 1775?

The Second Continental Congress marked the formation of an American government in defiance of England's authority and led to the creation of an army under George Washington, signifying a clear move towards independence.

How did the French alliance impact the American Revolution?

The alliance with France provided the American army with much-needed resources and credibility, which was crucial in their fight against the better-equipped British forces.

What was the role of enslaved people and Indigenous communities during the American Revolution?

Enslaved people and Indigenous communities had their own interests and were often excluded from the conversation. Some fought for the British in hopes of gaining freedom, while others supported the cause of independence.

What were the consequences of the American Revolution for Indigenous groups, enslaved people, and women?

Despite the American Revolution leading to independence, Indigenous groups, enslaved and formally enslaved people, and women continued to face institutional prejudice and discrimination, with some policies aiding certain groups while others saw their conditions worsen.

Outlines

00:00

🏰 Colonial Diversities and the Road to Revolution

This paragraph outlines the diverse groups within the American colonies prior to independence, including Indigenous peoples, colonists seeking freedom from England, loyalists, fence-sitters, and enslaved individuals. It discusses the differing perspectives on British rule, with some colonists desiring independence and others seeking fair treatment as British subjects. The paragraph also covers the French and Indian War's impact, the Stamp Act's introduction and repeal, and the growing tension between the colonists and the British government. The Boston Massacre is highlighted as a pivotal event that galvanized anti-British sentiment, with John Adams' defense of British soldiers and the symbolic significance of Crispus Attucks' death. The paragraph concludes with the Boston Tea Party, a protest against the Tea Act that further escalated colonial resistance.

05:00

🚢 The Boston Tea Party and the Intolerable Acts

The second paragraph delves into the aftermath of the Boston Tea Party, detailing the British East India Company's tea destruction and the personal affront felt by Parliament members. It discusses the various forms of protest by the colonists, including boycotts and attacks on tax collectors, and the significant role women played in finding alternatives to boycotted goods. The paragraph also covers the first Continental Congress, the punitive Coercive Acts passed by Parliament, and the Quebec Act, which further united the colonies against British rule. The formation of colonial militias and the events leading to the shots fired in Lexington and Concord are mentioned, culminating in the creation of an American army under George Washington. The paragraph also touches on the complex motivations of enslaved people and people of color, who had to decide where their liberty lay, and the initial strategies of the Revolutionary War.

10:02

🏹 The Southern Strategy and the End of the Revolution

The final paragraph focuses on the British shift to a southern strategy during the Revolution, believing the colonists there were more loyal. It discusses the complex dynamics of the war in the South, where African Americans sought liberty by fighting with the British. The paragraph outlines the reasons for the failure of the southern strategy, including the radicalizing effect of British troops' presence and French assistance in trapping British forces at Yorktown. It highlights the British inability to convert military victories into political persuasion, leading to a belief that the war's cost was too high. The war's conclusion with American control of the land east of the Mississippi and negotiations that secured fishing rights in the Atlantic are covered. The paragraph concludes by noting the post-war realities for Indigenous groups, enslaved and formally enslaved people, and women, who continued to face institutional prejudice, and the abandonment of British loyalists and Indigenous allies during the peace negotiations.

Keywords

💡Colonization

Colonization refers to the process by which a nation or power establishes settlements in distant territories, often with the aim of economic or political control. In the context of the video, colonization is highlighted as a transformative force that irrevocably changed the homelands of Indigenous peoples, leading to their marginalization and the imposition of foreign rule, as seen in the early parts of the script discussing the varied reactions to English rule in the American colonies.

💡Stamp Act

The Stamp Act was a direct tax imposed by the British government on the American colonies in 1765, requiring colonists to pay a tax on every printed paper they used, including legal documents, newspapers, and even playing cards. This act is a central concept in the video as it marks one of the first major points of contention between the colonies and Britain, symbolizing the colonists' growing resentment towards British taxation without representation, as mentioned when discussing the acts passed by the British Parliament after the French and Indian War.

💡Boston Massacre

The Boston Massacre, also known as the Incident on King Street, occurred in 1770 and was a pivotal event leading up to the American Revolution. As depicted in the script, the massacre involved British soldiers firing into a crowd of colonists, resulting in several deaths, including that of Crispus Attucks. The event is significant as it galvanized anti-British sentiment and served as a rallying point for those advocating for independence, as highlighted by the script's discussion of the aftermath and the creation of sympathetic propaganda by Henry Pelham.

💡Boston Tea Party

The Boston Tea Party was a political protest that occurred on December 16, 1773, where American colonists, disguised as Mohawk Indians, dumped 342 chests of British East India Company tea into the waters of Boston Harbor. This act of defiance, as described in the script, was a response to the Tea Act, which colonists saw as an attempt by the British government to unfairly profit from the colonies. The event is emblematic of the growing desire for autonomy and the resistance to British economic policies, leading up to the American Revolution.

💡Continental Congress

The Continental Congress was a convention of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that became the governing body during the American Revolution. As the script explains, the first Continental Congress assembled in 1774 in Philadelphia, marking the first attempt at forming an American government in defiance of British authority. This assembly was crucial in uniting the colonies under a common cause and laying the groundwork for a coordinated resistance against British rule.

💡Intolerable Acts

The Intolerable Acts, also known as the Coercive Acts, were a series of four laws passed by the British Parliament in 1774 as a response to the Boston Tea Party. The script outlines these acts, including the Boston Port Act, the Massachusetts Government Act, the Act for the Impartial Administration of Justice, and the Quartering Act. These acts are significant as they further alienated the colonists, who viewed them as punitive and unjust, and played a role in uniting the colonies against British rule.

💡Lexington and Concord

The Battles of Lexington and Concord, fought on April 19, 1775, are often considered the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War. As mentioned in the script, British soldiers marched into these Massachusetts towns with the intention of seizing weapons and suppressing rebellion. The 'shot heard round the world' fired at Lexington marked the beginning of open hostilities and solidified the colonies' resolve to fight for their independence.

💡Declaration of Independence

The Declaration of Independence is a document adopted by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, that announced the thirteen American colonies' separation from Great Britain. The script discusses the drafting and eventual signing of this document, which articulated the colonies' grievances and their assertion of self-governance. The Declaration is a cornerstone of American history, symbolizing the birth of a new nation and the ideological foundation for the subsequent Revolutionary War.

💡George Washington

George Washington was a key figure in the American Revolution, serving as the commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783 and later becoming the first President of the United States. The script highlights his appointment as the head of the newly formed army by the Second Continental Congress in 1775, a pivotal moment that committed the colonies to a military struggle for independence. Washington's leadership was instrumental in rallying and directing the colonial forces against the British.

💡Yorktown

The Siege of Yorktown, which took place in 1781, was a decisive battle in the American Revolutionary War, leading to the surrender of British General Cornwallis and his troops. As described in the script, the French Navy's control of the Chesapeake Bay and General Washington's strategic movements contributed to trapping the British forces, effectively ending the war. The Battle of Yorktown is significant as it marked a turning point that led to the eventual recognition of American independence.

Highlights

The Colonies were home to a diverse population with varying perspectives on independence from England.

Indigenous people saw their homelands irrevocably changed by colonization.

Some colonists sought independence from the English Crown, viewing it as necessary.

Loyalists wanted to maintain their status as British subjects with equal treatment to those in the Mother Country.

The fence-sitters, a large group, were undecided about the conflict even after it started.

Enslaved and Indigenous peoples had distinct interests and were often excluded from the conversation.

In North Carolina, some enslaved and Indigenous communities considered fighting for the British for potential benefits.

The French and Indian War was a bloody and costly conflict with differing interpretations between the Colonists and England.

The Stamp Act of 1765 marked the beginning of British efforts to increase control and profit from the Colonies.

The repeal of the Stamp Act was followed by more legislation aimed at increasing Britain's wealth from the Colonies.

The Boston Massacre in 1770 served as a rallying cry for those seeking to separate from the English monarchy.

The Boston Tea Party in 1773 was a protest against the Tea Act and a symbol of resistance to British control.

Colonial women played a significant role in boycotts by finding alternatives to boycotted British goods.

The First Continental Congress in 1774 was the first attempt at an American government in defiance of England.

The Intolerable Acts were a series of punitive laws passed by Parliament in response to the Boston Tea Party.

The Quebec Act allowed Canadian Colonies to practice Catholicism, angering Protestant Colonists.

By 1775, many Colonists had formed militias to demonstrate control over their governance.

The shots fired in Lexington and Concord marked the beginning of the armed conflict of the American Revolution.

The Declaration of Independence, adopted on July 4th, 1776, was a pivotal moment in the formation of the United States.

The alliance with France provided the American army with much-needed resources and credibility.

The British failed to convert their military victories into political persuasion, which eventually led to their decision to end the war.

The surrender at Yorktown in 1781 effectively marked the end of the war, despite the official end coming two years later.

The Treaty of Paris secured significant territorial and fishing rights for the newly formed United States.

The American Revolution had mixed outcomes for Indigenous groups, enslaved people, and women, with some facing continued prejudice.

Transcripts

Long before their independence

from England had been achieved,

The Colonies were home to a wide variety of people.

Some were Indigenous people who saw their homelands

irrevocably changed by Colonization.

Some were Colonists tired of living

under the thumb of the English Crown,

and felt independence from the Mother Country

was necessary by any means.

Still others considered themselves

loyal subjects of the King,

and wanted to be treated as British subjects,

no different from those in the Mother Country.

Often overlooked are the fence-sitters,

who were undecided,

and made up a large group,

even after the conflict had started

and enslaved people and Indigenous peoples

had their own interests, vulnerabilities, and power,

and were excluded from the conversation in distinctive ways.

In North Carolina, for example,

some enslaved and Indigenous communities

considered fighting for the British

in hopes of raising their station,

believing that a stronger British rule

would bring with it racial equality.

Up and down the Eastern seaboard,

people had countless opinions

about whether or not to fight,

if they were lucky enough to have a choice,

but all would be involved as the Colonies,

and the different people they contained,

barrel towards the American Revolution.

I'm Dr. Danielle Bainbridge

and this is Study Hall, US History to 1865.

The French and Indian War was technically part

of the larger Seven Years' war

between France and Great Britain.

Referred to as the First World War by Winston Churchill,

it was severely bloody and extremely costly.

It was also interpreted really differently

by the Colonists and many people in England.

In the Colonies, The aftermath included

a series of laws passed by the British Parliament

meant to increase political authority

over the Colonies and render them more profitable,

and while those acts seemed

like reasonable legislation to some,

to others, it was a step on the path to tyranny.

One of the first of these was the Stamp Act

passed in March of 1765.

Previously, each Colony's individual government

had controlled the tax rates in that Colony.

Now it felt like the Crown

was reaching directly into people's pockets,

especially since stamps were required

on a wide range of things, newspapers,

legal documents, even playing cards.

The Stamp Act was eventually repealed,

but more legislation was passed with the same goal,

to increase wealth for Britain.

In the years that followed tension ebbed and flowed,

and many Colonists remained uninterested

in conflict with the Mother Country.

Other Colonists began to think about and protest something

that had not seemed very important earlier,

Colonists lack of representation in Parliament.

So, the distance between the King

and Parliament's view of proper Colonial governance,

and many Colonists view was growing.

In March of 1770, things came to a head in Boston.

Imagine a town in which soldiers

and locals had lived together during a long winter,

with tension growing over politics,

probably some resentment over

competition for part-time work,

and a mutual conviction that the other guys were arrogant.

The Colonists became violent, taunting the soldiers,

and throwing whatever they could find at them.

Soldiers fired into a crowd.

Crispus Attucks, a sailor

of African and Indigenous American descent

was among the first killed,

and has henceforth been known

as the first American to die for the Revolution.

This event served as a rallying cry for Colonists

eager to separate from the English monarchy.

Henry Pelham, an American born engraver from Boston,

created a depiction of the massacre

in which the British soldiers

appeared to be the aggressors,

which helped create sympathy for the anti-British cause.

The engraving was copied and distributed

by Paul Revere of The Midnight Ride fame.

Another Colonist whose name you'll recognize,

John Adams, defended the British soldiers who were brought

to trial for their role in the massacre.

Adams was also part of the resistance movement

but he believed that the Colonist

must claim the high ground, strategically

and sincerely by respecting the rule of law.

For a long time, Great Britain tried to exert more control

and extract more money from the Colonies.

Sometimes it looked like they might succeed

and the chance of conflict receded,

but those moments did not last.

Not all the Colonists were protesting for the same reasons.

Some were angry at their lack

of economic opportunity at home,

and others were more focused on relations with England,

and the protests grew.

In December, 1773, perhaps the most famous protest

in all American history occurred.

Colonists were protesting the Tea Act,

which might actually have

lowered the price of tea for many Colonists,

but had disadvantaged Colonial merchants,

and once again, disrupted Colonists sense of local control.

The Sons of Liberty and other Colonists,

thinly disguised as Mohawks,

crept aboard several ships docked in the Boston Harbor,

and dumped over 92,000 pounds of tea overboard.

The group of rebels made a point of not harming any crew

or damaging the ships themselves.

They were rebels, not vandals,

and they wanted that fact known.

This event later became known as the Boston Tea Party.

We should note that the tea

in the harbor that night belonged

to the British East India Company.

Many shareholders of that company

were members of Parliament,

and took this as a personal attack.

Meanwhile, Colonists were protesting

in other ways as well.

During the days following the Stamp Act,

many Colonists boycotted by refusing to buy stamps.

Some even went as far as to attack the home

of the Boston tax collector, Andrew Oliver.

During all of these boycotts,

Colonial women's roles took on a new significance.

Whatever British goods were being boycotted

at any given time, women had to figure out a workaround.

For example, they came up with homespun

or homemade cloth to clothe their families.

In fact, the majority of British textiles

were boycotted at one point or another,

and women were responsible

for finding ways to replace those products.

For men and women alike, motivations at protests were mixed

with an endless list of dissatisfaction,

however many protest leaders sought

to distance themselves from the mob.

They merely wanted to be treated as Englishmen,

not to be independent from England.

Still, in 1774, the first meeting

of the Continental Congress assembled in Philadelphia.

This was the first attempt at an American government

in defiance of England's authority.

To punish Massachusetts for the Boston Tea Party,

Parliament passed the 1774 Coercive Acts.

In America, Colonists grouped them with the Quebec Act,

and they became known as the Intolerable Acts.

This was a set of four laws all related to the Tea Party.

First up was the Boston Port Act,

which was designed to blockade Boston's harbor,

and close the port to most traffic.

Next, the Massachusetts Government Act

allowed parliament to replace

all of the elected officials in Massachusetts

using the excuse that the ousted officials

were succumbing to pressure for mobs.

The Act for the Impartial Administration of Justice,

say that five times fast,

allowed British officials charged with capital crimes

to be tried in other Colonies,

or better yet, in England,

and the fourth of the Intolerable Acts,

the Quartering Act, allowed British officers

to commandeer unoccupied buildings

and use them for housing.

The fact that the Colonists called these intolerable

speaks volumes about their feelings

toward the laws being imposed on them,

but the Parliament didn't stop there.

The Quebec Act allowed Canadian Colonies acquired

after the war with France to practice Catholicism,

angering the Protestant Colonists in New England.

The seemingly punitive measures and taxes being levied

against Britain's North American Colonies,

was in fact what united the Colonies against them.

By early 1775, many Colonists had begun to form militias

in an effort to demonstrate some control

over their governance.

In April of that year, British soldiers mobilized,

and marched into Lexington and Concord Massachusetts,

intending to seize weapons,

and quash any chance of rebellion.

Instead, shots were fired,

though historians still debate by which side

and despite some Colonist hopes for a peaceful resolution,

in June, 1775 the Second Continental Congress

created an army with George Washington as its head.

There was no going back now.

Lines were being drawn on all sides.

Enslaved people and people of color

also faced the question of where their liberty lay.

Some would decide that the cause

of independence was theirs, too,

but others risked their lives to fight with the British,

often in response to British offers a freedom

to those who join their lines.

Many people, enslaved and free,

recognized the contradiction

between Colonial demands for liberty

and Colonial reliance on racial slavery.

The British sometimes exploited that contradiction,

but they had no intention

of destroying slavery completely in the Colonies,

because Parliament, like many Colonists,

wanted to preserve the revenue the institution created.

The Union of the 13 Colonies wasn't an easy one either.

When the second Continental Congress convened,

it was the height of summer in Philadelphia.

The attendees struggled to agree,

but by July 4th, 1776 all of them

had adopted the Declaration of Independence,

but that pretty parchment document

took some time to write out,

and it wasn't actually signed until August 2nd.

With the signing of the Declaration,

many Colonists believed they were officially

their own country, separate from British rule.

To respond, Great Britain adopted

and abandoned multiple strategies through The Revolution,

which will only touch on here.

First The British tried to isolate New England.

They believed that that

was where the rebel leaders were coming from,

despite the Declaration of Independence

clearly showing support for the war

throughout the newly founded states.

The French, still the nemesis of Britain

following the French and Indian War,

saw that they shared a common enemy.

American soldiers brokered an alliance with France

providing the American army with much needed resources

against the far better-equipped British army.

The alliance also added credibility

to the brand new United States,

partnering with the European power drew attention

to the American's cause.

The British responded to the failure

of their first strategy by adopting a southern strategy,

believing that colonists in the South

were more loyal to the Crown,

and that their desire to preserve slavery

would prevent them from rebelling.

The Revolution in the South did look

in many ways like a Civil War,

and African Americans pursued their liberty in many ways,

including by fighting with the British.

However, this strategy also failed

for a variety of reasons,

including the unintentionally radicalizing effect

of marching the British army through American territory

and the help of the French

in trapping British forces at Yorktown.

Throughout the war, there was one constant.

The British could not convert their military victories

into political persuasion,

and the Colonists could,

and eventually the British politicians

and public came to believe that the price

of continuing the war in America was too high.

By 1781, the war was leaning in the Americans favor

and the British sought to protect their valuable Colonies

in the Caribbean instead of the North American mainland.

This brought with it the final phase of the war.

The French Navy had gained control of the Chesapeake Bay,

and General Washington rushed his troops south,

in order to trap British General Cornwallis,

and over 7,000 of his troops.

While the war wouldn't officially end

for another two years,

it was effectively over

following this famous surrender at Yorktown.

The war was concluded with negotiations

that played out well for the Americans.

They would control everything east

of the Mississippi River and south of Canada.

John Jay, John Adams,

and Benjamin Franklin were key to these successes,

thanks to their negotiations in Paris.

They were even able to secure fishing rights

for the Americans in the Atlantic,

which to this day, is more than half

of the world's fishing grounds.

The British negotiated on behalf of their loyalists,

but completely abandoned their Indigenous allies,

who were not even present at the negotiations.

Most of their enslaved and formally enslaved allies

were abandoned as well,

but the British evacuated some to Canada,

where there are still towns to this day

that can trace their lineage to British loyalists.

While the American Revolution is often credited

with granting freedom to a new nation,

it's critical to note that Indigenous groups,

enslaved and formally enslaved people,

and women, continued to face various forms

of institutional prejudice after the war ended,

and while some groups were aided

by policies passed in early America,

others simply saw their discrimination codified.

But, we'll get to that next time.

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