The years prior to the Revolutionary War proved to be a trying time for the early American colonists. The French and Indian War, or Seven Years War, represented the decisive turning point in British-colonial relations. The Treaty of Paris in 1763 ratified Britain’s undisputed control of the seas and shipping trade, as well as its sovereignty over much of the North American continent east of the Mississippi River (Tax Analysts, 2015). During this time, the British parliament posed many taxes on the colonists in an effort to decrease the large debt incurred by many years of fighting. Acts such as the Sugar Act, Currency Act, Stamp Act, Quartering Act, Townshend Act, and the Tea Act, forced the colonists to pay hefty taxes on a number of goods. …show more content…
The intolerable acts forced the cessation of all shipping and trade activity for the colonists in the Boston harbor, renounced the colonist’s ability to try British officials, and enabled the Governor to house British soldiers where he deemed necessary. These acts initiated a revolt by the colonists resulting in the “shot heard around the world”, commencing the Revolutionary War on April 19, 1775 at Lexington-Concord. The colonist did not show great marksmanship that day. As many as 3500 militiamen firing constantly for 18 miles only killed or wounded roughly as many as 250 Redcoats, compared to about 90 killed and wounded on their side. Nevertheless, they proved they could stand up to one of the most powerful armies in the world (History.com Staff, 2009). Although heavily outnumbered, the determined militiamen pushed the British Army east to the Boston harbor, where the besiegement of Boston lasted for roughly ten months. The beginning of the war began when General Gage, the British Army Commander, sent two regiments to guard the Charlestown peninsula, while he developed plans for defenses to be built immediately across the Neck and on Bunker Hill (Marrissey, 1993). Over the next two days militiamen gathered around Boston; Gage feeling his position was now too weak withdrew all his forces back into Boston. The first battle of the …show more content…
Boston is a peninsula, surrounded by water with one narrow neck that has accesses to the city. The Heights on Charlestown peninsula and the Heights on Dorchester all played very important roles during the siege. The shallow waters in the Boston harbor kept the main British battleships out of the Boston Harbor, and lead to a ship running aground during the battle of Chelsea Creek. This event produced much needed supplies for the Continental Army. After Gage withdrew all his forces into Boston, he only had two options for deploying his troops. He would have either had to go through the neck of Boston, creating a funnel and slowing down movements, or move them across the harbor by ships. Both options were time consuming and slowed down any offensive the British would take, giving the Continental Army much needed time to reinforce and fortify positions. While the British relied on the narrow neck and it’s Navy in the harbor to prevent the Continental Army from attacking the city, the Continental Army relied on its numbers to keep the British Army in Boston. Dorchester Heights proved to be the decisive factor leading the Continental Army to a victory. The strategic emplacement of artillery on Dorchester Heights forced the British to surrender once the British artillery and navy realized they were unable to elevate their
After the victory towards French in the Seven Years War, the political and social relationship of the colonists and Great Britain had shifted to a different direction. The colonists began to think of themselves as Americans. At that time, The British government felt that the colonies had become quite independence, and they wanted their colonies to start paying tax in order to help England pay the national debt. Not only were Americans forced to pay direct taxes, but they were also obliged to involve in strict regulatory acts such as Sugar Act and Currency Act. Sugar Act (1764) strongly affected American’s trading in which their oceanic vessels and cargos could be inspected by the British Navy and might be confiscated if the paper and the goods that being transported were in disagreement. Currency Act (1764) restricted colonial governments to print their own paper money. These two acts put some colonists in anger but they were not enough to result in civil disorder until the Stamp Act was passed. The reason that the colonists resisted government authority with the passage of the Stamp Act (1765) was because the Stamp Act collected taxes in all type of papers including newspapers, playing cards, licenses, and stamps. This outraged many colonists especially the educated and
The Patriots were successful in their bid for Independence with the help of good leadership, adaptive strategy and good weapons. All three of these things led to America winning the Revolutionary War.
Saratoga was ultimately two battles, one in which the British had won. The first skirmish of Saratoga went to the British because of their seemingly foolproof divide and conquer strategy. John Burgoyne planned to invade the colonies by advancing down the Hudson Valley to Albany. He would then be joined by troops who were under the command of Sir William Howe. Burgoyne believed that their current strategy would isolate New England from the other colonies and would allow to assume control of the Hudson River which would demoralize the colonists and their allies. Burgoyne and his forces set off for Ticonderoga and prepared to meet their
After the costly Seven Years’ War, occurring from 1754 to 1763, between the British Empire and the French and their Indian allies, the British Parliament needed a way to gain revenue to pay for the war because they were in debt. This costed a lot because the British government needed to pay for the necessities of war, such as an army and a navy. To do this, the British Parliament decided to issue taxes and passed many acts. Acts such as the Stamp Act, Tea Act, and Sugar Act had terms to them, as well as having adverse effects on the colonists living during the mid to late eighteenth century, mainly the years 1754 to 1775.
After the Seven Years’ War, even though the British victory helped to expand the English territories, but it also left Britain with a tremendous debt. The British thought the American colonists were the one who directly benefitted from the Seven Years’ War, so they should share their burdens and pay a significant piece of cost. There were several unpopular laws passed by the British government, such as the Revenue Act, the Sugar Act, and the Stamp Act, were intended to raise tax revenue in the colonies for the crown. This angered many American colonists because they were lack of representation in the Britain’s parliament to vote on the tax. This led to the tension between Great Britain and the colonies and thus led to the War of Independence to begin.
George Washington was convinced that his men couldn’t hold Trenton against British. George Washington had learned about General Charles and James Grant with the eight hundred British Troops marching south from Princeton. George Washington had deployed five hundred men who he had assigned to watch campfires and the rest of the troops marched to Princeton. During the battle on Princeton the first secretary of the US Treasury, Alexander Hamilton had cannons fired at the British because he had applied to Princeton, in which he was not accepted. George Washington had sent in a force who was under General Hugh Mercer to destroy a bridge. General Hugh Mercers’ men were killed. There was a rally by the Americans. George Washington gave hope to others that they could also beat the British.
In battling the British in the Revolutionary War, the American rebels did just as the great French military and political leader, Napoleon Bonaparte advised, “Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake”. Though there were a great deal of missed opportunities and misguided actions taken by both sides of this war, none were as great as those by the ministers in London and British Generals Howe and Burgoyne. However, of these three, one held a great deal of responsibility for Britain’s failure to suppress the American rebels by 1777. This person was indeed, General Howe.
How many individuals lost their lives? How many families suffered the loss of a loved one? Almost seven years of torment and torture with families torn apart. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers fighting for their beliefs. Just what were these soldiers fighting for?
Throughout the book, Redcoats and Rebels, Christopher Hibbert discusses the British interaction in the Americas during the American revolution. There were multiple strengths and weaknesses expressed, in the book, about the British involvement during the American revolution. The major strength of the British was that they had some strong generals that were the main causes of the multiple successes of the British army. The British also had more militiamen than did the Americans, as well as more equipment and weaponry. Multiple areas were also captured by the British, which was another strength of the British army. A weakness that was discussed a few times, within the book, was that the British had to surrender some attacks because of the amount of damage that had been done to the force; this was mostly because there was never a plan for the attack. The British were successful, for the most part, during the American revolution and they had multiple people on their side.
The American Revolutionary War was a war between Britain and the Colonists. It began due to high taxation with no representation. Britain was broke from the French and Indian War, so they highly taxed the Colonists in order to not go bankrupt, yet they did not give them a say in how highly they were taxed. Many taxes were placed upon the Americans, such as the Stamp Act, Sugar Act, the Townshend Duties, and the Tea Act. All of these taxes cause the Colonists to become angry and revolt.
The British began plodding up a hill with their soldiers in two by two columns, when suddenly the patriots appear with their bloody guerilla war tactics. Unbeknownst to the British this war isn’t going to be just another piece of land conquered. This war isn’t going to be easy.
The colonists wish to be free from Britain's control. They have felt that Britain abused their power. The colonists urged action against Parliament pleading to be free, but different events did change colonists’ feelings, and a drawing by Benjamin Franklin shows those feelings.
The British seemed unbeatable. Their military was one of the best in the world in the eighteenth century. The British had a very well trained, disciplined,well paid, well fed and well equipped army. Their army had a lot of money being passed to them by the English crown allowed them to be financed and well prepared for any situation. The British navy even dominated the seas. On the other side, their opponent, the Patriots didn’t have more than a meager army. The Americans had shortages of ammunition, food, clothing, blankets, and shoes from the difficulty of raising enough funds to finance their necessities.Their army lacked basic training and discipline and they lacked a real navy on the seas causing them to have no way to defend themselves on the coastlines. The British previously had victory after victory
Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of Treasury and the federal government of the United States had to make a decision. The American Revolutionary War put the the country in some serious debt, to the tune of roughly 80 million dollars between federal and state. So Hamilton believed that he could create a solution to generate the revenue needed to pay back the debt, but also give room for the US to prosper. Hamilton came up with the “Whiskey Tax” which would raise taxes for distillers of whiskey, which was very popular if not the most popular drink at the time. The official name of the law, passed in 1791 by congress was entitled “ An Act Repealing, after the Last Day of June Next, the Duties Heretofore Laid upon Distilled Spirits Imported from Aboard, and Laying Others in their Stead, and Also Upon Spirits Distilled within the United States and for Appropriating the Same.” (27)
The first successful British settlement, motivated for economic gain, in the New World was in Jamestown, Virginia in 1607. Religious persecution in England, due to the Protestant Reformation, encouraged the settlement of the Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay Colony. The popularity for economic and religious opportunity sparked exoduses such as the The Great Migration. The British westward expansion led to land claim disputes with the French on the Ohio River Valley and the Northeast fisheries. These disputes led to the French and Indians uniting against Britain in the war known as the the French and Indian War. Although American relations with Britain remained economically similar in the time before and after the French and Indian War in that Great Britain relied on the American colonies for revenue, the French and Indian War was a significant political turning point in that Great Britain’s period of benign neglect ended and Americans began challenging Britain’s authority; therefore, the French and Indian War marked a significant turning point in American relations with Great Britain.