Go Back  
Back


American Revolution - 5: The New Nation


Westchester County


American Revolution - 5: The New Nation

 
 
The American Revolution, also known as the American War of Independence, spanned eight long years of fighting and political negotiations between Britain and her colonies. On October 19, 1781, the Americans, with the help of French troops under the French Count de Rochambeau, won a major battle at Yorktown, Virginia. Cornwallis, leader of the British troops, surrendered 7,000 men. However, the final struggle of the American War of Independence was yet to come.

Two years later, in September, 1783, after much diplomacy, the Treaty of Paris was signed and the former 13 colonies were recognized as an independent nation; the United States of America was born.

Read about the American Revolution through different perspectives, written at different times in history, by different historians. Historical works used as a source for this section, may be accessed online and read in its entirety.

The American Revolution
Learn about The American Revolution and its several phases, including: Causes of the American Revolution; Outbreak of the American Revolution; Formation of the Continental Army; the Invasion of Canada and Fall of Boston; and The New Nation.

The above topics are followed by a brief summation of The Winning of Independence, 1777-1783.

The American Revolution: The New Nation
"The Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, established a new nation and transformed a limited revolt to secure rights within the British empire into a far-reaching one, aimed at complete independence from British control. Since the king and his ministers had determined to restore British rule, the Americans now faced a long, hard struggle for independence requiring a sustained national effort such as they had not expected in 1775.

"The new nation was still a weak confederation of thirteen independent states. Such national feeling as existed was a new phenomenon growing out of common opposition to British measures. Colonial tradition, divided loyalties, the nature of the economy, and the spirit of a revolt born in opposition to the use of military force to suppress popular liberties, all worked against the creation of any new strong central authority capable of mobilizing resources effectively for the long struggle that lay ahead.

"The thirteen states proclaiming their independence in 1776 possessed a total population of about two and a half million people, but not all the males of military age were part of the military potential. . .The genuine patriots still provided a far larger potential of military manpower than the British could possibly transport and supply across the Atlantic, but most of the men of military age were farmers who married young and immediately started large families. Whatever their patriotic sentiments, few were ready to undertake long terms of military service, fearing that if they did their farms and families at home would suffer. . .

"The economy of the thirteen new states was neither self-sufficient nor truly national. The states were essentially a collection of separate agricultural communities, accustomed to exchanging their agricultural surplus for British manufactured goods and West Indian products. Manufacturing was still in its infancy. . . While the country produced foodstuffs in ample quantity, transport from one area to another was difficult. The normal avenues of commerce ran up and down the rivers, not overland; . . .

"The governmental machinery created after the Declaration was characterized by decentralization and executive weakness. The thirteen new "free and independent states" transformed their existing de facto revolutionary governments into legal state governments by adopting institutions. . . Articles of Confederation stipulating the terms of union and granting Congress specific but limited powers were drawn up shortly after the Declaration, but jealousies among the states prevented ratification until 1781. . .

"The decentralized structure provided no adequate means of financing the war. The state legislatures, possessing the power to tax that Congress lacked, hesitated to use it extensively in the face of popular opposition to taxation, and were normally embarrassed to meet even their own expenses. . . paper money was a useful expedient in the early part of the war; indeed the Revolution could not have been carried on without it. But successive issues by Congress and the states led to first gradual and then galloping inflation, leaving the phrase "not worth a Continental" as a permanent legacy to the American language."

This information has been sourced from The American Revolution: First Phase, Extracted from: American Military History, Center of Military History, United States Army, Washington, DC 1989. The Army Historical Series can be accessed online and read in its entirety.



American Revolution | American War of Independence | Westchester American Revolution | Hudson Valley

Looking for something else...
 
Web ThingsToDoKids.com