Tyranny, Like Hell, Is Not Easily Conquered – Or Is It?

A group of summer soldiers and sunshine patriots overthrew a tyrannical monocracy

despite the crown's overwhelming military and monetary advantages.

The Revolutionary War – An Overview
The Minuteman Statue 

"Evaluate the relative importance of different reasons for the colonial victory in the Revolutionary War"

PHASE #1 [1776 – late 1777] Containment in New England – the British initially believed that the revolution was basically a radical minority movement centered in New England so they concentrated their forces there. But then came The Battle of Bunker Hill 

PHASE #2 [late 1777 – early 1778] fighting in the Middle Colonies – the British realized it was not going to be that easy, so they shifted down into the middle colonies in an attempt to divide the colonies by gaining control of the Hudson River and Mohawk Valley. Then after the debacle at Saratoga (1777), which also caused the French to join the colonists b/c they realized they actually had a chance, they gave up on that and made a last ditch effort in…

CASE STUDY: Native American in the Revolution -The Sullivan Expedition of 1779

At the onset of the American Revolution both Great Britain and the Continental Congress claimed that they hoped the American Indian nations would remain neutral, but that quickly became unrealistic. A few of the eastern tribes did support the Continental Army, but far more Indians decided to fight alongside the British, who had traditionally supplied them with trade goods and prevented the frontier settlers from encroaching on their lands. The British soon realized that their Indian allies were at times unreliable and difficult to control during European-style military engagements. After the defeat and surrender of Burgoyne’s army at Saratoga in 1777, British strategy in the region changed and focused on encouraging allied Indian war bands, led by Loyalist rangers, to launch a series of destructive raids on frontier settlements in western Pennsylvania and New York.

PHASE #3 [early 1778 – 1781] fighting in The South – they hoped to get loyalist support and use supplies from the West Indies to win in the South. They took Charlestown, but since the French were there to back the colonists up in the sea it didn’t help them much. The very last stages of the war were very bloody and desperate, culminating in Yorktown (1781)where a trapped Cornwallis surrendered and the war ended. 

The Newburgh Conspiracy

The Siege of Yorktown, October 19, 1781

Peace negotiations began in April 1782, and continued through the summer. Representing the United States were Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, Henry Laurens, and John Adams. David Hartley and Richard Oswald represented Great Britain

On the morning of March 15, 1783, General George Washington makes a surprise appearance at an assembly of army officers at Newburgh, New York, to calm the growing frustration and distrust they had been openly expressing towards Congress in the previous few weeks

The Treaty of Paris, signed in Paris by representatives of King George III of Great Britain and representatives of the United States of America on September 3, 1783, ended the American Revolutionary War. The treaty set the boundaries between the British Empire in North America and the United States, on lines "exceedingly generous" to the latter.

The Treaty of Paris, 1783

Ben Franklin led the negotiations for the treaty, which was signed on September 3, 1783 included their two must-have goals:

(1) recognition as an independent nation  

(2) firm national boundaries from the Mississippi to the Atlantic and from Canada to Florida.