32.8 America: a.d. 1701 to 1800  (Page 12/20)

One of the first skirmishes of the revolution took place in Boston in 1770, when colonists and British troops exchanged shots in the so-called "Boston Massacre". Three civilians were killed and two more died later, including a black man, Crispus Attucks. Who fired the first shot or threw the first stone? Following this episode a revolutionary conspiracy and a colonial underground was formed by James Otis, a Whig lawyer and scholar, and Samuel Adams, the genuine rabble-rouser. They formed committees of correspondence running clear down to South Carolina. In Virginia the headquarters were in a tavern and members included Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson. (Ref. 39 )

The first Continental Congress met on September 5, 1774 at Philadelphia with 55 members chosen by revolutionary conventions in 12 continental colonies. The Congress issued the Declaration of Rights and an agreement called "The Association" - a non-importation, non-consumption agreement regarding imports from Britain unless the Coercive Acts were repealed. The first true fighting of the war occurred in April, 1775, when General Gage set out to Concord to destroy patriot munitions. The famous stories of Lexington and Concord and later Bunker Hill, etc. are sufficiently well known by all to not require repetition here. Politically, the next step was the Second Continental Congress, which met in May of 1775. At about the same time Parliament passed an act prohibiting all manner of trade and commerce with the colonies. The latter countered with the Declaration of Independence in July, 1776, worded chiefly by Thomas Jefferson.

Features of the american revolutionary war

The war was actually not popular in America. The army was chiefly infantry regiments named after various colonies, where they had been recruited. Every line regiment had Negroes. The colonies could have provided a regular army of 100,000 but they could never have fed and clothed so many. The greatest number of men at any one time was 20,000, in 1778. Washington's army went hungry because of reluctance of farmers and merchants to exchange food and clothing for a Continental chit. The chief source of food was Connecticut, through actions of Governor Jonathan Trumbull.

Financing of the revolution

• Foreign loan. 6.4 million dollars were borrowed from France, in addition to a direct grant of 2.6 million. John Adams got an additional loan from the Dutch
• Domestic loans. 20 million dollars were raised by both interest bearing bonds and certificates of indebtedness for goods received
• Requisitions in money or in kind, apportioned among states in proportion to the estimated population

All loans, domestic and foreign and the states debts were later repaid at par. The local currency depreciated, but a later French loan negotiated by Robert Morris saved the day.

Alistair Cooke (Ref. 39 ) asks the question: "How did a rag-tag army defeat one of the crack armies of Europe?" And then he gives the following answers:

• Weaponry. The British used smooth-bore muskets that allowed a lateral error of 3 feet at 100 yards and used for mass "spraying" of close order troops. In contrast the American frontiersmen used the Pennsylvania flintlock, with double the barrel length and grooves (rifling) to make the bullet spin and stay on line They could put a ball in a man's head-at 150 to 200 yards
• Guerilla hit and run warfare
• The choice of Washington as commander in chief, as this brought Virginia into the war
• The idealism of Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson spread among the people