The American Revolution summary

How did loyal subjects of the British Empire become revolutionaries? Given the global reach, naval might, and military force of the empire at its height, this is no easy prospect. Oddly enough, the catalyst can be found in an earlier conflict that forged native-born soldiers from colonial subjects. Known in the US as the “French and Indian War,” the rest of the world calls it the “Seven Years War.”

Between 1754 and 1763, Britain and France and their allies launched the first true world war. Notably, it was a disastrous expedition led by George Washington in which the very first shots of this war were fired. As French Canadian and French forces pushed further into the Ohio Valley hoping to establish forts to protect it as French Territory, British settlers tried to push back. Both French and British forces viewed the Ohio Valley as the key to control of the continent.

The war saw British forces ultimately victorious, and the empire expanded greatly in the process. They won all of Canada east of the Mississippi River, Eastern Louisiana except for New Orleans, the islands of Tobago, Grenada, Dominica and St. Vincent, Senegal in West Africa, and secured a dominant position in India. But the war and the empire was costly, and the British government was looking to recoup losses.

Parliament began levying a series of colonial taxes, starting with the Sugar Act of 1764, to begin replenishing the British coffers. The Stamp Act followed in 1765, which taxed all official printed materials from newspapers to business contracts. This was the first tax targeted directly at the North American colonists and it met with massive resistance. Colonists began to organize in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, and called their group the Sons of Liberty.

Enshrined forever in the poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in 1861, Paul Revere’s ride is one of the central legends of the American Revolution. Beyond the myths, the infamous ride in April of 1775 to warn the colonists of British troop movements was a coordinated operation led by the Sons of Liberty with several riders across the colonies.

By then, Britain had amassed a full standing army on North American shores to squash the open rebellion. Soldiers were billetted in private homes, fed by locals, and conducted military exercises in public squares like the Boston Common. The Continental Congress had been outlawed by acts of Parliament, but their activities only ramped up in secret. Local militias responded by stocking up on weapons and expanding their spy networks.

Guerilla warfare and urban resistance tactics weren’t the only innovations early in the conflict. The British responded with equally innovative strategies. Royal Virginia governor Lord Dunmore issued a proclamation offering freedom to anyone enslaved in the colonies, if they chose to join on the side of the British. He also formed an Ethiopian regiment, whose broad sashes read “Liberty to Slaves.” This regiment terrified Southern patriots, but inspired tens of thousands of enslaved individuals to escape to the British side.

American militias had included both enslaved and free Black patriots in their ranks from the earliest days. They were there at the Boston Massacre, serving actively in Northern ranks. When George Washington was named head of the Continental Army in July of 1775, he found that not only were Black patriots already serving, but there was ongoing active recruitment. Terrified of Southern backlash, in a council with his generals, Washington and his army ended recruitment of Black Americans.

In the aftermath of the surrender at Yorktown in 1781 and the Treaty of Paris which marked formal independence in 1783, the most obvious question was what victory meant for Americans. While there were clear winners and losers, there were also winners who ultimately lost, and a few losers who ultimately won.

First, the Haundenosaunee and Shawnee were stripped of their territories in the Treaty of Paris – without their consultation. Most Mohawk tribe members fled to Canadian territories, but were denied promised land grants for their alliance.