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by Lindsay Harrison
“Revolution is about the need to re-evolve political, economic and social justice and power back into
the hands of the people, preferably through legislation and policies that make human sense. That’s what revolution is about. Revolution is not about shootouts.” – Bobby Seale, American activist While many people are out celebrating the height of summer with barbecues, camping trips, backyard swimming pools of both the permanent and blow-up variety and nights of sleeping with the windows open, July holds a special place in most Americans’ hearts because of our Independence Day. In case you aren’t up to speed with your American history, the Independence Day of the United States of America is July 4. But that simple statement doesn’t do justice to what declaring our independence from Great Britain actually meant . . . and what it cost. Sitting here in 2020, it can be difficult to relate to events that happened nearly 250 years ago, but with the current political climate in our country, maybe it’s not so hard after all. Perhaps we’re seeing the beginnings of our own revolution? Who knows? We don’t because we can’t see into the future so quit asking us, OK? What we do know is that the American Revolution resulted in our official break from Great Britain’s rule and we’re pretty sure most of us consider that a good thing. However, that break didn’t come overnight and it wasn’t due to just one little thing. As with most huge world events, the American Revolution came on the heels of years of conflict between the American colonies and Great Britain. There’s nothing like a little conflict to get your revolutionary juices flowing, right? Anyway, we at Snippetz felt it was appropriate (and necessary) to share with you the information we’ve found to explain how the American Revolution went. Naturally, there’s no way we could fit every single detail of the entire revolution, including what led up to it, in this article, but we’ve managed to pick out some key points so you can get a general idea of what went on and perhaps surprise you with some “snippetz” you didn’t know. But since we weren’t there, we are relying heavily on the information provided by historians who are experts in that sort of thing so if we get something wrong, remember we are doing the best we can with what we have! WHAT LED UP TO THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION? In general, the American colonies and Great Britain had a generally tolerable relationship. The colonies basically governed themselves without much interference from British Parliament and everyone seemed to like that just fine. However, the British formally declared war on France in 1756, resulting in the French and Indian War that lasted until 1763. Once the war ended, Great Britain was left with mountains of debt it couldn’t repay and resorted to taxing the American colonies to help recoup the money. To be fair, the British had defended the colonies during that time and obviously felt the new taxation was a fair method of payback. It wasn’t just that Great Britain wanted to tax them on something many colonists felt they shouldn’t be taxed, though. The idea that British Parliament could levy taxes against the colonies without the colonies having any sort of say about the matter was another huge piece of the puzzle. You’ve probably heard the phrase “taxation without representation;” this exact situation is what that phrase refers to. Ultimately, many of the colonists just didn’t want to be regulated, governed, ruled, etc. by the British anymore. It’s during this tumultuous time that things like the Boston Tea Party – when colonists boarded three British tea ships at Griffin’s Warf in Boston and dumped 342 chests of tea into the harbor on December 16, 1773 – occurred as the frustrated colonists openly protested various taxation acts by the British. On April 19, 1775, negotiations to avoid war had failed and the British arrived at Lexington Green in the Province of Massachusetts Bay with the hopes of seizing munitions there and then moving on to Concord to do the same. But the “minutemen” from the colonies – referred to as such because they claimed to be battle-ready at a minute’s notice – were already there, preparing to show the British they couldn’t be defeated that easily. Although the colonists hadn’t necessarily intended to fight, they were hoping to make a show of force to keep a fight from breaking out. Apparently that didn’t work because a shot was fired – it’s unclear who fired the shot but it’s been called the “shot heard round the world” since it signaled the start of the American Revolution – and the fighting began. It became clear to many at that point that breaking away from Great Britain was the only way to achieve the goal the colonist hoped for – independence and a chance to govern themselves. Thus, on July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was signed and the colonies officially dissolved their relationship with Great Britain. However, the American Revolutionary War raged on until Sept. 3, 1783 when the Treaty of Paris was signed. THE MAIN BATTLES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION As we mentioned before, it would be nearly impossible for us to be able to list all the important parts of the American Revolution. It seems that just about any part of any revolution would be important, doesn’t it? But there are some instances that supersede the others are defining moments or turning points. Here’s a list of the major battles of the American Revolution:
Depending on how you categorize the battles, some were “larger” than other, like the Battle of Long Island, in which about 40,000 soldiers from both sides fought. Others were large in their own way – the Battle of Yorktown saw the largest number of British soldiers surrender (about 8,000 men) – for example. Or the Siege of Charleston where the British took 5,000 continental soldiers prisoner. Similarly, the British surrendered about 6,200 soldiers under the command of General John Burgoyne at the Battle of Saratoga. The battle in which the Continental Army saw the greatest number of wounded or killed was the Battle of Camden – about 1,050 soldiers to Britain’s 314. The Battles of Cowspen and Kings Mountain each had the highest percentage of men lost – the British lost about 90 percent of their troops in each battle. NATIVE AMERICANS AND SLAVES WERE DRAGGED INTO THE WAR Many Native American tribes were caught in the middle of the American Revolution as the colonies fought for the land they had “rightfully” stolen from the native tribes when they “discovered” America and decided to colonize it. However, the British were able to gain their favor when they banned colonists from expanding westward into Native American territories (wait, wasn’t it technically ALL Native American territories??). Regardless of where their loyalties rested, most Native American tribes were decimated by the war due to fighting casualties or disease and were also completely left out of the Treaty of Paris, basically telling them and the rest of the world that they weren’t important enough to consider. Similarly, slaves were used as pawns in the war. Initially, the colonists feared slaves gaining power and refused to “let” them serve in the Continental Army. However, it became clear that the additional troops were needed and some states offered freedom to slaves who volunteered to fight. In all, about 7,000 African Americans served the colonies and about 20,000 served the British. THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION WASN’T JUST FOUGHT ON AMERICAN SOIL Contrary to popular belief (and as the name would lead you to believe as well) not all of the American Revolution was fought here on American soil. At various times throughout the war, Great Britain found itself fighting in several locations other than the colonies. They lost control of New Providence Island in the Bahamas after the Continental Navy defeated them on March 3, 1776, for instance. Other battles were fought in the Caribbean, Europe and India. This “divide and conquer” strategy proved to be essential to the success of the Continental Army by diverting Great Britain’s troops and resources to other locations, giving the colonies the upper hand in a time when they might otherwise have been defeated fairly easily. |
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