Presentation U.S. History Primary Source Timeline
Overview Until the end of the Seven Years' War in 1763, few colonists in British North America objected to their place in the British Empire.
British Reforms and Colonial Resistance, 1763-1766 When the French and Indian War finally ended in 1763, no British subject on either side of the Atlantic could have foreseen the coming conflicts between the parent country and its North American colonies.
The Colonies Move Toward Open Rebellion, 1773-1774 After the Boston Massacre and the repeal of most of the Townshend Duties (the duty on tea remained in force), a period of relative quiet descended on the British North American colonies. Even so, the crises of the past decade had created incompatible mindsets on opposite sides of the Atlantic.
First Shots of War, 1775 For some months, people in the colonies had been gathering arms and powder and had been training to fight the British, if necessary, at a moment's notice.
Creating a Continental Army According to Washington's aide Alexander Hamilton, the military strategy the General would pursue throughout the Revolutionary War would be to preserve a good army, to take advantage of favorable opportunities, and waste and defeat the enemy by piecemeal.
Revolutionary War: Northern Front, 1775-1777 In the first eighteen months of armed conflict with the British (the conflict would not become a "war for independence" until July 4, 1776), Washington had begun to create an army and forced the British army in Boston to evacuate that city in March 1776.
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Revolutionary War: The Home Front Defining a "home front" in the Revolutionary War is difficult because so much of the thirteen states became, at one time or another, an actual theater of war.
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In 1777, the British were still in excellent position to quell the rebellion. Had it not been for a variety of mistakes, they probably could have won the war. During early 1777, British officials considered a number of plans for their upcoming campaign. One they apparently decided upon was to campaign through the Hudson River Valley and thereby cut off New England from the rest of the colonies.
General William Howe was to drive north from New York City while General John Burgoyne was to drive south from Canada. Meanwhile, British General Barry St. Leger would drive down the Mohawk Valley in upstate New York. The major problem was not with the plan but with its execution. Historians continue to debate whether Howe was ill-informed or simply acted on his own. Whatever the reasons, Howe decided to capture Philadelphia, the seat of the Continental Congress, rather than to work in concert
with Burgoyne and St. Leger. Howe hoped that by seizing Philadelphia, he would rally the Loyalists in Pennsylvania, discourage the rebels by capturing their capital, and bring the war to a speedy conclusion. Washington tried to thwart Howe's plan, but Howe out-maneuvered him at Brandywine Creek and then at Germantown. While Howe's forces settled into winter quarters in Philadelphia, the Continental Army went into winter quarters at Valley Forge. There, the army faced deprivation in the
extreme. Meanwhile to the north, Burgoyne and St. Leger suffered significant defeats at Oriskany, New York; Bennington, Vermont; and finally at Saratoga, New York. These American victories were critical for they helped convince France to recognize American independence and brought the French directly into the war as military allies. The French Treaty was also a result of a new British peace proposal, announced by Lord North in late 1777. The French were concerned that the Americans would
agree to North's proposal since it offered them virtual autonomy within the British Empire. The French Alliance changed the face of the war for the British; the American war for independence was now in essence a world war. Even so, as many of the documents listed to the right suggest, winning the war even after the French Treaty was still not a certainty. For additional documents related to these topics, search Loc.gov using such
key words as Howe, Burgoyne, Gates, Saratoga, Philadelphia, Brandywine, Germantown, Valley Forge, France, and Vergennes (the French Foreign Minister). Search Washington's Papers and the Journals of the Continental Congress by date (of specific battles, for example), and use the terms found in the documents to the right of the page.
George Washington PapersDocuments
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