History UsefulNotes / TheAmericanRevolution

Once upon a time, in 1775, The British Empire dominated North America, having won Canada from {{UsefulNotes/France}} in the SevenYearsWar. However, a series of unresolved issues of authority and administration[[note]]Perhaps most importantly the fact that colonists weren't represented in Parliament, yet still had to obey the laws passed by it[[/note]] met with misunderstandings, misjudgements and tragedies which led to most of the colonies of British North America seceding from the Empire and later declaring themselves the United States of America. In the beginning, maybe a third of the colonists felt this was justified; roughly a fifth never did, and a twentieth left the new country to remain the crown's loyal subjects. This was the American Revolution, the era of King George III of The United Kingdom, General Charles Cornwallis, King Louis XVI of France, General Jean-Baptiste de Vimeur, The Franco-Spanish Armada (which failed, obviously), GeorgeWashington, Creator/BenFranklin, ThomasJefferson, UsefulNotes/JohnAdams, Benedict Arnold, the Boston Massacre [[note]]With a death toll of 5, it might be a stretch to call it a "massacre", and it was directly attributable to unruly civilians thinking it'd be fun to keep pegging snowballs and chunks of ice at armed soldiers after being asked to stop. While opinions ran hot at the time it's worth noting that the soldiers were acquitted at trial and their (defence) lawyer was none other than UsefulNotes/JohnAdams.[[/note]] the crossing of the Delaware, the Midnight Ride of Paul Revere (which was actually a group effort). As it would later be portrayed, this was [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTcVNuNX8yY&feature=relmfu a time when idealistic demagogues overthrew a tyrant and gave voting rights to the people]] -- [[ValuesDissonance Well, if you were English or Scots (don't even mention the Irish and other foreigners), rich, land-owning, and male.]] The time of Modern Mythology in America, in short. In reality, it was a lot more complex, and in many ways far more divisive and terrible, and human - and British - than that.

* DawnOfAnEra: Obviously, this was the beginning of the United States. But in a larger, ideological sense, the American victory inspired new lines of political and philosophical thought in Europe and the Americas. Within a few years of the American Revolution came the FrenchRevolution and the Mexican War of Independence. When Spain was occupied by Napoleonic France in the Peninsular War, independence movements swept Latin America. A series of bloody civil wars later the entire Spanish Empire ([[SpanishAmericanWar except Cuba, Puerto Rico, and The Philippines]]) was lost, and the Portuguese Empire had lost Brazil as well. Nationalism, republicanism, and radicalism became powerful movements in 19th-Century thought, due in large part to the precedent set in America that a popular rebellion against an unpopular regime could not only be justified, but could also be successful.

Once upon a time, in 1775, The British Empire dominated North America, having won Canada from {{UsefulNotes/France}} in the SevenYearsWar. However, a series of unresolved issues of authority and administration[[note]]Perhaps most importantly the fact that colonists weren't represented in Parliament, yet still had to obey the laws passed by it[[/note]] met with misunderstandings, misjudgements and tragedies which led to most of the colonies of British North America seceding from the Empire and later declaring themselves the United States of America. In the beginning, maybe a third of the colonists felt this was justified; roughly a fifth never did, and a twentieth left the new country to remain the crown's loyal subjects. This was the American Revolution, the era of King George III of The United Kingdom, General Charles Cornwallis, King Louis XVI of France, General Jean-Baptiste de Vimeur, The Franco-Spanish Armada (which failed, obviously), GeorgeWashington, Creator/BenFranklin, ThomasJefferson, JohnAdams, Benedict Arnold, the Boston Massacre [[note]]With a death toll of 5, it might be a stretch to call it a "massacre", and it was directly attributable to unruly civilians thinking it'd be fun to keep pegging snowballs and chunks of ice at armed soldiers after being asked to stop. While opinions ran hot at the time it's worth noting that the soldiers were acquitted at trial and their (defence) lawyer was none other than JohnAdams.[[/note]] the crossing of the Delaware, the Midnight Ride of Paul Revere (which was actually a group effort). As it would later be portrayed, this was [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTcVNuNX8yY&feature=relmfu a time when idealistic demagogues overthrew a tyrant and gave voting rights to the people]] -- [[ValuesDissonance Well, if you were English or Scots (don't even mention the Irish and other foreigners), rich, land-owning, and male.]] The time of Modern Mythology in America, in short. In reality, it was a lot more complex, and in many ways far more divisive and terrible, and human - and British - than that.

* FamedInStory: Paul Revere was a noted artisan who would be famous for his silver even if he'd never mounted a horse. His fame (though he did play a central role in organizing the enterprise) is a large reason why it's known as "Paul Revere's Ride" even though at least 30 riders working in relays are known to have taken part. Revere's fame also made him an ideal subject for a poet seeking to produce a propaganda piece for the later AmericanCivilWar

* {{Foreshadowing}}: The slavery issue was left out of the Declaration of Independence to be solved for another day. [[AmericanCivilWar That was a very bad day]].
** JohnAdams himself noted that in 100 years the slavery issue would divide the nation. [[TheAmericanCivilWar He was off by 15 years]].

* Jeff Shaara adds two historical fiction novels to his repertoire in the style of his AmericanCivilWar novels, ''GodsAndGenerals'' and ''The Last Full Measure'' (as well as his father's ''Killer Angels''):

->''"[[BadassBoast I know not what course others may take, but as for me: Give me liberty, or give me death!]]"''
-->-- '''Patrick Henry'''[[note]]OlderThanTheyThink - he took that line from the 1715 play ''Cato, A Tragedy'': "It is not now time to talk of aught/But chains or conquest, liberty or death"[[/note]]

->''"[[RousingSpeech If we must fall,]] '''[[RousingSpeech let us fall like men!]]'''"''
-->-- '''William Pitt the Elder, 1st Earl of Chatham''''s final speech in the House of Lords, for the other side.[[note]]He then suffered a fatal stroke and collapsed on the floor, falling like a man.[[/note]]

* YoungFutureFamousPeople: Many, of course, as the Revolution made reputations. Lieutenant JamesMonroe took a bullet in the shoulder at Trenton and nearly bled to death before a Patriot surgeon tied off the wound. Forty years later, he was elected President of the United States.

** After he ran out of ammunition, he drew his sword and took the British soldiers head on, as they had finally reached his position. He was shot in the face, beaten to a pulp, bayoneted 13 times and left for dead. When his neighbors found him, he was reportedly still trying to reload his weapons. Remarkably, he recovered from his injuries and went on to live another ''18 years'' to the ripe old age of 98.

* BadassGrandpa: Samuel Whittemore, a Massachusetts farmer who was 80 years old when the war started. This would be impressive enough given his profession and the life expectancy back then [[note]]In the 18th century, it was around 40 years[[/note]], but naturally, he took it UpToEleven:

** And after he ran out of ammunition, he drew his sword and took the British soldiers head on, as they had finally reached his position. He was shot in the face, bayoneted 13 times, and left for dead. When his neighbors found him, he was reportedly still trying to reload his weapons. Miraculously, he recovered from his injuries and went on to live another ''18 years'' to the ripe old age of 98.

** And after he ran out of ammunition, he drew his sword and took the British soldiers head on, as they had finally reached his position. He was shot in the face, bayoneted 13 times, and left for dead. Miraculously, he recovered from his injuries and went on to live another ''18 years'' to the ripe old age of 98.

Complicating things was that much of the American colonial populace was composed of descendants of the so-called religious "dissenters": Puritans, Quakers, Methodists,Baptists, and dozens of other small denominations who'd come to America to escape the iron hand that the Church of England had upon public life and where they were often prohibited from owning land or practicing professions. Most common in north eastern colonies known as New England, these groups (collectively known as "Congregationalists") had spent nearly two centuries of mostly benign neglect developing their local political institutions. And as the name suggestions, these institutions naturally grew out of the direct democracy inherent in the congregational nature of their worship. The upshot of this was that many colonists felt reluctant to follow the laws and policies set down by the Cabinet, despite being fairly co-operative with their own home-grown (often un-acknowledged by the crown, and thus not strictly legal) local assemblies. This belief in representation was to prove to be the true sticking point, since the colonists had no parliamentary representation of their own.

-->-- '''William Pitt the Elder, 1st Earl of Chatham''''s final speech in the House of Lords, for the other side.[[note]]He then suffered a fatal stroke and collapsed on the floor.[[/note]]

* Creator/GoreVidal's {{Burr}}.

* ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIII'' is set during this time period.

* SorryThatImDying: Nathan Hale. "I only [[IRegretNothing regret]] that I have but one life to lose for my country."

** It should be noted the British Empire brought only a tiny fraction of it's strength to bear due to the difficulty in transporting larger forces and their better generals to the American theatre.

* NeverTellMeTheOdds: Towards the end of the war, Britain stood alone against not only the American rebels, but also the French and Spanish Empires, the Dutch Republic and the Kingdom of Mysore (in India). The book ''The Very Bloody History of Britain'' dubbed it "The War Against Just About Everybody".

* HeroOfAnotherStory: The French Royal Navy, as assisted by the Spanish Royal and Dutch Republican Navies. In the USA it's often downplayed - or else simply forgotten - that the conflict was not isolated to North America. After 1778 France allied itself with the Revolutionaries and engaged the British in many theaters around the globe, including South America, India, and the Caribbean. In fact, since the Americans had no navy to speak of, the French played a key role in keeping the British Navy occupied while the Americans could win a war of attitrition on the mainland.

* HeroOfAnotherStory: The French Navy. It's often downplayed - or else simply forgotten - that the conflict was not isolated to North America. After 1778 France allied itself with the Revolutionaries and engaged the British in many theaters around the globe, including South America, India, and the Caribbean. In fact, since the Americans had no navy to speak of, the French played a key role in keeping the British Navy occupied while the Americans could win a war of attitrition on the mainland.

* CycleOfRevenge: Quite a bit of this in fact, between loyalist and revolutionary forces, especially in the South where the loyalists were strong.

* CourtroomAntics: The trial after the Boston Massacre. Not only was it an awesome display of courage by John Adams who defended the soldiers, it was a CrowningMomentOfAwesome for ''both'' sides. At the brink of a civil war, both factions had enough reverence for the rule of law to put their trust in it.

* TheAlliance: American rebels, the French, the Spanish, and the Dutch (yes, those last two were in fact in the war on the Americans' side).
* AmericanDream: "We hold these truths to be self-evident..."

* AntiVillain: For the rebels, Benedict Arnold. Younger and less competent officers with better connections were forever being promoted over him, his competence and personal bravery were largely [[DudeWheresMyRespect ignored]] and he had financial problems. These and other issues besides counted for more than his lingering loyalties to the crown in prompting his eventual FaceHeelTurn in re-joining the British.

* BlackAndWhiteMorality: Unfortunately, a lot of American depictions of the war are this. It was probably closer to GreyAndGrayMorality or WhiteAndGrayMorality in real life.

* CheeseEatingSurrenderMonkeys: Averted. The critical contributions of the French in both fighting and financing the war - with Dutch loans and Spanish... something - are often downplayed in modern tellings, though most Americans are aware of them to some extent. The sheer number of towns named [[MarquisdeLaFayette Lafayette]] alone should be indicative.

Blood was finally shed in April 1775 at the battle of Lexington and Concord, when a reinforced brigade of regular troops on their way to Concord to confiscate the Massachusetts colony's military stores encountered a company of local militiamen on Lexington Green. No-one knows who fired the first shot[[note]]Historian David Hackett Fischer has proposed the intriguing notion that may have been an accidental discharge by an officer observed to be having trouble controlling a fractious horse.[[/note]] (later described as "The shot heard 'round the world" because of the world-wide war that eventually resulted) but the outnumbered and unprepared militiamen were immediately routed and dispersed by the lead company of redcoats. Proceeding with their mission, the regulars soon found the entire countryside had been roused against them by "Paul Revere's ride" (actually a network of riders though Revere himself did play a prominent role). Reaching Concord, they found themselves surrounded and then attacked by a much larger militia formation, and were forced to beat a fighting retreat up the "Battle Road" back to Boston, shocked that the militia, whose ranks likely included a significant number of combat veterans from the recent Seven Year's war, were capable of standing up to regulars and had leaders with the skill to pull off a moving envelopment. "Those people knew very much what they are about." Royal Marine Major John Pitcairn conceded ruefully in his report. Any remaining idea that the colonists weren't serious was disbursed by the pitched battle fought at 'Bunker Hill' some two months later. Even then the negotiations continued, until Westminster's rejection of the Continental Congress' [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olive_Branch_Petition Olive Branch Petition]] meant Civil War.

Once upon a time, in 1775, The British Empire dominated North America, having won Canada from {{UsefulNotes/France}} in the SevenYearsWar. However, a series of unresolved issues of authority and administration[[note]]Perhaps most importantly the fact that colonists weren't represented in Parliament, yet still had to obey the laws passed by it[[/note]] met with misunderstandings, misjudgements and tragedies which led to most of the colonies of British North America seceding from the Empire and later declaring themselves the United States of America. In the beginning, maybe a third of the colonists felt this was justified; roughly a fifth never did, and a twentieth left the new country to remain the crown's loyal subjects. This was the American Revolution, the era of King George III of The United Kingdom, General Charles Cornwallis, King Louis XVI of France, General Jean-Baptiste de Vimeur, The Franco-Spanish Armada (which failed, obviously), GeorgeWashington, Creator/BenFranklin, ThomasJefferson, JohnAdams, Benedict Arnold, the Boston Massacre [[note]]With a death toll of 5, it might be a stretch to call it a "massacre", and it was directly attributable to unruly civilians thinking it'd be fun to keep pegging snowballs and chunks of ice at armed soldiers after being asked to stop. While opinions ran hot at the time it's worth noting that the soldiers were acquitted at trial and their (defence) lawyer was none other than JohnAdams.[[/note]] the crossing of the Delaware, the Midnight Ride of Paul Revere (which was actually a group effort). As it would later be portrayed, this was [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTcVNuNX8yY&feature=relmfu a time when idealistic demagogues overthrew a tyrant and gave voting rights to the people]] -- [[ValuesDissonance Well, if you were English (or maybe German at a stretch), rich, land-owning, and male.]] The time of Modern Mythology in America, in short. In reality, it was a lot more complex, and in many ways far more divisive and terrible, and human - and British - than that.

Once upon a time, in 1775, The British Empire dominated North America, having won Canada from {{UsefulNotes/France}} in the SevenYearsWar. However, a series of unresolved issues of authority and administration[[note]]Perhaps most importantly the fact that colonists weren't represented in Parliament, yet still had to obey the laws passed by it[[/note]] met with misunderstandings, misjudgements and tragedies which led to most of the colonies of British North America seceding from the Empire and later declaring themselves the United States of America. In the beginning, maybe a third of the colonists felt this was justified; roughly a fifth never did, and a twentieth left the new country to remain the crown's loyal subjects. This was the American Revolution, the era of King George III of The United Kingdom, General Charles Cornwallis, King Louis XVI of France, General Jean-Baptiste de Vimeur, The Franco-Spanish Armada (which failed, obviously), GeorgeWashington, Creator/BenFranklin, ThomasJefferson, JohnAdams, Benedict Arnold, the Boston Massacre [[note]]With a death toll of 5, it might be a stretch to call it a "massacre", and it was directly attributable to unruly civilians thinking it'd be fun to keep pegging snowballs and chunks of ice at armed soldiers after being asked to stop. While opinions ran hot at the time it's worth noting that the soldiers were acquitted at trial and their (defence) lawyer was none other than JohnAdams.[[/note]] the crossing of the Delaware, the Midnight Ride of Paul Revere (which was actually a group effort). As it would later be portrayed, this was [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTcVNuNX8yY&feature=relmfu a time when idealistic demagogues overthrew a tyrant and gave voting rights to the people]] -- [[ValuesDissonance Well, if you were north-European, rich, land-owning, and male.]] The time of Modern Mythology in America, in short. In reality, it was a lot more complex, and in many ways far more divisive and terrible, and human - and British - than that.

** Benedict Arnold.

That said, what the colonial elites ''really'' meant when they said they wanted proper representation for their colonies was that they wanted ''themselves'' and their own assemblies to be recognized by the crown, and they would have likely rejected proposals for new American parliamentary constituencies as this would mean they would have to give up much of their semi-official power -- in addition to taking a hit to the profits from their trading and smuggling operations in the form of tariffs and tolls. And since there was (and remains) no requirement for [=MPs=] to actually live within their constituencies, they still made the issue of adequate representation of local issues problematic. (Even so, Barbara Tuchman in ''The March of Folly'' examines the [[TooDumbToLive general ignorance and short-sightedness]] of Parliament and the Cabinet as an example of governments acting against their own self-interest.)

* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbRom1Rz8OA George Washington]]! ([[WebOriginal/CoxAndCombesWashington Twelve stories tall/Made of radiation]]!) Amazing man, one of the few people ever to give back dictatorial power. Inventor of the USA and freedom? Subject to some slight exaggeration, pretty much. That great a tactician? Not really. Able to fire freedom beams from his eyes? Sources indicate no.

[[redirect:TheAmericanRevolution]]