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US History Lecture 11 — Transcript

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0:00In today's lecture, we're going to dive
0:02into the story of the American
0:03Revolution.
0:05Now, there are multiple reasons for the
0:08American Revolution. The primary one,
0:11you know, while the proclamation was an
0:13annoyance that upset some settlers, the
0:15primary thing that really upset people
0:20was something intimately tied to the
0:22Seven Years War. You know, the war had
0:25put the British government in heavy
0:27depth. They had spent insane amounts of
0:30money
0:32and so they were desperately trying to
0:34figure out ways to raise money. You
0:36know, they raised taxes back home, but
0:37the British people were angry. So
0:40instead, they started raising taxes in
0:41the colonies, but the people in the
0:43colonies got mad. Particularly because,
0:46you know, you may have heard 10,000 time
0:48the whole taxation without
0:50representation. They were not too happy
0:52to be heavily taxed and yet have no
0:55representation in the British
0:57government.
0:58So when for example in 1764 the British
1:01passed the tax on sugar in the colonies.
1:05In 1765 they passed the Stamp Act you
1:09know for any kind of special papers
1:11required for newspapers or legal
1:13documents or licenses.
1:16This really upset a lot of people who
1:20are going to begin protest very heavily
1:22against the taxation imposed by the
1:24British government
1:27and things get so ugly. Some of these
1:30protests got so violent
1:33that you know for example even the house
1:34of the lieutenant governor
1:37leader of Massachusetts conservatives
1:39got attacked and you know the guy has to
1:42flee south and the house is destroyed.
1:44You know, things got really
1:47intense over this issue of taxation.
1:51So much so that by 1766, the British
1:56government decide to repeal the Stamp
1:58Act.
2:00But it says, "Look, we still have right
2:02to make any law we want without having
2:04to consult with you since you guys are
2:08our subjects." Okay, we'll give you
2:10we'll throw you a bone about this one,
2:13but that doesn't mean that you guys get
2:15to choose every time what taxes you want
2:18to pay and which ones you don't.
2:22So shortly thereafter, you know, this is
2:24a a blanket that's too short. On one
2:26hand, you don't want to tax people too
2:28much because otherwise they rebel, but
2:29then you are still out of money. So then
2:31you do pass taxes, but now they are
2:33rebelling. And this game get to be
2:35played time and time again. You know,
2:38you see in uh 1766,
2:43the new prime minister of England,
2:45Charles Town is elected and facing
2:49massive national debt and high
2:51unemployment began to tax the colonies
2:54again in a series of revenue acts that
2:58got its name.
3:01Now there's heavy enforcement of these
3:03measures and many of the settlers in the
3:06British colonies in North America are
3:07really mad. So they begin a series of
3:10boycots on British products to try to
3:13push
3:15the British government to get rid of
3:17these taxes.
3:19So this game got to be played over and
3:21over again to the point where by 1768
3:25British troops are sent to Boston to try
3:28to prevent mob riots.
3:30You know, tensions start building up.
3:34In one case, there's a demonstration at
3:37the customs house in 1770
3:42that lead to a big fight where some
3:44British soldiers are scared by the mob,
3:47throwing rocks at them and threatening
3:49them. And so they shoot down some of the
3:52people in the crowd, killing three of
3:54them in what will become known as the
3:57Boston Massacre.
4:00Now
4:02these you you can see things getting
4:04worse inch by inch by inch. So now for
4:07the first time you have this act of
4:10violence by British troops against their
4:12own people.
4:14In 1770 as a result of that to kind of
4:17ease up tensions the parliament repealed
4:20most of these revenue acts.
4:22So you know we keep seeing this game
4:25being played.
4:28Now at one point
4:32settlers in the Americas are beginning
4:34to boycott they pass a boycott on
4:37English te that have been causing the
4:40East Indian company on to come close to
4:42the brink of bankruptcy.
4:45The East Indian company was central to
4:47British colonialism in India and was
4:50very well connected with the British
4:52government. So in an effort to tempt the
4:56Americans to abandon the boycott,
4:59they lower dramatically the price of
5:01tea. And so ships carrying this highly
5:06discounted tea arrive in 1773 in Boston.
5:12But this is the famous story of the
5:15Boston Tea Party where Samuel Adams and
5:18a few of his guys,
5:20people were essentially in a state of
5:22rebellion against uh British
5:24authorities.
5:27They board the ships and dump in the
5:30water 45 tons of tea.
5:34Needless to say, the British government
5:36didn't take it well. They were really
5:38mad at this act of rebellion
5:41and they passed as a result what the
5:44Americans will refer to as the
5:46intolerable acts of 1774.
5:50One of this act prohibited basically
5:53closed down the Boston Harbor until the
5:57city would pay the East Indian Company
5:59for its losses during the Boston Tea
6:01Party. It states things like uh colonial
6:05assemblies can only be appointed by the
6:07king and not by local election. Um town
6:11meetings are prohibited and you cannot
6:14gather in large numbers in any town
6:17square. Um
6:20private citizens can be forced to house
6:22British troops at their expense. You
6:25know, lots of things that the Americans
6:28are really not enjoying very much.
6:33Part of this um
6:37part of this conflict that's keep
6:40inching closer and closer to open
6:42rebellion lead in 1774 to the calling of
6:46the Continental Congress which was
6:48basically the various colonies the
6:51various British colonies sent
6:52representatives to Philadelphia to
6:55discuss how can they respond to these
6:59measures passed by the British.
7:02Most people at this time still want to
7:04avoid war. They just want to pressure
7:06England to change some of its policy
7:09through economic sanctions
7:13and they are trying to figure out how to
7:14go about it. But things will quickly
7:17spiral out of control. Uh there were
7:20people already who did not believe that
7:22the situation could be resolved
7:23peacefully. King George of England
7:25believed that only a heavy show of force
7:28could bring the colonies back in line.
7:31Leaders of the rebel like Patrick Henry
7:33also believed that the time had come for
7:37open rebellion that anything short of
7:39that would not
7:41get anything done.
7:44And it's in this context that in 1775
7:50the British decided to
7:54take the weapons away from the
7:57Massachusetts militia. So they, you
7:59know, some 700 British soldiers marched
8:02to seize the ammunition and the weapons
8:04from the town of Concord in
8:06Massachusetts.
8:09The the militia found out and so there
8:12was a confrontation kind of halfway to
8:15Concord at Lexington where
8:19the soldiers shot and killed a few
8:22militia member.
8:25Now the militia later counter by killing
8:28three soldiers.
8:30This starts a series of running battles
8:33as the British forces are retreating
8:35toward Boston. And along the many
8:38attacks that take place along the way,
8:40some 4,000 militia men will end up
8:42killing over 73 British soldiers.
8:46This is the beginning of the American
8:47Revolution. This gunfight over the
8:52militia weapons at Concord
8:55is what starts the whole thing. So
8:58there's a second Continental Congress
9:00taking place in 1775
9:03and now they have to figure out okay the
9:05time when we met the first time it was a
9:08very different context. Now we had an
9:10act of open warfare between our militia
9:12and the British troops. What are we to
9:16do at this point?
9:19And there's still a lot of debate.
9:22There's still, you know, what can we do?
9:24But eventually the colonies,
9:27they do vote to try to claim
9:31independence. They do the
9:33representatives in the Continental
9:35Congress begin to they choose George
9:37Washington to be the commanderin-chief
9:39of what will become the American Army.
9:43So
9:45the militia became the army. George
9:47Washington is placed in charge of it
9:50and now the American Revolution is
9:52officially on
9:54a series in many ways there's uh
9:59this revolution begin with the fight I
10:02mentioned but the first battles for
10:04example there's one on June 17th
10:07the battle of Bunker Hill in Boston
10:11where the British Navi Navy fires on
10:14some 10,000 American forces and some
10:176,000 British soldiers attack by land.
10:20Now, the British lose more men than the
10:23Americans do, but they manage to route
10:25them, and King George declares that the
10:28colonies are in a state of rebellion, so
10:30there will be no reconciliation until
10:32the rebels are crushed.
10:36Things get real ugly real fast. You
10:40know, France and Spain, who never liked
10:42England that much, decide to help the
10:44colonies. So that helps quite a bit.
10:48Before we get to the events that follow,
10:51one guy who play a very important role
10:53in this story is a man by the name of
10:54Thomas Payne. He was a radical English
10:59writer who moved to Philadelphia at this
11:01time and wrote a booklet called Common
11:03Sense,
11:04which basically argued that the British
11:06system based as it was on aristocracy
11:09and monarchy was one that needed to go
11:12and that Americans needed to reject both
11:14of them and embrace what will
11:16essentially become a democratic system.
11:19This is probably the single most
11:21important piece of writing during this
11:23time. you know, it sold more than
11:25100,000 copies, which was insane
11:27considering the rates of literacy at the
11:29time, becomes a huge bestseller, and in
11:33some way become the founding manifest of
11:36the American Revolution, if at all
11:37possible, even more than the Declaration
11:39of Independence.
11:41So, Payne's ideas, which are very much
11:44framed by the Enlightenment,
11:46become a ringing cry. They kind of
11:49provide the philosophy for the American
11:51Revolution.
11:54In um in 1776,
11:58Continental Congress puts Thomas
12:01Jefferson in charge of writing a
12:04declaration of independence, basically
12:06articulating the reasons for why they
12:08are breaking out with England. An early
12:11draft of the Declaration of Independence
12:13included a passage condemning slavery.
12:16But since some of the British colonies
12:18are still very heavy into slavery, they
12:20decide and maybe for the sake of keeping
12:22us united, let's not. So they get rid of
12:25those um passages and on July 4th, the
12:28final version is approved.
12:32And you know the declaration of
12:34independence is a really interesting
12:35document. The early part is the cool
12:37part is where you know in those we hold
12:40these truths to be self-evident that all
12:42men are created equal that they are
12:44endowed by their creator with certain
12:45inalienable rights that among these are
12:48life, liberty and the pursuit of
12:50happiness and you know he goes on and on
12:51but basically he's setting up the
12:54philosophy of the revolution
12:58and it's a very radical philosophy
13:00because to us today hearing about the
13:02rights of liberty portrait of happiness
13:04may not seem like much. It's like yeah
13:06of course but this was a first in the
13:09western world you know the idea of
13:11enlightenment were finally taking a
13:14political
13:17twist where the aristocratic system that
13:20had been common in Europe for so long
13:22was been openly challenged and if the
13:25American revolution was successful it
13:27would represent the first successful
13:31enlightenment inspired challenge to the
13:34political status quo.
13:37The rest of the Declaration of
13:39Independence is kind of uh tedious
13:42because it's a long list of grievances
13:44against the King of England. I mean,
13:46still important, but not quite as
13:48contemporary sounding since it's very
13:50much steeped into the grievances of the
13:53time. But in any case, the the war Oh,
13:57speaking of which, one grievance is
13:58actually interesting because there's one
14:00passage that involves American Indians.
14:04And you know in this list of grievances
14:05against the king of England, it says he,
14:09meaning King George has excited domestic
14:11insurrections among us and has
14:14endeavored to bring on the inhabitants
14:16of our frontiers, the merciless Indian
14:19savages whose known rule of warfare is
14:22an undistinguished destruction of all
14:24ages, sexes and conditions.
14:27So even if you look past the racist
14:30language, you know, the merciless Indian
14:32savages,
14:33what he's accusing the king of England
14:36of is really funny. He's essentially
14:37saying that the king of England made
14:39deals with the tribe to attack the
14:41colonies toward the people who are
14:42paying his taxes, which obviously make
14:44no sense.
14:46And a lot of this goes back to the Royal
14:49Proclamation. And a lot of this goes
14:50back to
14:53the deals that the England had made with
14:56native tribes. They were not very
14:58wellliked in in the colonies.
15:03But in any case, so from a native
15:05standpoint now, the natives don't like
15:07England. They fought major wars against
15:10them in the Seven Years War, in Pontiac
15:12War. But between the English and the
15:14Americans, the English are saying,
15:17"Look, we'll probably steal your land,
15:18but it's going to take a while." The
15:21Americans are more land hungry, so they
15:23are more likely to take your land
15:25sooner. So, of course, between the two
15:28evil, one is a lesser evil. So, more
15:32native tribes join the British than they
15:34join the Americans.
15:36Not that it matters because they're
15:38going to lose their land either way. You
15:39know, if you fight against the
15:40Americans, they're going to lose the
15:42land at the end of the revolution. But
15:44even if you fight with the Americans,
15:46some tribes from New England do, and
15:48they find that while they were fighting
15:50for the revolution, their land was taken
15:52by squatters who moved in in the
15:54meantime.
15:56So, it really doesn't matter for them,
15:57which is funny because, you know, you
15:59read about the poruite of happiness and
16:01all these very beautiful philosophical
16:03ideas in the Declaration of
16:04Independence.
16:06But in order to defend those very
16:08ideals, liberty and portrait of
16:11happiness, many tribes have to join
16:13against
16:15the revolution because those rights were
16:18not going to be given to native people.
16:21They were white people only. And for
16:24that matter, they were not going to be
16:26given to African-Americans either.
16:29Because whereas the British actually
16:31offered freedom to any African-American
16:34who would join their side, no such offer
16:37came from the American side. So not
16:41surprisingly, quite a few enslaved
16:44Africans who tried to escape and join
16:46the British army because of course it
16:49was uh a better deal for them.
16:53So in light of that, let's look at least
16:56briefly at the key events of the
16:58American Revolution.
17:01During the revolution, about 20% of the
17:04population in the colonies remained
17:06loyal to the British government.
17:09In early on, the war really didn't go
17:14well at all for the American side. They
17:20lost. They lost. They lost again to the
17:24point that by the end of 1776,
17:28Washington was on the brink of giving
17:29up.
17:31But in one last effort at keeping the
17:34whole thing alive,
17:37Washington was able by crossing the
17:40Delaware on Christmas night with 2400
17:42men to defeat German mercenaries that
17:45had been hired by the British,
17:48which kind of saved the morale and gave
17:52them a chance to still fight,
17:55you know, not to give up yet. So that's
17:57something that it came really the
18:00revolution came really close to failing
18:02right at the start
18:06in case you were that odd owl in the
18:09background. That's my dog owling. And I
18:12guess I'll keep it in there just for
18:14fun.
18:16In any case, long story short, I don't
18:18want to take you through a blowby-blow
18:20military account of every single thing
18:22that happened in the revolution. that's
18:24going to bore you to death unless you
18:26are absolutely obsessed with the topic.
18:28So for the sake of keeping it simple
18:31fighting will continue for several year.
18:33I mean the revolution so let's look at
18:34the time frame. The revolution had began
18:36in 1775
18:38and will end in 1783.
18:42The one big thing that happens is that
18:44the French will decide to actively
18:46support the Americans and they will do
18:49so in one climatic battle at Yorktown
18:53when the combined forces of the
18:55Americans and the French are able to
18:57defeat the British in a very important
19:00engagement.
19:02So, something that looked completely
19:04impossible at the beginning, which was
19:08the
19:11the Americans being successful at
19:13pulling off these uh against all odds, a
19:17success against what was the biggest
19:19power in the world at this time actually
19:22does end up happening. I mean part of
19:23the reason why both part of why the
19:25reason the revolution does happen and
19:27why the British will lose is the fact
19:30that the seven-year war had broken their
19:34economic power. They had just spent too
19:36much money which caused them to raise
19:38these taxes which caused the rebellion
19:39and which caused them to be less than
19:41effective because they could not afford
19:43another long costly wars
19:47so close to the one they had already
19:51had. So that's part of the problem that
19:57they
19:58they had to face during the revolution.
20:02Now, so fighting ends in 1781,
20:05but it's going to take a couple more
20:07years for negotiations to take place
20:10until a peace treaty is eventually
20:13signed in 1783
20:15acknowledging American independence. So
20:18the United States is born as a separate
20:20nation.
20:23they
20:24this is a rather big deal that really
20:27changed the history of the world in so
20:30many ways.
20:32Now, one thing that happened in the
20:35course of this war is that
20:39Spain had been left out of the
20:41negotiations and the peace treaty, but
20:44they still control New Orleans and they
20:47dealt directly with England, winning in
20:49the process the return of Florida. So,
20:52they gain, you know, the Florida was
20:54still a Spanish colony. And yet, despite
20:57all that, now you had the United States
20:59as a separate nation. Now that nation
21:01was going to expand throughout its
21:02existence until eventually would reach
21:04its final 50 states form but this is
21:10something that you know it's the first
21:12major revolution launching a democracy
21:15in the western world soon after there
21:18will be others and Europe will be swept
21:22by these revolutions but this is a very
21:24important milestone in the history of
21:27the west.
21:28One quick thing that happened at the end
21:30of the revolution that I feel is worth
21:32mentioning before we wrap this up. The
21:35officers of the Continental Army, they
21:38were upset
21:39that a promise that they would receive a
21:42pension at the end of the war had not
21:44been formalized. So now they were afraid
21:46that Congress, now that the fighting was
21:49over, they would just forget about it
21:52and decide not to honor it. So the
21:55officers at least, let me rephrase, some
21:57officers
21:59asked to turn that promise of a pension
22:03into a bonus of five years of full pay.
22:07Congress refused.
22:10So some of these officers got together
22:12and during a meeting they started
22:13considering a military coup of just
22:15taking over taking over the government
22:18and getting rid of Congress as it
22:20existed.
22:21George Washington played an important
22:23role in making sure that this coup would
22:27not go through. So he gave a speech to
22:31his officers
22:33inviting them to not use force and to
22:37trust in his leadership to negotiate
22:39with Congress to get the bonus they
22:41wanted.
22:42The officers agree they don't want to go
22:45ahead with our Washington blessing.
22:47Washington is able to negotiate with
22:49Congress and will get them the bonus
22:51they have been after. By 1783,
22:55Washington resigns from his position as
22:57commander-in-chief, which you know,
22:59considering the circumstances that must
23:01have been really tempting. You know, he
23:03could have used the army to take power
23:06and become a dictator, but instead he
23:09decided to b to just
23:12give in
23:14to civil authority and to let Congress
23:17run the country. So with this in 1783,
23:22we have this new nation of the United
23:25States emerging on the world map.
23:29With that, that's a wrap. We are going
23:32to get into some more before the
23:34material you need to cover for the
23:36midterm,
23:37but that's not until next time. So, for
23:40the time being, have a wonderful day.

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