BAPU COMPOSITE PU COLLEGE YOGESH K H RAMESH

BAPU COMPOSITE PU COLLEGE YOGESH. K. H RAMESH. R

INTRODUCTION American War of Independence (1775 -1783), conflict between 13 British colonies on the eastern seaboard of North America and their Parent country, Great Britain. France later intervened as an ally of the independent states, and the war resulted in the colonies becoming a separate nation, the United States of America. It is also known as the American Revolution.

ECONOMIC CAUSES 1 English government of George believed that the colonies existed for sake of the mother country, namely England. 2 The colonies supplied raw materials to England like cotton, tobacco, sugarcane and mineral resources. 3 establishment of industries in colonies was discouraged. 4 The colonies imported products from England through English ships. export taxes were levied for the benefit of England. 5 The colonies were not permitted to produce iron implements, hats and woollen goods.

THE STAMP ACT: Tax Stamps Because Britain had accumulated large debts in its wars with France, Parliament passed the Stamp Act in 1765. The act was intended to generate revenues that would help pay for the cost of maintaining a permanent force of British troops in the American colonies. All official documents, including deeds, mortgages, newspapers, and pamphlets, had to bear British government stamps in order to be deemed legal

COLONIAL RESISTENCE Facing heavy costs of supporting a standing army in the North American colonies, Britain hoped to shift some of the fiscal burden on to the colonists by imposing a series of taxes without consulting colonial governments. The colonies resisted, claiming that there should be "no taxation without representation". The British government prepared to quash what they perceived as an open revolt, and the colonists prepared for war.

BOSTON TEA PARTY Bowing to colonial economic boycotts, Parliament, guided by the new Prime Minister, Lord Frederick North, repealed the Townshend Acts in 1770 but retained the tax on tea to assert its right to tax the colonies. In order to rescue the British East India Company from bankruptcy, Parliament passed the Tea Act in 1773, reducing the tax on tea shipped to the colonies so that the company could sell it in America at a price lower than that of smuggled tea. The colonists, however, refused to buy the English tea. They viewed the Tea Act as another violation of their constitutional right not to be taxed without representation. Colonial merchants also feared that the act would allow the East India Company to monopolize the tea trade and put them out of business. In Philadelphia and New York the colonists would not permit British ships to unload tea. In Boston, in the so-called Boston Tea Party, a group of citizens, many disguised as Native Americans, swarmed over British ships in the harbour and dumped the cargoes of tea into the water

POLITICAL CAUSES 1. The governors of the colonies were appointed by the English king and they were generally autocrats. 2. All taxes for the colonies were levied by the English parliament. 3. they were to be obeyed by the people of the colonies. the rights were enjoyed by the people in England were denied to the people of the colonies 4. The colonies did not have freedom in the administration.

First Casualties at Lexington Out to destroy colonial stores of THOMOS JEFFERSON gunpowder, about 800 British soldiers under General Thomas Gage set out for Concord, Massachusetts, on April 19, 1775. They met a force of about 70 well-trained minutemen in Lexington. It is unknown which side fired the first shot, but the 8 colonists who died were the first casualties of the American War of Independence.

PHILADELPHIA CONGRESS The Coercive Acts secured for Massachusetts the support and sympathy of all the other colonies. The Virginia assembly called for a meeting of representatives from the 13 colonies and Canada to consider joint action against the encroachments of parliamentary power on colonial rights. The meeting, known as the First Continental Congress, took place in Philadelphia in September 1774. The Congress consisted of representatives from all 13 colonies except Georgia.

Washington at Valley Forge The Continental Army’s encampment at Valley Forge in Pennsylvania during the winter of 1777 -1778 was the bleakest time of the American struggle for independence. Hunger and disease compounded the problems of inadequate shelter and lack of adequate winter clothing. Over 2, 000 men died of typhus, typhoid, dysentery, and pneumonia. Washington made repeated appeals for aid and supplies, but the Congress was unable to move the states to provide them.

TREATY OF PARIS Yorktown marked the end of serious hostilities in North America, although peace negotiations dragged on until the Treaty of Paris was signed on September 3, 1783. Great Britain recognized the independence of the former colonies as the United States of America and acknowledged its boundaries as extending west to the Mississippi, north to Canada (with fishing rights in Newfoundland), and south to the Florida's. Washington, to whose decisiveness and determination the victory was due, took leave of his officers in New York on December 4, 1783, surrendered his commission to Congress at Annapolis on December 23, and, in words that were somewhat less than prophetic, took leave “of all the employments of public life”.

GEORGE WASHINGTON SIEGE OF YORKTOWN On August 14 Washington received word that de Grasse was bringing the French fleet to Chesapeake Bay. He immediately decided to attack Cornwallis at Yorktown, Virginia. The troops of Washington and Rochambeau marched south, leaving a containing force to watch Clinton in New York. De Grasse's fleet arrived at the Chesapeake capes on August 30, drove off a British fleet under Admiral Thomas Graves, and established a tight blockade of Cornwallis's army. Some 16, 000 American and French troops and Virginia militia, under Washington's command, laid siege to Yorktown. Cornwallis made several attempts to break through allied lines, but on October 19, 1781, he was obliged to surrender. This put an end to the war. The British king had to admit the independence of colonies.

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE The idea of independence gained overwhelming popular support following the publication of the pamphlet Common Sense, by Thomas Paine, in January 1776. His pamphlet, published anonymously, attacked George III, calling him “the Royal Brute”, and denounced monarchy as a form of government. Paine's arguments dissolved any lingering attachment to Great Britain and removed the last psychological barrier to independence. On July 4, 1776, the Continental Congress adopted a Declaration of Independence declaring that the colonies “are and of right ought to be free and independent States”. Thereafter the Americans considered themselves not as rebellious British subjects, but as citizens of a sovereign nation repelling invasion by a foreign power.

SIGNIFICANCE OF REVOLUTION 1. American revolution had profound influence on the developments in the other parts of the world. 2. It inspired French revolution. Many French men who had fought on the side of the colonies became heroes of the French revolution. 3. It inspired revolutionaries in many other European countries to overthrow the autocratic rule in their countries. 4. It encouraged many Spanish and Portugal colonies in America to rebel against their mother countries and become independent.