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The American Revolution, culminating in the American war of Independence, was a momentous happening in the world history as it marked the first successful struggle for freedom and liberty in modern history. The ideas and ideals born out of the War of
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The American Revolution—also called the U.S. War of Independence—was the insurrection fought between 1775 and 1783 through which 13 of Great Britain’s North American colonies threw off British rule to establish the sovereign United States of America, founded with the Declaration of Independence in 1776. British attempts to assert greater control over colonial affairs after a long period of salutary neglect, including the imposition of unpopular taxes, had contributed to growing estrangement between the crown and a large and influential segment of colonists who ultimately saw armed rebellion as their only recourse.
salutary neglect
Learn more about salutary neglect, the British government policy that provided for loose imperial supervision of the North American colonies.
How did the American Revolution begin?
On the ground, fighting in the American Revolution began with the skirmishes between British regulars and American provincials on April 19, 1775, first at Lexington, where a British force of 700 faced 77 local minutemen, and then at Concord, where an American counterforce of 320 to 400 sent the British scurrying. The British had come to Concord to seize the military stores of the colonists, who had been forewarned of the raid through efficient lines of communication—including the ride of Paul Revere, which is celebrated with poetic license in Longfellow’s “Paul Revere’s Ride” (1861).
Battles of Lexington and Concord
Americans fought the war on land with essentially two types of organization: the Continental (national) Army and the state militias. The total number of the former provided by quotas from the states throughout the conflict was 231,771 men, and the militias totaled 164,087. At any given time, however, the American forces seldom numbered over 20,000; in 1781 there were only about 29,000 insurgents under arms throughout the country. The war was therefore one fought by small field armies. Militias, poorly disciplined and with elected officers, were summoned for periods usually not exceeding three months. The terms of Continental Army service were only gradually increased from one to three years, and not even bounties and the offer of land kept the army up to strength. Reasons for the difficulty in maintaining an adequate Continental force included the colonists’ traditional antipathy toward regular armies, the objections of farmers to being away from their fields, the competition of the states with the Continental Congress to keep men in the militia, and the wretched and uncertain pay in a period of inflation.
By contrast, the British army was a reliable steady force of professionals. Since it numbered only about 42,000, heavy recruiting programs were introduced. Many of the enlisted men were farm boys, as were most of the Americans. Others were unemployed persons from the urban slums. Still others joined the army to escape fines or imprisonment. The great majority became efficient soldiers as a result of sound training and ferocious discipline. The officers were drawn largely from the gentry and the aristocracy and obtained their commissions and promotions by purchase. Though they received no formal training, they were not so dependent on a book knowledge of military tactics as were many of the Americans. British generals, however, tended toward a lack of imagination and initiative, while those who demonstrated such qualities often were rash.
Because troops were few and conscription unknown, the British government, following a traditional policy, purchased about 30,000 troops from various German princes. The Lensgreve (landgrave) of Hesse furnished approximately three-fifths of that total. Few acts by the crown roused so much antagonism in America as that use of foreign mercenaries.
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Jun 26, 2022 · Stanford via Stanford University Press. Most immediately, the American Revolution resulted directly from attempts to reform the British Empire after the Seven Years’ War. The Seven Years’ War culminated nearly a half century of war between Europe’s imperial powers. It was truly a world war, fought between multiple empires on multiple ...
Aug 12, 2021 · Stockton, NJ : OTTN Pub. Collection. inlibrary; printdisabled; internetarchivebooks. Contributor. Internet Archive. Language. English. 64 pages : 25 cm. "Discusses and explains the events of the 1750s, 1760s, and 1770s that contributed to the start of the American Revolution"--Provided by publisher.
Dec 10, 2020 · printdisabled; internetarchivebooks; inlibrary. Contributor. Internet Archive. Language. English. 48 pages : 26 cm. Takes a detailed look at the causes of resentment in the colonies and explains how, by 1774, the colonies had reached the brink of warfare.
Robert G. Parkinson. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199329175.013.9. Published online: 03 September 2015. Summary. According to David Ramsay, one of the first historians of the American Revolution, “in establishing American independence, the pen and press had merit equal to that of the sword.”
All events have causes rooted in the social, economic, political, or ideological context of their times. A good explanation of the Revolution will not only consider these factors, but will explain the numerous events leading up to the actual outbreak of the fighting. It should explain all of the major events and account for the actions of the ...
