Page # Notes

Toward Independence 1775-1776

I. The ties that bound American colonists to the British were strong. During the time that came after the Battle of Concord, Patriot
legislators seized power from the royal governors and resisted armed Loyalists who tried to restore Imperial rule.
From Confrontation to Civil War
I. Armed struggles in Lexington and Concord in MA lent urgency to the Second Continental Congress, which met in Philadelphia
in May 1775.
Congress versus the King
I. Inspired by the Patriots’ valor at the Battle of Bunker Hill, John Adams encouraged congress to rise up and defend American
liberty. Adams pressed for the creation of a Continental army, to be led by George Washington, and a call for military volunteers.
More cautious delegates and one with Loyalist sympathies opposed these measures, warning that they would lead to more
violence and commit the colonists to rebellion.
A. A majority of the members of the provincial assemblies and the Congress hoped for reconciliation with Britain. Led by John
Dickinson, moderates in Congress passed the “Olive Branch” petition, expressing loyalty to George III and asking for the
king to seek the repeal of oppressive parliamentary legislation.
B. Zealous Patriots such as Samuel Adams and Richard Henry Lee countered this initiative by convincing congress to approve
a Declaration of the Causes and Necessities of Taking Up Arms.
II. King George chose not to exploit the divisions among the Patriots. Instead, in August 1775 he issued a Proclamation for
Suppressing Rebellion and Sedition. He condemned the Americans as traitors and vowed to crush their revolt.
III. Meanwhile Patriot merchants waged financial warfare, implementing the Congress’s resolution to cut off all exports to Britain
and its West Indian possessions. By squelching the trade in tobacco and disrupting the production of sugar, they hoped to
undermine the British economy.
A. Parliament retaliated at the end of 1775 with a Prohibitory Act that outlawed all trade with the rebellious colonies.
Rebellion in the South
I. By this time armed rebellion had spread to the southern colonies, where Patriots and Loyalists vied for power.
A. In the Carolinas, demands for independence also grew more insistent in response to British military threats. As the violence
escalated, radical Patriots transformed the North Carolina assembly into an independent Provincial Congress.
“Tis Time to Part”
I. Americans had condemned the tax legislation enacted by Parliament, not the king or the institution of monarchy. The roots of
their loyalty to the king ran deep in American society. Americans used metaphors of age and family to describe both social
authority and imperial rule. Denial of King George III’s legitimacy might threaten all paternal authority and weaken the
hierarchical social order.
II. In many communities the shortage of land and conflict among religious congregations had caused the power and authority of
biological fathers and customary leaders to diminish.
III. Agitation against the king became intense in Philadelphia, the largest seaport city. Because of their pacifistic beliefs, Quakers in
Philadelphia had refused to support violent opposition to British measures. The city had also been slow to join the boycott
against the Townshend Duties because many of its merchants were members of the Church of England and had Loyalist
sympathies. However, Philadelphia’s artisans, about ½ of the population, had gradually become a powerful force in the Patriot
 movement.
A. Worried that British imports threatened their small-scale manufacturing enterprises and that Parliament was attempting to
abolish their rights, they organized a Mechanics Association and demanded resistance. They joined the Philadelphia
Committee of Resistance, which enforced boycotts enacted by the Second Continental Congress.
B. The artisan’s resistance to British measures stemmed from both economic self-interest and religious ideology. Translating
the assertion that all men were equal before God into political terms, New Light Presbyterians claimed that they had no king
but Jesus. In addition, republican ideas derived from the European Enlightenment circulated freely among all ranks of
society in Philadelphia.
IV. At this moment, with artisans supporting independence and merchants opposing it, one pamphlet tipped the balance. Thomas
Paine published Common Sense, a strident call for independence and republicanism. He launched a direct assault on the
traditional political order and a way that the general public could understand.
A. He made a compelling case for independence by suggesting the absurdity of an island ruling or conquering a continent. His
message was to reject the arbitrary power of the king and Parliament and to create and independent republican state.
Independence Declared
I. Throughout the colonies Patriot conventions, inspired by Paine’s arguments and escalating military conflict with Loyalists,
called for a break from Britain. Staunch loyalists and anti-independence moderates withdrew from the Congress, leaving Patriots
to take the fateful step. On July 4, 1776, the Congress formally approved a Declaration of Independence.
II. The Declaration was the work of a committee run by Thomas Jefferson. He attempted to legitimize the colonies’ demand for
independence using 2 sets of arguments.
A. First, he appealed to the rights of man as defined by the laws of nature. Drawing upon the ideas and rhetoric of the
Enlightenment, he proclaimed a set of self-evident truths.
B. Second, to persuade domestic critics and foreign observers that British rule had been destructive of American rights,
Jefferson listed a long series of imperial laws and actions that had oppressed the colonists. He heaped most of the blame on
King George himself, unlike Parliament as most colonists did.
C. Jefferson’s indictment of the king, together with his celebration of individual liberty and popular sovereignty, justified
republicanism as well as independence. The Declaration established revolutionary republicanism as a defining value for the
new nation.
III. Americans were now riled up at the king and ready to break their psychological ties to the mother country. They were ready to
create republics, state governments that would derive their power from the people.
The Perils of War and Finance, 1776-1778
I. The Declaration of Independence prompted Britain to launch a full-scale military assault against the Patriots.
War in the North
I. When the British decided to use military force to crush the American revolt, few Europeans gave the rebels a chance. The British
had more people, and an economic advantage because of the immense profits from the South Atlantic system and the emerging
Industrial Revolution. British military officers had been tested in combat and their soldiers were well-armed. The imperial
government also had the potential support of tens of thousands of Loyalists in America and could count on the assistance of
many Indian peoples.
II. By contrast, the rebellious Americans looked militarily weak. They had no navy, and Washington’s newly formed and poorly
 trained army consisted of men who had hastily been recruited by state governments and agreed to serve for only a few months.
III. To exploit the military advantage, Lord North decided to act swiftly. He ordered an ambitious military mobilization and replaced
the ineffective general Thomas Gage with William Howe. North ordered him to capture New York City and seize control of the
Hudson River, a move that would isolate radical Patriots of New England from the other colonies.
IV. British superiority was immediately apparent. British troops continually outflanked American forces, nearly trapping them on
several occasions. By December the invading army had pushed the rebels out of New Jersey and across the Delaware River into
Pennsylvania, forcing the Congress to flee to Baltimore.
A. Over the winter, the over-confident imperial forces let down their guard. America’s small victories over these months raised
Patriot morale and allowed the Continental Congress to return to Philadelphia.
Armies and Strategies
I. British superiority did not break the will of the Continental Army, and partly because of Howe’s tactical decisions and mistakes,
the rebellion continued.
A. Howe had opposed the Coercive Acts and as British military commander still hoped for a political compromise—indeed, he
had authority from Lord North to negotiate with the rebels and allow them to surrender. Consequently, instead of following
up his early victories with a pursuit of the retreating army, he was content to show his superior tactics, hoping to convince
the Continental Congress that resistance was futile.
B. Howe’s caution also reflected another convention of 18th century warfare, which prescribed out maneuvering the opposing
forces and winning their surrender rather than destroying them.
II. Howe’s failure to win a decisive victory was paralleled by Washington’s success in avoiding a major defeat. Given the
inexperience of his troops, he was cautious. His strategy was to draw the British away from the seacoast to extend their lines of
supply, and to keep the Continental army intact as a symbol of American resistance.
A. To achieve this goal, Washington had to contend with Congress as well as Howe. Most yeoman farmers preferred to serve in
local militia, in which they could defend their families and farms; few wanted to enlist for many months of service, subject
themselves to strict discipline, and fight in a distant state. Consequently, the continental army drew its recruits from the
lower ranks of society who were motivated by economic factors.
B. Support for the friends and families of the soldiers was crucial because the Continental army received faint praise from
Congress or the public. Radical Whig Patriots had often viewed standing armies as a threat to liberty. Consequently, the
Continental army went begging, with ready volunteers from the populace and adequate supplies and pay from Congress.
Victory at Saratoga
I. Howe’s failure to achieve a decisive surprised and dismayed Lord North, who now realized that restoration of the empire would
require a long-term military commitment similar to the Great War for Empire. The government increased the land tax to finance
war and prepared to mount a major campaign in 1777.
II. The isolation of NE remained the primary British goal. They managed to win Philadelphia on September 26, half assuming that
the capture of the rebels’ capital would end the uprising. However, the Continental Congress fled to the interior and refused to
surrender.
III. The Battle of Saratoga proved to be a turning point in the war. The Americans captured 5000 British troops and their equipment
—a reward in men, material, and morale that outweighed Howe’s capture of Philadelphia. More important, their victory virtually
ensured the success of American diplomats in Paris, who were seeking an alliance with France.
Wartime Trials
I. The War of Independence exposed tens of thousands of American civilians to deprivation, displacement, and death.
A. New Jersey was particularly hard-hit by the fighting as British and American armies marched back and forth across the
state. Those with reputations as Patriots or Loyalists fled from their homes to escape arrest. Soldiers and partisans looted
farms and drunk soldiers harassed women.
B. People learned to fear their neighbors as well, for the War for Independence was in many respects a civil war. To restore
order, Patriot leaders in many communities quickly organized a new institution of local government called a Committee of
Safety. The committees collected taxes, sent food and clothing to the Continental army, and imposed fines on those who
didn’t support the Patriot cause.
Financial Crisis
I. When the War of Independence began, the new American governments were neither wealthy nor particularly secure. Opposition
to taxes had fueled the independence movement, so the Patriot-dominated assemblies hesitated to raise taxes for fear of
undermining their fragile authority.
II. To finance the war, the state government adopted a variety of strategies. First, they borrowed money from wealthy individuals,
but those funds soon ran out. Second, the states adopted a new monetary system based on the dollar and used it to pay soldiers
and purchase supplies.
A. Theoretically the new notes could be redeemed at a stated time in gold or silver, but because they were printed in huge
quantities and were not backed with tax revenues or mortgages on land, many refused to accept them at their face value.
Many state governments teetered on the brink of bankruptcy.
III. The Continental Congress was equally hard pressed for financial resources. Until 1781, when all the states finally ratified the
Articles of Confederation, Congress lacked the legal authority over the states. After ratification, the Confederation government
was still dependent on the funds requisitioned from the states, which was frequently paid late or not at all.
A. To raise money, Congress depended on loans from France and wealthy Americans, but without the power to tax, it could not
assure creditors that it would be repaid.
B. When these loans and credits from the French and Dutch were exhausted, Congress followed the lead of the states and
financed the war by printing bills of credit.
C. The enormous increase in the volume of paper money created the worst inflation in American history. The amount of goods
available for purchase had shrunk significantly because of the fighting and the British naval blockade, whereas the amount
of money had multiplied. Because consumers had lots of currency, they “bid up” the price of goods.
D. Unwilling to accept the virtually worthless currency, hard pressed farmers refused to sell their crops, even to the Continental
army. To supply their own needs, farmers used barter—trading grain for tools and clothes—or sold goods only to those who
could pay in gold or silver. Civilian morale and social cohesion crumbled, causing Patriot leaders to doubt that the rebellion
could succeed.
Valley Forge
I. Fears of defeat reached their peak during the winter of 1777-78. Washington’s army retreated to Valley Forge and nearby
farmers refused to help. Some were pacifists and unwilling to help either side, others were self-interested, hoarding their grain in
hopes of higher prices.
II. In this dark hour Baron von Steuben raised the self-respect and readiness of the American army at Valley Forge. He instituted a
 standardized system of drill and maneuver. His efforts encouraged officers to become more professional in their demeanor and
behavior and instilled greater order and discipline.
The Path to Victory, 1778-1783
I. The Patriots’ prospects improved dramatically in 1778 when the United States formed a military alliance with France. The
alliance brought the Americans money, troops, and supplies, and changed the conflict from a colonial rebellion to an
international war.
The French Alliance
Negotiating the Treaty
I. Franklin and his associates craftily exploited the rivalry between France and Britain, using the threat of a negotiated settlement
with Britain to win an explicit French commitment to American independence. The Treaty of Alliance of February 6, 1778,
specified that once France had entered the war against Great Britain, neither partner would sign a separate peace before the
liberty of the US was assured. In return, the American diplomats pledged that their government would recognize any French
conquests in the West Indies.
A. News of the alliance immediately gave new life to the Patriots’ cause. Now certain of access to military supplies and loans,
the American army soon strengthened and hopes soared.
B. With renewed energy and purpose, the Congress addressed the pressing demands for pensions by the officers in the
Continental army. Most officers came from the upper ranks of society and had used their own funds to equip themselves and
their men; as compensation officers wanted lifetime pensions at half-pay. At first congress rejected the demand. Raised as
gentlemen, officers were supposed to be exemplars of public service and give freely to preserve the republic. Washington
urged Congress to grant the pensions.
The British Response
I. The conflict with America had never been popular in Britain. During the late 1760s British political radicals and republican-
minded artisans had supported American demands for greater rights as part of their own campaign for electoral reform at home;
they wanted broader voting rights and more equitable representation for cities in Parliament.
A. Now, as the cost of war mounted, the landed gentry and urban merchants voiced discontent denouncing increases in the land
tax and the stamp duty as well as new levies on carriages, wine, and imported goods.
B. King George remained determined to crush the rebellion. If American won independence, he warned Lord North in 1777,
other countries would follow them.
C. Following the British defeat at Saratoga, the king assumed a more pragmatic attitude. Worried about a Franco-American
alliance, he allowed North to seek a settlement that would meet various Patriot demands. In February 1778 North had
Parliament repeal the Tea Act and Prohibitory Acts and renounce its right to tax the colonies.
The War in the South
I. The French alliance expanded the war into a global conflict but did not rapidly conclude it. France and Spain, which joined later,
both had their own agendas. France wanted to acquire a rich sugar island while Spain hoped to win back Florida. The destiny of
the new American republic had become enmeshed in a web of European territorial quarrels and the conflict between France and
Britain for global maritime superiority.
II. The British ministry, now beset by war on many fronts, placed the highest priority in retaining control of its islands in the West
Indies and adopted a modest strategy in North America. Rather than seeking to crush the Patriots, it sought to confine the
rebellion to relatively poor northern colonies and to recapture the rich tobacco and rice-growing colonies of Virginia, the
 Carolinas, and Georgia.
A. Once these staple-producing colonies had been captured, they would be held and administered by local Loyalists. The
British knew that Scottish Highlanders in North Carolina retained an especially strong allegiance to the Crown and hoped to
recruit other Loyalists from the ranks of backcountry regulators, who had long opposed Patriot planters along the seacoast.
B. The ministry also hoped to take advantage of southern racial divisions. At the least, these conflicts would undermine the
Patriots’ military efforts. Because blacks formed 30-50% of the population, owners were afraid to arm them. For the same
reason as many planters refused to allow their sons or white overseers to join the Continental forces, they were afraid that
their absence would promote slave revolts.
III. During most of 1780 British forces marched from victory to victory thanks to Sir Henry Clinton. Then the tide of battle began to
turn, thanks in part to events in Europe.
A. Hoping to restore its supremacy in world commerce, the Dutch declared war against Britain, creating yet another threat to
British shipping and the Royal Navy. France also dispatched troops to the American mainland
B. American prospects likewise improved in the south. The new battle approach created by Nathaniel Greene evened up the
conflict. But Loyalist garrisons and militia remained strong, assisted by Cherokee warriors and their chief Dragging Canoe.
IV. In the south, both sides lost hundreds of people.
V. The Franco-American victory at Yorktown broke the resolve of the British government. They lacked the will or resources to
raise a new army to continue the war in America, and British prospects everywhere were equally dim.
A. The combined French and Spanish fleet menaced Britain’s sugar islands, Dutch merchants were capturing European and
Asian markets from British traders, and a newly formed group of European states—the League of Armed Neutrality—was
demanding an end to Britain’s commercial blockade of France. Isolated diplomatically in Europe, stymied militarily in
America, and lacking public support at home, the British ministry gave up active prosecution of the war.
The Patriot Advantage
I. Angry members of Parliament demanded an explanation for the military defeat. The ministry blamed the military leadership,
pointing to a series of blunders.
II. Unlike most revolutionaries, the Patriots were led by experienced politicians who commanded public support. Although only 1/3
of the white population zealously backed the rebellion, another 1/3 acknowledged the legitimacy of the Parliament-dominated
local and state governments, paid taxes, and supported the war effort. And even though the Continental army had been built from
scratch and was never very large, it was fighting on familiar terrain with the assistance of thousands of militiamen.
A. Once the rebels had financial and military support from France, they could reasonably hope for victory.
B. They were lucky to have an impressive military leader such as George Washington. He deferred to the civil authorities,
thereby winning support from the Congress and state governments alike. He came to understand that warfare in a lightly
governed agricultural society required the deft use of rural militia units. He had a greater margin for error than the British
generals because Patriots controlled local governments and could mobilize the militia to intervene at crucial moments.
C. In the end the American people decided the outcome of the conflict. Preferring Patriot rule, a majority of white Americans
refused to support local Loyalists or welcome invading British armies. Consequently, while the British won many military
triumphs, they achieved few political victories and their defeats at Saratoga and Yorktown proved catastrophic.
Diplomatic Triumph
I. After Yorktown in took nearly 2 years to conclude the war with a diplomatic settlement. Peace talks began in Paris in April
 1782, but the French and Spanish negotiators stalled, hoping for a major naval victory or territorial conquest.
A. Their delaying tactics infuriated the American diplomats who feared that drawn-out negotiations would tempt France to
sacrifice American interests. For this reason the Americans negotiated secretly with the British; they were prepared to
repudiate the treaty with France and to sign a separate agreement with Britain.
B. Many members of Parliament no longer supported the war, and ministers feared the loss to France of a rich West Indian
sugar island. Franklin and his colleagues craftily exploited this rivalry between Britain and France, winning a diplomatic
settlement that was extremely favorable to the US.
II. In the Treaty of Paris, signed September 3, 1783, Great Britain formally recognized American independence. Britain retained
Canada, which now had a southern boundary at the Great Lakes. However, all land south of the lakes between the Appalachian
Mountains and the Mississippi River was ceded to the American republic.
A. Although this territory was still the domain of undefeated native Americans, Britain did not secure its allies’ rights to the
land by insisting on a separate Indian territory. Leaving the Indians to their own fate, negotiators promised to withdraw
British garrisons from the region.
B. Other treaty provisions granted American fishing rights off Newfoundland and Nova Scotia and guaranteed freedom of
navigation on the Mississippi to British subjects and American citizens. In its only major concessions, the American
government promised not to hinder British merchants from recovering prewar debts and to recommend to the state
legislatures that they treat Loyalists as equal citizens and return the property that had been confiscated from them during the
war.
III. In the Treaty of Versailles, signed at the same time, Britain made a separate peace with France and Spain. Neither American ally
gained very much. Spain failed in its main objective of retaking Gibraltar, though it retained Louisiana and reclaimed Florida.
France reduced British power in North America, but its only territorial gain was the island of Tobago.
Republicanism Defined and Challenged
I. From the moment they became revolutionary republicans, Americans began to define the character of their new social order.
A. Jefferson’s replacement of property with happiness suggested that many Americans considered the private ownership of
property a prerequisite for happiness. It also reflected the idealism of many Patriots and their commitment to republican
virtue, an enlightenment quest for the public interest.
B. The tension between self-interest and public interest shaped the history of the new nation from the moment of its inception.
Even as the war was being fought, Patriots argued over a series of important issues—who should bear the cost of the war,
whether the property rights of Loyalists should be respected, whether slavery was compatible with republicanism, whether
the government should support religion—in which the rights of the individual stood in tension with the welfare of the
community.
Republican Ideals and Wartime Pressures
I. For many Americans republicanism meant more than a political system; it was a social philosophy.
The Ideal Tested
I. Because republicanism lauded public virtue and community service, the Continental Congress praised the self-sacrifice of the
militiamen who fought and fell at Lexington and Concord. But as the war continued, the willingness of soldiers to endure
military hardships diminished.
A. During the hard winters of 1779 and 1780, Continental troops stationed in New Jersey mutinied because of low pay and
sparse rations.
 B. Economic distress also tested the republican virtue of ordinary citizens. The British naval blockade nearly destroyed the
New England fishing industry and cut off the supply of European manufactured goods. The British occupation of Boston,
New York, and Philadelphia caused domestic trade and manufacturing to decline, as did the recruitment of men for the
military. Unemployed people left the cities and drifted into the countryside. In the Chesapeake the British blockade deprived
tobacco planters of European markets, forcing them to turn to the cultivation of grain, which could be sold at home. All
across the land the character of commercial activity changed as farmers and artisans adapted to the war economy.
II. In most areas the scarcity of goods brought a sharp rise in prices, and hard-pressed consumers decried merchants and traders as
enemies and monopolizers.
A. Responding to widespread appeals for government regulation, in 1777 a convention of New England states restricted
increases in the price of domestic commodities and imported goods to 75% above the prewar level. However, many farmers
and artisans refused to sell goods at the established prices. Some producers wanted to pass along their own rising costs, but
others were determined to profit from wartime shortages. In the end consumers had to pay market price.
B. The struggle over regulation came to a head in Philadelphia. Following the British withdrawal from the city in 1778, severe
food shortages and soaring prices prompted a sharp conflict over regulated versus free trade. In May 1779 the city’s artists
and laborers used their political influence to persuade a town meeting to establish a Committee of Prices. The Committee
set wholesale and retail prices, justifying their regulation by invoking the traditional concept of the “just price” and urging
citizens to act with “republican virtue”
C. Led by the influential Patriot financier Robert Morris, the merchant community condemned the price controls and espoused
the “classical liberal” ideas of free trade and enlightened self-interest. Morris argued that regulation would only encourage
farmers to hoard their crops, whereas allowing prices to rise and fall would bring more goods to market and relieve scarcity.
D. However, most Philadelphians favored “fair” rather than “free” trade—at least in principle. In practice, however, many
artisans-republicans—shoemakers, tanners, and bakers—found that they could not support their families on fixed prices and
so refused to abide by them. In civilian life as in the military, self-interest tended to triumph over republican virtue.
Women and Household Production
I. Faced with a shortage of goods and with constantly rising prices, government officials found it almost impossible to purchase
cheap supplies for the troops. They met this challenge by requisitioning goods directly from the people. In these difficult times
Patriot women contributed to the war effort by increasing their production of homespun textiles.
A. Other women assumed the burdens of farm production while their men were away at war. Some went into the fields,
plowing, harvesting, and loading grain, while others supervised hired laborers or slaves, in the process acquiring a taste for
decision making.
B. Women’s contributions to the war efforts boosted their self-esteem and prompted some to claim greater rights in the new
republican society. It also sparked an increase in farm household productivity that would soon create a dynamic rural
economy.
II. Taught from childhood to act selflessly—to value the welfare of their fathers, brothers, and husbands above their own—most
Patriot women did not experience a sharp conflict between republican virtue and self-interest. But women often found that their
family’s interest differed from that of the Patriot cause. So, like men, they carefully calculated every financial transaction,
refusing to sell their grain, meat, and cloth to Patriot commissaries who offered low prices or payment in Continental currency.
Fiscal Crisis
I. Indeed, the spiraling inflation posed the most severe challenge to American families and the notion of public virtue.
 A. To restore the value of its currency, the Continental Congress asked the states to assess taxes that citizens could pay by
using 40 paper dollars as the equivalent to a silver dollar. This plan brought in $120 million in Continental bills as tax
payments, but it also provided a financial windfall for speculators.
II. In this financial game there were many more losers than winners. The losers were the tens of thousands of farmers, artisans, and
soldiers who had received Continental bills for supplies or as military pay. As soon as they received the currency, it lost
purchasing power. Individually these losses were small, but collectively such “currency taxes” paid the huge cost of the war.
The Loyalist Exodus
I. As the war turned in favor of the Patriots, Loyalists faced disaster. Fearing for their lives, 100,000 Americans who had supported
the Crown immigrated to the West Indies, Britain, and Canada.
A. The exodus disrupted the existing social order, for some of the Loyalists were wealthy and politically powerful merchants,
lawyers, and landowners.
B. The land, buildings, and goods left behind by the Loyalists raised the issue of the sanctity of property rights. Some Patriots
denounced them as traitors whose property should be confiscated, and the passions of the war lent urgency to their
demands. In North Carolina the state government assumed temporary control of Loyalists’ estates and rented them out to
defray military expenses. But when the British army invaded the south, the Patriot-dominated assembly confiscated the
estates and sold them at auction.
C. Many public officials opposed the seizure of Loyalist property as contrary to Patriot principles. Most Tory property in MA
was handled by the court system under the Act of Provide for the Payment of Debts. The courts mandated the seizure of
land and goods needed to reimburse creditors, but the remaining property reverted to the families of departed Loyalists.
II. Thus during the independence struggle there was no government-led social revolution. Most states seized only a limited amount
of Loyalist property—owned by the most notorious Loyalists—and sold it to the highest bidder, usually a wealthy Patriot. Only
in a few cases did these confiscations produce a democratic result. In general the revolutionary upheaval did not drastically alter
the structure of rural society.
III. Social turmoil was greater in the cities, as Patriot merchants replaced Tories at the top of the economic ladder. In Philadelphia,
small-scale traders stepped into the vacancies created by the collapse of Anglican and Quaker mercantile firms. These changes
heralded the appearance of a more dynamic economic order.
A. Many Loyalist merchants had imbibed the English values and consequently invested their profits from trade in real estate,
becoming country gentlemen and landlords who lived off their rents. The Patriot merchants who replaced them tended to be
more entrepreneurial-minded. Some became speculators in western lands, but others promoted new trading ventures and
domestic manufacturing.
The Problem of Slavery
I. The American Revolution generated intense debate over the institution of slavery, in part because of the active role played by
African Americans on both sides. Many slaves won their freedom by fighting for the king.
II. Slavery revealed a contradiction in the Patriots’ republican ideology.
Gradual Emancipation in the North
I. The intense questioning of slavery was new. Before the American Revolution, Europeans did not believe in political or social
equality. Inequality of condition and status was the norm in European society. Slavery in Europe’s American possessions pushed
this doctrine to the extreme.
 II. The Quakers, whose belief in religious equality had made them sharp critics of many social inequalities in Europe, took the lead
in condemning slavery in America.
A. The outbreak of the independence struggle led many North Carolina Quakers to “clear their hands” of the institution by
manumitting their slaves.
B. Other rapidly growing pietistic religious dominations, notably the Methodists and the Baptists, advocated emancipation.
III. Enlightenment philosophy also played a role in the debate. Many slaveholders justified slavery by depicting Africans as savage
—suited to bondage by their nature. Such beliefs ran counter to the thought of John Locke, who argued that ideas and habits
were not innate but stemmed from a person’s impressions and experiences in the world.
A. Accordingly, Enlightenment thinkers suggested that the oppressive conditions of slavery, not inherent inferiority, accounted
for the debased situation of Africans.
IV. These religious and secular arguments placed slavery on the defensive, especially in the north, where there were relatively few
African Americans.
A. By 1784 MA had abolished slavery outright and 3 other states—PA, CT, and RI—had provided for its gradual termination.
Within another 20 years every state north of Delaware had implemented a policy of gradual emancipation.
B. This policy gave priority to white property rights, for it required blacks to endure more years of unpaid labor.
C. Emancipation in the north came slowly for several reasons. Many whites feared that freed blacks would compete with them
for jobs and housing. They were horrified at the idea of race melding, so they opposed marriages between blacks and whites
with much greater intensity than they resisted marriages between people of different Christian churches.
Emancipation in the Chesapeake Region
I. The tension between the republican values of liberty and property was greatest in the South. However, some Chesapeake
planters were moving away from slavery either because they had joined the Methodist or Baptist churches or because their
plantations were oversupplied with workers. Consequently, they allowed blacks to buy their freedom through paid work as
artisans or laborers.
A. But these developments were not strong enough to dislodge such a deeply rooted institution as slavery. Even more than in
the north, most southern whites did not want a society filled with free African Americans.
B. In 1792 the Virginia legislature rejected a proposal for gradual emancipation and made it more difficult for individual
masters to free their slaves. Many argued that slavery was a “necessary evil” required to maintain white supremacy and their
lifestyles.
II. The southern debate over emancipation ended in 1800 when whites thwarted an uprising planned by the slave-artisan Gabriel
Prosser. Throughout the south, most whites reaffirmed their commitment to slavery and white property rights, regardless of the
cost to republican principles.
A Republican Religious Order
I. Before 1776 most colonies had a legally established church, supported by public taxes and often by laws that mandated
attendance. Only the Quaker and Baptist-controlled colonies of PA and RI allowed individuals to support and worship at
churches of their own choosing. Political revolution, however, broadened the appeal of religious liberty, forcing Patriot
lawmakers to devise a new relationship between the church and state.
Separation of Church and State
I. The most dramatic change in the religious situation came in those states where the Church of England had been legally
 established. In Virginia most Anglicans immediately renounced allegiance to the king and the church of which he was the head.
By 1778 they had reorganized themselves as the Protestant Episcopal Church of America.
A. To win support for the war, the Virginia Episcopalians accepted the legitimacy of Presbyterian and Baptist churches, thereby
undermining the idea of a single, state-supported church.
B. Leading Virginia Patriots also questioned the wisdom of an established church. In 1776 James Madison and George Mason
persuaded the Virginia convention to issue a Declaration of Rights that would guarantee the free exercise of religion to all
Christians. Later that year the Virginia legislature passed an act exempting dissenters from paying taxes to support the
Anglican church.
II. The debate over state support for religion continued after the war. Baptists in particular opposed the use of taxes to support
religion. In Virginia their political influence prompted lawmakers to reject a bill supported by George Washington and Patrick
Henry that would have imposed a general tax to fund all Christian churches.
A. Instead, in 1786 the Virginia legislature enacted Thomas Jefferson’s Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom, which made
all churches equal before the law and granted direct financial support to none.
B. In NY and NJ the number of churches prevented legislative agreement on an established church or compulsory religious
taxes.
III. Many Americans clung to traditional European principles, arguing that a firm union of church and state would promote morality
and respect for authority.
A. Most state governments provided churches with indirect aid by exempting their property and ministers from taxation.
B. The separation of church and state came slowly, especially in New England, where Congregationalist ministers who had
strongly supported the independence movement were able to preserve a legally established church until the 1830s.
C. After the Revolution an established church and compulsory religious taxes were no longer the norm.
Freedom of Conscience
I. The meaning and extent of religious freedom remained controversial. In Virginia, Jefferson’s Bill for Establishing Religious
Freedom instituted the principle of liberty of conscience by outlawing religious affiliation as a requirement for holding political
and civil offices.
A. However, other states enforced religious criteria for voting and officeholding, penalizing individuals who dissented from the
doctrines of Protestant Christianity.
B. Such restrictive doctrines commanded widespread support, both among the public at large and in courts of law. For many,
the preservation of social cohesion had a higher priority than the individual’s right to free speech.
II. Americans who were influenced by Enlightenment values condemned such restrictions on freedom of conscience. Leading
American Patriots extended republicanism principles to religion, arguing that God had given human beings the power of reason
so they could determine moral truths for themselves.
III. Many evangelical Protestants also favored freedom of conscience, but their main goal was to protect their churches from state
control.