A Rebellion of Symbols

People, ideas and items that stirred the emotions and steeled the resolve

to rebel against England

I. Symbols That Made a Difference

A. The King

• George III’s Problems and Liabilities

• Traditional colonial view of the King

• A Parliament without sensitivity or creativity

• Long travel time between England and America creates communication problems

• Great Awakening further alienated colonists from their earthly king

B. American Political Language: Republican Metaphors

• Strong moral component in these metaphors

• John Locke’s social contract theory

• “No Taxation without Representation” and the “rights” of Englishmen

• The significance of Tom Paine’s Common Sense (1776)

• Masonic influence on the thinking of the American revolutionaries

C. The British Army

• Reason for British regiments left in America

• Traditional British Fear of a “standing army”

• Army seen as an obstacle to American expansion and economic development

• Resistance to the Quartering Act (1765)

C. The British Army (cont)

• The symbolic significance of the Boston Massacre (March, 1770)

• Significance of killing a British regular during the War for Independence

D. Effigies, Homespun and “92”

• Long English history of burning effigies

• Colonial American history of attacking British officials

• American view of British taxes: external vs. internal

• The Stamp Act (1765) and the various levels of resistance to it

• The Townshend Duties (1767) and the resistance to them

• The symbolism of “92”

E. Tea and Indians

• Relative quiet for 3 years following the partial repeal of the Townshend Duties--Committees of Correspondence

• British love of tea• The threat of the Tea

Act (1773)

E. Tea and Indians (cont)

• Resistance to the Tea Act

--Boston Tea Party (December, 1773)

• British response to the Tea Party: the Coercive Acts

• Colonial response to Coercive Acts

F. The “Minutemen”

• Paul Revere’s “solitary ride”

• The Battles of Lexington and Concord (April 19, 1775)

• Image of brave, yeoman farmer as volunteer soldier versus the reality of the Continental Line

• Town militias did maintain control over large areas not directly controlled by the British regulars

G. The Continental Army

• Counter-symbol to the minutemen and the strategy of guerilla warfare

• Composition and conduct of these forces

• Became the symbol of the American cause

• Washington tried to avoid general actions at all costs

• Lingering American suspicion of even their own standing army

• 5000 African-Americans served in integrated units

II. The War the Symbols Made

A. “The Odds, But . . .”

• American prospects were grim

• British faced logistical problems

• America was too vast to be conquered in the traditional way

• British underestimated American fighting skill, spirit and will to resist

• British targeted cities rather than Washington’s army

B. Three Theaters of War

• Northern Theater (1775-1776)

--Bunker Hill (1775)

--Trenton (Christmas night, 1776)

• Central Theater (1777-1779)

--Valley Forge, (Winter of 1777-1778)

--Saratoga (October, 1777)

B. Three Theaters of War (cont)

• Southern Theater (1780-1781)

--Yorktown (October, 1781)

--Lord Cornwallis

-- “The World Turned Upside Down”

C. Peace and the War’s Results

• The Peace of Paris (1783)• American Casualty figures• Results and Consequences

of the American Revolution• A Political, but not a Social

Revolution• Wave of slave

manumissions• Expanded, but temporary,

female political influence• A “British Vietnam”?

III. The Real Victims of Revolutionary Symbols: Loyalists

• 20% of White American Population—about 100,000 people

• All ranks and sections of society

• Their sacrifice

• Very sad and lonely group

• Their treatment

• 40,000 Tories fought as a part of the British Army