FFW (5 min): Some historians argue that our current political differences are not the result of a simple urban/rural divide. Rather they can be traced back to deep cultural divisions present in the original 13 colonies. Do you agree? Disagree? WHY?
What do you see?
Revolutionary War
FFW (5 min): What are the causes of the Revolutionary War? List as many as you can think of based on previous knowledge and what you know about British Colonization thus far.
What do you see?
Causes of the Revolutionary War
The Revolutionary War was not really one single war. Rather, it consisted of six or more separate wars, each fought for separate reasons, and each with separate sets of belligerents:
New England was the most anti-British of the American Nations and it gained de-facto independence in 1776, less than a year after fighting began.
New Amsterdam was a pro-loyalist stronghold which held out till 1778 when it was conquered and occupied by patriots from the other nations. Over half the population fled to Canada and Britain.
The Midlands was also pro-loyalist and was conquered by patriot forces in 1778. The Philadelphia-based Quaker leadership was exiled and borderlanders from inland areas took over.
Tidewater saw sporadic slave revolts incited by loyalists which were finally put down in 1780.
The Deep South suffered a series of civil wars that lasted until 1781. The fiercest fighting was not between Brits and patriots, but between loyalist Appalachians and patriot slaveholders. The loyalist Appalachians had no great love for the British. They were simply fighting against the violent and authoritarian rule of the slaveholding class.
The Yankee Pennamite War was a longstanding conflict between Yankees and Midlanders which was finally resolved in 1782 in favor of the Midlanders.
The Revolutionary War was as much a war between Americans as it was a war with the British. This set a bad precedent for future cooperation between the colonies. After the British retreated, populist violence continued to plague the colonies and the leadership worried that their territories were descending into “common revolution.”
Reflection: What do we understand about current political differences by studying the 13 colonies and the American Revoltion?
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