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The Revolutionary War was an astounding occurrence in a world sill dominated by kings. It established the first important republic since Rome in the middle of what at the time was a wilderness far from Europe. It was a war that the British could have easily avoided had King George and his advisors been willing to show the least flexibility. Many in Britain objected to the War and a minority of Americans wanted independence at the time the war began. It was also a war that the American colonists won by the slimmest of margins against the most powerful country in the world. The Americans succeeded in their struggle only because they were aided by a French king who was opposed to offering the same liberties to his people that the Americans were demanding from their king. The American Revolution is a struggle that has been somewhat lost because of the much greater scholarly interest in America on the Civil War. As a result, most American's view the war through simplistic primary school readings which obscure the tremendously complicated course of events that led to the War and creation of the American Republic. The American Revolution was the first of a series of modern revolutions. It is often dismissed by modern more radical revolutionaries. It is, however, beyond a doubt tghe most successful of all the revolutions. English scholars, perhaps because Britain lost the War, have given it almost no scholarly attention. Among the consequences was a radical change in British colonial policy.
The Revolutionary War was an astounding occurrence in a world sill dominated by divine right, often absolutoist monarchs. The divine right of kings to rule was still the dominant political philosophy. The religious and philosophical underpinings of divine right monarchy had been brouht into question by the Enlightement, but monarchs still ruled throughout Europe. The Revolution established the first important republic since Rome in the middle of what at the time was a wilderness far from Europe. There were other Republics such as Venice and the Swiss Confederation, but for some reason neither had a significant impact on European political thought. The Amereican Revolution was to prove to be the beginning of the unraveling of the system of monarchy that had dominated Europe over a millenia.
Britain today is seen as the imperial country par excelence. It is important to recall that that this was not the case at the time of the Revolution. The British did mnot establish colonies until over 100 years after the Spanish began building their New World Empire. Throughout the 17th century, the English colonies were of only minor importance compared to the great wealth coming out of the Spanish colonies. In addition it was not until the second half of the 18th century that Britain emerged victorious in its colonial wars with France. The British in their colonies were primarily concerned with establishing the colonies. Once established the colonies were allowed to govern themselves with often very limited interventioin by a royal governor. In fact during the 17th century Civil War and Commonwealth, the colonies were largely on their own. Britain for about 150 years had no coherent colonial policy. A major institutioin was the Board of Trade, but gere there was not overall policy persued over extended periods. This begin to change in the mid 18th century as the British began to increasingly attempt to gain economic advantage from the colonies. The colonists left alone for so many years, began to resent the increasing British effort to control the colonies and as many saw it, limit their economic prospects. Here Lord Halifax George Dunkin persued policies through the Board of Trade became particularly resented in the Colonies.
The American colonies by the mid-18th century were no longer new socities. Some colonists could trace their families back to more than two centuriues of life in Ameeica. Many had lost contact with their English relatives. Even so. one of the most important common bonds connecting the colonies was the English language and the strength with which they considered themselves Englismen and loyal subjects of the Crown. The other bond was an often fervent prtotestantism. Otherwise the colonies were exceedingly diverse poltically, culturally, and economically. Their colonial charters were quite different and there was a range of religions and ethnic backgrounds. The largest ethnic group was English, but there were also native Americns and African blacks, most reduced to slavery. The most important non-English group were the Scotts-Irish, the one group that was often hostile to the Crown. They were concentrated on the western frontier fringe and often looked down on by the more established colonists of English ancestry. 9There were smaller populations from various European countries, including the descendents of Dutch and Swesish settlers. There were religious communities who isolated themselves. There were many Protestabnt sects, some od which like te Bapstists were supressed to varying degrees by the established Anglicans. Quakers were found in many colonies, especially Pennsylvania. There were ecen Cathlics, especially in Maryland. There was very little communication and trade between the collonies. Europeans visiting the colonies could never have imagined that these diverse entities could make common cause against the mother country.
The English colonists felt hemmed in along the Eastern seaboard. France was the great fear of the colonists. Here we have the historical conflict with France (the Colonists saw themselves as English), the Catholicism of France, and the absolute rule of the French monarchy. By the mid-17th century, that had begun to moved west across the Appalachens into Kentucky. Here the English came in conflict with the French mocing south from Canada. The question became who would control the Ohio Valley. French and British fighting in the Seven Years War began in North America. In fact George Washington was involved in the first engagement. The American portion of the Seven Years War (1756-63) is known as the French and Indian War. The War has a major impact on events leading to the Revolution. One might think that the British role in removing the French and Native American threat to the Colonies would have permanently sealed bonds between Britain and the grateful colonies. This did not prove to be the case. The removal of the French from North America meant that the British and Colonists no longer had a common enemy. The War was also very costly. The Colonists had made a major contribution to the war effort. The War was also costly to the British who began to look to the Colonies to pay a grerater share of the costs of empire, especially the costs of maintaing military force.
It is almost incoceiveable how a people who in the 1760s fervently saw themselves as English, judged England to be the nost justly ghiverned country in the world, and honored the monarchy would in the 1770s launched a republican revolution. Ironically it was the aftermath of the French and Indian War that played a major role.
Frrance rivaled England in military power in the 1760s. The Colonies could not exist without England. It was British military power that preserved the colonies from French rule and French Catholcism. While one might think that this would have cemented the relations between the colonies and the mother country, in fact it did just the opposite. Not only did the French and Indian War eliminate a common enemy, but it created a growing bone of contention between the colonies and British--the issue of taxes. The Colonists no longer felt threatened which meant that they no longer thought that they needed the British as much as they once did. And with the French threat gone, they no longer felt the need to pay taxes for military forces.
The British Parliament passed the Quebec Act (1774). It was designed to provide for the administration of Canada which had been acquired from France in the French and Indian War. The Act granted political and religious freedom to the French Canadians who were still the dominant population. (This grant was a major reason French Canadioans remained loyal to the Crown despite repeated American invasions during the Revolutionary War.) The Quebec Act was highly resented in the Coloinies, however, and was considered one of the Intolerable Acts. This was primarily because it nullified the claims that the Colonies had in the Ohio Valley. These clainms were why Washington and the Virginia Militia wasa with the British in the engagement that launched the Fremnch and Indian War. British efforts to close the Ohio Valley to the Colonoists was a major factor in deciding important colonial leaders like Washington that independemce was necessary.
Every American school boy learns that the Colonists were resisting taxation without representation. It is true that the colonists were not represented in Parliament. Another issue is the level of taxation. The British felt that the American colonies were not paying adequately for the cost of the defense of the Colonies. They saw Boston as one big tax haven. The colonists saw themselves as being over taxed. This does not seem to have been the case, but I have not yet noted an objective study of the level of taxation. Perhaps of greater importance was British legislation limiting economic activity. The British attempted to prevent trade with other countries and to limit manufacturing that might compete with British manufacturing. The Colonists turned to smuggling. Inportant colonists were deeply involved in smuggling. There were also efforts to limit western migration to avoid problems with native Americans The British established what became known as the Proclimation Line.
One factor affecting attitudes toward England was economic trends. Fir a range of reasons, the southern colonies might be expected to remain loyal to the Crown. The Revolution broke out the Boston area. There were few ries between Boston and the southern colonies. The Anglian Church was more important in the southern colonies. Wealthy plantation owners depebdant on English markets woukld seen to be unlikely revolutionaries. Here economic trends seem to be important. Many in the southern colonies had become rich trading in England. Many found that prices for their tobacco (cotton was not yet important) and other agricultural prices were declining while the manufactured and luxury goods they brought in England were increasing. I am not sure just why these shifts were occurring. One might think that as the colonies excpanded, production increased affected prices. At any rate, the changing terms of trade affected attitudes toward Britain and increased attention on British laws affecting ecomonic activityin the colonies.
One of the most notable observations when studying the great figures of the Revolution is the number of almost unbelievably talented and educated people in America that decided to separate from Britain and today are known as the founding fathers. It is almost unfathomable that such a small population as the American colonies could have produced the number of talented, deeply thoughtful individuals to lead their Revolution. Many were amazingly well educated, but one noted scholar enphasizes that they were not sophistcates in the sence of the British political and military leaders they faced. HBC has developed biographies on some of the individuals involved in the Revolution. The early American presidents were involved (Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and Madison). Another president (Jackson) fought in the War as a boy. Two important monarchs (George III and Louis XV). Also surprisingly a leading Roman orator (Cicero) was amazingly influential, especially in devising the Constitution which followed the War.
Americans have a continuing interest with the Founding Fathers. Books about them continue to appear on the best seller list. One questions that many Americans ask today is how we could have so many brilliant men when we were a small country and why today when we are a much larger and better educated people find ourself with leaders who do not seem to measure up to the Founding Fathers. Some argue that the current political system does not permit men like the Founding Fathers to succeed in the political process. The Founding Fathers are often idealized and placed on a lofty pedestal. These men, however, were not saints. They acted in what they saw as their own self interest. Yet they took enormous risks, however, in lasunching the Revolution. There was no surity of success, in fact failure was vmore likely and nearly occurred in 1776. Many would have probably been hanged. Yet they risked all out of a fascinating mixture of self interest and personal conviction. One common thread among the founding fathers is the degree to which they had been influenced by the European Enlightenment, including both English and French thinkers..
The American revolution was the first of the great revolutions. In many ways it was the most unusual. It was not a matter of a powerless people demanding their rights. They already had their rights and colonial legislatures. It was the British Government atempting to restrict the powers of those legislatures--in effect orcestrationg aolitical revolution. The colonies developed in a time in which the British Government exervised little control, in part becuse of the desrptions of the Civil War and disputes between Parliment and the monarchy. It was the French and Indian War that changed British policy. The British Government was becoming more efficent and needed more income to finance the growing empire. Abd the North American colonies were a major part of that empire and very prosperous. They were, however, not willing to accept any dilution of th authority of theirlegislatures or to help finance Britain's new empire. The Colonists were not to sure just who threatened their freedoms, some blamed Parliament others blamed the King. In many ways the American Revolution was a civil war. Historians often mention the population of the Colonies was only about 3 million. Less commonly mentioned is the fact that Britain's population was only about 8 million at the time. With the rapidly growing population in America, the time was approaching in which the Colonies would be larger than Britain itself. Rupture between thetwo was inevitable. The curious thing about the Revolution was that despite the Revolution aand continuing political strains between Britain and America, America remained culturally dependent on Europe--especially Britain.
The Revolution was a war that the British could have easily avoided had King George and his advisors been willing to show the some flexibility. In many ways it seems difficult to understand the depth of colonial disatisfaction with the British. The two central issues in the war were: !) the authority of the colonial legislatures and ultimately the power to tax and 2) British restrictions on western movement and colonial land claims beyond the Appalachian Mountains. Had Britain not attempted to dilute the perogatives of the legislatures it seems likely that the colonists would have never been pushed toward common action and instead been more focuded on the individual and in many ways conflicting interests. Futhermore, many in Britain objected to the War and a minority of Americans wanted independence at the time the war began. At the onset probably less than a third of American wanted independence. Surely at least a third, probably more
saw themselves as Englishmen living in America and loyal subjects of the King. The World was a dangerous place. Most Colonists were of English stock and many looked on England as home. Many also welcomed the protection of the British Empire and had no desire to leave, as long as they could have local self government. This loyalty to the British Empire was especially strong among the privileged class who were eventually to become the major Patriot leaders, men like Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Hancock, Franklin, and many others. The same was true in the South among the planter class. The question of how men who considered themselves British came in a relatively short period of time to take up arms against Britain is a fascinating question. A good example here is wealthy planter, Landon Carter, of Virginia. Wemention him because he kept a diary and one can trace his thought process as he moved slowly from ardent monarchist to reluctant rebel. [Issac] For him and many others, the turning point was thecStamp Act. These were men who not only feared existing in a world without the protection of the Empire, but also facing future challenges to their privileged lives from the poor and uneducated that constituted the bulk of the population. It is no accident that the American Republic resulting from the War was a very undemocratic count. (The result is still with us today in that George Bush became President when more Americans voted for Al Gore.) Only incredibly arrogant policies pursued by the King and his compliant Parliament gradually turned American opinion toward Independence. [Ketchum] In this regard, Lord North's intemperate remarks played an especially important role. [Green, p. 8.]
A question arises as to how the English colonists, most fervently attached to Britain, came to see themselves as Americans. There were many reasons for this, but one important reason was there was in America an important group which had grown up looking as the British as invaders and suppressors--the Scotts-Irish. Most ardently embraced the Patriot cause in greater proportion than any other group in America. Their importance on the Western frontier made the western frontier areas a strong supporter of independence. A good example here is Andrew Jackson . It has been estimated that as much as a third of Washington's Continental Army was composed of the Scotts-Irish. There were reportedly 1,400 officers. The father of the American Navy, Commodore John Beary, was Irish. There were eight Irish signers of the Declaration of Independence--three born in Ireland and five in America. The Declaration was printed by an Irish printer. It should be stressed that the Irish in the Revolution were primarily the Protestant Scotts Irish from Ulster. The contribution of Catholic Irish would come later. While the English had thoroughly suppressed the Irish and Scotts by the late 18th century, in no small measure, the resentment that caused along with migration to America was a key factor in their loss of the American. There were differences between the Scotts-Irish and Scotts. The Scott-Irish proved to be a mainstay of the Continental cause. Ironically the Scotts who had been so brutally treated by the Crown in Scotland were divided many feared that without the monarchy, they would be exposed to the domibation of the English majority. The Scotts Irish not only played an imprtant role in the major campaigns, but they were also prominant in the West, seizing control of Kentucky. Many of the settlers Daniel Boone led into Kentucky were Scotts Irish. This helped America in the peace neotiatins tomlay claim to the frontier beyond the Aplachains. colonies.
The Continental Congress finally decided on a break with Britain, A Committe was chosen to draft a formal document. Massachusettes delegate John Adams suggested that Virgininian Thomas Jefferson draft it. The fighting at the time was confined to Massaschusetts and Adams saw it was important to involve Virginia. And adams knew that Jefferson was an elegant writer. Jefferson drafted it (June 11-18, 1776). The resulting document which was only minimally edited is a key American symbol of liberty and Jefferson's most important contribution to the cause. Some of the phrases are a critical part of the American lexicon. Jefferson beautifully and consisely expressed the convictions that had slowly taken root in America. The political philosophy of the Declaration were based on the ideals of individual liberty conceived by John Locke and the French philosophers. Jefferson described the philosophy as "self-evident truths". He then listed grievances against the King to justify the rupture of ties with Britain that the Congress had decided to take. It became one of the great documents of democracy and liberty beginning with the Magn Carta.
The American colonists won the Revolutionary War by the slimmest of margins against the most powerful country in the world. The War began with the British effort from Boston to seize military supplies at Lexington and Concord (1775). It was there that the shot heard round the world was fired. Cannon seized by backwoods Patriots from Fort Ticondaroga bottled the British up in Boston. King George III orders a massive new army dispatched to quickly subdue the Colonists. The untrained American militias were unable to resist the British
regulars who quickly smash Washington's Army on Long Island and occupy New York and Philadelphia (1776). Few armies were as close to defeat and survived as George Washington's Continentals in the Winter of 1776. Throughout the War, it was the British who largely controlled the conduct of the fighting, taking advantage of the mobility afforded by the Royal Navy and command of the sea. The British launched most of the offensives and the Colonists were left to defend as best they could. The most significant American victory
was at Saratoga (1778) in the American hinterland where the Royal Navy could not offer support and the population most supportive of the Patriot cause. The British defeat was instrumental in finally bringing the French into the War--acritical development. The overwhelming naval and military superiority of the British allowed the British to control the conduct of the War and made it virtually impossible for the Patriots to force
the British to surrender--as long as they could fall back on a port for reinforcement and resupply. The one successful American offensive was the siege of Yorktown (1781) in Virginia, a siege made possible by the French defeat of a British naval squadron in the Battle of the Cape--a rare French naval victory.
The British throughout the War held the initiative and largely controlled the conduct of the fighting, taking advantage of the mobility afforded by the powerful Royal Navy and command of the sea. The British launched most of the offensives and the Colonists were left to defend as best they could. The one time the British lost control was only for a short period, but it was distrous. A french naval force after the Battle of the Capes (1881) allowed the Colonists and the French to destroy Cornwalis' army at Yorktown. The hard-pressed Colonists could not afford to properly equip the Continental Army, let alone a navy. So the only possibility was a navy on the cheap--priveteering. This was a natural progression from the pervasive smuggling that developed in the Colonies to avoid British trade restrictions, especially the Navigation Acts. The privateers authorized by Congress could keep half of the proceeds that they took. And there were plenty of targets. About half of the British merchant fleet at the time of the Revolution was involved in the Atlantic trade between Britain and the Colonies. The most famous American naval officer was John Paul Jones. Less well known is his rival, John Manley. The Americans were not capable of fleet actions, but they could take on individual Royal Navy ships. And Jones even engaged the British in the Channel. Besides the prizes taken, American naval operations not only disrupted the trade between Britain and the colonies, but drove up insurance rates. The Continental Navy waged a campaign that was a mixture of asymeterical warfare and thinly desguised piracy. Wealthy Colonists financed privateers, both as a patriotic action and to profit financially. {Patton]
Categorizing the Revolutionary War with all its ambiguities and complexities is a difficult challenge. A good case can be made for calling it the first American Civil War. Not only did Americans (many of who looked on themselves essentially as English) fight fellow Britons, but Patriots fought Loyalists. [Ketchum] A less well chronicled aspect was the extent to which the War was a class conflict. While led by the propertied
class, it was fought by yeoman farmers (who fired the shot heard round the world), back woodsmen, and the poor of early American tows, and villages. While excluded from political power, by the time Andrew Jackson, a boy soldier in the War, became president, they had demanded and obtained a role in the Government that would not come in Britain and Europe for generations.
The Revolutionary War was an often brutal war fought with terror and atrocities on both sides. The British an Tories like Tarlatan were incredibly brutal in the southern campaign. As the War began to swing toward the Patriots (Revolutionaries), terror was unleashed upon the loyalists. Homes and farms were burned and there were many killings. Many families had to emigrate, many to Canada. These peoples were not traitors, but instead often loyal Englishmen who often acted from the same lofty civic ideals as the Patriots. [Ketchum]
And while we revere the Founding Fathers, the ranks of the Patriots probably included as many scoundrels and demagogues, men like Sam Adams and Patrick Henry. We are unsure at this time how to compare the terror persued by the loyalists and patriots.
The Americans did not fight the Revolutionaru War alone. They had allies. Ironically the Allies were mostly not others who believed in republicanism and the ringing slogans of the Declaration of Independence, but rather European monarchies who were ruled as absolutist soverigns--the very system the Americans were challenging. Of course this was only true in part. The Colonists were challenging the European monsrch with limited powers and actually Parliament as much as the King. For the Europeans, it was opposition to the growing power of Britain that attracted them to the American cause. The French and Spanish saw the opportunity for both revenge as as well as gains. And French opinion beyond the Court had been powerfully changed by the Enlightenment. Benjamin Franklin as the American Commisioner masterfully played a role designed to take full advantage of Enlightenment thinking. The Dutch were different, They were a small republic, but they had also suffered at the hands of Britain's growing naval and mercantile power. Ironically, while America would gain areat deal from the Revolution, each of its three allies would suffer substantially despite the American victory.
France was a divine right monarchy from which most Americans were grateful that the British had protected them in the French and Indian War which became the Seven Years War in Europe. France was a reluctant ally, but was attracted by the opportunity for revenge after the stunning defeat in the French and Indian war. The prospects for American victory at first seemed remote. The news of the Colonists destruction of an entire British field army at Saratoga decided the matter. France was America's key ally. The Americans succeeded in their struggle only because they were aided by a French monarchy that was opposed to offering the same liberties to his people that the Americans were demanding from their king. In the end, aid to American virtualy babkrupted the monarchy. This and the stirring example of the American Revolution led directky to the French Revolution.
The Dutch were the third former enemy of England to support the Colonies and declare war on Britain.
The Dutch people had favored the Colonies from the very beginning of the War. The Colonial naval hero, John Paul Jones, found refuge in the Netherlands. The United Provinces was considering involvement in the League of Armed Neutrality. Several European powers were planning to conduct "neutral trade" during the war.
The British struck the Dutch to prevent this (1780). The result was the another Anglo-Dutch War (1780-84). This proved devestating for the Dutch. It was ruionous for their mercantil economy. As a result, the Dutch were no longer a major naval power. In the aftermath the Batavian Republic developed.
King Carlos III of Spain was a virtually absolute monarch, but he was also a man of the Enlightenment and open to new ideas. And he came to champion the American cause. Much more attention is given by historians to the French alliance and with good reason because it was key to the American victory. The Spanish alliance, however, should not be ignored. Here count Aranda played a critical role championing the Americans at court. The Spanish asked for Gibraltar from the British in exchange
for sideing with Britain. When Briain refused, Spain declared war on Britain (1779).
The Spanish both provided finanical assistance to the American cause and engaged in military action. Jorge Ferragut lead military campaigns against the British in North Carolina. Benjamin Franklin is best known for his role in France, but he was also the Continental Congress' Commissioner to Spain. He helped convince King Carlos to send moey, uniforms, and military equipment to the Americans. Bernardo de Gálvez helped divert Royal Navy units at Pensacola assisting in Washington's victory at Yorktown (1781).
The important role played by Blacks in the Civil War has been well publicized until recent recent years. Their role in the Revolutionary war has still not well publicized. Blacks fought on both sides, but predominately fought with the Colonists. Blacks joined the Continental forces in the early stages of the Revolution. Washingtoin was horrified to find Blacks bearing arms when he arrived to assume command. He attempted, but failed to have them dismissed. At a time when the Revolution was very much in doubt, he refused to endorse a South Carolina plan to raise Black soldiers. Washington did eventually agree torecruiting northern Blacks. Washington as the Revolution progressed came to lokk at his Black soldiers as some of the best in the Continental Army. At one of the most important engagements at Yorktown, he selected the 1st Rhode Island Regiment--75 percent of whom were Black. [Wiencek] The British tried to appeal for black support. This was a factor in the gradual shift of support in Colonial opinion, especially in the southern colonies where most blacks lived. The British shifted the campaign to the south expecting to find more support. Their overtures to black slaves was one reason that they did not encounter the level of support they had anticipated.
Slavery was a well established institution in America at the time of the Revolution. It was reinforced by British law. There were slaves in Britain, but not many. More important was slavery in Britain's Caribbean colonies where sugar was of huge financial importance. One factor that should be born in mind is that in the south, tobacco farming (cotton was not yet of great importance) was based on slave labor. Before the mass European migration of the 19th century, some argue that there was no alternative to slave labor in the South. At the onset of the Revoliution, some included Jefferson tried to argue that the British were responsible for slavery, but this argument was soon dropped. As the War progressed the British in the South began offering freedom to Blacks who joined them. Torry politicans in Britain began pointing out that many of the Americans crying loudest for liberty were some of the largest slave holders.
Cornwallis' surrender at Yorktown ended the military phase of the Revolutionary War (October 1781). Britain had lost two entire field armies and was unwilling to continue the War. Just what the political settlement would be and the boundaries would be, however, was still unsettled. The western boundary in particular was at issue because they had never been clearly drawn even before the Revolution. The British at first wanted a settlement that would have provided a degree of autonomy, but left the colonies within the Empire. This could have prevented the colonists, but after the Revolutionary War was no longer acceptable. The British made a secret offer of autonomy to Benjamin Franklin in Paris (April 1782). Franklin rejected the British peace feelers insisting that Britain fully recognize American independence. Franlkin also rejected the idea of a separate peace. America had not fought the British alone. The French and Spanish had joined America and the French in particular had played a major role in the War. The Continental Congress appointed John Adams and John Jay as peace commissioners to assist Franlkin in the neogtiations. Formal negotiations with all beligerant countries opened in Paris (September 27). The final treaty was very favorable to the Americans. They did not acquire Canada, but they got all the formerly British territory west to the Mississipi River. This proved to be a bone of contention after the War because the British were not anxious to turn over forts in the Northwest Territory.
The winners in the Revolution was the American-born middle class. There were limits on the horrizons. for colonils from humbel horizons. This allowed much great social mobility than would have been possible under class-bown British rule. There were also losers. About 80,000 Royalists left America and many others would have left if it had been possible. This was a not inconsequential part of the population at the time. The big losers were the Native Americans. British policy at the time was to restrict migration west beyond the Apalachans. The British with the Quebec Act (1774) were proceeding to effectively reserve the Ohio Valley to French Canadians and their Indian allies. The defeat of the British removed any real restriction on westward migration and as a result, Native Americans were relentlessly pushed west in the next century. Oter losers were black slaves. Had Britain maintained its American colonies, abolition would have come sooner. Another consequence of the War was a change in British imperial policy. The flexibility that Britain failed to show in its relations with the American colonists, it did shown in its policies toward the Dominion states like Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa--countries that played a key role in Britain's victory in World war II.
The American Revolution is a struggle that has been somewhat lost as a result of the much greater scholarly interest in America on the Civil War. As a result, most American's view the war through simplistic primary school readings and 4th of July speeches which obscure the tremendously complicated course of events that led to the War and creation of America. English scholars, perhaps because of Britain loss the War, have given it almost no scholarly attention.
An important question is the meaning of the Revolution. The ideals of the Revolution had some impact on Europe. One issue that is not often discussed is would America been better served if it had remained within the British Empire. Economically almost certainly this would not have been the case because British policy of the time was to restruict the development of the colonies to benefit Britain. The colonies were not, for example, permitted to trade with foreign countries. In political terms the abolition of slavery would have come earlier, although that might have sparked another Revolution. The Revolution introduced ideas of equality, freedom, and individual liberty into the national ethos that were not current in Britain and there were stll major differences between the two countries in the 20th century that although not as notable today still exist. America in many ways was a great experiment and continues so today. America became a multi-cultural society in which individuals from very different backgrounds could compete and succeed. Colonial America was not a multi-cultural society. The Revolution created a political system in which a multi-cultural society could develop. This was perhaps not the goal of the founders, it was, however, the result of their work. The common bonds have been the English language and English laws. The major shift over time has been the gradual expansion of the people and cultures included in the American experiment. As a result, there is no society quite like America.
Green, James A. William Henry Harrison: His Life and Times (Garrett and Massie:Richmond, Virginia, 1941), 536p.
Issac, Rhys. Landon Carter's Uneasy Kingdom: Revolution and Rebellion on a Virginia Plantation (Oxford University Press, 2004), 423p.
Ketchum, Richard M. Divided Loyalties: How the American Revolution Came to New York (Henry Holt, 2002), 447p.
Patton, Robert H. Patriot Pirates.
Wiencek, Henry. An Imperfect God: George Washington, His Slaves, and the Creation of America (Farrar Straus Giroux, 2003), 404p.
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