On the first day of 1776 the American flag displayed thirteen red and white stripes
with the red-and-white crosses of Saint George and Saint Andrew on a blue corner.
In the transition between enlistments the number of soldiers at Boston dropped to 9,650.
On that day Washington reported that the army was complete with new enlistments.
Also on January 1 Governor Dunmore had Norfolk, Virginia bombarded and set on fire.
On the 9th American army rolls counted 8,212 men
including some free negroes with only 5,600 fit for duty.
Knox managed to bring 66 cannons from Fort Ticonderoga.
On January 10 Thomas Paine published Common Sense that called for independence.
In three months the book sold 150,000 copies, and by the end of the year
it had gone through 25 editions and had been read by hundreds of thousands of people.
After his name was discovered as the author,
he donated proceeds to pay for woolen mittens for the troops.
In the Introduction to Common Sense Paine wrote that a long time
of thinking something is not wrong can give it the appearance of being right.
He avoided criticizing or praising persons.
He believed the cause of America is “the cause of all mankind.”
In the first section on government and the English constitution he observed that society
is a blessing; but government at its best is a necessary evil, and at its worst it is intolerable.
Emigrants to America naturally formed societies of reciprocal aid
and governments to correct the lack of moral virtue.
Prudence requires frequent elections to keep government responsive.
The main purpose of government is to protect freedom and security.
He noted that the English constitution is based on a king, an aristocracy of peers,
and the republican House of Commons that depends on freedom.
Paine believed that the king is not to be trusted and is not necessary.
Although the English have a tradition of rights,
the will of the king is still the law of the land.
Paine referred to the Mosaic law and the judges who
governed Israel before it was ruled by kings.
When they tried to make Gideon king, he said, “The Lord shall rule over you.”
When people accepted a king, they gave over God’s rule to a man.
Paine compared the king to popery.
He believed that one honest man is worth more
“than all the crowned ruffians who ever lived.”
After discussing monarchy and the folly of hereditary succession,
Paine turned to the current state of America.
He compared an America dependent on the British to one that is separate.
Some argued that Britain protected America, but Paine asked whether this was
motivated by attachment or interest and found that they were not protected
from America’s enemies but only from Britain’s enemies.
If Britain is their parent, then its conduct is shameful for having made war on its own family.
Paine argued that Europe is the parent because people came from many countries to America.
They should seek friendship and peace with all of Europe
which has an interest in America being a free port.
Paine challenged his readers to find one advantage
their continent would have by being connected to Britain.
America should stay away from European conflicts.
The discovery of America preceded the Reformation as if
God meant for it to be a sanctuary for the persecuted.
He asked if Americans can really be reconciled with a country
that brought war and killing to their land.
Neither Britain nor even Europe can conquer America unless they delay and are timid.
Their continent could not long remain subject to any external power.
Britain trying to govern America from three or four thousand miles away causes long delays.
England belongs to Europe while America is its own continent.
Paine asked what would happen if they reconciled with England.
First, the government would be in the hands of the king,
and they would be under tyranny again.
The king could pretend to be friendly and then return to force and violence.
Second, the best terms the Americans could get would only provide temporary relief.
Only American independence can keep the peace and prevent civil wars.
“A government which cannot preserve the peace is no government at all,”
and they would be paying for nothing.
Paine recommended equality without distinctions so that there would be
no temptation, and he pointed to the republican examples of Holland and Switzerland.
He proposed annual assemblies with equal representation subject to the continental
congress under a continental charter that would secure freedom and property
including the free exercise of religion according to conscience.
In America and free countries the law is king.
They should form a constitution while they have it in their power.
Americans cannot forgive the murders of Britain any more than
a lover can forgive the ravisher of his mistress.
America can be an asylum for refugees.
In the last section of Common Sense Paine discussed the present ability of America.
Their greatest strength is not in their numbers but in their unity.
They have no debts and whatever they contract may be virtuous if they can
leave posterity a settled government with an independent constitution.
He believed that a national debt is a national bond when there is no interest.
America can raise a fleet because they have all the materials needed
including hemp for cords, iron for weapons, and saltpeter for gunpowder.
They can protect themselves because Europe is so far away.
The present is the best time for establishing their own government.
Paine believed it is the will of God that diverse religious views exist in America.
He warned that virtue is not hereditary.
In conclusion he recommended that they make a
Declaration of Independence for several reasons.
First, it is difficult for other countries to mediate because of their subjection to Britain.
Second, other countries would suffer if the connection
between Britain and America were strengthened.
Third, other countries would see them as rebels.
Fourth, a declaration could be sent to foreign courts to explain
the miseries they endured before becoming independent.
Finally, other courts would not really listen to them
unless they become an independent nation.
Until they declare independence, they will feel as though
they are putting off unpleasant business that is necessary.
On the day of the first edition of Common Sense
the King’s speech reached Philadelphia, and Paine wrote an appendix
published in late February in which he referred to his “bloody-mindedness.”
He accused George III of breaking through “every moral and human obligation”
and trampling on nature and conscience.
Paine reiterated that reconciliation would be complex and impractical
and that independence should be delayed no longer.
Both sides have gone too far to return, and he offered hope for a grand new future,
writing, “We have it in our power to begin the world over again.”
Washington hoped that Common Sense would persuade the Congress to act.
On January 11 a convention in Maryland voted to defend the province
with 1,444 soldiers, but they ordered their delegates to Congress not to vote
for independence, confederation, or a foreign alliance.
On the 16th Franklin offered his “Instrument of Confederation,” but it was defeated.
On that day Congress approved the reenlistment of free Africans
who had fought in the army at Cambridge but no other Africans.
On January 23 the General Court of Massachusetts
removed their last royal governor, Thomas Oliver.
He sailed to Halifax with British soldiers in March and then returned to England.
On January 31 Washington wrote in a letter to Lt. Col. Joseph Reed,
I hope my Countrymen (of Virginia) will rise superior
to any losses the whole Navy of Great Britain
can bring on them, & that the destruction of Norfolk,
& threatened devastation of other places,
will have no other effect than to unite the whole Country
in one indissoluble Band against a Nation
which seems to be lost to every sense of Virtue,
and those feelings which distinguish a Civilized People
from the most barbarous Savages.1
On February 9 Washington reported that about 2,000 of his men did not have firearms.
South Carolina held a convention, and on February 10 Christopher Gadsden
proposed a new constitution for the province and independence for America.
On February 24 Washington wrote to General Horatio Gates,
I am as averse to controversy, as any Man
and had I not been forced into it,
you never would have had occasion to impute to me,
even the shadow of a disposition towards it.
Your repeatedly and Solemnly disclaiming
any offensive views, in those matters
that have been the subject of our past correspondence,
makes me willing to close with the desire, you express,
of burying them hereafter in silence,
and, as far as future events will permit, oblivion.
My temper leads me to peace and harmony with all Men;
and it is peculiarly my wish, to avoid any personal feuds
with those, who are embarked in the same great National
interest with myself, as every difference of this kind
must in its consequences be very injurious.2
On February 27 he learned that a rifleman had deserted to the enemy.
On that day Congress organized the five middle colonies from New York to Maryland
into a military department and the four southern colonies into another.
The Virginia convention ordered the remaining houses in Norfolk
destroyed so that the enemies could not use them,
and they increased their two regiments and added seven more.
Schuyler called out 700 men of the New York militia.
General Charles Lee led 1,500 men of Connecticut
to New York City where they arrived in February.
North Carolina’s Governor Josiah Martin won over the discontented Regulators
to the British side, and on February 27 Tories led by Donald MacDonald of the Regulators
marched toward Wilmington and at Moore’s Creek Bridge attacked the revolutionaries
who defeated the British, killing more than thirty with only four casualties and
gaining supplies that included a chest with 15,000 pounds sterling in gold.
The Tories fled, and Brigadier General James Moore was captured.
On March 1 Charles Lee was put in command of
the continental forces south of the Potomac River.
North Carolina had 1,100 men in arms that grew to more than 1,500 in March.
With only one hundred barrels of powder in reserve and nearly 8,000 men
General Washington got the council in Massachusetts
to call up five regiments of volunteering minute-men.
On March 2 he ordered Knox to begin bombarding the British in Boston.
Washington sent 800 men as an advance guard, and on the night of March 4
General John Thomas led 1,200 workmen who with 300 loads of
pressed hay, wood, barrels, and rocks built forts on Dorchester Heights.
The next day the surprised Commander Howe ordered
Hugh Percy to lead a British attack with 2,400 men.
A rainstorm drove ships on shore, and the assault was delayed.
The Committee of Secret Correspondence had been organized
on 29 November 1775 with Ben Franklin, Robert Morris,
Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Johnson, John Dickinson, and John Jay.
They were to contact foreign governments secretly and to secure supplies abroad.
On 3 March 1776 they sent Silas Deane, who was also a private commercial agent
for Morris, and he did not arrive in Paris until April.
He was assisted by Dr. Edward Bancroft who spied for the British.
Foreign Minister Comte de Vergennes eventually persuaded King Louis XVI of France
to approve a loan of one million livres ($200,000) to the Americans in early May.
Spain was also secretly involved, and the deal was urged and managed
by the playwright Caron de Beaumarchais and the firm of Hortalez et Cie.
Through the year 1777 they provided 80% of the gunpowder for the Continental Army,
and it was perfected by the famous chemist Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier.
On March 9 the British bombarded Dorchester Heights
with 700 cannon balls while their army left the city of Boston.
On March 2 Col. William Moultrie had taken command of
a thousand men to garrison Sullivan’s Island, and they defended Charleston.
On March 21 South Carolina freed their delegates to join
with others in the Continental Congress to defend America.
On the 27th South Carolina elected John Rutledge president,
Henry Laurens vice president, and William Henry Drayton chief justice,
and the new constitution was promulgated.
Rutledge made Gadsden a brigadier general in charge of the state’s army.
North Carolina met in a provincial congress at Halifax on April 4,
and on the 12th they authorized delegates to vote for independence in Philadelphia.
On May 4 Rhode Island’s general assembly declared its independence
and freed the people of their allegiance to King George III.
General Charles Cornwallis landed in Brunswick County, South Carolina
with 900 British soldiers while General Henry Clinton on May 5
removed his British force from North Carolina.
General William Howe decided to evacuate Boston
and by March 17 about 8,000 British soldiers and
1,100 refugees left Boston on about 170 ships.
They retreated to Halifax and left behind many cannons,
sea coal, wheat, barley, oats, horses, bedding, and clothing.
The Americans also captured some store-ships with guns and powder.
The inhabitants happily returned to Boston and praised Washington for his peaceful victory.
During the first nine months of his command Washington had lost less than twenty men.
On 5 January 1776 New Hampshire had formed a new government with minor changes,
and a convention did not adopt a new constitution until June 1783.
South Carolina accepted a provisional constitution
on 26 March 1776 and a permanent one two years later.
On May 6 Virginia’s House of Burgesses met and dissolved themselves,
and the same day 130 delegates met in convention.
They formed a committee that on the 15th recommended
they declare that the united colonies are free and independent states.
Washington expected the British would go to New York.
He led his army out of Boston on April 4, and they arrived in New York on April 13.
He noted that shore batteries on Long Island and Manhattan would protect
the East River that could facilitate supplies and an escape route.
By April the Americans were being supplied with gunpowder
as Richard Harrison
of Maryland shipped more than 40,000 pounds from the Caribbean.
Brigadier General David Wooster succeeded Montgomery as commander
in Canada under Schuyler, and 1,500 more Americans were sent to Montreal in March.
The Iroquois decided to be neutral.
Wooster let each parish choose their own officers, and he
took
command of Quebec on April 1 as Arnold withdrew to Montreal.
Although Canadians resented the military occupation by the Americans,
Washington complied with the Congressional request that he send
six battalions to Canada with provisions and powder, cutting his own army in half.
The physician John Thomas of Massachusetts was sent to command.
George III and the British hired mercenaries in Europe.
Brunswick provided 5,723 men, but they would not sail until April.
The 12,700 Hessians were offered high rates, and England agreed to pay for
all
their expenses plus $35 to the prince for each man killed and $12 for the wounded.
The Hessian Landgrave made more than $500,000 annually.
On April 6 the Congress opened commerce from the thirteen colonies
to all countries not British without any tax.
In May they learned that Britain’s King George III was
paying 17,000 Germans to fight in the American colonies.
That month the Congress promoted General Horatio Gates,
and the aide-de-camp Col. John Reed became an adjutant general.
General Charles Cornwallis landed in Brunswick County, South Carolina
with 900 British soldiers while General Henry Clinton on May 5
removed his British force from North Carolina.
The British General John Burgoyne came to Quebec with about 8,000 reinforcements.
The Continental army was suffering from smallpox, dysentery,
and various shortages, and on May 6 they left Canada.
Major General Horatio Gates reported that the Americans lost 5,000 men.
As Benedict Arnold’s troops were leaving Montreal, they looted the town.
On May 4 Rhode Island’s general assembly had declared its independence
and freed
the people of their allegiance to King George III, and Connecticut did that on June 14.
Twelve ships brought eight British regiments with 5,100 men to Quebec on May 6.
That day Carleton led the British attack against the rebels
that captured 600 men who were infected with smallpox.
On May 6 Virginia’s House of Burgesses met and dissolved themselves,
and the same day 130 delegates met in convention.
They formed a committee that on the 15th recommended
they declare that the united colonies are free and independent states.
On May 9 the Continental Congress authorized the printing of $5,000,000.
John Adams’ resolution allowing the colonies to form representative
governments was finally approved unanimously on May 10.
The report by Adams, Edward Rutledge, and Richard Henry Lee recommended
suppressing any authority under the crown, and despite opposition by James Duane
of New York and James Wilson of Pennsylvania, it was adopted on May 15, the same day
the captured ship Hope was brought to Boston with 1,500 barrels of powder.
Washington went to Philadelphia and conferred with Congress on May 24 and 25.
In May 1776 the British governor at Detroit, Henry Hamilton,
persuaded Shawnee chief Cornstalk to lead a delegation of northern tribes
that met with Cherokee leaders at Chota, and Dragging Canoe accepted his war belt.
Also that month Iroquois delegates went to the Congress at Philadelphia,
and in June the Congress authorized Washington to use Indians
in the fighting and to pay them bounties for prisoners.
Morgan at Pittsburgh was upset and warned that
hostilities would endanger their frontier settlements.
Congress sent Franklin, Samuel Chase, and Charles Carroll as commissioners
to Canada, and they found half the 1,900 men suffering from smallpox.
They recommended withdrawal, but on June 1
Congress voted to send 6,000 militia to Canada.
The next day Thomas died of smallpox and was replaced by
Brigadier General John Sullivan who attacked with 2,000 men on June 8.
While retreating the next day the Americans lost more than 200 men.
Arnold took his 300 men to join the others at St. John’s.
Half the 5,000 men were ill, and many died each day.
The American invasion of Canada had lasted nine months involving 12,000 men.
More than 500 died, and as many were taken prisoners.
A committee in Philadelphia called a conference from every county
which argued that the assembly members because of their
oath of allegiance were incapable of reforming the government.
The Pennsylvania Assembly adjourned on May 20, and two days later
the new assembly members were not required to take an oath of allegiance to the King.
On June 6 Pennsylvania did not decide for or against a confederation.
On 6 June 1776 emigrants west of the Louisa River had elected
23-year-old George Rogers Clark and John Gabriel Jones as their
representatives in the Virginia Assembly, asking that they be made a county.
On June 24 the Virginia Convention condemned the private purchasing of land
from Indians unless the legislature gave settlers the right of preemption.
Governor Patrick Henry and the Williamsburg council
created Kentucky County and gave them money.
Clark was made a lieutenant colonel and was authorized to levy troops anywhere
in Virginia and to attack the British along the Illinois and Wabash rivers.
In the summer and fall Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia
sent more than 5,000 militiamen to the Cherokee country,
and the chiefs ceded some of the hunting lands.
On June 12 the Virginia Constitutional Convention adopted
this “Declaration of Rights” written by George Mason:
A DECLARATION OF RIGHTS made by the
representatives of the good people of Virginia,
assembled in full and free convention
which rights do pertain to them and their posterity,
as the basis and foundation of government.1. That all men are by nature equally free
and independent and have certain inherent rights,
of which, when they enter into a state of society,
they cannot, by any compact,
deprive or divest their posterity;
namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty,
with the means of acquiring and possessing property,
and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.
2. That all power is vested in,
and consequently derived from, the people;
that magistrates are their trustees and servants
and at all times amenable to them.
3. That government is, or ought to be,
instituted for the common benefit, protection,
and security of the people, nation, or community;
of all the various modes and forms of government,
that is best which is capable of producing
the greatest degree of happiness and safety
and is most effectually secured
against the danger of maladministration.
And that, when any government shall be found
inadequate or contrary to these purposes,
a majority of the community has an indubitable, inalienable,
and indefeasible right to reform, alter, or abolish it,
in such manner as shall be judged
most conducive to the public weal.
4. That no man, or set of men, are entitled to exclusive
or separate emoluments or privileges from the community,
but in consideration of public services;
which, not being descendible, neither ought the offices
of magistrate, legislator, or judge to be hereditary.
5. That the legislative and executive powers of the state
should be separate and distinct from the judiciary;
and that the members of the two first
may be restrained from oppression,
by feeling and participating the burthens of the people,
they should, at fixed periods, be reduced
to a private station, return into that body
from which they were originally taken,
and the vacancies be supplied by frequent, certain,
and regular elections, in which all, or any part,
of the former members, to be again eligible,
or ineligible, as the laws shall direct.
6. That elections of members to serve as representatives
of the people, in assembly ought to be free;
and that all men, having sufficient evidence of permanent
common interest with, and attachment to, the community,
have the right of suffrage and cannot be taxed
or deprived of their property for public uses
without their own consent or that of their representatives
so elected, nor bound by any law to which they have not,
in like manner, assented for the public good.
7. That all power of suspending laws,
or the execution of laws, by any authority,
without consent of the representatives of the people,
is injurious to their rights and ought not to be exercised.
8. That in all capital or criminal prosecutions
a man has a right to demand the cause and nature
of his accusation, to be confronted with the accusers
and witnesses, to call for evidence in his favor,
and to a speedy trial by an impartial jury
of twelve men of his vicinage, without whose
unanimous consent he cannot be found guilty;
nor can he be compelled to give evidence against himself;
that no man be deprived of his liberty
except by the law of the land or the judgment of his peers.
9. That excessive bail ought not to be required,
nor excessive fines imposed,
nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
10. That general warrants, whereby an officer
or messenger may be commanded to search
suspected places without evidence of a fact committed,
or to seize any person or persons not named,
or whose offense is not particularly described
and supported by evidence, are grievous
and oppressive and ought not to be granted.
11. That in controversies respecting property,
and in suits between man and man,
the ancient trial by jury is preferable
to any other and ought to be held sacred.
12. That the freedom of the press
is one of the great bulwarks of liberty,
and can never be restrained but by despotic governments.
13. That a well-regulated militia,
composed of the body of the people, trained to arms,
is the proper, natural, and safe defense of a free state;
that standing armies, in time of peace,
should be avoided as dangerous to liberty;
and that in all cases the military should be
under strict subordination to,
and governed by, the civil power.
14. That the people have a right to uniform government;
and, therefore, that no government separate from
or independent of the government of Virginia ought to be
erected or established within the limits thereof.
15. That no free government, or the blessings of liberty,
can be preserved to any people but by a firm adherence
to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and virtue
and by frequent recurrence to fundamental principles.
16. That religion, or the duty which we owe
to our Creator, and the manner of discharging it,
can be directed only by reason and conviction,
not by force or violence;
and therefore all men are equally entitled
to the free exercise of religion,
according to the dictates of conscience;
and that it is the mutual duty of all
to practice Christian forbearance,
love, and charity toward each other.3
The British fleet did not begin arriving in New York Harbor until June 29,
and eventually 110 ships gathered with 10,000 men.
Washington persuaded the Congress to provide 6,000 militia for Canada
and 13,800 for the coming battle in New York.
Congress also permitted General Schuyler to hire 2,000 Indian allies.
They appointed John Adams to head the Board of War to recruit soldiers
and distribute supplies, and he often met with Washington.
The Loyalist Isaac Ketcham was arrested and charged with counterfeiting,
and he testified that Thomas Hickey and Michael Lynch, who were in
Washington’s personal guard, were involved in the counterfeiting.
Mayor Mathews and others were jailed in Connecticut, and on June 28
Hickey was hanged as about 20,000 people watched.
The next day the British ships began arriving in New York.
On July 2 the British fleet of 30 warships and 400 transport ships began
unloading on Staten Island in New York the largest army
the British would have on one place during the war.
The British General William Howe commanded an army of 30,000 men
while Washington had 10,514 fit for duty.
On June 11 the Continental Congress postponed the question of independence
until July 1 because the middle colonies needed more time.
They elected Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman
and Robert Livingston to prepare a declaration of independence.
On the next day President Hancock selected one member from each colony
to create a form of confederation, and John Dickinson, Franklin, John Adams,
Benjamin Harrison, and Robert Morris were elected to prepare a plan for creating treaties.
On June 14 the delegates of Pennsylvania were instructed they could
vote for independence, and the Delaware House adopted similar instructions.
On the next day the New Hampshire legislature approved independence.
The provincial congress of New Jersey ordered Governor William Franklin arrested,
and they elected new delegates on June 21.
On the 18th the Pennsylvania provincial conference had begun working on a constitution,
and they agreed on a unicameral legislature and the franchise for men regardless of property.
Nearly fifty British ships had arrived off Charleston, South Carolina on June 1,
and on the 9th General Henry Clinton disembarked with about 500 men.
General Charles Lee recalled 500 men from Col. William Moultrie who
led the valiant
defense against the massive British bombardment of Sullivan Island on June 28.
The Americans had only thirty cannons compared to 260 on the British ships.
After shooting thousands of cannon balls, the British gave up and departed.
Americans suffered only 11 killed and 26 wounded while the British had 205 casualties.
Fort Sullivan was renamed Fort Moultrie.
George Mason was the primary author of Virginia’s new constitution,
and Jefferson’s preamble was added.
On June 29 the state convention adopted the constitution
and elected Patrick Henry governor.
On the same day Maryland’s convention at Annapolis
finally decided to support independence.
The Continental Congress voted on independence on July 1;
but Pennsylvania and South Carolina voted against,
and Delaware’s two delegates were divided.
The next day Cesar Rodney arrived and gave Delaware a majority for independence.
New Jersey accepted a new charter on July 2.
On 2 July 1776 in New York in his General Orders Washington wrote,
The time is now near at hand which must probably
determine, whether Americans are to be, Freemen,
or Slaves; whether they are to have any property
they can call their own; whether their Houses, and Farms,
are to be pillaged and destroyed, and they consigned
to a State of Wretchedness from which
no human efforts will probably deliver them.
The fate of unborn Millions will now depend, under God,
on the Courage and Conduct of this army—
Our cruel and unrelenting Enemy leaves us no choice
but a brave resistance, or the most abject submission;
this is all we can expect—
We have therefore to resolve to conquer or die:
Our own Country’s Honor, all call upon us for a vigorous
and manly exertion, and if we now shamefully fail,
we shall become infamous to the whole world—
Let us therefore rely upon the goodness of the Cause,
and the aid of the supreme Being, in whose hands Victory is,
to animate and encourage us to great and noble Actions—
The Eyes of all our Countrymen are now upon us,
and we shall have their blessings, and praises,
if happily we are the instruments of saving them
from the Tyranny meditated against them.
Let us therefore animate and encourage each other,
and shew the whole world, that a Freeman
contending for Liberty on his own ground
is superior to any slavish mercenary on earth.
The General recommends to the officers great coolness
in time of action, and to the soldiers a strict attention
and obedience, with a becoming firmness and spirit.
Any officer, or soldier, or any particular Corps,
distinguishing themselves by any acts of bravery,
and courage, will assuredly meet with notice and rewards;
and on the other hand, those who behave ill,
will as certainly be exposed and punished—
The General being resolved, as well for the Honor
and Safety of the Country, as Army, to show no favor
to such as refuse,
or neglect their duty at so important a crisis.
The General expressly orders that no officer, or soldier,
on any pretense whatever, without leave in writing,
from the commanding officer of the regiment,
do leave the parade, so as to be out of drum-call,
in case of an alarm, which may be hourly expected—
The Regiments are immediately to be under Arms
on their respective parades, and should any be absent
they will be severely punished—
The whole Army to be at their Alarm posts
completely equipped to morrow, a little before day.
Ensign Charles Miller, Capt. Wrisst’s Company,
and Colonel Wyllys’s Regiment, charged
with “absenting himself from his Guard”
tried by a General Court Martial and acquitted—
The General approves the sentence,
and orders him to be dismissed from his arrest.
As there is a probability of Rain,
the General strongly recommends to the officers,
to pay particular attention, to their men’s arms
and ammunition, that neither may be damaged.4
Although New York continued to abstain, Edward Rutledge urged South Carolina
to make it unanimous, which occurred on July 4 when two of Pennsylvania’s delegates
who opposed, Dickinson and Morris, declined to vote.
They also approved “The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America”
after rejecting Jefferson’s passage that the King was
responsible for slavery not being abolished in America.
On July 4 the Continental Congress declared that the
United Colonies of North America had become independent states.
On that day the British had no troops in America,
though they began arriving in New York’s harbor.
Hancock on July 6 sent Washington a copy of the Declaration of Independence
to have it read aloud to the army, and on the 9th Washington
had his generals read the famous document to their men.
This is the historic Declaration of Independence:
The unanimous Declaration
of the thirteen united States of America,
When in the Course of human events,
it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve
the political bands which have connected them with another,
and to assume among the powers of the earth,
the separate and equal station to which the
Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them,
a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires
that they should declare the causes
which impel them to the separation.—
We hold these truths to be self-evident,
that all men are created equal,
that they are endowed by their Creator
with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are
Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.—
That to secure these rights,
Governments are instituted among Men,
deriving their just powers
from the consent of the governed,—
That whenever any Form of Government
becomes destructive of these ends,
it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it,
and to institute new Government,
laying its foundation on such principles
and organizing its powers in such form,
as to them shall seem most likely
to effect their Safety and Happiness.
Prudence, indeed, will dictate that
Governments long established should not be changed
for light and transient causes;
and accordingly all experience hath shewn,
that mankind are more disposed to suffer,
while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves
by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.
But when a long train of abuses and usurpations,
pursuing invariably the same Object evinces
a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism,
it is their right, it is their duty,
to throw off such Government,
and to provide new Guards for their future security.—
Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies;
and such is now the necessity which constrains them
to alter their former Systems of Government.
The history of the present King of Great Britain
is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations,
all having in direct object the establishment
of an absolute Tyranny over these States.
To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.—
He has refused his Assent to Laws,
the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.—
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws
of immediate and pressing importance,
unless suspended in their operation
till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended,
he has utterly neglected to attend to them.—
He has refused to pass other Laws
for the accommodation of large districts of people,
unless those people would relinquish
the right of Representation in the Legislature,
a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.—
He has called together legislative bodies
at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant
from the depository of their public Records,
for the sole purpose of fatiguing them
into compliance with his measures.—
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly,
for opposing with manly firmness
his invasions on the rights of the people.—
He has refused for a long time,
after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected;
whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation,
have returned to the People at large for their exercise;
the State remaining in the meantime exposed to all the
dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.—
He has endeavored to prevent
the population of these States; for that purpose
obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners;
refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither,
and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.—
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice,
by refusing his Assent to Laws
for establishing Judiciary powers.—
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone,
for the tenure of their offices,
and the amount and payment of their salaries.—
He has erected a multitude of New Offices,
and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people,
and eat out their substance.—
He has kept among us, in times of peace,
Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.—
He has affected to render the Military
independent of and superior to the Civil power.—
He has combined with others to subject us
to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution,
and unacknowledged by our laws;
giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:—
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial,
from punishment for any Murders which
they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:—
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:—
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:—
For depriving us in many cases,
of the benefits of Trial by Jury:—
For transporting us beyond Seas
to be tried for pretended offences;—
For abolishing the free System of English Laws
in a neighboring Province, establishing therein
an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries
so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument
for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:—
For taking away our Charters,
abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering
fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:—
For suspending our own Legislatures,
and declaring themselves invested with power
to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.—
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us
out of his Protection and waging War against us.—
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts,
burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.—
He is at this time transporting large Armies
of foreign Mercenaries to complete the works of death,
desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances
of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled
in the most barbarous ages,
and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.—
He has constrained our fellow Citizens
taken Captive on the high Seas
to bear Arms against their Country,
to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren,
or to fall themselves by their Hands.—
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us,
and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants
of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages,
whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished
destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions
We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms:
Our repeated Petitions have been answered
only by repeated injury.
A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which
may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting
in attentions to our British brethren.
We have warned them from time to time
of attempts by their legislature
to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us.
We have reminded them of the circumstances
of our emigration and settlement here.
We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity,
and we have conjured them by the ties
of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations,
which, would inevitably interrupt
our connections and correspondence.
They too have been deaf
to the voice of justice and of consanguinity.
We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity,
which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold
the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.—
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States
of America, in General Congress, Assembled,
appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world
for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name,
and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies,
solemnly publish and declare,
That these United Colonies are,
and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States;
that they are Absolved from all Allegiance
to the British Crown,
and that all political connection between them
and the State of Great Britain,
is and ought to be totally dissolved;
and that as Free and Independent States,
they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace,
contract Alliances, establish Commerce,
and to do all other Acts and Things
which Independent States may of right do.—
And for the support of this Declaration,
with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence,
we mutually pledge to each other
our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.5
That evening a mob that included some soldiers knocked down
the equestrian statue of George III in the Bowling Green.
The next day George Washington was upset and disapproved
of their zeal which appeared to be a riot.
He was so disturbed that he rebuked the action in his general orders.
The gilded statue was shipped to Ridgefield, Connecticut
where the lead was melted down and turned into 42,088 bullets
which they desperately needed.
Also on July 9 Washington in his General Orders wrote,
The Honorable Continental Congress having been pleased
to allow a Chaplain to each Regiment,
with the pay of Thirty-three Dollars and one third month—
The Colonels or commanding officers of each regiment
are directed to procure Chaplains accordingly;
persons of good Characters and exemplary lives—
To see that all inferior officers and soldiers
pay them a suitable respect
and attend carefully upon religious exercises:
The blessing and protection of Heaven are
at all times necessary but especially so
in times of public distress and danger—
The General hopes and trusts, that every officer,
and man, will endeavor so to live,
and act, as becomes a Christian Soldier
defending the dearest Rights and Liberties of his country.6
On July 10 a new convention met in New York and voted for independence.
Also on that day the Declaration was read to every brigade in New York City.
A draft for confederation written by Dickinson was presented to Congress on July 12.
They did not want any taxes but made an exception for postage.
On July 19 the “Unanimous Declaration of the thirteen UNITED STATES” was signed
by all its members; but because they were threatened with being hanged as traitors,
they kept their names secret until 18 January 1777.
After fighting in the north for ten months by July the
American General John Sullivan had lost about 3,500 soldiers.
Peace negotiations in July produced no agreement.
The British had landed forces on Staten Island on 2 July 1776.
Admiral Richard Howe arrived off Long Island on the 12th
with an armada of more than 130 ships, which cost £850,000.
General Washington declined to accept messages
from him that did not recognize his position.
Howe circulated copies of his declaration to the remaining royal governors
south of New York, but most of them were fugitives.
Congress also published Howe’s declaration so that Americans
could be informed of what the “insidious court of Britain” was trying to do.
The British Admiral Richard Howe wrote letters to several American officiasl
including the diplomat Benjamin Franklin who consulted
with Congress and responded on July 20 with this letter:
I received safe the Letters your Lordship so kindly
forwarded to me, and beg you to accept my Thanks.
The Official Dispatches to which you refer me,
contain nothing more than what we had seen
in the Act of Parliament, viz. Offers of Pardon
upon Submission; which I was sorry to find,
as it must give your Lordship Pain
to be sent so far on so hopeless a Business.
Directing Pardons to be offered the Colonies,
who are the very Parties injured, expresses indeed
that Opinion of our Ignorance, Baseness, and Insensibility
which your uninformed and proud Nation
has long been pleased to entertain of us;
but it can have no other Effect
than that of increasing our Resentment.
It is impossible we should think
of Submission to a Government,
that has with the most wanton Barbarity and Cruelty,
burnt our defenseless Towns in the midst of Winter,
excited the Savages to massacre our Farmers,
and our Slaves to murder their Masters,
and is even now bringing foreign Mercenaries
to deluge our Settlements with Blood.
These atrocious Injuries have extinguished
every remaining Spark of Affection
for that Parent Country we once held so dear:
but were it possible for us to forget and forgive them,
it is not possible for you (I mean the British Nation)
to forgive the People you have so heavily injured;
you can never confide again in those as Fellow Subjects,
and permit them to enjoy equal Freedom, to whom
you know you have given such just Cause of lasting Enmity.
And this must impel you, were we again
under your Government, to endeavor the breaking
our Spirit by the severest Tyranny, and obstructing by every
means in your Power our growing Strength and Prosperity.
But your Lordship mentions “the Kings paternal Solicitude
for promoting the Establishment
of lasting Peace and Union with the Colonies.”
If by Peace is here meant, a Peace to be entered into
between Britain and America as distinct States now at War,
and his Majesty has given your Lordship Powers
to treat with us of such a Peace, I may venture to say,
though without Authority, that I think a Treaty
for that purpose not yet quite impracticable,
before we enter into Foreign Alliances.
But I am persuaded you have no such Powers.
Your Nation, though by punishing those American Governors
who have created and fomented the Discord,
rebuilding our burnt Towns,
and repairing as far as possible the Mischiefs done us,
She might yet recover a great Share of our Regard
and the greatest part of our growing Commerce,
with all the Advantage of that additional Strength
to be derived from a Friendship with us;
I know too well her abounding Pride and deficient Wisdom,
to believe she will ever take such Salutary Measures.
Her Fondness for Conquest as a Warlike Nation,
her Lust of Dominion as an Ambitious one,
and her Thirst for a gainful Monopoly as a Commercial one,
(none of them legitimate Causes of War) will all join
to hide from her Eyes every View of her true Interests;
and continually goad her on in these ruinous distant
Expeditions, so destructive both of Lives and Treasure,
that must prove as pernicious to her in the End as the
Crusades formerly were to most of the Nations of Europe.
I have not the Vanity, my Lord, to think of intimidating
by thus predicting the Effects of this War; for I know
it will in England have the Fate of all my former Predictions,
not to be believed till the Event shall verify it.
Long did I endeavor with unfeigned and unwearied Zeal,
to preserve from breaking, that fine and noble China Vase
the British Empire: for I knew that being once broken,
the separate Parts could not retain even their Share
of the Strength or Value that existed in the Whole,
and that a perfect Re-Union of those Parts
could scarce even be hoped for.
Your Lordship may possibly remember the Tears of Joy
that wet my Cheek, when, at your good Sister’s in London,
you once gave me Expectations that
a Reconciliation might soon take place.
I had the Misfortune to find those Expectations disappointed,
and to be treated as the Cause
of the Mischief I was laboring to prevent.
My Consolation under that groundless and malevolent
Treatment was, that I retained the Friendship
of many Wise and Good Men in that Country, and
among the rest some Share in the Regard of Lord Howe.
The well founded Esteem, and permit me to say Affection,
which I shall always have for your Lordship, makes it
painful to me to see you engaged in conducting a War,
the great Ground of which, as expressed in your Letter, is,
“the Necessity of preventing the American Trade
from passing into foreign Channels.”
To me it seems that neither the obtaining or retaining
of any Trade, how valuable soever, is an Object
for which Men may justly Spill each other’s Blood;
that the true and sure means of extending and securing
Commerce is the goodness and cheapness of Commodities;
and that the profits of no Trade can ever be equal
to the Expense of compelling it,
and of holding it, by Fleets and Armies.
I consider this War against us therefore,
as both unjust, and unwise;
and I am persuaded cool dispassionate Posterity
will condemn to Infamy those who advised it;
and that even Success will not save from some degree
of Dishonor, those who voluntarily engaged to conduct it.
I know your great Motive in coming hither
was the Hope of being instrumental in a Reconciliation;
and I believe when you find that impossible
on any Terms given you to propose,
you will relinquish so odious a Command,
and return to a more honorable private Station.7
By mid-July the British had in the harbor 39,000 soldiers
on 52 men-of-war and 427 troop transports with artillery and supplies.
The British attacked New York City.
On July 12 the British ships Phoenix and Rose had challenged the American defenses.
Captain Alexander Hamilton was in charge of an artillery company,
and six men died when a cannon exploded.
Washington felt perplexed by the astonishing advantage the British Navy had over them.
General Nathanael Greene was concerned about health situations,
and he suggested replacing meat with fresh vegetables in order to prevent scurvy.
Congress approved of Washington’s promotion of Greene, William Heath,
Joseph Spencer, and John Sullivan to major general.
Washington with so little ammunition had been avoiding a battle.
Also on July 12 the committee presented a draft for a confederation.
The Dickinson plan was compared to the earlier version by Franklin,
and the debate went on for months.
Both plans called for each state to appropriate taxes, but the share of the national debt
they had to pay was controversial as to whether it should be based on the population
(with or without slaves) or the wealth of each state.
They also had to decide how delegations were to vote in Congress.
Franklin’s plan limited the duties of Congress to war and peace, diplomacy, alliances,
disputes between states, and issues of general welfare, currency, and commerce
that were beyond the competence of the states.
Many of Franklin’s proposals were incorporated into the committee’s Dickinson plan.
In early August Samuel Chase of Maryland objected so much to the taxation article
that most of the Maryland delegation left Congress.
On August 20 Congress voted to print the revised draft of the Articles,
and nothing else was done on it for the next six months.
By August 2 all the members of Congress had signed
the embossed Declaration of Independence.
In his general orders on August 1 Washington wrote,
It is with great concern, the General understands,
that Jealousies &c: are arisen among the troops
from the different Provinces, of reflections frequently
thrown out, which can only tend to irritate each other,
and injure the noble cause in which we are engaged, and
which we ought to support with one hand and one heart.
The General most earnestly entreats the officers,
and soldiers, to consider the consequences;
that they can no way assist our cruel enemies
more effectually, than making division among ourselves;
that the Honor and Success of the army,
and the safety of our bleeding Country, depends upon
harmony and good agreement with each other;
that the Provinces are all United
to oppose the common enemy,
and all distinctions sunk in the name of an American;
to make this honorable, and preserve the Liberty
of our Country, ought to be our only emulation,
and he will be the best Soldier, and the best Patriot,
who contributes most to this glorious work,
whatever his Station,
or from whatever part of the Continent, he may come.
Let all distinctions of Nations, Countries, and Provinces,
therefore be lost in the generous contest,
who shall behave with the most Courage against the enemy,
and the most kindness and good humor to each other—
If there are any officers, or soldiers, so lost to virtue
and a love of their Country as to continue in such practices
after this order; the General assures them,
and is directed by Congress to declare, to the whole Army,
that such persons shall be severely punished
and dismissed the service with disgrace.8
Washington prepared to defend New York Island;
but he had only 10,514 men fit for duty, and less than 6,000 had any experience.
Nine regiments from Connecticut, one each from Maryland and Delaware,
and two battalions of Pennsylvania riflemen increased the army to about 17,000.
In August the British ships brought to New York
32,000 troops which included 8,000 Hessians.
On August 22 the British had 400 transport ships and 37 men-of-war in Gravesend Bay
south of Brooklyn, and they landed more than 15,000 men on Long Island with 40 cannons.
Three days later they were joined by 5,000 Hessians.
On August 26 in Brooklyn and on Long Island about 20,000 British troops
defeated 10,000 Americans who lost 2,179 men that included about 300 killed,
670 wounded or missing, and at least 1,079 captured
while the British had only 64 dead, 295 wounded, and 31 missing.
The other Continentals retreated to New Jersey.
The next morning General Thomas Mifflin brought
nearly 1,000 Pennsylvanians as reinforcements.
During a rainstorm Washington was awake for most of 48 hours
working with his men, inspiring them with his example.
Then he skillfully directed a retreat at night of the 9,000 men from Long Island
to the island of Manhattan without losing a man.
He and his generals agreed on a defensive policy.
British and Hessians invaded Brooklyn using bayonets.
The Polish military engineer Tadeusz Kościuszko had arrived in June.
He was accepted into the Continental Army on August 31, and that summer
Benjamin Franklin persuaded him to help improve Philadelphia’s defenses
by directing the work of about 5,000 Philadelphians.
Britain appointed the Major General William Howe and
his brother Admiral Richard Howe as peace commissioners,
and the peace conference on Staten Island on September 11 failed.
Washington would not accept their letters until they addressed him
as “His Excellency, General Washington.”
When he learned that the Howes only had the power to grant pardons,
Washington explained that he had no authority to discuss that.
He assigned Major General Nathanael Greene to defend Long Island.
Washington informed Congress that he did not have enough men to defend New York,
and they ordered three more battalions from Virginia,
two from North Carolina, and one from Rhode Island.
The captured Sullivan was exchanged and brought offers
he received verbally from the Howe brothers.
On September 6 Congress elected Franklin, John Adams, and Edward Rutledge
to a committee to consider their propositions.
They learned from Admiral Howe that he did not have the power
to put acts of Parliament aside, and the Americans wanted to be sure
they would not be taxed or have their governments altered by Parliament.
Congress wanted Washington to hold New York;
but he knew it was impossible and took steps to prepare for a retreat.
He expected the British to winter in New York.
On September 6 the Congress authorized bounties up to $20
and 100 acres to those enlisting for the duration of the war.
On the 8th Washington wrote to Congress that they should fight
a defensive war, avoid general actions, and protract the war.
On September 15 at Kip’s Bay on Manhattan island
Washington’s army of 500 was outnumbered 8 to 1 and had 50 killed and 320 captured.
The next day Washington, Hamilton, and Nathanael Greene commanded
1,800 Virginia riflemen and Knowlton’s rangers and fought at Harlem Heights
losing 30 killed and 100 wounded while defeating about 1,600 British.
On the 17th Congress authorized the enlistment of
88 battalions (75,000 men) of infantry for the duration.
General Henry Clinton led a British attack, and they had 70 men killed and 210 wounded.
The Americans decided not to burn New York City,
but on September 21 a fire destroyed more than 400 tenements out of 4,000.
The British suspected that Washington’s men were
stealing church bells to make them into cannons.
Young Nathan Hale was working as a spy for Knowlton’s rangers,
and he volunteered to gather information in New York in civilian clothes.
He was captured and charged with spying.
Before he was hanged on September 22, he said,
“I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.”
The British and Hessian soldiers looted New York’s libraries
which had more than 50,000 books.
On September 16 Congress proposed to give land to those who enlisted
as Continental troops for the duration of the war;
Thomas Johnson and Samuel Chase were part of
the Wabash Land Company, and Maryland objected.
Silas Deane had secured a gift of one million livres from Spain in June 1776,
and 2,000 barrels of powder and other supplies were sent to New Orleans
for the Americans in July 1777.
The committee on alliances had presented the “Plan of Treaties” on 18 July 1776,
and after much debate it was accepted on September 17.
Franklin led a commission with Silas Deane and Robert Morris that went to Paris.
Jefferson, who was busy governing Virginia, declined and was replaced by Arthur Lee.
In late September the Congress was shocked to learn how inadequate
the soldiers’ rations
of food were because getting only bread and meat, they lacked “greens.”
On October 7 Congress granted General Charles Lee $30,000
to pay for his expected losses in England.
He advised reconciling with Britain.
During the summer Benedict Arnold supervised the
construction of five galleys and eight gondolas he designed.
Deploying these in Lake Champlain he managed to delay
General Carleton’s forces on October 11 at Valcour Bay.
The Americans lost, and Arnold abandoned and destroyed facilities
at Crown Point before retreating to Fort Ticonderoga.
The British had no quarters near there and withdrew to Montreal for the winter.
This effort prevented the American army from being trapped in New York.
Delaware completed its constitution on September 20.
Pennsylvania formed a constitution with the franchise for
every
resident tax-payer and Franklin’s idea of a unicameral legislature.
The executive branch was only a committee dependent on the legislature.
It went into effect on September 28 without ratification by citizens and was difficult to amend.
An oath or affirmation made it unpopular with Quakers,
though no man could be forced to bear arms if he paid for a substitute.
Judges were to be elected locally.
People had the right to emigrate and “form a new state in vacant countries.”
The assemblies elected under this constitution passed
laws limiting wealth and regulating monopolies.
Virginia’s new General Assembly met for the first time on October 7
and many petitions protested religious discrimination.
On the 24th the Presbytery of Hanover presented a memorial on the free exercise of religion.
They asked that there be no ecclesiastical establishment
so that all Virginians could be free to practice religion as they chose.
Maryland began working on a constitution in August and established it on November 9.
North Carolina’s congress ratified its constitution on December 18.
On October 12 Admiral Richard Howe commanded
150 ships that sailed up the East River in the fog,
and 4,000 troops led by Clinton landed on Throg’s Neck at noon.
Six days later 4,000 more British and Hessian troops landed at Pell’s Point.
Washington’s army was marching toward White Plains
where he located his headquarters on October 27.
The next day General Howe attacked, and each side had about 13,000 men.
The Americans suffered less than a hundred casualties,
and the English and Hessians had 229.
At White Plains, New York on October 28 the British outnumbered the Continentals
by about two to one, and the Americans had a few more men killed and captured.
General Howe advanced again on November 5.
The Americans tried to hold on to Fort Washington
until Washington decided to order its evacuation.
He commanded 5,000 men going to New Jersey and had
General Lee remain behind with 7,500 to watch Howe’s movements.
General Greene wanted to hold Fort Washington and got a special order from Congress.
An adjutant named William Demont deserted and
gave the plans of Fort Washington to the British.
On November 16 about 8,000 British soldiers defeated 3,000 Continentals
in the battle at Fort Washington by capturing 2,837 men while
suffering
84 killed and 374 wounded compared to 59 Americans dead and 96 injured.
Greene fled with more than 2,000 men.
About 4,000 British and Hessians marched to Fort Lee and took it over on November 20.
Washington’s remaining army crossed the Hudson River and fled west across New Jersey.
The army of Cornwallis with 4,500 men began chasing the Americans.
General Washington sent Major Mifflin to Philadelphia to
ask Congress for reinforcements as they retreated in New Jersey.
Cornwallis led the British vanguard to Newark on November 28.
Two days later the New Jersey and Maryland brigades departed
because
their enlistments expired, leaving Washington with an army of only 3,500 troops.
The Howe brothers proclaimed a pardon and amnesty for
those promising within sixty days not to fight the King.
Col. Charles Read and Samuel Tucker, who held the top leadership positions
in New Jersey, Joseph Galloway of Philadelphia, and others pledged fidelity to the British.
Maryland’s convention renounced independence.
General Schuyler in the north sent seven New England regiments to Delaware,
though their service expired at the end of the year.
The Howes sent General Henry Clinton with 6,000 men to Rhode Island
which they occupied for the next three years.
Washington’s army escaped by crossing the Delaware River at Trenton into Pennsylvania
on December 7 while he had every boat within seventy miles secured or destroyed.
On the 10th the Congress sent Major Mifflin to recruit soldiers in Pennsylvania.
That day General Charles Lee and his 4,000 troops arrived at Morristown.
Washington ordered him to join his forces, but he replied evasively.
Lee wrote letters to friends suggesting “virtuous treason.”
He was careless and was captured in a tavern by the British on December 13.
On that day Washington received from Congress unlimited command
of the army for six months, allowing him to offer bounties
for longer enlistments and to displace and appoint officers.
He chose General John Sullivan to replace Lee.
With Philadelphia threatened by the British army, Congress adjourned on the 12th,
and for safety they assembled in Baltimore on December 20.
Howe and Cornwallis went to Princeton and reached Trenton
as the Americans were crossing the Delaware River.
Howe stationed troops in New Jersey and retired in New York for the winter.
Thomas Paine had traveled with Washington’s army across New Jersey
until they reached Trenton, and then he returned to Philadelphia.
On December 19 he began publishing The American Crisis
in the Pennsylvania Journal and then as a series of pamphlets.
On the 23rd Washington had it read to his troops before they crossed the Delaware.
It begins with the famous words,
These are the times that try men’s souls.
The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will,
in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country;
but he that stands it now,
deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.
Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered;
yet we have this consolation with us,
that the harder the conflict,
the more glorious the triumph.
What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly;
it is dearness only that gives everything its value.
Heaven knows how to put a proper price on its goods;
and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article
as FREEDOM should not be highly rated.
Britain, with an army to enforce her tyranny,
has declared that she has a right (not only to TAX),
but “to BIND us in ALL CASES WHATSOEVER”;
and if being bound in that manner is not slavery,
then there is not such a thing as slavery on earth.9
Paine wrote that he would never support an “offensive war” because it is murder;
but if a thief breaks into his house, destroys his property, kills those inside,
and threatens to “bind me in all cases whatsoever,” he must respond even if called a rebel.
George Washington wrote to Congress that he could not rely on militia
and pleaded with them for longer enlistments in a standing army.
After the end of December he expected to have less than 1,500 effective men.
On the 20th General Sullivan brought the remaining
500 men from four New England regiments.
Washington still had about 5,000 men in December and planned a daring attack.
He sent the former British soldier John Honeyman to pretend
to be a Tory spy to get information on the garrison at Trenton.
On December 25 Washington and Generals Nathanael Greene and John Sullivan
marched 2,400 men to the Delaware River and crossed it at night.
Then they marched nine miles to Trenton.
When he learned their arms were wet, Washington told them to use their bayonets.
Taken by surprise, 22 Hessians were killed; 918 surrendered while 507 escaped.
The only two Americans who died had frozen to death on the march,
and only four were wounded.
During 1776 American privateers seized 229 British ships,
though 50 were retaken; Americans lost only six privateers.
By the end of the year Maryland and Virginia were impressing
“rogues and vagabonds” into their militia.
On December 29 the Congress gave Washington
“full, ample, and complete powers” to conduct the war.
On that day the last day of their enlistments Washington
appealed to the men to re-enlist with this short speech:
You have done all I asked you to do,
and more than could be reasonably be expected.
But your country is at stake,
your wives, your homes and all that you hold dear.
You have worn yourselves out with fatigues and hardships,
but we know not how to spare you.
If you will consent to stay only one month longer,
you will render that service to the cause of liberty
and to your country which you probably
never can do under any other circumstance.10
On that day Washington and his army crossed
the Delaware again and camped at Trenton.
The next day he pleaded with his troops to remain with the army,
and he persuaded the eastern regiments to stay for six weeks.
The paymaster had no money, and
Washington and some of his officers pledged their fortunes.
About 1,200 men accepted the bounty and reenlisted.
Also on December 30 the Congress resolved to send instructions to commissioners
in the courts of Vienna, Prussia, and the Grand Duke of Tuscany to negotiate
commercial treaties, and they offered British territories in America to France and Spain
if they joined the fight against England.
They sent Ben Franklin to France, which had
made a gift of one million livres on June 10.
Notes
1. From George Washington to Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Reed, 31 January 1776 (online)
2. George Washington: A Biography Volume 4 Leader of the Revolution
by Douglas Southall Freeman, p. 603.
3. Documents of American History ed. Henry Steele Commager, p. 103-104.
4. Washington Writings, p. 225-227.
5. A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents 1789-1908 ed. James D. Richardson, p. 3-6.
6. Washington Writings, p. 227-228.
7. From Benjamin Franklin to Lord Howe, 20 July 1776 (Online)
8. George Washington: A Life by Willard Sterne Randall, p. 233.
9. History of the United States of America by George Bancroft, Volume 6, p. 66.
10. George Washington: A Life by Willard Sterne Randall, p. 327.
This work has not yet been published as a book, and all the chapters are free in this website.