Problems solved...

Abigail Adams

Minorities played a huge role during the war, and they were seeking for a reward. In fact, women wanted to be recognized for their contributions in the war. The wife of John Adams, Abigail Adams, sent him a letter while he was on the Constitutional Convention, asking him to please remember the ladies, to take them in account while writing the Constitution. But you know what? The only thing he did was ignore the letter. The only thing women gain was respect, but little by little that will become a big reward. In New Jersey, the widows were allowed to vote, but only in New Jersey the otheer states didn't recognize it. So poor ladies, they did such a hard work and the only reward they get is respect, but I guess that is better than nothing.

Another minority was crashed by the Revolution: the Native Americans. Nobody took them in account, since the Treaty of Paris declared that the Americans could settle westward then all their land was lost. The humble Native Americans lost a vast amount of land due to the war, but there was nothing they could do about it.

The last issue to be resolved was slavery. In the North everything was fine, they passed laws that banned slavery. But  they still had several slaves in the Southern colonies, but many planters began to free them voluntary, this practice was called manumission. Later on, in the Southern states they passed a law discouraging manumission, but still people began to free all their slaves including the 300 slaves George Washington owned from its plantation at Mount Vernon. Little by little, slavery was vanishing.

The Revolution did bring positive effects to the world, it triggered Revolution in several corners around the world,  the idea of liberty was well seen almost everywhere including France, Latin America, and Asia. The idea of liberty, is an idea every human should have, and we should admire the perseverance of the Patriots because in the end they did accomplish what Patrick Henry once said: Liberty or Death.

The War Effects...

The Treaty of Paris

The end of the war needed to be officialized, the Patriots did win the war due to the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown but what officially ended the war was: The Treaty of Paris. The Treaty of Paris was signed on September 3, 1783. The three American negotiators, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and John Jay, played really well their roll at negotiating and pushing for the points of national interest that guaranteed a future for the United States. Two main points of the treaty were British recognition of U.S. independence and the new boundaries that would allow famericans to settle West the Appalachians.

The treaty was named for the city in which it was negotiated and signed. The last page has the signatures of David Hartley, who represented Great Britain, and the three American negotiators. Once Independence was  officially over, the Americans were at the beginning of the end. They had a nation to build. But not everything was fine back in the U.S. because the treaty affected the Loyalists in many ways, even though the British were trying to keep their allies by setting conditions, it was a vain effort. The Treaty stated that the Loyalist couldn't return, plus they were being mobed. And in the end, the British didn't recognized their Loyalists, they just left them behind, breaking many Loyalists dreams. The Loyalist situation didn't have much importance as slavery did. They still had the slavery issue to be resolved. The Revolution created many ideals  and inspired several slaves to demand freedom. Slavery was popular in the Southern states but it was not seen right in the Northern states. Since many slaves joined the Continental Army, they feared the fact that black people were getting guns because they thought that could come back and take revenge on them. But they wouldn't, the only thing they looked for was: emancipation. The honorable Americans were being called hypocrites by the British, they said that how come they've been fighting for freedom and they're holding slaves, taking away their freedom? Demanding equal rights for everybody and not doing so. So, slavery and other minorities became quite an issue after the end of the War.

FINALLY, the war is over.

Washington's Plan

What a great summer was about to begin on 1781. George Washington moved most of his troops south; he had a great plan on mind. He planned to trap General Charles Cornwallis in Yorktown, but the timing was crucial being at the right place at the right moment, he needed some help from the French fleet to prevent and block the British from evacuating by sea through the Chesapeake Bay. George Washington knew the French were coming but he had no idea at what time. So that was the plan but how did it happen and went so well? The coordination was a stroke of luck. The French made a crucial difference, even the French soldiers and navy outnumbered George Washington’s army, so they definitely had a big army. The battle of Yorktown consisted of many small confrontations; in July 1781 the British marched to Yorktown they expected reinforcements to come from New York so meanwhile they settled near Chesapeake Bay. The French general Lafayette trapped the British on the Peninsula until the Continental Army and more French troops arrived in late August. The French and Americans created a semicircle around the British also blocking them from escaping by land, so there was no way out. Meanwhile General Charles Cornwallis was trying to escape; he even sent soldiers that had smallpox to from his camp into the lines of the colonial soldiers, hoping that the colonial soldiers would get infected and give him a chance. But he failed, leading him to surrender, so on October 19, 1781 it was over. He sent a drummer boy and a soldier with a white flag to Washington offering to surrender. On October 19, the official papers of surrender were signed. In the final act a colonial band played an old British tune called, “The World Turned Upside Down”. Indeed it turned upside down for the British, but a fresh start awaited the perseverant Americans.

What a Victory :)

Almost over...

As the war continued, the Red Coats expected some support from their fellow Loyalists in the South; especially from the farmers in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. They wanted and needed this support but all they did was waste it. They kept making the same mistake using the same wrong war strategies; they still thought they were fighting a conventional War, instead of also supporting the Loyalist militia.

Bernardo de Galvez

In the south they won most of the battles, and they captured major sea ports in the South. In the late 1778 the British captured savannah, Georgia. During the spring 1780, they captured Charleston, South Carolina and at the same time they captured 5000 Patriot soldiers, that summer the British crushed another Patriot army in Camden, South Carolina. All these are major sea ports. Meanwhile in the Gulf of Mexico, Bernardo De Galvez attacked the British forts in the Gulf Coast region. In 1780 he attacked Mobil, Alabama, which was a British fort. In 1781, they took Pensacola, British West Florida. All this effective Spanish moves in the Gulf were making the British send troops to the Gulf to defend, but as they strengthened the Gulf they were weakening the troop in the East Coast .Even though their British had several victories in the South they didn’t control the countryside, a brutal, bloody civil war took place between the Patriots and the Loyalists, both sides killed civilians. In October 1780 at King Mountain, South Carolina, the Patriots crushed the Loyalist militia, they executed many of their prisoners, so they were not only losing people they were also losing territory, many neutrals and Loyalists were turning their backs on British and pairing with the Patriots, the Loyalists were blaming the British for not aiding them when needed. The British gained a lot of enemies in that area. Obviously General Charles Cornwallis was frustrated for all this conflicts and the fact that he was having a hard time achieving his goal of controlling the South. The Continental Army was small in the South but they had 2 great commanders: Nathaniel Greene and Daniel Morgan. In 1781 they faced 2 huge losses to the British, one in Cowpen, South Carolina and Guildford Courthouse, North Carolina. After this General Charles Cornwallis decided to go north Virginia but he had no idea of what was about to happen…

King Mountain Battle

Pretty Funny :)

After the hurricane, comes the rainbow...

Valley Forge

The struggle continued, the remarkable army faced a very difficult winter from 1777 to 1778, the scenario was on Valley Forge(outsides of Philadelphia). George Washington reported Congres that 1/3 of 10,000 soldiers had no warm clothing and no shoes. Washington was worried for his army, he only saw 3 possible ways out: 1. Starve to death 2.Army would dissolve 3.Army would disperse. But never lose hope, Friedrich Wilhelm August Heinrich Ferdinand von Steuben (born Friedrich Wilhelm Ludolf Gerhard Augustin von Steuben; September 17, 1730 – November 28, 1794), also known as Baron von Steuben, he was a Prussian born military officer, he was a volunteer that offered to train the Continental Army. In June 1778, the British evacuated from Philadelphia through New Jersey into New York, they retreated due to the Battle of Monmouth, in this Battle the Continental Army showed all the skills they've been learning at Valley Forge, and demonstrated their huge improvements. Still, the British had nothing new to show, how boring... they only had New York as a stronghold and that was it. The war began moving South. 

Baron Von Steuben

What a great Christmas gift...

Washington's troops were devastated after the series of battles they fought and failed, so this were desperate times. But Washington was ready he had his plans set and was ready to execute them, he needed to counterattack and win this battle. He was a really clever man, on December, 26 1776;, Washington led his Continental Army across the icy and cold roads of Delaware about 9 miles north of Trenton. The weather was terrible and the river was pretty tricky. Huge winds combined with snow, and rain produced impossible conditions. Another of the difficulties, a big number of Washington's troops marched through the snow without shoes and warm clothing.

The next morning they attacked the south, giving the Hessian garrison a surprise and invading the town. After the intense fighting, and the terrible loss of the commander, the Hessians gave up. This became known as the Battle of Trenton, and gave the Patriots and supporters a huge moral boost, this was a great victory and became widely know and remembered as the Crossing of Delaware.

Famous painting of the Delaware Cros

For Washington's luck, he began 1777 with another victory. While he was moving his troops at the middle of the night, he encountered General Charle Cornwallis at the Battle of Princeton(January 3, 1777), this battle was fought on Princeton, New Jersey. There's ot much to say about this war, but what you need to know is that it gave a great victory to the Patriots and gave them a fresh new start. 

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However, he's luck didn't lasted long, in the fall of 1777 he lost his beloved Philadelphia to Howe's army, so now it was under British control. After this General John Burgoyne's army marched from Canada, ready to capture New York Hudson Valley. But to his fortune he fell into a Patriots' troop at Saratoga(September 19 and October 7, 1777) this consisted of several battles, and it was definitely a turning point in the war. Why? Well it made this whole situation popular, making the Continental Army gain support. France recognized American independence, and began helping the Colonials secretely, they saw this as a great opportunity to defeat their biggest enemy: Britain. Altough the French were afraid of making their alliance public, but they still sent shipments to the Patriots, and this kept the army going. French were really generous, for example Marquis de Lafayette provided military experts. After Saratoga, France decided to make their alliance public and they negotiated in February 1778, and this made the diplomatic genius Benjamin Franklin to come up to scene, he was an exceptional and simple American. It seems a great future was planned for the perseverant colonials, wanna know more about it? Wait for the next posts :)

fun huh?

Cruel Hessians and Memorable Women...

The British troops were being commanded by Lord William Howe, a not-so brilliant man because he kept on attacking the same way, even though it wasn't effective. The British had this idea that they were fighting another common British war, but they were wrong they were fighting: a revolutionary war. But Howe had some really good ideas in mind, he thought that if he captured Philadelphia, the Patriots capital; and the major sea port, Boston, he would finally win the war. But they were planning to win it on a really dirty way. They hired German mercenaries, which is a professional soldier hired by a foreign army, as opposed to a soldier enlisted in the armed forces of the sovereign state of which he is a citizen, they were called The Hessians. They wew no-hearted soldiers, they were well-trained and German, they would do anything to eliminate the enemy. No doubt that the word "assassination" comes from the word "Hessian".

The Hessians

Since the British had this brutal soldiers by their sides which were a great strength, but the Patriots also had a great strength by their side: George Washington. He loved his Continental Army and took care of it, he knew he couldn't take the risk of putting his army out there into a major battle. Unfortunately, George Washington lost most of his battle but his skillful retreats kept his army alive. Also the support of Patriot women made this army keep shining, a few of the several supporting women standed out; one of them was Deborah Samsson Garnett(December 17, 1760 - April 27, 1827) better known as Deborah Sampson, she received a military pension from Congress due to her brave work, that consisted on impersonating a man in order to serve in the Continental Army, ahe served 17 months in the army.

Deborah Sampson

Another famous women was Mary Hays McCauley aka Molly Pitcher, known for her brave actions at the battle of Monmouth. She was born near Trenton, New Jersey on October 13, 1754. Her task consisted on delivering water to the troops while they were at war(because they got tired, obviously) and sometimes she was brave enough to fire the cannon of her husband. She an many other women are definitely American heroines that we should always remember.

Molly Pitcher

It's on...

The colonists needed to demonstrate their Independence, and as said before, one thing was declaring it on paper and achieving it was a different story. They had to win a series of battles and a bloody war in order to defeat the world's biggest empire. Britain had 4x the population of the colonists which was about 2.5 million, so can you imagine the amount of British people against a few colonists who truly seeked Independence? 
The British didn't take the colonists seriously, until they defeated them at Concord. The British repeated the same mistake once again at the Battle of Bunker Hill, this battle was fought on June 17, 1775, a few days after George Washington was elected the Commander of the Continental Army. Despite the name, the battle was really fought on Breed's Hill not on Bunker Hill.

Battle of Breed's Hill

 The colonials were ready to attack, they had fortified the hills around Boston, they wanted to push the British outside the Port. The British had a new commander: Lord William Howe, born on August 10, 1729 on Britain. He planned a frontal assault right at noon, making his army struggle because they were wearing this red coats below the hot sun of noon and carrying heavy artifacts, and walking uphill... Absurd right? The Patriots had a clever tactic, they hide in trenches and attacked the Red Coats. The first two charges the Patriots won, and the British won the third charge, but just because the Patriots ran out of ammunition. Even though the Red coats won, the Patriots gave the British wake-up call. So the British better get ready for the next encounters...

The Real Deal...

By Spring 1776, Thomas Paine's ideas had a great impact on American Independence. As Congress saw the change on public ideals, they created a committee to draft the document that would declare American Independence, the committee was composed by John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Robert R. Livingston, and Roger Sherman. They had a complex tax, because they had to explain the reasons why they wanted Independence.
On July 2, by the votes of 12 of the 13 colonies, with New York not voting, Congress adopted the Lee Resolution and begins consideration of the Declaration of Independence, written by the Committee of Five. 2 days later, at the afternoon church bells ring out over Philadelphia announcing the approval of the Declaration. 


The Declaration was written by Thomas Jefferson, and this emerged thanks to Paine's ideals and declared the King as a tyrant. In the Declaration they included a long list of colonial grievances, and advanced the idea that every men is born with natural rights: life, liberty, and property; this rights cannot be taken away, Jefferson referred to them as "unalienable rights". This statement was completely different to the reality society was suffering, but it still created a sense of hope and joy in the people. But the easy part is done: declaring it on paper, now the hard part has to come: achieving it. They faced several challenges, but they will fight for what they want and deserve: freedom.