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