In the autumn General Gage sailed for England, and the command of the British army devolved upon General Howe. Parliament now declared the colonies out of royal protection, and an army of seventeen thousand mercenaries were employed to aid in their subjection. On the 7th of June, 1776, a motion was made in Congress for declaring the colonies free and independent States. The motion was discussed, and on the fourth of July approved, by a nearly unanimous vote.
The struggle had now begun in earnest. Since his arrival at Cambridge General Washington had been engaged in organizing an army out of his raw recruits, and in efforts to provide them with ammunition and suitable clothing. The regular force of Americans in February was about fourteen thousand men; in addition to these about six thousand of the Massachusetts militia were at the disposal of the Commander-in-Chief. With these troops he succeeded in forcing the British to evacuate Boston. This victory was followed by defeat in Canada, the complete British possession of New York, and of the States of New Jersey and Rhode Island. In the spring of 1777 a ship arrived from France with upwards of eleven thousand stand of arms and one thousand barrels of gunpowder. The army was fully provided with arms and ammunition, and more confidence was felt in the chances for success. As the Continental army gradually regained possession of New Jersey after Washington’s victory of Trenton, the depleted ranks began to fill up, and the fortunes of the United States never again sank to such a low ebb as they had after the British invasion of New York.
About this time several French officers of distinction entered the service of the United States, among them the Marquis de Lafayette, the Baron St. Ovary, and Count Pulaski, the latter a noble Pole. They were all of the greatest service to the Americans. The most important addition to our ranks was that of the Baron Steuben, who had been aide-de-camp to Frederick the Great, and had served through the Seven Years’ War. After leaving the Prussian army he had been Grand Marshal of the Court of the Prince of Hohenzollern-Hechingen. “The object of my greatest ambition,” he wrote Washington, “is to deserve the title of a citizen of the United States by fighting for the cause of your liberty.” He added that after serving under the King of Prussia, the only man he cared to fight under now was General Washington. The Baron was made Inspector-General of the army, and it was due to him largely that the raw forces were brought into the discipline necessary to insure final victory. Under him the army soon began to operate like a great machine.
The American cause advanced steadily. The successive campaigns of 1777-’78-’79-’80, and ’81 must be epitomized. After the British were driven out of New Jersey they approached Philadelphia by Chesapeake Bay. In August Sir William Howe marched from the head of Elk River in Maryland toward the capital. The armies met on the 11nth of September on the Brandywine River, and the Americans were defeated. This gave Philadelphia to the British. Another indecisive engagement occurred at Germantown shortly afterward. The campaign in Pennsylvania now ended and Washington retired for winter quarters in Valley Forge. Meanwhile events of importance were taking place in the North. General Burgoyne with seven thousand British and German troops were defeated at Fort Schuyler, at Bennington, and on the plains of Saratoga. Burgoyne’s army surrendered with nearly six thousand men and much military property, and again Ticonderoga and the North were in the hands of the Americans. This was really the turning point of the war.
France, which had for over a year kept up a wavering policy, now entered into a treaty of alliance with the United States, in which it was agreed that if war should break out between France and England during the existence of the war in America, it should be made a common cause, and that neither of the contracting parties should conclude peace with England without obtaining formal consent of the other. They further agreed not to lay down their arms until the independence of the United States should be assured by treaty.
On the alliance of America with France it was resolved in England to evacuate Philadelphia and concentrate the royal forces in the harbor of New York. The only other important advance made by the enemy was on the city of Savannah, which was captured, with the shipping in the river and much ammunition and stores. The campaign of 1779 was attended with no important results. The town of Charleston, S. C., was taken by the British, but not held for any length of time. A battle was fought at Savannah in an effort to dislodge the British troops at that place, which was so disastrous to the Americans that the militia, discouraged, retired to their homes, and the French fleet left the country. No sooner did Sir Henry Clinton receive certain information of the departure of the French allies than he sent a large expedition against South Carolina. In April, 1780, Charleston was surrounded, and a month later Fort Moultrie surrendered, thus completing the capture of the city. This year also occurred Benedict Arnold’s treachery and the execution of the gallant André.
The military movements of the year 1781 were principally confined to the South. The British were defeated twice in South Carolina, which closed the war in that State. In Virgina, at Yorktown, the British army under General Cornwallis surrendered, which practically decided the result of the Revolutionary War. Commissioners for negotiating peace were now appointed by both nations, and on the 30th of November, 1782, they agreed on provisional articles, which were to be inserted in a future treaty of peace, to be concluded finally when peace was established between France and England. On the 11th of April, 1783, Congress issued a proclamation, declaring a cessation of arms on land and sea. The definite treaty of peace was signed in Paris on the 3d of September. On the 25th of November the British troops left the city of New York, and on the same day the Americans took possession.
CHAPTER III.
THE STORY OF THE NATION.
FOLLOWING the exultation of victory came a period of uncertainty and apprehension. Financially the country was in a state of utter collapse. The result of the war was a foreign debt of eight millions, and a domestic debt of thirty millions of dollars. The army was unpaid and mutinous; only the tact and energy of Washington prevented an outbreak. The Articles of Confederation, ratified March 1st, 1781, were insufficient to the emergencies which arose on every hand. Congress could obtain no revenue except by requisition from the States; it had no power to lay a tax or to enforce payment from the States. It had no common executive, and was really less a governmental power than a consulting body. A condition bordering on anarchy reigned throughout the States. The legislatures of States having seaports taxed the people of other States for trading with foreign ports through them. Some even taxed imports from sister States. All the States neglected the requisitions of Congress, and New Jersey actually refused payment altogether. It was becoming alarmingly evident that the central government must be strengthened, and new methods of administration adopted, or the confederacy would go to pieces.
All the States except Rhode Island appointed delegates to a general Convention to be held in Philadelphia in May, 1787, for the purpose of “devising such further provisions as may be necessary to render the Federal Constitution adequate to the exigencies of the Union.” The members were the wisest and most honorable men in America. The venerable Franklin, now eighty-one years of age, George Washington, a long list of Revolutionary heroes, and eight signers of the Declaration of Independence were among the distinguished delegates. The Convention was occupied for nearly four months. The proceedings were secret; the journal being intrusted to the care of Washington, who deposited it in the State Department. This journal was afterward printed. Notes of several members were published in 1840, and from these we have nearly a complete view of the process by which the Constitution was formed.