AMSCO 3.5 The American Revolution

Overview

AMSCO Topic 3.5, The American Revolution, covers the path from the Intolerable Acts in 1774 to the Treaty of Paris in 1783. That includes the First and Second Continental Congresses, the first fighting at Lexington and Concord, the Declaration of Independence, and the full Revolutionary War. This chapter sits at the heart of Period 3 (1754-1800), and on the AP exam the big question it answers is: how did the colonies beat the most powerful empire on Earth despite Loyalist opposition and Britain's enormous military and financial advantages?

John Adams later wrote that "the revolution was in the minds of the people" before the war even started. This chapter shows how that mental revolution turned into an actual one between 1774 and 1776, and how the war was won by 1783. It picks up where the protests of AMSCO 3.3 Taxation Without Representation and the Enlightenment ideas of AMSCO 3.4 Philosophical Foundations left off.

The First Continental Congress (1774)

The Intolerable Acts pushed every colony except Georgia to send delegates to Philadelphia in September 1774. Here's the key point: most delegates did NOT want independence. They wanted to protest Parliament's violations of their rights and go back to the relationship with Britain that existed before the Seven Years' War.

Who showed up

All the delegates were wealthy White men, but their views ranged widely.

• Radicals (wanted the biggest concessions from Britain): Patrick Henry of Virginia, Samuel Adams and John Adams of Massachusetts
• Moderates: George Washington of Virginia, John Dickinson of Pennsylvania
• Conservatives (favored mild protest): John Jay of New York, Joseph Galloway of Pennsylvania
• Not represented at all: Loyalists, who refused to challenge the king's government in any way

What the Congress did

Joseph Galloway proposed a plan, similar to the Albany Plan of 1754, that would have created a colonial union within the British Empire. It failed by a single vote. Instead, the Congress took four actions:

• Endorsed the Suffolk Resolves (originally from Massachusetts), calling for immediate repeal of the Intolerable Acts, military preparations, and a boycott of British goods
• Passed the Declaration and Resolves, a moderate petition asking the king to redress colonial grievances while still recognizing Parliament's authority to regulate commerce
• Created the Continental Association, a network of committees to enforce the boycott
• Agreed to meet again in May 1775 if colonial rights weren't recognized

Fighting Begins: Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill

The king's government dismissed the Congress's petition, declared Massachusetts in a state of rebellion, and sent more troops. Violence followed within months.

Lexington and Concord (April 19, 1775)

General Thomas Gage sent a British force from Boston to seize colonial military supplies at Concord. Paul Revere and William Dawes rode ahead to warn the countryside. The Minutemen of Lexington met the British on the village green, where eight Americans were killed in a brief skirmish. Nobody knows who fired the first shot, and the chapter is honest that we probably never will.

The British destroyed some supplies at Concord, but the march back to Boston was a disaster for them. Hundreds of militiamen fired from behind stone walls, inflicting 250 British casualties and humiliating a professional army at the hands of "amateur" fighters.

Bunker Hill (June 17, 1775)

The first true battle between opposing armies happened outside Boston. Massachusetts farmers fortified Breed's Hill (next to Bunker Hill, which gave the battle its misleading name). The British took the hill, but at a cost of over a thousand casualties. Americans claimed a victory of sorts: they had proven they could make the British bleed.

The Second Continental Congress and the Push Toward Independence

Delegates met again in Philadelphia in May 1775, and they were split. New England delegates mostly wanted independence; middle colony delegates hoped to negotiate a new relationship with Britain. So the Congress did something contradictory: it waged war and sued for peace at the same time.

War measures

• Adopted the Declaration of the Causes and Necessities for Taking Up Arms and called on the colonies for troops
• Appointed George Washington commander-in-chief of a new colonial army and sent him to Boston
• Authorized Benedict Arnold to raid Quebec, hoping to pull Canada away from the British Empire
• Organized an American navy and marine corps in fall 1775 to attack British ships

Peace efforts fail

In July 1775, the Congress sent the Olive Branch Petition to King George III, pledging loyalty and asking him to step in with Parliament to protect colonial rights. The king angrily rejected it and approved the Prohibitory Act (August 1775), declaring the colonies in rebellion. Parliament then banned all trade between Britain and the colonies. The door to reconciliation was closing fast.

The Declaration of Independence

On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia introduced a resolution declaring the colonies independent. A five-member committee, including Thomas Jefferson, drafted a supporting statement. Jefferson's draft listed grievances against George III and laid out the principles justifying revolution: "all men are created equal" with "unalienable rights" to "Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness."

The Congress adopted Lee's resolution on July 2 and the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. (How Americans applied these ideals afterward is the subject of AMSCO 3.6 The Influence of Revolutionary Ideals.)

The Revolutionary War: Who Fought and Why It Was Hard

Of the roughly 2.6 million people in the 13 colonies in 1775, maybe 40 percent actively supported the Patriot cause, about 25 percent were Loyalists, and the rest stayed neutral. This was partly a civil war, with Americans fighting Americans.

British advantages vs. Patriot resilience

Britain had three times the population, a wealthy economy, a large trained army, the world's most powerful navy, and experience fighting overseas. The Patriots had almost none of that. Soldiers served short stints in local militias, left to tend their farms, and came back. Even though several hundred thousand fought on the Patriot side over the course of the war, Washington never commanded more than 20,000 regular troops at once, and his army was short on supplies, poorly equipped, and rarely paid. What the Patriots did have was ideological commitment: a core of people resilient enough to endure real hardship for independence. That commitment is exactly what the AP exam wants you to be able to explain.

African Americans, Loyalists, and American Indians

• African Americans: Washington initially rejected Black soldiers, but when the British offered freedom to enslaved people who joined them, Washington and Congress matched the offer. About 5,000 African Americans fought as Patriots, most of them free northerners in mixed-race units. Peter Salem was among those recognized for bravery.
• Loyalists (Tories): Almost 60,000 fought alongside British soldiers. They were strongest in major port cities (except Boston) and probably a majority in New York, New Jersey, and Georgia. They tended to be wealthier and more conservative, including most government officials and Anglican clergy. The war split families: Benjamin Franklin was a leading Patriot while his son William served as the last royal governor of New Jersey. About 80,000 Loyalists emigrated to Canada or Britain by the war's end.
• American Indians: Most tried to stay neutral at first, but colonist attacks pushed many to side with the British, who promised to limit western settlement.

Early losses, 1775-1777

The first three years went badly. Washington's army was routed in the battle for New York City in 1776, and by the end of 1777 the British held both New York and Philadelphia. Washington's demoralized troops spent the brutal winter of 1777-1778 at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. Economically, things were just as bleak: British occupation of American ports cut trade 95 percent between 1775 and 1777, inflation ran wild, and the paper continentals issued by Congress became nearly worthless.

Saratoga, the French Alliance, and Victory

Image source: Medcalfe; Faden, William / Public domain

The turning point came at the Battle of Saratoga in upstate New York in October 1777. British General John Burgoyne marched south from Canada trying to cut New England off from the rest of the states. American generals Horatio Gates and Benedict Arnold attacked, and Burgoyne surrendered.

The diplomatic result mattered even more than the military one. Saratoga convinced France to openly enter the war in 1778. King Louis XVI, an absolute monarch, had zero sympathy for revolution, but he saw a chance to weaken Britain by wrecking its colonial empire. (France had secretly sent money and supplies since 1775; Spain and Holland joined against Britain in 1779.) The French alliance was decisive because it widened the war and forced Britain to spread its military resources beyond America.

Yorktown and the Treaty of Paris

Facing a global war, Britain consolidated in New York and then tried a southern strategy in 1780, focusing on Virginia and the Carolinas where Loyalists were numerous. Meanwhile, Patriots under George Rogers Clark captured British forts in the Illinois country during 1778-1779, gaining control of parts of the Ohio territory.

The last major battle came at Yorktown, Virginia, in 1781. With heavy French naval and military support, Washington forced General Charles Cornwallis to surrender his army. The defeat broke the Tory government in Parliament. Lord North resigned, and Whig leaders who wanted peace took over.

The Treaty of Paris (1783) set four terms:

1. Britain recognized the United States as an independent nation
2. The Mississippi River became the western boundary
3. Americans got fishing rights off the coast of Canada
4. Americans would pay debts owed to British merchants and honor Loyalist property claims

Key Terms to Know

Practice and Next Steps

Pair these notes with the Fiveable course guide for Topic 3.5 The American Revolution, then keep moving through the APUSH AMSCO notes collection. The next chapter, AMSCO 3.6 The Influence of Revolutionary Ideals, looks at how the Revolution changed American society.

To check your understanding, try guided multiple-choice practice on Period 3, or write a response in FRQ practice with instant scoring. A causation question on why the Patriots won (militias, Washington's leadership, ideological commitment, French aid) is a classic APUSH prompt, so practice building that argument now.