James Wolfe had described America’s soldiers as “cowardly dogs.” Henry Ellis, the royal governor of Georgia, nearly simultaneously asserted that the colonists were a “poor species of fighting men” given to “a want of bravery.” For instance, during the French and Indian War (1754-63), Brig. In addition, many in the cabinet were swayed by disparaging assessments of American soldiers leveled by British officers in earlier wars. Furthermore, the colonists had virtually no history of cooperating with one another, even in the face of danger.
WE. THE REVOLUTION REDDIT PROFESSIONAL
Britain possessed a professional army and the world’s greatest navy. The Americans had neither a standing army nor a navy few among them were experienced officers. Throughout its deliberations, North’s government agreed on one point: the Americans would pose little challenge in the event of war. A second round of deliberations within North’s ministry ensued for nearly six weeks. News of that vote reached London in December. In September 1774, colonists convened the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia the members voted to embargo British commerce until all British taxes and the Coercive Acts were repealed. Politicians in London chose to heed the counsel of Gage, who opined that the colonists would “be lyons whilst we are lambs but if we take the resolute part they will be very meek.”īritain, of course, miscalculated hugely. Thomas Gage, commander of the British Army in America, as governor of the colony. Britain’s principal action was to close Boston Harbor until the tea had been paid for. Parliament enacted the Coercive Acts-or Intolerable Acts, as Americans called them-and applied the legislation to Massachusetts alone, to punish the colony for its provocative act. A second question was considered as well: Could Britain win such a war?īy March 1774, North’s government had opted for punitive measures that fell short of declaring war. Throughout early 1774, the prime minister and his cabinet engaged in lengthy debate on whether coercive actions would lead to war. (Recall that on December 16, 1773, protesters had boarded British vessels in Boston Harbor and destroyed cargoes of tea, rather than pay a tax imposed by Parliament.) Contrary to popular belief both then and now, Lord North’s government did not respond impulsively to the news.
Accusations circulating at the time-later to become conventional wisdom-held that the nation’s political leaders had failed to comprehend the gravity of the challenge.Īctually, the British cabinet, made up of nearly a score of ministers, first considered resorting to military might as early as January 1774, when word of the Boston Tea Party reached London. In the course of England’s long and unsuccessful attempt to crush the American Revolution, the myth arose that its government, under Prime Minister Frederick, Lord North, had acted in haste. Great Britain Did Not Know What It Was Getting Into Here, in order to form a more perfect understanding, the most significant myths of the Revolutionary War are reassessed. Perhaps more than any defining moment in American history, the War of Independence is swathed in beliefs not borne out by the facts.
Yet much of what we know is not entirely true.
Often it is the Revolution that is a child’s first encounter with history. The Declaration of Independence, the Midnight Ride, Valley Forge-the whole glorious chronicle of the colonists’ rebellion against tyranny is in the American DNA. After all, the American Revolution and the war that accompanied it not only determined the nation we would become but also continue to define who we are.
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