CHAPTER X

INDEPENDENCE AND THE UNION (1775–1781)

107. The People at Home. We think of the Revolutionary War as if it were all fighting, but on the average there was only one decisive battle a year. Still every colony and every county, town, and village, shared in the hardships and suffering. Most of the men had to be at home, for the war could not go on unless food was produced, and unless taxes were paid to provide for the pay and clothing of the troops and for the materials of war. Yet probably a fourth of the grown white men were in the army, at one time or another.

Everybody was excited about the war. Ministers preached about it; children talked about it. Ladies cared for the sick and wounded, and some of them went with their husbands to the war. Baroness Riedesel, wife of a Hessian general, made the campaign of Burgoyne's army with her children, and during the battle of Saratoga they were obliged to take refuge in a cellar among the wounded and dying. She was greatly relieved, when, after the surrender of the army, the American General Schuyler, as she says, "regaled us with smoked tongues, which were excellent, with beefsteaks, potatoes, fresh butter, and bread. . . I was easy after many months of anxiety." Mrs. Esther Reed collected $300,000 in paper money in Philadelphia, and sent it to George Washington, to be given to the soldiers. The women bore their part of the war; and despite their sorrow for lost relatives and friends, they kept up the spirit and courage of the men. A few of them even put on uniforms and fought in the ranks.

Wherever the armies marched, people living along the road flocked to see the soldiers moving on horseback or on foot, the wounded hobbling along or carried in wagons. Troops were often "quartered "; that is, distributed among the houses of

THE PEOPLE AND THE WAR

the towns where they were staying overnight.

145

Here and

there a young officer fell in love with a daughter of the household where he was quartered, and later returned to marry her.

108. The Loyalists (1775-1782). Not all the Americans joined heart and soul in the Revolution. John Adams thought that at the beginning at least a third of the Americans were at heart "Tories," as the loyalists were often called. However right and necessary the Revolution was, thousands of good people sincerely loved Great Britain and were loyal to King George. Some of them believed that the British government was the best thing for the colonies.

The loyalists were harshly put down even in colonies like New York and Georgia, where at the beginning they were clearly in the majority. The patriots had the advantage of knowing each other through the Committees of Correspondence; and their informal congresses and conventions passed acts for arresting the loyalists and seizing their property. The General Court of Massachusetts banished 310 heads of families, including many of the best educated and most publicspirited men in the colony.

Thousands were thrown into jail; scores were tarred and feathered; some were killed outright. In Virginia a man named Lynch tied up Tories and whipped them till they promised to become patriots, and that method came to be called "Lynch law." About 30,000 persons in all were compelled to leave their homes, and went to Canada, Nova Scotia, the West Indies, or England. Those who remained were not allowed to take part in public affairs.

109. Supporting the War. The Americans had little ready money, and the war cut off their profitable trade with England. Yet the country abounded in provisions, and clothing could be made out of wool woven on hand looms. Unfortunately the roads were bad and it was hard to keep the armies supplied. The colonies depended chiefly on France for muskets, pistols, swords, cannons, and uniforms.

The Continental Congress and the states borrowed what little money they could from the people, and borrowed more

from the French and Spanish governments. Both Congress and the states raised most of their funds by issuing paper money. Congress alone put out 250 million dollars in Continental currency.

Paper money that has gold or other valuable things behind it in the vaults of a bank, like our present federal bank notes, is a great convenience. But paper money will surely decline

notes only at a discount.

in value till it is worthless, if there is no coin with which to redeem it. During the Revolution the states and the Con tinental Congress made it a practice to pay salaries and other accounts in paper notes. The people who took them used them to pay dues to their creditors,

who would receive the

The new holders passed them on at a greater discount; and in the end the notes were worth nothing, so that a barber in Philadelphia papered his shop with Continental money.

All classes, religions, and races took part in the war. The richest northern merchants, such as John Hancock and Robert Morris, and the richest southern planters, such as the Randolphs of Virginia and the Pinckneys of South Carolina, joined in the war. New England Congregationalists, Pennsylvania Presbyterians, Maryland Catholics, and Virginia Episcopalians were all stanch patriots. Germans, Irish, Scotch-Irish, French, Dutch, Negroes, and Englishmen stood side by side in the ranks.

110. Change from Colonies to States (1775-1780). While the military revolution was going on, every colony was passing through another kind of revolution by making a new government. The governors of Connecticut and Rhode Island were chosen by the voters, and they sympathized with the Revolu

FROM COLONIES TO STATES

147

tion. Most of the eleven royal governors tried to stop the movement. The patriots were too strong for them, and in the end the governors had to run away from their own former colonies. When the governors were out, the old colonial governments simply collapsed.

The patriots at once set up Committees of Safety in towns, counties, and colonies. They arranged for informal elections to colonial congresses or conventions; and these ' hastily chosen bodies took on themselves the right to pass laws, to lay taxes, to raise soldiers, to suppress loyalists, and to send delegates to the Continental Congress.

For about a year there was still hope that England would yield and that the old governments could again be formed. Finally the patriot congress of New Hampshire drew up (January, 1776) a document describing a new form of government with an elective governor. This was not a colonial charter, but a brief constitution for a state. It gave up the old loyalty to England. It set up a new kind of government, which sprang from the people of New Hampshire.

This example was followed by all the other colonies, one after another. Connecticut and Rhode Island had simply to make small changes in their old popular charters. After July, 1776, all the former colonies called themselves "states," and their legislatures or conventions framed a constitution for each one. Pennsylvania held a special convention (1776), of which Benjamin Franklin was president; it drew up and put in force the first constitution of that state. Several groups of people in the far West also tried to form little states. Vermont, which had been a part of New York, set up a state government (1777), but was not admitted to Congress. The last state to form a new government was Massachusetts (1780). In that state a new way of making a constitution was invented: a special convention drew up the document; it was then submitted to the direct vote of the people; when they approved of the constitution, it went into force. Parts of it are still in force.

111. Spirit of Independence (1775). The Second Continental Congress at first (May, 1775) took the ground that the

war was intended only to call the British people to their senses; and that the Americans were still loyal to the real principles of the British government. Several public men, however, especially Patrick Henry of Virginia and Samuel Adams (§ 92), had other notions, and expected to break loose from England.

During 1775 it became a custom to hold patriotic meetings in various parts of the country, which passed resolutions urging people to stand fast against aggression by the British. Among these gatherings was a committee commonly called the "Mecklenburg Convention," which met at Charlotte, North Carolina, in May, 1775. One set of resolutions supposed to be passed by this convention was published at this time, and another about forty years later. It is still uncertain how far the patriots of Mecklenburg County went in urging that the colonies withdraw from the British Empire; but there is no doubt that they were much aroused and that their action gave comfort to the friends of independence.

112. Independence Adopted (July 4, 1776). — When the British in the spring of 1776 prepared a fleet and army to put down the Revolution, it was clear that the colonies must either submit or break away altogether. In June a committee was appointed to draw up a declaration of independence, and the task of writing the document was given to Thomas Jefferson, a young delegate to Congress from Virginia.

On July 4, 1776, the Declaration was adopted by Congress, which was then sitting in the State House of Pennsylvania, now called Independence Hall. The signatures, which are familiar to American boys and girls, were not all added 'till several weeks later. Nevertheless, July 4, 1776 has been looked on as the birthday of the United States. John Adams wrote that the Declaration would in later times be celebrated "with pomp, shows, games, sports, bells, bonfires, and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other."

If this famous document (See Appendix) is read carefully, it will be seen to include four principal political ideas:

(1) Americans are possessed of natural rights: for instance, "all men are created equal . . . with certain unalienable