WEBVTT 1 00:00:20.039 --> 00:00:24.719 Hello and Welcome to Western sev Episode four hundred and 2 00:00:24.879 --> 00:00:31.079 eighty three The American Revolution, Part one. On the night 3 00:00:31.120 --> 00:00:35.280 of April eighteenth, seventeen seventy five, General Thomas Gage dispatched 4 00:00:35.320 --> 00:00:39.159 troops to see his colonial military stores at Concord, Massachusetts. 5 00:00:39.799 --> 00:00:43.159 Paul Revere, William Dawes, and Samuel Prescott road into the 6 00:00:43.159 --> 00:00:47.679 countryside with the alarm the regulars are coming out. At 7 00:00:47.759 --> 00:00:51.399 dawn on April nineteenth, militia under the control of Captain 8 00:00:51.479 --> 00:00:56.240 John Parker based British troops on Lexington Green. Stand your ground, 9 00:00:56.280 --> 00:00:59.240 Parker told his men don't fire unless fire to pong, 10 00:00:59.439 --> 00:01:01.039 but if they mean to have a war, let it 11 00:01:01.079 --> 00:01:05.480 begin here. A single shot, its origin never certain, set 12 00:01:05.480 --> 00:01:10.200 off a volley and eight Americans fell dead. The British 13 00:01:10.319 --> 00:01:13.239 pressed on to conquered, but at north Bridge they faced 14 00:01:13.439 --> 00:01:17.480 a stiff resistance. Militia sniping from behind stone walls and 15 00:01:17.519 --> 00:01:21.480 trees turned a retreat into a running gauntlet, killing or 16 00:01:21.519 --> 00:01:25.000 wounding more than two hundred and fifty Red Coats. Within days, 17 00:01:25.280 --> 00:01:29.799 militia from New England surrounded Boston, beginning an eleven month siege, 18 00:01:30.560 --> 00:01:35.159 and June British troops under General William Howe assaulted America's 19 00:01:35.200 --> 00:01:38.840 position on Breed's Hill. By June of seventeen seventy five, 20 00:01:38.879 --> 00:01:42.239 the siege of Boston was in full swing. After Lexington 21 00:01:42.239 --> 00:01:44.879 had conquered in April, thousands of New England militia had 22 00:01:44.959 --> 00:01:48.719 encircled the city, hemming in the British under General Thomas Gage. 23 00:01:49.159 --> 00:01:51.879 The British still controlled the harbor, but their supply lines 24 00:01:51.920 --> 00:01:55.599 over land had been cut. Now Boston itself settled in 25 00:01:55.599 --> 00:01:59.040 a narrow peninsula, connected to the mainland by a single 26 00:01:59.120 --> 00:02:02.400 neck of land. To the north across the Charles River 27 00:02:02.799 --> 00:02:07.079 lay the Charlestown Peninsula, with two prominent rises, Bunker Hill, 28 00:02:07.120 --> 00:02:09.879 which was further inland, and Breed's Hill, which was closer 29 00:02:09.919 --> 00:02:12.960 to the water. Whoever controlled these heights could command the 30 00:02:12.960 --> 00:02:17.639 harbor and northern approach to Boston with artillery. Rumors swelled 31 00:02:18.039 --> 00:02:21.080 that the British intended to seize these hills. On the 32 00:02:21.159 --> 00:02:25.759 night of June sixteenth, seventeen seventy five, colonial commanders decided 33 00:02:25.759 --> 00:02:29.599 to beat them to it. Colonel William Prescott, accompanied by 34 00:02:29.599 --> 00:02:33.759 about one thousand men from Massachusetts and Connecticut, marched quietly 35 00:02:33.800 --> 00:02:38.199 across the Charlestown Neck under cover of darkness. Their orders 36 00:02:38.280 --> 00:02:41.919 were to fortify Bunker Hill, but for reasons still debated, 37 00:02:42.240 --> 00:02:45.560 they dug in at Breed's Hill instead, closer to Boston 38 00:02:45.599 --> 00:02:50.080 but more exposed to attack. Throughout the night, militiamen worked 39 00:02:50.080 --> 00:02:54.879 feverishly shovels clinking against rocky soil, shaping a square earthen 40 00:02:54.879 --> 00:02:59.360 redoubts about eight feet high. By dawn, British lookouts in 41 00:02:59.400 --> 00:03:02.960 Boston were stunned to see the new fortification, silhouetted against 42 00:03:02.960 --> 00:03:07.120 the morning sky. From this position, Colonial guns could threaten 43 00:03:07.360 --> 00:03:11.719 British ships in the harbor. General Gage ordered an immediate 44 00:03:11.719 --> 00:03:14.879 assault to drive the rebels off, but instead of attacking 45 00:03:14.879 --> 00:03:18.919 at once, the British spent the morning preparing. This delay 46 00:03:18.960 --> 00:03:22.960 gave the Americans more time to reinforce their position. Those 47 00:03:23.000 --> 00:03:26.800 supplies and ammunition were limited. Reinforcements under John Stark of 48 00:03:26.800 --> 00:03:29.280 New Hampshire and others took up positions along a rail 49 00:03:29.360 --> 00:03:32.840 fence running from the hill toward the Mystic River, improvising 50 00:03:32.840 --> 00:03:36.080 cover with whatever they could find bales of hay, some brush, 51 00:03:36.280 --> 00:03:40.919 fence rails. In the early afternoon, British troops about two 52 00:03:41.400 --> 00:03:44.960 two hundred strong, crossed the Charles River in longboats and 53 00:03:45.039 --> 00:03:48.919 formed ranks on the Charlestown shore. They were led by 54 00:03:48.919 --> 00:03:53.560 Major General William Howe and Brigadier Robert Piggott. Red coated 55 00:03:53.599 --> 00:03:57.400 infantry advanced in tight formation under a blazing June sun, 56 00:03:57.800 --> 00:04:02.360 burdened by heavy packs and wool uniform. Before they could 57 00:04:02.360 --> 00:04:06.680 even close with the Americans, British artillery began pounding the 58 00:04:06.719 --> 00:04:10.840 Redoubt and Friends line. At the same time, British guns 59 00:04:10.879 --> 00:04:14.639 in Boston set fire to Charlestown, sending up a massive 60 00:04:14.719 --> 00:04:18.120 pall of smoke to cover the battlefield. As the first 61 00:04:18.120 --> 00:04:21.959 wave of infantry approached, the Americans held their fire, waiting 62 00:04:22.040 --> 00:04:25.879 until the enemy was dangerously close. Accounts differ on who 63 00:04:25.920 --> 00:04:29.639 gave the famous command, but the intent was clear. Conserve 64 00:04:29.680 --> 00:04:33.759 ammunition and make every shot count. One officer we don't 65 00:04:33.800 --> 00:04:36.959 know who is remembered to shouting, don't fire until you 66 00:04:37.000 --> 00:04:41.120 see the whites of their eyes. The first British assault 67 00:04:41.160 --> 00:04:44.399 staggered up the slope into a withering wall of musket fire. 68 00:04:45.240 --> 00:04:49.360 Red coated ranks crumbled. Survivors retreated down the hill to regroup. 69 00:04:49.959 --> 00:04:52.680 A second assault and me at the same fate. House 70 00:04:52.720 --> 00:04:55.839 officers struggled to keep their men advancing against the relentless 71 00:04:55.879 --> 00:04:58.959 volleys from the redoubt and the rail fence, but the 72 00:04:58.959 --> 00:05:02.959 americans ammunition was running out. By the third British advance, 73 00:05:03.199 --> 00:05:06.399 they were down to their last shots, resorting to firing 74 00:05:06.439 --> 00:05:10.160 scrap metal when musket balls were gone. This time, the 75 00:05:10.199 --> 00:05:15.240 British fixed bayonets and surged forward. Inside the redoubt, Prescott 76 00:05:15.279 --> 00:05:18.879 fought desperately, parrying his sword and urging his men to hold, 77 00:05:19.279 --> 00:05:22.839 but with ammunition or bayonets of their own, the defenders 78 00:05:22.879 --> 00:05:25.680 were forced into a brutal hand to hand combat before 79 00:05:25.680 --> 00:05:29.199 the Americans eventually retreated toward Bunker Hill and across the 80 00:05:29.279 --> 00:05:33.639 Charlestown Neck. In the end, the British had taken Breed's Hill, 81 00:05:34.079 --> 00:05:37.959 but at a massive cost, over one thousand killed and wounded, 82 00:05:38.160 --> 00:05:41.439 nearly half the attacking force, a pyrrhic victory if there 83 00:05:41.439 --> 00:05:45.600 ever was one. The Americans suffered similar casualties, around four 84 00:05:45.639 --> 00:05:49.399 hundred and fifty, but the morale effect was immense. They 85 00:05:49.399 --> 00:05:52.319 had stood toe to toe against the best army in 86 00:05:52.360 --> 00:05:56.839 the world and inflicted heavy losses, proving that the rebellion 87 00:05:57.000 --> 00:06:00.000 could fight as equals on the field. In the days 88 00:06:00.199 --> 00:06:03.160 that followed, even General Gage admitted the high price of 89 00:06:03.199 --> 00:06:06.360 the victory, telling London that quote the loss we have 90 00:06:06.399 --> 00:06:09.680 sustained is greater than we can bear end quote. For 91 00:06:09.759 --> 00:06:13.959 the colonists, Bred's Hill became a rallying point, as Abigail 92 00:06:14.040 --> 00:06:16.959 Adams wrote to her husband John, quote, our hopes are 93 00:06:17.040 --> 00:06:21.439 not lost. We have only begun as a people. By 94 00:06:21.519 --> 00:06:25.720 Nate Fall On June seventeenth, seventeen seventy five, the Charlestown 95 00:06:25.720 --> 00:06:30.879 Peninsula was effectively a smoking ruin, but the revolutionary cause 96 00:06:30.920 --> 00:06:34.279 had gained something far greater than ground. It had finally 97 00:06:34.319 --> 00:06:38.199 gained some confidence. The Battle of Breds Hill, forever misnamed 98 00:06:38.199 --> 00:06:41.319 as the Battle of Bunker Hill, had shown that Liberty's 99 00:06:41.319 --> 00:06:46.399 defense would be costly, but it would be possible. The 100 00:06:46.439 --> 00:06:49.839 Siege at Boston ended in March seventeen seventy six, when 101 00:06:49.839 --> 00:06:53.240 Colonel Henry Knox hauled cannon from Fort Tykwonderoga to the 102 00:06:53.279 --> 00:06:58.000 Dorchester Heights, forcing the British fleet to evacuate Boston. The 103 00:06:58.040 --> 00:07:01.279 focus of the war then shifted south, where Britain sought 104 00:07:01.279 --> 00:07:04.680 to crush the rebellion in New York. And we need 105 00:07:04.720 --> 00:07:08.920 to explain why. When the war began in April seventeen 106 00:07:09.000 --> 00:07:13.079 seventy five. Boston was the center of armed resistance, but 107 00:07:13.279 --> 00:07:16.639 it was also a limited position from which Britain could 108 00:07:16.639 --> 00:07:20.920 control its war effort. It had extremely limited access to 109 00:07:20.959 --> 00:07:25.680 the countryside once the colonial militia surrounded it after Lexington 110 00:07:25.680 --> 00:07:29.639 and conquered, British General Thomas Gage could only supply his 111 00:07:29.759 --> 00:07:33.800 army by sea, and it was worse than that because 112 00:07:34.360 --> 00:07:38.959 Boston's harbor was more shallow than the British needed its 113 00:07:39.079 --> 00:07:42.079 large as ships. The Ship of the Line was essentially 114 00:07:42.360 --> 00:07:46.000 the modern day equivalent of an aircraft carrier in its usefulness. 115 00:07:46.920 --> 00:07:51.319 But those ships had a huge draft, which means that 116 00:07:51.360 --> 00:07:54.120 they have a huge They need a lot of water 117 00:07:54.279 --> 00:07:58.000 to be able to navigate really deep ports, and Boston 118 00:07:58.120 --> 00:08:00.920 wasn't effective for that. The other of Boston harbor is 119 00:08:00.959 --> 00:08:04.160 it kind of looks like a giant half moon semi circle, 120 00:08:04.199 --> 00:08:07.560 and once you put cannons on the Dorchester Heights, they 121 00:08:07.560 --> 00:08:10.600 can hit any position within that harbor because they can 122 00:08:10.639 --> 00:08:14.319 surround it completely. So you'd have two choices if you 123 00:08:14.319 --> 00:08:16.600 were a British naval officer. You could leave your ship 124 00:08:16.639 --> 00:08:19.800 in the harbor and get blasted to smitherings, or you 125 00:08:19.800 --> 00:08:21.959 can move out to the North Atlantic, where a storm 126 00:08:22.040 --> 00:08:25.800 might wipe you out at any moment. As a consequence, 127 00:08:26.519 --> 00:08:30.199 General William Howe, who was overall commanded the British forces 128 00:08:30.240 --> 00:08:33.879 at this point, recognized the untenable position and so he 129 00:08:33.960 --> 00:08:36.440 recognized that he needed to get out of Boston, and 130 00:08:36.480 --> 00:08:40.120 he did. In March of seventeen seventy six. He left 131 00:08:40.159 --> 00:08:43.159 with his troops to Halifax, Nova Scotia, and took along 132 00:08:43.200 --> 00:08:46.679 any loyalist that he could. The withdrawal of the British 133 00:08:46.679 --> 00:08:50.559 made it clear that Boston was too small, too exposed, 134 00:08:50.919 --> 00:08:54.000 and too easily blockaded to serve as Britain's main base 135 00:08:54.000 --> 00:08:56.759 in the colonies. But the question then is, of course 136 00:08:57.080 --> 00:09:00.159 why New York. Well, New York had a series of 137 00:09:00.200 --> 00:09:03.759 advantages that I want to walk through. One is just geographic. 138 00:09:04.440 --> 00:09:07.039 New York was ideally positioned at the mouth of the 139 00:09:07.080 --> 00:09:11.399 Hudson River, Controlling it offered a potential link between British 140 00:09:11.399 --> 00:09:15.159 forces in Canada and those operating in the South. If 141 00:09:15.200 --> 00:09:18.559 the British could seize the Hudson Corridor, they could split 142 00:09:18.639 --> 00:09:21.559 New England, the hotbed of rebellion, from the rest of 143 00:09:21.600 --> 00:09:27.799 the colonies, isolating it politically and militarily. Unlike Boston, New 144 00:09:27.840 --> 00:09:31.440 York had one of the best deep water harbors in 145 00:09:31.480 --> 00:09:36.039 North America. This allowed the Royal Navy and its massive 146 00:09:36.080 --> 00:09:39.600 ship of the Line to anchor large fleets and maintain 147 00:09:39.720 --> 00:09:44.399 secure supply lines across the Atlantic. Its islands and waterways 148 00:09:44.759 --> 00:09:49.360 Staten Island, Long Island, Sound, the East and Hudson Rivers 149 00:09:49.759 --> 00:09:54.799 gave the British flexibility and maneuvering troops by ship. New York, 150 00:09:54.919 --> 00:09:59.799 unlike Boston, also had a very large loyalist population, particularly 151 00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:03.879 among the merchants and wealthy landowners. British commanders hoped that 152 00:10:03.919 --> 00:10:07.440 taking the city would rally loyalist sentiment and encourage more 153 00:10:07.480 --> 00:10:11.600 colonists to declare for the Crown. As the second largest 154 00:10:11.600 --> 00:10:14.840 city in the colonies in a major commercial hub, New 155 00:10:14.919 --> 00:10:20.279 York was also symbolically and materially valuable. Occupying it could 156 00:10:20.320 --> 00:10:23.240 strike a blow to rebel morale while giving Britain a 157 00:10:23.279 --> 00:10:28.559 secure administrative center for future operations. So the British plan 158 00:10:29.000 --> 00:10:32.279 was pretty straightforward, was to launch a massive assault on 159 00:10:32.360 --> 00:10:34.759 New York City in the summer of seventeen seventy six. 160 00:10:35.559 --> 00:10:39.639 He would bring overwhelming force, eventually over thirty thousand troops 161 00:10:39.679 --> 00:10:42.799 and hundreds of ships to crush the Continental army in 162 00:10:42.960 --> 00:10:47.840 one quick, decisive campaign. The British believed that capturing New 163 00:10:47.919 --> 00:10:51.639 York could both sever the rebellion's lifeline and compel the 164 00:10:51.639 --> 00:10:56.480 Continental Congress to the negotiation table. But meanwhile, as we 165 00:10:56.559 --> 00:11:00.480 turned to that Continental Congress, we have to consider they's 166 00:11:00.519 --> 00:11:03.879 perspective and all this up until the summer of seventeen 167 00:11:03.960 --> 00:11:08.039 seventy six, this was not really for most American colonists 168 00:11:08.080 --> 00:11:13.159 about independence. This was about settling grievances with Great Britain. 169 00:11:14.039 --> 00:11:18.480 Most historians seemed to take the position that had George 170 00:11:18.519 --> 00:11:22.080 the Third been willing to negotiate with the colonists up 171 00:11:22.080 --> 00:11:25.240 to the summer of seventeen seventy six, this whole thing 172 00:11:25.279 --> 00:11:28.480 could have been averted. And now there's a lot of 173 00:11:28.519 --> 00:11:32.200 factors that start to change American attitudes. And then the 174 00:11:32.279 --> 00:11:35.360 least of which is of course George's and transigents. But 175 00:11:36.159 --> 00:11:38.759 there are others, and so I want to talk about 176 00:11:38.799 --> 00:11:45.399 one really quickly, So enter stage left. Thomas Payne. Thomas 177 00:11:45.440 --> 00:11:49.080 Payne was born on January twenty ninth, seventeen thirty seven, 178 00:11:49.519 --> 00:11:52.679 in the small market town of Thetford in Norfolk, England. 179 00:11:53.360 --> 00:11:56.320 His father, Joseph Payne, was a Quaker and a corset 180 00:11:56.360 --> 00:12:01.279 maker by trade. His mother, Francis Cook, was an. This 181 00:12:01.440 --> 00:12:05.600 mixed religious household gave young Thomas a perspective unusual for 182 00:12:05.639 --> 00:12:10.279 the time. He saw early tensions between faiths, but he 183 00:12:10.399 --> 00:12:14.200 also began to understand the ways in which different creeds 184 00:12:14.240 --> 00:12:18.120 can share the same home bed and obviously therefore country. 185 00:12:19.440 --> 00:12:22.720 Payne attended that Third Grammar school until he was thirteen, 186 00:12:23.279 --> 00:12:27.000 learning and excelling in Latin arithmetic and scripture, but his 187 00:12:27.080 --> 00:12:30.919 formal education ended abruptly. Like many young men at his time, 188 00:12:31.360 --> 00:12:34.080 his family couldn't afford to keep him in school, and 189 00:12:34.120 --> 00:12:37.639 so he entered his father's trade, cutting whalebone and stitching 190 00:12:37.639 --> 00:12:41.519 stays for women's bodices, hardly a calling for an ambitious mind. 191 00:12:43.120 --> 00:12:46.480 Payne's twenties were a series of attempts to find steady footing, 192 00:12:46.840 --> 00:12:50.879 each ending in frustration. He tried the sea, serving briefly 193 00:12:50.919 --> 00:12:54.000 on a privateer during the Seven Years War. He became 194 00:12:54.080 --> 00:12:58.480 an excise officer, inspecting goods to enforce custom laws, but 195 00:12:58.559 --> 00:13:01.919 he was twice dismissed for neglect of duty. His sympathies 196 00:13:01.919 --> 00:13:05.080 for struggling merchants and smugglers did not endear him to 197 00:13:05.120 --> 00:13:10.000 the Crown's revenue service. During this period, Hayne married twice. 198 00:13:10.679 --> 00:13:13.200 His first wife, Mary Lambert, died of illness within a 199 00:13:13.279 --> 00:13:16.720 year of their wedding. His second marriage, to Elizabeth Olive, 200 00:13:17.039 --> 00:13:22.039 ended in separation. The losses, combined with his career setbacks, 201 00:13:22.320 --> 00:13:27.000 left Pain in financial distress. In seventeen seventy two, he 202 00:13:27.039 --> 00:13:30.759 published The Case of the Officers of Excise, the pamphlet 203 00:13:30.799 --> 00:13:34.679 petitioning Parliament for better wages for custom inspectors. It was 204 00:13:34.720 --> 00:13:38.679 a small work, but it revealed two key traits that 205 00:13:38.720 --> 00:13:42.159 would define his later career, a sympathy for the working 206 00:13:42.240 --> 00:13:48.320 poor and a knack for clear, forceful prose. In seventeen 207 00:13:48.399 --> 00:13:52.679 seventy four, Paine was in London, nearly destitute and seeking 208 00:13:52.720 --> 00:13:57.759 new opportunities. Fate intervened when he met no less than 209 00:13:58.240 --> 00:14:02.879 Benjamin Franklin, then serving as an American colonial agent in Britain. 210 00:14:03.759 --> 00:14:08.519 Franklin recognized in Pain both intelligence and discontent with Britain's 211 00:14:08.519 --> 00:14:12.960 political order. He advised Paine to emigrate to the American colonies, 212 00:14:13.320 --> 00:14:16.960 writing him letters of introduction and arranging for his passage. 213 00:14:18.039 --> 00:14:21.600 Paine arrived in Philadelphia in November of seventeen seventy four, 214 00:14:22.240 --> 00:14:26.240 weakened by a bout of shipboard Typhus, but invigorated by 215 00:14:26.279 --> 00:14:29.919 the energy of the city, a bustling port alive with 216 00:14:29.960 --> 00:14:33.799 political debate, he quickly found work as the editor of 217 00:14:33.799 --> 00:14:38.879 the Pennsylvania Magazine, where his essays championed abolition, women's rights, 218 00:14:39.200 --> 00:14:43.240 and the dignity of labor. He signed many articles simply 219 00:14:43.639 --> 00:14:48.639 common sense, foreshadowing what was to come. The outbreak of 220 00:14:48.679 --> 00:14:52.399 fighting at Lexington and Concord in April seventeen seventy five 221 00:14:52.840 --> 00:14:57.559 transformed colonial unrest into open war. Pain new to America, 222 00:14:57.639 --> 00:15:01.519 but quick to grasp the stakes. Frustrated with those still 223 00:15:01.519 --> 00:15:06.080 hoping for reconciliation with Britain, he began drafting a pamphlet 224 00:15:06.320 --> 00:15:09.840 to cut through the legal arguments and emotional ties binding 225 00:15:09.879 --> 00:15:13.360 the colonists to the Crown. In a rented room, Pain 226 00:15:13.480 --> 00:15:17.679 wrote with unrelenting directness, quote, the sun never shined on 227 00:15:17.720 --> 00:15:20.759 a cause of greater worth tis not the affair of 228 00:15:20.799 --> 00:15:24.360 a city, a country, a province, or a kingdom, but 229 00:15:24.440 --> 00:15:27.799 of a continent of at least one eighth part of 230 00:15:27.840 --> 00:15:33.279 the habitable globe. End quote. Rejecting monarchy, outright. Pain argued 231 00:15:33.279 --> 00:15:37.480 that hereditary rule was quote an insult and imposition on 232 00:15:37.559 --> 00:15:44.279 posterity end quote, and that America's destiny was independence. The manuscript, 233 00:15:44.639 --> 00:15:48.799 sharpened by the advice of Philadelphia printer Robert Bell, appeared 234 00:15:48.840 --> 00:15:54.440 in January seventeen seventy six as Common Sense, selling an 235 00:15:54.679 --> 00:15:59.559 estimated one hundred and twenty thousand copies in its first 236 00:15:59.559 --> 00:16:04.240 three months, a staggering number for the era. Common Sense 237 00:16:04.559 --> 00:16:08.679 was read aloud in taverns, reprinted in newspapers, and carried 238 00:16:08.919 --> 00:16:14.159 eventually by soldiers in the field. Its plain, impassioned style 239 00:16:14.480 --> 00:16:18.000 reached farmers and tradesmen who might never read a long 240 00:16:18.039 --> 00:16:23.639 political tract. Pain had given the revolution a language ordinary 241 00:16:23.679 --> 00:16:28.360 people could claim as their own. Before seventeen seventy six, 242 00:16:28.840 --> 00:16:34.000 Pain was a failed corset maker, a dismissed exciseman, a 243 00:16:34.080 --> 00:16:38.159 twice bereaved husband, and a newcomer to the American shore. 244 00:16:39.600 --> 00:16:43.279 By the time the ink dried on Common Sense, he 245 00:16:43.360 --> 00:16:47.480 had become the pen of the revolution, his words a 246 00:16:47.559 --> 00:16:56.279 drum beat for independence. By the time Congress met in 247 00:16:56.399 --> 00:17:00.679 June seventeen seventy six, the war for Independence had already begun. 248 00:17:00.720 --> 00:17:04.200 In the battlefield. Blood had been shed at Lexington and 249 00:17:04.319 --> 00:17:09.240 Concord on Breed's Hill, and in Canada, George Washington's army 250 00:17:09.319 --> 00:17:12.799 stood between the British and New York City. Yet politically 251 00:17:12.880 --> 00:17:17.640 the colonies remained bound to the British crown. Many delegates 252 00:17:17.839 --> 00:17:22.559 still hoped for reconciliation. Others feared that declaring independence would 253 00:17:22.599 --> 00:17:28.880 alienate wavering colonists and invite devastating retaliation. But of course, 254 00:17:28.960 --> 00:17:32.000 as I mentioned, there were several developments that pushed the 255 00:17:32.039 --> 00:17:37.000 issue forward. In January, Thomas Paine's pamphlet Common Sense had 256 00:17:37.039 --> 00:17:44.319 sold tens of thousands, making the case for independence painfully obvious. 257 00:17:44.680 --> 00:17:48.839 Quote the sun never shined on a cause of greater worth, 258 00:17:49.720 --> 00:17:54.799 tis time to part end quote. In May of seventeen 259 00:17:54.920 --> 00:17:59.319 seventy six, the Continental Congress had advised each colony to 260 00:17:59.440 --> 00:18:04.319 form its own government, an unmistakable sign that the old 261 00:18:04.400 --> 00:18:10.559 imperial relationship was ending. On June the seventh, seventeen seventy six, 262 00:18:11.240 --> 00:18:15.279 Virginia Delegate Richard Henry Lee rose on the floor of 263 00:18:15.319 --> 00:18:20.400 Congress with instructions from the Virginia Convention. His resolution was 264 00:18:20.480 --> 00:18:27.519 bold and unambiguous that these United Colonies are and of 265 00:18:27.599 --> 00:18:32.720 right ought to be free and independent states that are 266 00:18:32.759 --> 00:18:38.359 absolved from all allegiance of the British Crown. The Chamber 267 00:18:38.519 --> 00:18:45.279 was now charged retention. Some delegations, Massachusetts, Virginia, North Carolina, 268 00:18:45.640 --> 00:18:51.680 were already Others Pennsylvania, Delaware, South Carolina were hesitant or divided. 269 00:18:52.720 --> 00:18:56.440 New York's delegation was bound by instructions not to vote 270 00:18:56.440 --> 00:19:03.240 for independence at all. Because such momentous steps require unanimity, 271 00:19:04.039 --> 00:19:09.039 Congress decided to postpone a final vote. Instead, they appointed 272 00:19:09.039 --> 00:19:12.759 a committee to draft a formal declaration should the resolution 273 00:19:12.880 --> 00:19:19.279 eventually pass. This committee of five consisted of Thomas Jefferson, 274 00:19:19.960 --> 00:19:27.599 John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston. Jefferson, 275 00:19:27.720 --> 00:19:30.920 at thirty three years old, was chosen to write the 276 00:19:30.960 --> 00:19:35.599 first draft. Working in his lodgings on Market Street, he 277 00:19:35.720 --> 00:19:41.440 composed a sweeping statement of principles and grievances, drawing on Enlightenment, philosophy, 278 00:19:41.839 --> 00:19:46.880 and colonial experience. His opening, we hold these truths to 279 00:19:46.880 --> 00:19:51.880 be self evident, that all men are created equal, echoed 280 00:19:51.960 --> 00:19:58.599 John Locke's Natural Rights, but gave them a truly American voice. 281 00:19:58.720 --> 00:20:05.519 Jefferson's draft listed King George the Third's offenses dissolving colonial legislators, 282 00:20:06.039 --> 00:20:11.400 imposing taxes without consent, keeping standing armies in peacetime, cutting 283 00:20:11.480 --> 00:20:16.599 off trade, and waging war against his own subjects. Franklin 284 00:20:16.920 --> 00:20:21.640 and Adams made stylistic etics, softening some language and sharpening 285 00:20:21.720 --> 00:20:25.839 other points. By the twenty eighth of June, the draft 286 00:20:25.960 --> 00:20:30.839 was presented to Congress for consideration, And so we come 287 00:20:30.920 --> 00:20:35.799 to July first and second, seventeen seventy six, the days 288 00:20:35.799 --> 00:20:40.680 of the decisive debate. When Congress reconvened on July the first, 289 00:20:40.720 --> 00:20:45.440 the debate was fierce. John Dickinson of Pennsylvania urged caution, 290 00:20:46.160 --> 00:20:48.720 arguing that independence would close the door on any chance 291 00:20:48.720 --> 00:20:53.640 of a negotiated peace. John Adams responded in what contemporaries 292 00:20:53.640 --> 00:20:56.319 called one of the most powerful speeches of his life, 293 00:20:56.519 --> 00:20:59.960 insisting that the colonies had already been driven to endepen 294 00:21:00.039 --> 00:21:04.440 pendants by Britain's actions. Quote we are in the very 295 00:21:04.559 --> 00:21:10.680 midst of revolution, the most complete, unexpected, and remarkable of 296 00:21:10.720 --> 00:21:14.200 any in the history of nations. End quote. By the 297 00:21:14.240 --> 00:21:17.400 end of the day, the delegations of Pennsylvania and South 298 00:21:17.440 --> 00:21:23.559 Carolina opposed the Lee resolution, Delaware was split, and New 299 00:21:23.640 --> 00:21:30.039 York still abstained. Then On the second of July, the 300 00:21:30.079 --> 00:21:35.519 tide shifted overnight. Caesar Rodney had ridden eighty miles through 301 00:21:35.519 --> 00:21:42.119 a thunderstorm to reach Philadelphia and join Delaware's delegation to 302 00:21:42.200 --> 00:21:44.880 cast his vote, and casting what had been a two 303 00:21:44.920 --> 00:21:51.160 to two deadlock in favor of independence. South Carolina, persuaded 304 00:21:51.200 --> 00:21:57.279 by Edward Rutledge, switched sides, and Pennsylvania's majority changed when 305 00:21:57.359 --> 00:22:03.599 two delegates opposed in abendance liberately stayed away. The vote 306 00:22:03.640 --> 00:22:10.519 was taken twelve colonies in favor, none opposed. New York abstained. 307 00:22:12.039 --> 00:22:15.680 John Adams wrote to his wife and Abigail that July 308 00:22:15.880 --> 00:22:20.720 second quote will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the 309 00:22:20.759 --> 00:22:26.839 Great Anniversary Festival end quote. He was close with the 310 00:22:26.920 --> 00:22:31.079 question decided, Congress turned to Jefferson's draft. They made over 311 00:22:31.160 --> 00:22:37.680 eighty changes, removing some passages. They made over eighty changes, 312 00:22:38.000 --> 00:22:42.640 removing some passages, including a denunciation of the slave trade 313 00:22:42.640 --> 00:22:47.160 that angered delegates from South Carolina and Georgia. On the 314 00:22:47.200 --> 00:22:51.640 fourth of July, Congress approved the final text. The vote 315 00:22:51.640 --> 00:22:55.559 for independence had actually been taken two days earlier, but 316 00:22:55.680 --> 00:22:59.920 now the declaration would be the public justification to be 317 00:23:00.319 --> 00:23:05.920 in town squares and printed in newspapers across States. John Hancock, 318 00:23:06.119 --> 00:23:11.400 President of Congress, affixed his bold signature, and copies were 319 00:23:11.440 --> 00:23:15.279 sent to the States and to the army. But while 320 00:23:15.319 --> 00:23:20.000 conger Is debated and ratifying the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia, 321 00:23:20.680 --> 00:23:25.759 Britain continued to shift its gaze to New York. The 322 00:23:25.799 --> 00:23:31.640 British returned in overwhelming force, some thirty two thousand troops 323 00:23:32.000 --> 00:23:36.160 and four hundred ships to seize New York City on 324 00:23:36.200 --> 00:23:39.920 August twenty seventh. At the Battle of Long Island, Washington's 325 00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:44.759 army was flanked and nearly trapped. Only a nighttime evacuation 326 00:23:45.200 --> 00:23:49.440 across the East River saved the Continental Army from destruction. 327 00:23:50.839 --> 00:23:55.799 Through September and October, Washington fought delaying actions at Harlem 328 00:23:55.839 --> 00:24:01.559 Heights and White Plains before retreating across New Jersey. By December, 329 00:24:01.839 --> 00:24:07.200 the situation was desperate. Enlistments were expiring, morale was collapsing, 330 00:24:07.519 --> 00:24:12.799 and Philadelphia braced for the British advance. By late December 331 00:24:12.839 --> 00:24:16.759 seventeen seventy six, the American Revolution was truly on the 332 00:24:16.799 --> 00:24:21.720 brink of collapse. Washington's army, now battered from defeat in 333 00:24:21.839 --> 00:24:25.359 New York and driven across New Jersey had dwindled to 334 00:24:25.440 --> 00:24:30.680 a few thousand, ragged, frostbitten men. Enlistments would expire on 335 00:24:30.759 --> 00:24:33.839 the thirty first at the end of the year. Morale 336 00:24:34.000 --> 00:24:36.920 was so low that Thomas Paine, who was marching with 337 00:24:37.079 --> 00:24:39.920 the army, took up his pen to remind the soldiers 338 00:24:39.920 --> 00:24:43.960 in the public what they were fighting for, writing quote, 339 00:24:44.319 --> 00:24:49.079 these are the times that try men's souls. The summer 340 00:24:49.160 --> 00:24:54.119 soldier and the sunshine patriot will in this crisis shrink. 341 00:24:54.920 --> 00:24:58.799 But he that stands now deserves the love and the 342 00:24:58.839 --> 00:25:04.079 thanks of man and woman. End quote. And it was 343 00:25:04.079 --> 00:25:07.759 in this desperate moment that George Washington decided to throw 344 00:25:07.799 --> 00:25:11.480 the dice. He put everything on a pretty bold gamble, 345 00:25:11.559 --> 00:25:16.359 if I must say. The British, under General William Howe, 346 00:25:16.759 --> 00:25:20.079 had settled into their winter quarters. By this time their 347 00:25:20.160 --> 00:25:25.000 German allies, the Hessian troops, commanded by Colonel Johann Rahul, 348 00:25:25.559 --> 00:25:29.160 were stationed in a string of outposts along the Delaware River. 349 00:25:30.400 --> 00:25:34.480 Washington set his sights on Trenton, New Jersey, a Hessian 350 00:25:34.519 --> 00:25:40.519 held town of about fifteen hundred soldiers. The plan was risky. 351 00:25:41.720 --> 00:25:45.839 Crossed the ice choke Delaware River on Christmas night, marched 352 00:25:45.920 --> 00:25:50.480 nine miles to Trenton and strike at dawn. The choice 353 00:25:50.519 --> 00:25:56.400 of timing was deliberate. The Hessians, Washington believed, would be 354 00:25:56.440 --> 00:26:00.079 caught off guard after Christmas festivals, perhaps dulled by drink, 355 00:26:00.519 --> 00:26:03.200 and confident that no attack would come in the dead 356 00:26:03.200 --> 00:26:08.200 of winter. On the evening of December the twenty fifth, 357 00:26:09.000 --> 00:26:14.559 under a freezing sleet rain, Washington led about two four 358 00:26:14.680 --> 00:26:19.920 hundred men from mcconnie's ferry north of Trenton. The operation 359 00:26:20.400 --> 00:26:24.200 was made harder by the river itself, swollen by the 360 00:26:24.200 --> 00:26:27.960 winter melt, packed with chunks of ice, and whipped with 361 00:26:28.039 --> 00:26:34.119 strong winds. Colonel Henry Knox oversaw the ferrying of men, horses, 362 00:26:34.279 --> 00:26:37.759 and eighteen pieces of artillery across the treacherous waters in 363 00:26:37.880 --> 00:26:43.279 Durham boats. The crossing took far longer than expected. Instead 364 00:26:43.319 --> 00:26:46.359 of reaching the New Jersey shore by midnight, the last 365 00:26:46.480 --> 00:26:51.160 units landed around four in the morning. Washington pressed on 366 00:26:51.640 --> 00:26:56.960 despite the delay, knowing that the surprise was the key. 367 00:26:57.160 --> 00:27:01.799 The men marched south through blinding sleet, most without proper shoes. 368 00:27:02.359 --> 00:27:06.839 Some left bloody footprints in the snow. Washington divided the 369 00:27:06.839 --> 00:27:11.039 force into two columns, one under his direct command and 370 00:27:11.119 --> 00:27:15.599 under Major General Nathaniel Greene. The plan was to converge 371 00:27:15.640 --> 00:27:20.240 on Trenton from different roads and envelop the Hessians. The 372 00:27:20.279 --> 00:27:23.720 storm that made the march miserable for the Americans had 373 00:27:23.759 --> 00:27:28.960 also massed their approach. Hessian patrols saw nothing unusual at 374 00:27:29.000 --> 00:27:33.440 all in the near white out conditions. At around eight 375 00:27:33.519 --> 00:27:38.000 am on December the twenty sixth, Washington's column burst into 376 00:27:38.000 --> 00:27:42.319 Trenton from the north, Greens from the west. Knox's artillery 377 00:27:42.440 --> 00:27:46.039 was quickly unlimbered and began pounding the streets, cutting off 378 00:27:46.160 --> 00:27:52.119 escape routes. The Hessians, surprised and disorganized, scrambled to form ranks. 379 00:27:52.680 --> 00:27:55.440 Colonel Rawl tried to rally his men, but he was 380 00:27:55.519 --> 00:27:58.880 mortally wounded in the fighting. In less than an hour, 381 00:27:59.279 --> 00:28:03.000 the American forces had surrounded the town. By the time 382 00:28:03.039 --> 00:28:06.720 that the shooting had stopped, over nine hundred Hessians had surrendered, 383 00:28:07.240 --> 00:28:14.799 with minimal American casualties. The victory at Trenton electrified the colonies. 384 00:28:15.559 --> 00:28:19.599 It proved that Washington's army, even after months of defeat, 385 00:28:20.039 --> 00:28:26.039 could still strike a decisive blow. It also reinvigorated morale, 386 00:28:26.559 --> 00:28:30.039 inspiring many soldiers to re enlist and fresh recruits to 387 00:28:30.119 --> 00:28:34.759 join Washington followed that with another triumph at Princeton on 388 00:28:34.839 --> 00:28:38.559 January the third, seventeen seventy seven, keeping the momentum alive 389 00:28:39.640 --> 00:28:42.799 in a war where perception and spirit were as important 390 00:28:43.000 --> 00:28:47.000 as territory. The Delaware crossing and the capture of Trenton 391 00:28:47.319 --> 00:28:52.640 transformed the narrative from one of inevitable collapse and defeat 392 00:28:53.440 --> 00:28:58.960 to one of determined resistance. As one Continental soldier wrote 393 00:28:59.000 --> 00:29:03.640 in his journal, this day will be remembered when our 394 00:29:03.720 --> 00:29:08.839 cause seem lost, Providence smiled upon our arms.