HST 116- The American Revolution

Dr. Joanne B. Freeman

The American Revolution and the Revolutionary War are difficult events to teach. First of all, most treatments fail to establish sufficient context for Europeans in the Americas, the various cultures of the different British colonies and how they related to each other, as well as their mother country. 

The French and Indian War (1754-1763), a part of the 7 Years War between Britain and France that set off conflicts between several European powers throughout the continent and numerous colonial sites around the globe, is too often glossed over. 

Finally, as with many historical subjects, there is so much myth and political rhetoric heaped upon the actual history of these events that it can be arduous to find information that has not been sensationalized and oversimplified.

Joanne B. Freeman’s course on the topic, available as a podcast by Open Yale Courses, begins by clarifying that the Revolutionary War and the American Revolution were related, but distinct things. The lectures that make up the course are detailed, but listenable. They do an excellent job of presenting the subject to a modern audience by delving into the contexts of place, people, and events. Freeman presents at a brisk pace, but repeats and emphasizes points that provide greater clarity. 

Figures of the Revolutionary Era that often suffer from dull, overly-reverent descriptions are examined with diligence, humor, and a critical eye. Historians often rely too heavily on dates, figures, and theoretical analysis without doing the historical-imaginative work of painting a portrait of the past that gives their audience a rich sense of time and place, allowing them to see historical figures as flesh and blood people, and events as chaotic contingencies, rather than rigid inevitabilities. 

Rather than teaching the American Revolution as a propaganda exercise meant to instill national pride, or countercultural antipathy, Freeman presents it as a phenomenon to be investigated culturally and politically, and related to earlier and later eras, including our own.

Sources:

The American Revolution- Open Yale Courses

Joanne B. Freeman

May 17, 1756- England declares War on France (7 Years War)

Colonial claims in North America, 1854.

Winston Churchill called the 7 Years War the “First World War.” While it was primarily a conflict between Great Britain and France, it also drew in the Prussian, Austrian, and Russian Empires. The war contained theaters in Europe, North America, Africa, India, and beyond, as Britain sought to hobble the French colonial empire using its navy. 

Most of the nations involved, whether allied or opposed to Britain, record their own part in the war under more descriptive names. In the US it is commonly referred to as the “French and Indian War.” This conflict featured traditional European-style battles between French and British armies in North America, as well as North American tribes on both sides. It was also distinguished by guerrilla-style fighting throughout the borderlands of the colonial rivals.

In the spring of 1753 the French sent a colonial officer into the Ohio Valley to secure French forts that had long been disputed by British colonists and some of the local Native tribes. In the fall of 1753 Virginia’s governor ordered his provincial militia, led by 21 year old Major George Washington, to deliver a written order for the French to leave their territory. Washington did so while dining with the French commander at Fort Le Boeuf. He was unmoved and told Washington that France’s claim to the region was older and that he was not obliged to obey the order.

Washington took the message back to Virginia, but was soon dispatched back into the Ohio Country. An ambush on a French force led to international outrage and Washington’s famous surrender at Fort Necessity. The conflict intensified faultlines between European states, which led to a major political realignment known as the Diplomatic Revolution. Britain allied itself with Portugal and former French allies Prussia and Saxony. France, in turn, allied itself with Austria, Russia, and eventually Spain. 

Britain ultimately won the war, reaped numerous French colonial territories, and established  the dominance of its Naval infrastructure. However the costs of the war had put the Empire in serious debt. Over the next decade, as Britain sought to balance its books by taxing its colonies, separatist  movements in North America gained steam and led to the American Revolution. 

The Seven Years War was not declared until May 17, 1756, but the conflict had its roots in the French and Indian war in North America. For this reason Washington is often said to have set the war in motion with his attack on French forces in the Ohio Country. However, events may have exploded the way they did due to Washington’s Mingo ally Tanaghrisson killing the French commander Ensign Joseph Jumonville. Tanaghrisson executed him with a tomahawk to the skull.

Sources:

French and Indian War/7 Years War- Office of the Historian

Seven Years War- American Revolution Institute

Seven Years War and the Great Awakening- Crash Course

Tanaghrrison, the Half King- National Parks Service