The American Revolution

I thought that the 250^th anniversary celebrations may be a good time to read up on the Revolution and get a better handle on the event. Gordon S. Wood’s  ‘The American Revolution: A History’ and the great Ken Burns’ 12 hour, six-episode documentary which came out last year were two excellent points to start.

Despite all the rhetoric around individual rights and freedom, the condition and treatment the Blacks have always been a blot on the movement. But in retrospect, it’s worth noting that had the Revolution not occurred, the emancipation movement would also have gotten considerably delayed.

The Native Indians were the real losers of the war. Until the Revolution, the regions to the West of the Appalachians were more or less out of bounds for expansion. But with the war, the Patriots had no scruples in pushing the frontiers and clashing with the Native Indians. The Natives were clear that the Patriots would pour into their territory if Britain lost. And that is exactly what transpired.

The single deadliest enemy for the Revolutionaries was not the British or their allies, but smallpox. Jenner’s vaccine was still a few years away which meant that variolation (deliberate infection of a healthy person with smallpox) was the only option, which George Washington was wise enough to test with his troops.

The maxim of your enemy’s enemy being your friend is what drove the Americans to the French. Without French firepower and money, there was no chance for the patriots to win against the British. America was just one arena of the global war that was ongoing between the French ad the Brits.

Cornwallis’ defeat in Yorktown was the writing on the wall for Britain. Despite the humiliating loss, Cornwallis secured one of the most plum postings for a British officer – Governor General of India. His tenure was marked by the introduction of the Permanent Settlement in Bengal and more famously Tipu’s defeat in the Second Anglo-Mysore War. The French making peace with Britain was one of the key reasons for Tipu’s loss. Ishaan Tharoor had a short piece on this in the New Yorker. Cornwallis died in India and was buried in the outskirts of Varanasi. (A related older post on Tipu)

The American Revolution happened before the French. Louis XIV and Marie Antoinette were the monarchs on whose name, the French support to the cause of individual liberty was being mounted. Fifteen years after France formally allied itself with the American revolutionaries, both of them would lose their heads in a bloodier revolution at home.

Unlike the French Revolution, there was no tyranny that the Americans were fighting against. What began as a protest driven by the slogan of ‘No taxation without representation’ led to the overthrowing of the mighty British. The Revolution was primarily driven by the ‘anticipation’ of future tyranny and a sense of liberty and sovereignty that became a lodestar for other communities and nations to follow. It is also argued that it was this intellectual core of the Revolution, that led to the mushrooming of universities across the country. Education was seen as a fundamental resistance against all forms of tyranny.

Cover Image: Declaration of Independence (1818) by John Trumbull