New Year Message for 2010 to all Friends of 1776

It’s a New Year, a new decade, a good time to discuss topics of interest to you about our American Revolution. Your participation and appreciation in this amazing story continues at a time when its significance seems more important than ever. The American Revolution, as with other wars, had its causes many years before any shots were fired. This ongoing series will continue this year. Some causes were obvious; some were more obscure, involving basically individuals. The social history, emigration, and even religion of the earlier colonies provided causes.

One cannot consider the American Revolution without the complicated actions of the British Parliament and its last American monarch, George III.

Once the Revolutionary War started, it developed on a large scale, hardly advantageous for the American patriot soldiers even with Washington as their leader. Previous posts have considered the battles only sketchily. The war could be divided broadly into three parts: the early years, in the northern and north-eastern colonies; the later years in the predominantly southern colonies, with very hard fighting, often very successful for the British; and a continuous, vicious civil war between the patriots and loyalists. These campaigns were fought in the western territories of the southern colonies.

Many British and American generals were very talented, became famous, and led decisive battles. A question can always be raised, did the American colonies win or did the British lose, trying to continue supplying an army thousands of miles away? Both did not occur simultaneously.

By the end of the war, 1783, the Americans were technically the winner, but in reality complete losers, because we had no money, nothing but debts, no agreement on the future; only a collection of states concerned with their own prosperity.

Early in the war Canada was a foreign power playing a significant position; years later France had a very pivotal role; the Dutch became critical lenders.

Brilliant individuals such as Madison, Adams, Hamilton, and of course Washington became the new leaders of the United States and our Constitution.

You can see that the topics which can be considered are endless. There will also be book reviews of excellent texts.

2010 will be exciting. Please join me and comment on our blog. – Renata Breisacher Mulry