Transcripts For CSPAN2 American Revolutions 20160918 : vimar

Think there are signs i think some a in a to get to some uncomfortable truths forces of and they will not be simply resolved believe and our it is with so im hopeful about the when the new equilibrium will arrive. Its instrument that you a guide when you decided to take this job and move he sat me down a guide he gave me the following advice which i when you ignore the men i think george he where many of the george is a incredible on both sides but he was the world of literature he would have loved the book. Good afternoon and welcome. I am the saunders director for the International Sector for international studies. This is the book launch for the American Revolutions book. Alan is one of only two living historians. It was also commended for the National Book award and he was about to spend a year and oxford in a long and impressive succession. Now his book today is like no other in terms of an overview of the American Revolution and as though i think very well the kind of scholarship indirection of work on the American Revolutions please join me in welcoming alan taylor. Thank you for that very kind introduction. I want to think christopher her part in helping to arrange this. She did most of the logistical work and there was a lot involved. Im very grateful to her. I want to think my editor who was an immense help in shaping of the book. And so let me begin by saying i was trying to think how do i justify a book on the American Revolution. I could say it was a neglected topic no one ever writes on it and i realized that would not fly indeed three of my friends told me in the course of recent years that they were writing their own book on the American Revolution and this was impressive because i dont have that many friends. Instead i want to say there are a lot of books on the revolution. And mine is an effort to synthesize many of the more specialized works into an interpretation that i hope reflects the trends in the scholarship over the past generation. Now, our classic image of the American Revolution is as a relatively orderly event has the alternative to that nasty french revolution so our popular images are things such as you are seeing right now. It represents the committee presenting the declaration of independence to congress in july of 1776. Where we had images of battles this is also a troubled painting and this is a remarkably orderly painting because it shows a surrender americans particularly like to have paintings of the british surrendering there arent any paintings that i know of of the americans surrounding this happened with some frequency. Now they are both done he was himself a veteran. They were commissioned by congress and they are part of an effort to tidy up the revolution to present it as a success as order having been restored and that he have never been lost sight of during the revolution according to these images. But there are other images that suggest that the war was a very nasty experience for the people who were thrust into the midst of it. And certainly this image among the south South Carolina and North Carolina border it can give you a much more realistic feel. You never quite know how its gonna play out. Its as if generals have serene control over the battlefield. And whoever has the most control will win the battle and its not usually the case. Or here is another image from the revolution. John andre was the british officer who was Benedict Arnolds conflict and why he managed to get away when he was trying to betray his cause andre was left behind and was caught. Or this image a lot of the revolution is fine. The places like Central New York and western pennsylvania. Were just now ohio and kentucky in tennessee. It is in especially grim warfare. They have invaded into their country. They felt it was the best opportunity to roll back. This is another post more painting. And it represents and a notorious episode from the revolution during that Saratoga Campaign when the indian allies captured this woman and they argued over whos message it was. It becomes a great object that had rally support. Jane was actually a loyalist and she was trying to reach the army when she was killed. But this post more painting lets just say the racial politics are not subtle the native peoples are presented as especially dark and muscular it is presented as passive and as weak. I also want you to notice the colors of her dress. Which are red, white and blue. So the suggestion is that she represents america it is an invitation then to american men to protect their women. It was made by the patriots to try to rally support which is not simply against the british but is also against the native allies of the british. Here is one of those allies he is playing painted in london in 1775 by george romney. It is a mix of cultures he is hes wearing cloths and metals obtained but they are arrayed in a very native american combination. And so it makes the point that they have become quite enmeshed in trading relations with the non native peoples and it is that inter dependence with the non native people particularly in the form of trade that is can a shape many of their political decisions. They need to have access to traded grids. The british can supply them with the gods of that they very much need that are being produced in the factories of great britain. They lacked in the manufacturing capacity. It requires the participation you cant state a revolutionary war for men only. The home front has to be maintained. There are also women who were attached to George Washingtons army. They were forced to do the laundry of the soldiers. They were actually thrust in the combat roles. The case of molly pitcher. She starts to operate the cannon. That may or may not have happened but there are other cases when we do this. We know it did happen. Before the revolution there is also an effort to involve women in the boycott against british beds. Long before the patriots declared independence the primary goal was not independence but it wasnt to persuade the parliament to lift the taxes that have been imposed on the colonies. The argument was at lacked representation so it was not a legitimate legislature to tax the colonists. The chief incident was boycott of reddish manufactured goods. The american colonists were very much themselves dependent upon british consumer goods. There was a case in North Carolina where women were ridiculously conspicuous in signing that they would not support or consume british goods. It is denigrated that. That is a cartoon produced from a loyalist perspective. They are disrupting all of social order they are encouraging all sorts of people to rethink traditional relationships. When you have women who have an active public voice than that and somehow disturbing the very foundation of society. Thats what this is suggesting. I think if you look at the details of this you will see you can see that there is the disturbingly french looking fellow who is taking advantage of this woman here he was is distracted by been out there. We can see that some moments poor child is utterly down here. Certainly this is exaggerating it. It is rearranging the social order. Throughout society it is creating opportunities for all sorts of people. It would move it more in line with the republican this is occurring in a society where fifth of the people are held in slavery. And especially in the southern colonies. It was legal in every single british colony. They just happen to have a lot more of them. It was 40 enslaved. It was 60 . The enslaved population cannot be left out of the story of the revolution. And indeed they are often involved in the violence of the resolution as they are seeking opportunities now in the north into the colonies will come from enlisting in Patriot Forces as an effort to force the hands of the masters. In the south most of the time just all of the new states were not comfortable with enlisting blacks even when they were invaded and occupied by British Forces. There were approximately my serving a substitute for the many more enslaved people that their best opportunity came by escaping to the british and helping them in the war. In which the patriots are always clearly on the side of freedom for everybody. What the revolution is is a great rupture in society in which there is an ongoing contest between people that want disruption or to be as minimal as possible and as short lived as possible and others who are trying to exploit that rupture in order to rearrange society to create a better place for themselves. This was done by a german officer in the french service. This artist was quite intrigued by the diversity of uniforms worn in George Washington Continental Army. The man on the far right here as you are looking at it is an artillery officer. The man next to him is wearing a hunting shirt and this is a rifleman. The man next to the left as an infantry men and as a man for the far left. And they were on with muskets. It could be fired much more quickly and were less prone to jam. So most of them are armed with muskets and not rifles. Im sure youre noting that the man on the far left is africanamerican. In George Washingtons army was 10 africanamerican which is far higher than the proportion of africanamericans in the northern population where almost all of these soldiers came from. They serve at a rate about twice that of their proportion in the northern states. And one is two thirds black. If you recall those paintings at the start which showed the declaration of independence or showed the surrender there were no African American phases shown there. Now this is Benjamin Franklin of course. It turns out he was assisted by cherubs now, we know he is a great leader on the patriot side and a great diplomat a politician at the constitutional convention. Was the chief negotiator of our alliance with france. It would end the war with great britain. His son was a loyalist. And decided to stay loyal to the empire. This is the most conspicuous example of families being divided by the revolution. In the book i tend to avoid referring to the patriots as americans because they are americans on both person both sides. The proportion of the population is probably peaked at about 20 . And to enter the client over the course of the war. That doesnt mean that the patriots were 80 of the population at the start of the war because there were at least an equal number of people to the patriots who wanted to stay out of the war and be neutral. And they are the group that has received the least attention despite their great numbers. They would shift sides depending on the currents of war and there is a quote from Nathanael Greene of a rampant exertion. They end up in the Continental Army. And then they desert. And so greene said at the close of the war with thought the enemy its an exaggeration. There are a lot of people switching sides as the war goes along. Its not as we imagine it in 1775 people made hard and fast decisions. Some dead. The official chaplain for congress decided when Congress Declared independence that he did not want to be chaplain of congress a more and he wanted out. He made it quite clear that he thought the independence was a mistake. This is not such a bad looking guy right. This is warming his heart right now. It really wasnt that bad a guy. Its not that tyrant he was made out to be. He was too conscientious. He wanted to be a constitutional monarch. They were quite restive accepting parliaments superiority. And he did it with the very best. It was parliament that brought on the crisis that led to the American Revolution and it was george the thirds refusal to interfere with his understanding the ends up making him a bad guy. Through 1775 congress is still hoping that the king might intervene and somehow over role parliament on behalf of the resistance. It doesnt happen and then patriots feel betrayed. And this man helps to lead the way. He would write the most influential book in american politics common sense published in january of 1776 becomes the great best seller. No other book other than the bible was read by more americans. Many a little literate people it is galvanizing to people. Because it puts into very vivid phrasing the need to declare independence the possibility a new form of republic. They must unite in order to win this war and preserve their own peace in the future. None of them are stated. It is the one that starts the attack on the king. As a very face not the union of the empire attorney that they must escape from. We almost never read beyond the first paragraph. You get into the body of the text and as a great indictment of a king is a tyrant. Listing everything that have ever gone wrong is the kings fall. What they are out to do when they declare independence is to smash the sovereignty of which the king is the great symbol. They can no longer be parliament but must be the king. Those people who were wavering and those people who were speaking out against the revolution become targets. This is a loyalist cartoon it was in boston. And he had been tarred and feathered. Theyre at a place called the liberty tree. They would rally for demonstrations. Including the punishment of people who were deemed to be liberties. He was american born. This is samuel c barry and he is very famous for particular quotation which sums up much of the loyalist persuasion is not simply slavish loyalty to the king or even to the union of the empire. They also feared what the patriots represented in their eyes which was mob rule. They felt like the patriots were breaking out of constitutional structures and that they were substituting a government by committees and by congresses they were putting pressure on local people. To people who are very legalistic lay who cared about order all of this was disturbing more disturbing to them than were the taxes. It was by parliament. To see barry says and part of the quote you can see is chopped off there to the left if we must be enslaved let it be by a king at least. If i must be devoured let me be devoured by the jaws of the line and not nod to death by rats in vermin. So here to there is a suggestion that the revolution is stirring up society and that what have been on the bottom of Society Might come to the top might be driven to the bottom. It is a great fear for lots of people. This is a new newgate prison in connecticut. One of the inmates there was regimen franklin son. It was particularly a grim place. It doesnt look so bad. Now, the patriots had many more men in their irregular units, in their militias than did the loyalists, but i just want to convey to you just the scale of the loyalist operation by the end of the war and how essential it had become to the british by the end of the war when they were no longer able to send reinforcements across the atlantic and, indeed, its a period of time in which the british are drawing down their forces a bit in order to send troops to the west indies. So the british then in this period of drawing back British Forces in north america are building up the loyalists to try to replace them. Many of you are my age or older, and you may remember americanization in the vietnam war as an effort to, by the nixon administration, to withdraw american troops and say that the vietnamese were going to take over more of the burden. On a much smaller scale, its the same phenomena at the end of the revolution for British Forces. This is one of those loyalist officers on the right, william jarvis. He was very proud of his service. He had this painting made in 1790 in london after the war was over. He knows that they lost the war, but hes not ashamed of his service in the loyalist regiment. He was in the queens rangers, and hes so proud of it, he had a special little uniform made for his son who wasnt even born at the time of the revolution. [laughter] and this map is to convey the point that the revolution doesnt just happen on the east coast of north america, it happens throughout the them rate and op call zones of the world, anywhere the British Forces were involved. So you can see that west africa, over here in india is a war zone, the east indian islands, what we now call indonesia, and certainly caribbean. And toward the end of the war, the caribbean is in most ways the key theater of the war, because that is the major place that the battle fleets of these empires are contesting. The west indies were of special importance because they produced sugar, and sugar was the highest value colonial commodity exported from the americas to europe. So whoever can control these relatively small islands in the caribbean holds the keys to empire in the 18th century. And be once the french and the spanish and the dutch become involved in the war as enemies of the british, it is going to compel the british to fight the war increasingly in the west indies and to draw back on their war effort, especially in the northern colonies. They make the calculated decision that they cannot win the revolution in the northern states, and instead what they must do is put their dwindling forces where they can find the greatest loyalist support. And they quite reasonably concluded that that loyalist support was greatest in the carolinas and georgia. And so there is a major shift of British Forces beginning in 1778 out of the north and to the south. The commander more most of this for most of this effort is lord worn wallis. Lord cornwallis. This is like a reunito onfor your book, andrew. [laughter] all of the great people are appearing in this. Now, this is the great villain. This is where youre supposed to hiss when you see this guy. [laughter] this is banister tarlton who is, as you can see, a dashing cavalry officer. This is painted by Joshua Reynolds in london, and tarlton was a very capable officer but hyperaggressive and ruthless. And so he didnt like to take prisoners. And he becomes a great villain of the southern campaigns of the war in the eyes of the patriots. Many of grow may have seen the movie man