The American Revolutionary War started with the conflict between the colonies and Great Britain over compromises that the British were unwilling to make. At that time no one would expect that the American colonies would end this conflict as an independent nation with a centralized government. There are several key factors that determined the success of the American colonists in the Revolutionary War.
Undoubtedly, James Madison is the first factor. Oakes et al. stress that he understood the importance of the concepts of liberty and order for the Americans and was able to develop a system that was based on these concepts and the principle of consent: “He became a leader in the Nation that he helped create and whose Constitution he helped write” (184).
After the first battles, which began in 1775 on the advice of Thomas Gage to “isolate the colonial Revolutionary elite” (Oakes et al. 185), the Americans realized the need for national consolidation at all levels. Thus, according to Oakes et al., to fight the British “despotism” (187), to “defend their liberties” (188), and to create their own “permanent national government” (189), in the following years the Americans adopted the Declaration of Causes and Necessities of Taking Up Arms, the Declaration of Independence, and the Articles of Confederation. These documents, as well as Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, inspired the Americans with national unity.
Although the consolidation of Americans under strong leadership was important for the revolution, one cannot deny the fact that Great Britain’s strategic mistakes favored the success of the American colonists. The British strategy was based on their confidence in their military forces and the loyalty of most of the Americans to the Crown. The British wanted to isolate the northern states but failed. Then they turned to the South, choosing to use the slaves against their masters. World Turned Upside Down reports that the British issued two proclamations “offering protection to slaves who ran away from their masters,” but this did not help the Empire to turn the course of the revolution significantly. Oakes et al. state that the confidence in the Americans’ loyalty was “a flawed premise about how to win the war” (190) because only one-fifth of them remained loyal, with all the rest being disappointed with Great Britain’s actions.
One more factor that allowed the Americans to fight the British Empire was the help of a foreign power. France entered the war and loaned the Americans almost $8 million in aid. Previously, France had lost to Great Britain in the French-Indian War. N.A.M. Rodger, in Oh Fatal Ambition, explains that the French “felt that they had lost their honor” and had “intense, bitter yearning for revenge”; that was the motivation for France’s decision to support the American rebels. With the support of the French, the American leaders could provide their forces with arms and military equipment.
The American victory in the Revolution was largely conditioned by their national consolidation at all levels, whether society or state. The British overestimated their own military forces and falsely relied on the loyalty of the American colonists to the Crown. Due to its long-standing enmity with France, Great Britain provided a strong ally to America with which the States could finally gain independence.
References
Oakes, James, Michael McGerr, Jan Ellen Lewis, Nick Cullather, Jeanne Boydston, Mark Summers and Camilla Townsend. Of the People: A History of the United States, Concise, Volume I: To 1877. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 2012. Print.
Oh Fatal Ambition (1777-1778). Ex. Prod. Ellen Hovde and Muffie Meyer. Arlington County, Virginia: PBC. 1997. DVD.
The World Turned Upside Down (1778-1783). Ex. Prod. Ellen Hovde and Muffie Meyer. Arlington County, Virginia: PBC. 1997. DVD.