Analyze the Political, Diplomatic, and Military Reasons for the United States Victory in the Revolutionary War. Confine Your Answer to the Period 1775-1783.

Gabe Valenzuela

9/26/12

APUSH

Essay #3

Analyze the political, diplomatic, and military reasons for the United States victory in the Revolutionary War. Confine your answer to the period 1775-1783.

By 1755, Colonist's resentment toward Britain had turned into a desire for rebellion. A mixture of political, diplomatic, and military advantages ultimately led to the United States victory over the British in the Revolutionary War. The victory was achieved by the common goal of the patriots to gain independence and the leadership of George Washington. Diplomatically, France aided the victory after the United States won its trust with victory in the Battle of Saratoga. George Washington's military expertise and also hit-and-run guerilla style tactics lead to the victory over the British.

As Britain was trying to pay off their debt, they began taxing the colonists, which upset them and gave them cause to begin organizing a resistance and stockpiling weapons. On April 15, 1775, British troops set out to arrest John Hancock and Samuel Adams and seize the stockpile of weapons in Concord. Minutemen from Lexington intercepted and stopped the redcoats. Immediately after this Battle of Lexington and Concord, delegates from all thirteen colonies met at the Second Continental Congress to talk about the consequences of this battle. Most delegates did not want to separate from England, so in an attempt to reconcile with the outraged King George III, they wrote the Olive Branch Petition, which professed their love for the king. They also decided to give General George Washington support and funds to organize an army and small navy. King George rejected their petition, which left the colonists to declare independence from Britain on July 2, 1776. The congress selected Thomas Jefferson to write the official Declaration of Independence document, which united the Patriots against Britain along with the Common Sense pamphlet written by the radical Englishmen Thomas Paine. This pamphlet bashed King George and called on the Americans to unite and overthrow British rule. The political leadership of George Washington, Samuel Adams, John Hancock, Patrick Henry, and Benjamin Franklin also played a big role in Americans victory over the British.

Militarily, Washington's experience in military affairs was an American advantage. The odds were in favor of Britain at the beginning of the war because they had a huge army, the best navy, and a great number of German-Hessian mercenaries ready to fight, but Britain soon found out it was very hard to fight in North America. George Washington on the other hand had a small, inexperienced, volunteer fighting force, until Baron von Steuben, a German military officer helped train this fighting force, which became the Continental Army. The successful fighting style