The Build-up to Rebellion
In 1775, the eastern half of today’s United States was controlled by England, officially called “Great Britain” for the island England is on. That island is on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean north of mainland Europe, shared by Scotland and Wales, which also were and are part of Great Britain. The future U.S. was divided into 15 colonies or “provinces” from modern Maine—then part of Massachusetts—down through Florida. Three, including North Carolina, stretched from the Atlantic to the Mississippi River. Along with the Canadian provinces, the two that made up Florida did not join in the Revolution.
In 1765 the legislative body of Britain, called “Parliament,” and its King George III tried to tax American colonists directly for the first time. They put taxes on paper goods, tea, people imported to become slaves, and more. This was largely to pay for the Seven Years’ War of the 1750s and ’60s, which started in the colonies and was known here as the French and Indian War (Spain was another foe). Prior to that colonists only paid taxes to their provincial governments, which in turn sent part to Parliament. Colonists were not allowed to elect members of Parliament, leading to the rebel slogan, “No taxation without representation.”
Other issues that arose between England and colonists included:
- Britain insisting on the colonies importing and exporting all goods through Britain or its monopolies, and some American merchants flouting those rules.
- Trials for tax-related crimes being moved to naval courts, meaning the accused would not have juries of their peers.
- In N.C., the provincial legislature wanting to put liens on land owned by absentee English landowners, but not being allowed to by Parliament.
- Some Americans wanting to move onto Native American lands in violation of treaties the King had signed.
- Britain moving toward the abolition of slavery, which American plantation owners and merchants involved in the slave trade wanted to expand.
The last two points increased colonial calls for British protection, against Native raids and slave revolts. Yet colonists didn’t want to pay for that protection, either through the provinces as before or directly to Parliament. As in most disputes, both sides bore some fault for the problems.
The Colonists Organize
Various groups formed to express opposition to British policies, the most famous being the “Sons of Liberty.” A Sons chapter was founded in Wilmington in 1765. The original Boston chapter protested a tax on imported tea by dumping a bunch of it into Boston Harbor, an action that became known as the “Boston Tea Party.” Parliament responded with the punitive “Coercive Acts of 1774” (called the “Intolerable Acts” here). Among other actions, these forced Americans to house British officers in their homes and blockaded Boston Harbor until Boston reimbursed the owner of the tea.
This led to formal protests across the colonies. The provincial legislatures elected representatives to a “Continental Congress” in Philadelphia to negotiate a compromise with the British government. People like John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and George Washington attended. Then citizens of Lexington and Concord, Mass., who were trained as “minutemen” to gather quickly for self-defense, fought British troops in April of 1775. Those troops had raided rebel military supplies. Next the congress paid for a “Continental Army” to try to force the British army from Boston. Congress put Washington in command.
On July 4th, 1776, the Continental Congress approved a Declaration of Independence that said the colonies were now “states”—13 new, separate countries, free of England. Britain disagreed and sent more troops to put down what it considered to be a rebellion.
Early Years of the War
