What is the greatest reason for the American victory in the Revolution?

In 1777, the British were still in excellent position to quell the rebellion. Had it not been for a variety of mistakes, they probably could have won the war.

During early 1777, British officials considered a number of plans for their upcoming campaign. One they apparently decided upon was to campaign through the Hudson River Valley and thereby cut off New England from the rest of the colonies. General William Howe was to drive north from New York City while General John Burgoyne was to drive south from Canada. Meanwhile, British General Barry St. Leger would drive down the Mohawk Valley in upstate New York. The major problem was not with the plan but with its execution. Historians continue to debate whether Howe was ill-informed or simply acted on his own. Whatever the reasons, Howe decided to capture Philadelphia, the seat of the Continental Congress, rather than to work in concert with Burgoyne and St. Leger.

Howe hoped that by seizing Philadelphia, he would rally the Loyalists in Pennsylvania, discourage the rebels by capturing their capital, and bring the war to a speedy conclusion. Washington tried to thwart Howe's plan, but Howe out-maneuvered him at Brandywine Creek and then at Germantown. While Howe's forces settled into winter quarters in Philadelphia, the Continental Army went into winter quarters at Valley Forge. There, the army faced deprivation in the extreme.

Meanwhile to the north, Burgoyne and St. Leger suffered significant defeats at Oriskany, New York; Bennington, Vermont; and finally at Saratoga, New York. These American victories were critical for they helped convince France to recognize American independence and brought the French directly into the war as military allies. The French Treaty was also a result of a new British peace proposal, announced by Lord North in late 1777. The French were concerned that the Americans would agree to North's proposal since it offered them virtual autonomy within the British Empire. The French Alliance changed the face of the war for the British; the American war for independence was now in essence a world war. Even so, as many of the documents listed to the right suggest, winning the war even after the French Treaty was still not a certainty.

For additional documents related to these topics, search Loc.gov using such key words as Howe, Burgoyne, Gates, Saratoga, Philadelphia, Brandywine, Germantown, Valley Forge, France, and Vergennes [the French Foreign Minister]. Search Washington's Papers and the Journals of the Continental Congress by date [of specific battles, for example], and use the terms found in the documents to the right of the page.

Documents

• Washington Assesses the Strategic Situation, July 25, 1777
• Washington Speculates About General Howe's Intentions, August 21, 1777
• Washington's General Orders, September 5, 1777
• Washington Describes the Battle at Brandywine Creek, September 11, 1777
• Victory at the Battle of Saratoga, October-November 1777
• "There Was Choice of Difficulties," December 22, 1777
• Washington Describes the Continental Army at Valley Forge, Winter 1777-1778
• Washington's Reaction to Lord North's Peace Proposal, Spring 1778
• Without Reform the Continental Army Will Dissolve, April 21, 1778
• The French Alliance, May 4, 1778
• Washington Opposes a Franco-American Attack on Canada, November 11, 1778
• Washington and Laurens Exchange Private Views of the French Alliance, November 1778
• Why the British Continue to Fight, December 18, 1778

The year 1781 was momentous for the American Revolution. The beginning of the year, arguably, witnessed perhaps the low point of American morale during the Revolution. "The people are discontented," George Washington wrote to John Laurens in early 1781, "but it is with the feeble and oppressive mode of conducting the war, not with the war itself." Indeed, Washington now believed that it was critical for the United States and its French allies to achieve a significant military victory in 1781 or all might be lost because of the state of American public opinion.

Even so, Washington could not have foreseen the events that eventually unfolded during the year, nor could he appreciate their significance as they occurred. Indeed, most of the year continued to be characterized by inactivity of the French and most of the Continental Armies. Only when the brilliant strategic activities of General Nathaneal Greene in North Carolina forced British General Cornwallis to march into Virginia did an opportunity open for Washington to achieve the military victory he had hoped for at the start of the year. In Virginia, on the Yorktown peninsula, Cornwallis found himself cornered by the combined forces of Washington's Continental Army and the French army and French fleet. These forces began seige operations against the British troops isolated at Yorktown. On October 17, 1781, Cornwallis sought terms of surrender.

It is important to understand that the significance of the British surrender at Yorktown could not be fully appreciated by contemporaries. Washington called Yorktown "an important victory" and "a glorious event," but he, like his compatriots, could not know what the British response would be to Cornwallis' surrender. Washington, the Continental Congress, and leaders in the states could only muddle along, waiting for events to unfold. In fact, Washington worried that the victory at Yorktown might diminish Americans' continued commitment to the war. For nearly the next two years, Washington would continue his efforts to keep the Continental Army intact, ready to fight if that became necessary.

Meanwhile, peace talks between British and American diplomats got underway in Paris in May 1782 and continued into the fall. In September, the American negotiators [John Jay, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin] discovered that the French foreign minister had sent his secretary on a secret trip to London. Now convinced of French duplicity, Jay, Adams, and Franklin let the British know that they were willing to negotiate unilaterally--that is, without French interference. After two months of difficult negotiations, the British and American diplomats signed the Preliminary Articles of Peace on November 30, 1782.

Until a definitive peace treaty was signed, the United States was still technically at war. British and French fleets contined to fight on the high seas and in the Caribbean, but no land actions took place on the North American continent. The focus of the patriots was on keeping the Continental Army intact, in case the peace talks broke down. At this point, the greatest danger to the Revolution was the officers of the Continental Army. Nearly fed up with Congress' inaction regarding their pay [among many other issues], officers encamped at Newburgh, New York, sent a declaration to Congress concerning the pay issue. This was a serious threat; Washington diffused the threat by his personal prestige and by continuing to lobby Congress in behalf of his officers.

For additional documents related to these topics, search Loc.gov using such key words as Charles Cornwallis, Nathaneal Greene, Yorktown, Newburgh and Preliminary Articles of Peace. Search Washington's Papers and the Journals of the Continental Congress by date, and use the terms found in the documents.

Documents

• Circular Letter on Pennsylvania Line Mutiny, January 5, 1781
• George Washington to John Laurens, April 9, 1781
• George Washington to Noah Webster, July 31, 1788
• George Washington on General Cornwallis' Surrender at Yorktown
• "The Glorious Event of Yesterday"
• George Washington to Thomas Nelson, Jr., October 27, 1781
• George Washington to Nathaneal Greene, March 18, 1782
• George Washington to Nathaneal Greene, July 9, 1782
• George Washington to Benjamin Lincoln, October 2, 1782
• Lincoln to Washington, October 14, 1782
• The Newburgh Conspiracy, December 1782-March 1783
• Preliminary Articles of Peace, January 20, 1783
• Definitive Articles of the Peace of Paris, January 14, 1784
• By the United States in Congress Assembled, A Proclamation, January 14, 1784
• Washington's Circular Letter of Farewell to the Army, June 8, 1783
• George Washington to Continental Army: Farewell Orders, November 2, 1783