Often the American Revolution is described as Americas “first civil war”!. What is meant by this phrase!?Www@QuestionHome@Com
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Position:Home>History> Americas "first civil war"?Question: Americas "first civil war"!? Often the American Revolution is described as Americas “first civil war”!. What is meant by this phrase!?Www@QuestionHome@Com
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Mainly because the colonies were divide amongst Rebels and Tories!. The Loyalist Tories supported the British and fought on their side, while the Rebels were obviously the Revolutionaries!. Americans fought Americans!. It wasn't as bad as the Civil War, because families weren't divided as much, but there were probably some!. Edit: 2nd answer: Patriots! That's the word I was looking for! All I could think of was Whigs and Rebels!.Www@QuestionHome@Com The colonies were divided into those who wanted Indpendence, those loyal to the king, and those who just wanted to be left alone, and could not (for religous reasons, like Quakers) or would not ( unsure who would win) pick a side!. The new states passed laws against treason, and the British already had laws against it, so some people hedged their bets by putting one son in one army and another (or the father) in the other!. Loyalist who were forced by the treason laws to flee went to New York city!. They could often raid from their back to their old neighborhoods in NJ, NY, Ct, RI, etc, capturing their old neighbors and bring them back to the Sugarhouse prison in NYC!. If caught, they could be hanged as traitors to their state!. Civil war in every way!.Www@QuestionHome@Com The American History books always make it look like EVERYONE in the colonies supported John Adams and George Washington!.!.!.and that simply is not true!. Based on historical research, scholars believe that the colonies split about 1/3, 1/3 and 1/3!. Only about 1/3 of the people were active supporters of the Patriot cause!. About 1/3 of the people were active supporters of the King, and remained loyal to the British Crown!. The remaining third either didn't understand or didn't care what was going on, and just went about their business as best they could!. So the Revolution really WAS a Civil War because there were lots of Americans fighting on both sides (there was at one time a Regiment in the British Army known as "The Royal Americans", just as there were Irish and Scotish and Welsh Regiments)!. It wasn't just a war of "Native born Americans vrs!. nasty British from overseas"!.!.!.life is never that simple!.!.!.it was a lot more complex than that!. The role of the Tories in the Revolutionary war has been downplayed in American History for a lot of reasons!. First of all many people feel that if you teach folks that about 1/3 of the population at the time thought that John Adams and George Washington were disloyal fools it tarnishes their historical memory!. Personally I don't feel that way!. I believe that if you understand what they REALLY did and the obstacles they REALLY overcame they come off as much more impressive people, not less impressive!. Second of all if you talk about the role of the Tories in the war you then have to talk about what happened to them AFTER the war!.!.!.basicly they were houned out of the country!. Some were lynched, some had their property burned, all in all most of them were forced out of the Country and the fled to Canada as refugees with only what they could carry!. They were supposed to be compensated for the property that was stolen from them by the Patriots under the final peace treaty, but Congress never paid up!. This is not exactly America's finest hour, so history teachers don't like to talk about it!. also the Tories and the British generally had the support of the Indians!.!.!.which is another part of the war that American historians don't like to discuss!. The British were willing to limit the growth of the colonies to the eastern side of the Apalachian mountians!.!.!.and the Americans wanted to move deeper into the continent and expand!. So the Indians were (for the most part) backing the British!. In New York state it got NASTY with the the Indians and Tories staging horrible massacres of settlers in an effort to terrorize people into leaving the area and cutting off supplies to the Patriots!. The American Army solved the problem by staging horrible massacres of Indians, wiping out villages and burning all their supplies so they would starve during the winter!. Again, not something you want to discuss in 4th Grade History class!. Lastly talk about the Tories makes the British (who are supposed to be the "bad guys" remember!?) look better!. I mean if 1/3 of the population were willing to take up arms to STAY under British rule, how bad could it have been!? Some historians (and school boards) feel this casts the Patriots in a bad light!.!.!.so it isn't talked about in school books!. Www@QuestionHome@Com Simply because the country was divided into 2 groups!. Loyalists and Patriots!. So many families had supporters in both camps!.Www@QuestionHome@Com |