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Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Hello, American History Teller listeners. I have an exciting announcement. I'm going on tour and coming to a theater near you. This live show is a thrilling evening of history, storytelling, and music, with a full band accompanying me as we look back to explore the days that made America. And they aren't the days that you might think. Sure, everyone knows July 4th, 1776.
We'll be hearing a lot about that date this year. But there are many other days that are maybe even more influential. So come out to see me live. More shows to be announced soon. So for information on tickets and upcoming dates, go to AmericanHistoryLive.com. That's AmericanHistoryLive.com. Come see my Days That Made America tour live on stage. Go to AmericanHistoryLive.com.
Imagine it's early in the morning on May 10th, 1775, at Fort Ticonderoga, on the shores of New York's Lake Champlain. You've been stationed here as a British Army lieutenant for the past two years. And at the sound of gunfire outside your door, you sit up in your narrow bed with a sudden jolt.
You kick off your blanket and stumble out of bed, desperate to wake your commanding officer, Captain Delaplace. You only have one leg in your trousers when a sudden pounding on your door causes you to freeze. Open this door and come out this instant. You hear me? Come out and surrender your men, you damn old skunk.
It occurs to you that the attackers must have your room mistaken for the commander's. So with your trousers still in hand, you open the door to find a pair of armed men. One wears a scarlet coat with gleaming silver buttons, while the other is dressed in an old buckskin shirt and brandishing a sword. Show me your hands. If you'd just allow me to finish getting dressed...
You're stalling for time until the captain appears. The man wearing buckskin shakes his head, his eyes burning. We're going to sacrifice this entire garrison if you don't come with us this instant. Now, wait a minute. You've got this all wrong. I don't have time for this. We must have immediate possession of the fort and all property of King George III.
Your mind races as you struggle to reconcile the thought of these upstarts laying claim to the king's property. You force a thin smile, again trying to stall. And by what authority do you make these demands? The authority of the great Jehovah and the Continental Congress. And what in the good heavens is the Continental Congress? The intruder presses the tip of his sword to your neck.
Let me speak plainly. Lay down your arms, and you and your men will be treated like gentlemen. Just then, Captain Delaplace emerges in the hallway, hastily buttoning his coat. With one look at the intruders, he throws up his arms and surrender, and the man in buckskin narrows his gaze.
Ah, so you're the one in charge. All right, come with us.
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Chapter 2: What events led to the capture of Fort Ticonderoga in 1775?
And besides, what do you know about fighting in a war anyway? In the dim morning light, you can see tears forming in her eyes. But you look away, refusing to let her emotions get you. No, don't bother trying to talk me out of it. My mind's made up. But you take care, Lucy. And when this is all over, I'll save a little money and I'll come back for you.
You give your sister a brief, tight hug, then push past her and head toward the woods. As much as you want to take a last look, you keep going, telling yourself that if you take this opportunity now, at least you'll have a chance. You know that if you stay here and let the war pass you by, you'll never be free.
At the end of November 1775, Lord Dunmore wrote to British Commander-in-Chief William Howe, boasting, "...their proclamation has had a wonderful effect. The Negroes are flocking in from all quarters." But Dunmore was no abolitionist. He offered freedom to enslaved people purely in the hopes of disrupting the southern economy by stripping it of its labor force.
He also hoped it would have a powerful psychological effect. White Southerners lived in fear of slave uprisings, especially in Virginia, where slaves outnumbered free whites in many areas. The idea of putting weapons into the hands of enslaved men was the slave owner's worst nightmare.
And that included George Washington, who called Lord Dunmore a monster, declaring, If the Virginians are wise, that arch-traitor to the rights of humanity, Lord Dunmore, should be instantly crushed. In a letter to his plantation manager, Washington expressed fears for Mount Vernon, where he and his wife Martha owned roughly 200 enslaved men and women.
And one of those men was Harry Washington, who fled Mount Vernon to join another 800 former slaves in a military unit Dunmore called his Ethiopian Regiment. Hundreds of enslaved women and children also sought freedom behind British lines. But while it proved a beacon of hope for the enslaved, Dunmore's proclamation failed to disrupt the American war effort.
Instead, it hardened the resolve of Southern slave owners to defend their profitable plantation economy and pushed many toward the Patriot cause. The hypocrisy of the colonists demanding liberty while holding half a million black people in slavery was not lost on observers.
In 1775, the famous British writer Samuel Johnson wrote, How is it that we hear the loudest yelps for liberty among the drivers of Negroes? Prominent patriots including Benjamin Rush, John Jay, and Patrick Henry acknowledged the contradiction. Nevertheless, most patriots clung to slavery as the very foundation of their own freedom and prosperity.
They were fighting a war to defend their property from British interference, and that property included thousands of enslaved people. They also refused to let debates over slavery interfere with the larger goal, the success of the rebellion. But by December 1775, the future of that rebellion hung in the balance.
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Chapter 3: What role did the Continental Congress play in the early Revolution?
It's clear that the majority want us to vote for independence. I am not opposed to independence in theory.' Can't you see that it's premature? How can we go down this path with no foreign alliances and with only the barest skeleton of a national government? Rushing independents will leave us isolated and leave us vulnerable.
Well, I understand your concerns, but the fact is the independence faction has the majority in Congress. It would be a shame to proceed without Pennsylvania's backing. If you're trying to persuade me to change my vote, it won't work. After the speech I gave today, I cannot switch sides. It would mean betraying my own principles.
I am not suggesting anything of the sort, but could you excuse yourself during the bow? Why not slip out and take a walk? If you abstain from boating, the others might follow your lead and abstain too. Dickinson takes another sip of ale while you carefully consider your next words.
Sir, I know how firmly you hold your convictions, but this is our chance to show our strength by speaking to the whole world in a united voice. Well, it is true that unity of purpose will be crucial to the success of the cause. Well, then please don't be the reason that Pennsylvania stands apart. I will consider it. Dickinson drains his glass and tosses some coins on the table.
As he walks away, you're left in suspense, uncertain whether tomorrow's vote will unite Congress in common purpose or lay bare your deepest divisions. On the morning of July 2nd, just as the doors of Congress were about to be shut, a mud-spattered Cesar Rodney of Delaware made a dramatic entrance.
The previous night, after learning that his delegation was deadlocked, he jumped out of his sickbed, mounted his horse, and rode 80 miles through a thunderstorm to arrive in Philadelphia in time to break the tide. Not only did Delaware vote in favor of independence, but South Carolina reversed its position, too.
And most significantly, Pennsylvania's John Dickinson, the leader of the opposition, as well as his colleague Robert Morris, agreed to take a walk during the vote, allowing the remaining delegates to swing Pennsylvania in favor of independence by a vote of three to two. Only New York abstained, because they had not yet received approval from their legislature in Albany.
When all the votes were cast, 12 out of 13 colonies voted for independence. And two days later, on July 4, 1776, Congress formally adopted the full text of the Declaration of Independence. The delegates there understood the gravity of the moment. The declaration ended with the words, We mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor. This was not mere rhetoric.
They knew that by declaring independence, they had committed an act of high treason against the British Empire. At the official signing ceremony, Benjamin Franklin summarized the stakes, declaring, We must indeed all hang together, or most assuredly, we shall all hang separately. News of the vote on independence rapidly swept through the now former colonies.
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