3.5 The American Revolution

Not all colonists supported independence. Patriots favored it. Loyalists, perhaps around one-fifth of white colonists, stayed loyal to Britain. They included royal officials, Anglican clergy, some merchants with British ties, and many people who simply distrusted the Patriots or feared chaos. Many other colonists tried to stay neutral. Tens of thousands of Loyalists left during or after the war, many for Canada.

Enslaved African Americans weighed which side offered freedom. In 1775 Virginia's royal governor, Lord Dunmore, promised freedom to enslaved men owned by Patriots who joined the British, and thousands escaped to British lines during the war. About 5,000 Black men served on the Patriot side, some winning their freedom.

Most Native nations sided with Britain, which had tried to limit settlement on their land. The Iroquois Confederacy split: the Mohawk leader Joseph Brant fought for Britain, while the Oneida and Tuscarora supported the Patriots.

• Foreign help: France provided money, weapons, soldiers and, crucially, a navy. Spain and the Netherlands also went to war with Britain, stretching its forces worldwide.
• Leadership: Washington avoided battles that could destroy his army and kept it together through defeats and hard winters.
• Home ground: Patriots knew the land, and Britain had to ship troops and supplies across 3,000 miles of ocean. Britain could capture cities but not control a huge countryside.
• Commitment: militias turned out repeatedly, and enough Americans believed in the cause to keep fighting for eight years.

In the Treaty of Paris (1783), Britain recognized American independence and granted generous borders: the Mississippi River to the west, the Great Lakes region to the north and Spanish Florida to the south. Native nations, Britain's allies, were not included, and their land was signed away without their consent.

Women ran farms and businesses while men were away, raised money and supplies, followed the army as cooks and nurses, and a few, like Deborah Sampson, disguised themselves as men to fight. Congress paid for the war partly by printing paper money, which lost most of its value, giving rise to the phrase 'not worth a Continental'.