coming up on american history tv, a look at the american revolution. we begin with boston's role in the origins of the revolutionary war. then, a look at revolutionary war clothing and the impact of american tailors. you will also hear historians discussed the origins of the revolution, and the lead up to the treaty of paris that ended the war in 1783. watch american history tv, now and over the weekend, here on c-span three. historian, park ranger, and author philippe green wall talks about boston's role in the origins of the revolutionary war. organized around three pivotal events, the boston massacre, the boston tea party, and the battles of lexington and concord. the top is part of a symposium coasted by the emerging revolutionary war blog, and the

alexandria, virginia. >> to start off the afternoon, please welcome philip green wall. philip is the cofounder of emerging revolutionary war and the full-time contributor to emerging civil war. he is the author or coauthor of two volumes in the american revolutionary war series, and three volumes in the emerging civil war series. one of his books as downstairs, as well. phil graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in history from wheel and jesuit university and has a graduate degree in american history from george mason university. he is currently a supervisor and park ranger with the national park service in florida. you can ask him about the fun things he may have seen recently there. with, that let us learn a bit about why someone would want to burn down boston. (laughs)

(applause) >> i will move the microphone up. i am a park ranger in the everglades. don't bring any snakes. i know that was a big concern. did you but today's top is centered on something farther north. being a baltimore oriole's fan, i want to see boston burn for a number of reasons. the road to revolution. boston, the epicenter of that early colonial opposition to the parliament, to the british,. but i figured out someone up in three days. march 5th, 1770. december 16, 1773, lexington and concord, april 17th, 1775. thank you for coming. i will take your questions. those are all important dates,

not to discredit them. they are part of a timeline that ruptured the 13 british north american colonies from great britain, and led to the creation of the united states of america. but events don't happen in a vacuum. cataclysmic events like the three mentioned are critical to the revolutionary war, but so are the smaller bread crumbs, or shall we say, the paving stones on the road to revolution. these are the ones that lead up to the big meal, the bread crumbs that build a call to unify people. boston in -- there is no more iconic photo than the liberty trail and boston. try to get through four of these points. the background of boston, the sons of liberty colonial perspectives, british perspectives, maybe that will change your perspective for

general gates, and from words to our. i boston. this is a map from the book that is downstairs. boston, 1765, had about 15,520 inhabitants living in about 1670 houses, with a little less than 3000 white males. that's the legal age to serve in the militia. in addition, there were 800 slaves approximately. further, here you can see what was boston at the time of the revolution, and what is boston now. if you visit, that's where the british will land on the early morning of april 19th. the reason that is so far inland today as it has been pulled in. this is not land in the middle of a business district. but numbers in boston fluctuate

due to the recent 1765 census is the last one we have on the city prior to what happened in 17 seventies. before we get to that part, we need to go back in time a little bit. obviously, this is one of the most famous and iconic images. if you put up these multiple photos, or pictures, or images, the first martyr of the revolution, march six, 1770 there. you have a great amount of literature having social media and information at your fingertips, the colonists were very good about communicating, or spreading the word. getting information out was 18 century social media. by images and wording here, it cut off so you can see some of the names there.

it matches the initials down there on the grave. it's bringing that iconic image out. the boston tea party, of course, where they dump a bunch of teabags into it and they float up. those are bricks there. 342 cases. just like americans, they do respect property. they are only going to break open the casks that hold tea. they put them into the harbor there. another iconic image, just like that image there of the boston tea party on the right. it's a little shaded out. let's go back even farther. we always ask the question, how did the road to revolution start? when did washington switch from being a member of the british empire and proud of his british allegiance to being a revolutionary? when did sam adams start?

it might have started as early as 1740 with the crisis in massachusetts. a lot of these people had land. they had resources. they had goods to sell, but they were not rich in hard currency. this idea populated that you could use the land as a form of currency. you can see this. you could use this to barter and trade. this was an effort of landowners and artisans to use their work products as currency. that became a very popular idea, obviously. except for the merchants and top echelons of society who had money and access to hard coinage and currency. this populist movement was a threat to their livelihood, and stations in society. furthermore, when 5000 supporters of the land banks marched into boston, this caused even more confrontation from members higher in society and the royal elite. as quickly as letters could

race across open water, back to the british parliament, the proverbial kiss of death to land banks happened when the supporters of land banks were termed or considered traitors by british parliament. those who had invested, lost heavily. some lost more than they could bear. others became homeless and impoverished. one of the latter was samuel adams, the father of the revolution, samuel adams. that made him one of the most vocal supporters of american independence. even after his death, the younger adams had to defend the state from seizure by the government. this, in his mind, served as a constant reminder that britain 's power the colonies could be exercised in arbitrary and destructive ways. those destructive ways led to another bread crumb. he is credited with coining the phrase taxation without

representation. this gentleman right there. taxation without representation is tyranny was his saying we usually drop off those last two words. if you went across the potomac, you would hear that on license plates in the district of columbia. but the tyranny part is left. off we will leave it right there. born in 1725, he hails to a family that will produce other revolutionaries such as murphy otis warren and samuel otis, who would become the president of the u.s. senate afterwards. his daughter would marriott gentleman named benjamin lincoln, a major general in the continental army, and seconded mandate york town. although,, initially he is appointed to general, he resigns when a promised seat,

chief justice, did not go to his father, but to a longtime opponent of the family, tom hudson, who would become a very staunch loyalist. he sent representative merchants arguing against the legality of britain's public assistance and started a lifelong political thinker including and during the writing pamphlets. if you want to be a revolutionary, write a pamphlet. that is used to build interest. john adams, he remembered otis as in service for years, that were so important and essential to calm this country from 1760 to 1770. in february, 1761 when he gave a five hour oratory which is not as long as my top today will be, at the state house and boston, mr. adams would remember otis as saying right then in quotes, the child independence was then they're

born. every man of the immense crowded audience appeared to me to go away as i did, ready to promote the call of colonial independence. unfortunately, otis did suffer from a mental illness. it happened prior to an incident at a boston coffeehouse in 1769. he was struck over the head and would continue to deteriorate. he had moments of lucidity, but public service and public life was over by the end of the 17 seventies. he passed away suddenly standing in the door frame of his house. he was quoted early in life saying when it's time for him to return to the heavens above, he wished to go being struck by lightning. he almost immediately later on seemed like he died being struck by lightning. so it's interesting. another luminary is this

gentleman, a great recent biography just came out of doctor warren. he is such an internal part. you can't talk about boston without having him somewhere in that conversation. whether it's the night of april 18th when william dahl and paul revere go out on the night. who sends them? when john adams, sam adams are down at the continental congress, who is in boston? mr. warren. who was serving as president of the committee of safety, a major general ship? this gentleman. who writes the suffolk resolves, submitted by the congress approved almost en masse,? mr. warren. unfortunately, he can't stay out of any action, into the ends up battling at bunker hill, where he meets his untimely death. that deprives the nation of one of the great gentleman, not

only of medical genius, but also a practical thinker who could move between different echelons of society. he was so immensely felt in his death that he said warren's death was equal to 500 man. in equivalents. a nice tribute there. for every big revolutionary, you need the guy who can walk the streets, be the rabble rouse or to get the people. william was one of. them he's the gentleman who could get people up in arms. he was more of a radical. one of the reasons he was poisoned by the british, he would die shortly in october 1774. he was one of the sons of liberty not at the meeting house, but down on the war, probably leading or organizing the boston tea party. he was very popular with the

working classes and has been fomenting public resentment. this gentleman is brewing beer, samuel adams. we don't need to talk about him. samuel adams is a gentleman who suffers and would have been such a great story to bring out a few years ago, the history channel to the documentary sons of liberty, and he is suddenly 25 running across roofs. i am thinking you are missing the point of this gentleman and the true story behind samuel adams. if you ever watched that, just keep in mind, that samuel adams, not the 25-year-old gq model in that show. the one guy i forgot to put up here. he will be discussed later on at the bottom of a small document, john hancock. a future symposium held here at the lychee i'm can talk more

about john hancock. we can aim for next year. on the other side of the coin, we have gentlemen such as these. george, and he is down here. and of course, frederik north. as the doctor was saying, sometimes they're grammar or writing did not at here to certain rules and regulations. you can see it is spelled a little differently there. dartmouth doesn't quite understand what's going on. march 1774, he believes the president madness of the people in boston is not for answering events. george jermaine, or george sackful, interesting character, at the battle of indian he decided to abide orders and basically shown society. he comes back in it takes over november 1775. and of course, lord north, the

prime minister during these hold buildup, and eventually the war, efforts that try to subdue the american colonists. they are all trying to get with this, guy thomas gates, and growing, up you read the first history books. this guy i am surprised he didn't have horns on his head how bout of a gentleman he was. but when you read more on him, as much as anyone can, he is in a situation where the situation on the ground and you are missing what's going on in the field and trying to communicate between the two and then you realize they are 3000 miles away in by the time you get a letter to them it will be six months. and then you have your wife who is an american and might be something that you are unsure and you have to go away. and then you are communicating. so yeah. it is surprising that he had a

good night's sleep the entire time he was in boston. but he does have some of the support of gentleman. isaac bars from the house of commons. general gates is a man of great ability, whose call to services in that country, which i am sure he will never do, unless at the same time you give him the sort of all of brands you give to the others. i think that sums up his efforts. scores have tried to defy the colonies. at the same time, the colonists are hit with what we call the intolerable acts. so, now governments are moved out of boston. now, they have to close the port of boston down. you have the quebec act. next thing you know, there's a lot of unemployed people. it's important that we have soldiers in the town. we have removed their chance to elect leaders. and now, many of the british to get in trouble. we don't have to try them in

the colonies. we can send them 3000 miles away. obviously, everything is peachy and boston at this time. at the same time he is battling, trying to figure out what to do, he has a limited amount of man power there. he is also at the cusp of british colonial policy. britain has let the colonies go by themselves for years. they have not taxed them. now, suddenly, they need to pay for things like the french and indian war, soldiers on the border, massive debt, and they need to incorporate the land they have gained. gains is the guy in the wrong place at the right time, being promoted to replace jeffrey amherst, who left and returned to england. gates has been there in the colonies four years at a time. his body makes i a bold and aggressive parliament after

lord north administration takes over. does anyone want this job? he is in a tough situation. i but, as he is doing it, he does try different methods. he is trying to meet with the public there. that's another. image all these images are on copyrighted. they are from the new york public library or library of congress. you can search boston tea party, it will come up with different images. i invite you to look through if you have a few free moments, because it shows you kind of the historiography of how we remember from newspapers to painted images to the primary sources. it is interesting to see how he study one subject and why we continue to study one subject. >> so, in another piece, the

british soldiers, i showed this image on purpose because it did not show a british flag. that's an american flag there. but it is shown the harbor of boston at no time did castle william ever fire a shot in anger or violence. but it's where some of the troops will be housed to try and get them out of boston and other appeasement that gains tries with the colonists. but let's talk about the road to revolution. i know there has been a lot of social topics and i know military history is so important. these are two places where the revolution might have started. these are other bread crumbs on the path to revolution. one is salem. for, once we will talk about salem without witch trials. the other one, some believe the

first shot of the war happened and it happened in new hampshire, which is a very hard word for baltimore eons to say. i was told that is from lord of rings, the way i pronounce, it and not revolutionary war history. we are going to go back to salem because it's a very interesting story. obviously, gates will take troops there in february of 1775. as he sends lieutenant colonel alexander leslie with the 64th regiment by ship to marble head with instructions to sail with 240 troops, sees the ammunitions. remember them they will come back up. colonel leslie was known by fellow officers as, a gentle little man who lived well and drinks good. he would be great to be at happy hour at a tavern with. they landed at helmets cove in

marble head. it worsened on sunday morning, expecting it to be the suburbs, 40 men by boat marched to the coast and hopefully they are not discovered. does that sound familiar? once again, soldiers and boats and hope they aren't seen by anybody. as soon as the ships landed, the drums were beat upon and an alarm signal that had been previously agreed upon. they are trying to not be discovered, playing music like yangtze doodle is not the way to secretly enter into salem. as they approach the bridge that would've been in that photo there, they could hear the church bells ringing wildly. they discovered people had already pulled a plane from the bridge. they continue to march into the public square with bayonet, muskets, music, drums beating. they expected to be a

victorious army in a concord city. soon thereafter, leslie learned from sympathizers, proceeded on the direction of the north bridge. the regulars are coming. colonel david mason leaves his house. that's the same thing that paul revere would say. the british are coming. he is running through the streets of alexandria today yelling the americans are coming. that's what they believed they were still, the regulars. mason mounted his a horse and road to the canyon. captain timothy earring, another great title. i love the titles of 18th century books because they tell you exactly what is in the book themself. you can't judge a book by its cover. 18th century america, you can

exactly judge a book by its cover. this is simply an easy plan for the militia. this is the spark notebook of the century. it would later be used as an army drill book. the first time in american government or military history we used and made something simple. in an effort to calm the situation, mr. thomas bernard, who in quotes, recently been a torched, tried to let the people let it down, but the blacksmith say we don't know you in this business. lowering the bridge will be done. now they have a situation. leslie has to go across the bridge to look at the cannons. and munitions. the bridge is up. now, there are people on both sides. colonel felt who was no fear for his own life, was this time standing next to colonel leslie. he heard the orders to fire on

the people. this is coming obviously from a person sympathetic to the patriot cause. he responded with fire, you had better be dead than fire. you have no right to fire without further orders. if you do fire, we will be all dead men. the order was not repeated. indeed, had his men been enforced, salem might have been the first bloody battle of revolution fought at a different north bridge on the 26th of february. leslie will not abandon his orders. he has to go across the bridge to look at the cannons, munitions. that's his order from his superior. so leslie tells captain felt, i am determined to pass over this bridge before i return to boston. if i remain here until next autumn, i will have a waiting game. captain felt answers, nobody would care for that. they don't want british soldiers staying there for any length of time. leslie responded, i will not be defeated. i want to take a moment. imagine standing, they're

having to officers yelling at each other next to each other while 240 british soldiers and hundreds of militia are just hanging out wondering what the conversation is between these two people. he responded, you must acknowledge you have already been backwards. leslie says, it's the kings highway. i will pass over it freely. this time, another gentleman, james barr enters. this is not the kings highway. it's a road built by the owners of the lot on either side. no, king country, your town has control over it. obviously, the day is getting late in the hours. the tide was not low. and word that leslie might start sending troops up and down to try and find any boats, the people of salem commence with actions and rocks, as settlers they can find. now we have how did the british get across the river.

until a gentleman is pricked in his breast as to draw blood by someone in the military. so we have first wound. this gentleman would actually proudly display this wound after in life. he was fond of it. i'm not sure how long you can exhibit a small bayonet wound, a, but leave it up to gentleman to nurse a wound for the rest of his life. now you have a big conversation going. on you have a discussion that negotiations are going on. and they believed the discussion went something like this. they came all this way across the bridge, to get the guns. we have hidden them where you can't find them says the colonel. how can i tell the governor i have found no guns? if he learns i never got across the bridge? you want to tell the governor you crossed the bridge but discovered no guns? considering the circumstances, he thinks this sounds like a nice little play. they're having a conversation. what happens?

they disagree that less these troops will march across the bridge. if they lower, it and it will go so many yards behind, it march back. and apparently, as they did that, the band supposedly plays the world turned upside down. the sole account of the whole day was joe wilson. he was pricked by a bayonet and proudly showed that wound the rest of his life. on the other side, in a commemoration of the victory, it is just like the andrew jackson story, andrew jackson's ancestors kicked out of three colonies for being scotch irish. they were not loyalists. they ended up somewhere in the carolinas. jackson becomes one of the first popular presidents by the grassroots movement. and now he is born in three states. just like the first shots of the revolution, first shops

supposedly happened in new hampshire, for williams and marry as you see on the plaque behind me. it's hard standing at a podium. as you can read, they're in memory of the patriots who captured this fort. talk about another long engagement. we are going to talk about what happened at william erie with major john sullivan, who later on would become a major general in the u.s. army and lead a few different campaigns. we won't talk about his record. john sullivan's record is even worse. taking defeat from the jowls of victory. william mary, the ford at new hampshire, i said at the wrong way, didn't i? december 14th, the militia will gather in the town under major john sullivan.

the british have a whopping garrison of six soldiers. as the men march towards the four, it an other hundred 50 will join. now you have at least 400 men going after six british soldiers. captain jiang cochrane is in command. they get a chance to fire some cannons, before the americans enter into the fort. as they enter into the fort, of course, the british will strike their colors. the americans will set the surrender. cochrane is led to kept soared by sullivan who does not take it as a formal surrender. when the flag does get lowered, that does empower cochrane to try to defend the old leg. he becomes rough with the troops. confrontation ensues. someone pulls out a pistol. instead of pointing, if they decide to hit cochrane over the head with it. otherwise, that would have been the first shot of the revolution. you had to incidents on this

road to the revolution. both are at salem and in new hampshire to go visit today. the ford is open, you can walk the grounds. it has a website that can show you the different locations for that. now we have grassroots movements and boston, a lot of unemployed stock workers. you have the big major three events, smaller events like the land banks, the potential actions here, you have the sons of liberty. you have all of this going on until what happened when the first shots. lexington and concord, april 19th, 1775. they will come out onto the british will come marching onto the field. they are sent out once again, taking cannons that were captured and escorted out of town discreetly, they bring them back, obviously, at first,

warren thinks maybe they are going after john hancock and samuel adams by reverend jonas clark. whatever the case, is the british come out and it is a foiled effort from the beginning. we have another myth of the british that they are the best military in the world. that's kind of like watching the super bowl champions of last year with no players that were on that team. yes, they are the super bowl champion still. the british had not been in a major war since 1763. it is 1775, 12 years. that is a lifetime in the military. obviously, the british are well trained, that's a myth. they are a peacetime army. secondly, you will take the best troops of each regiment and some of the british marines. put them together, the grenadier, is light infantry, they are now working with people they don't know, don't understand. it's like an all-star game, fun

to watch but not practical. now they will come out and furthermore there is the town that everyone knows what's going on because as they are marching through of course monotony and arlington today it is very erie. lexington, and a junior officer is up front, he orders the men to take the one road when they should have taken the opposite road. they defuse the situation. somebody fires the first shot. we can sit here until happy hour and talk about who did it. was it someone cleaning a gun half a mile down the road? who knows? the first shot is fired. the british go into concord. they come marching back after the battle of north bridge. they are marching back down the road. the bloody road goes back to boston where as thomas gates would say, that's where the

quote comes, i wish this current place was burnt down. believing a lot of the british soldiers had marched out of lexington and concord and returned on the morning or evening of april 19 would probably agree with the general they wish they had never set foot in the whole town of boston would have been cursed. we are nearing the end here. i will take this picture to the other side because to understand some of these underlining stories. the road to revolution, boston is the epicenter. we always pick the highlights. boston tea, party boston massacre, lexington concord. we talked about lexington concord a little at the end. but it is also all the other paving stones that built that road overtime. it is the land banks starting in 1740. the 17 sixties. the intolerable acts. it is a military presence in

the town. it is people like doctor warren, james otis. then it is the adams, the hancocks, who continued the revolution. so the full story still being discovered. it is still being uncovered. that is why mostly this before they were americans are very important. now, at the end of the conclusion, before i do take questions, i do want to say, i do not want boston to be burnt. this is being filmed by c-span. but there are a lot of british probably in 1775 that would have wished they were anything else, even in the islands of the caribbean, than dealing with what was fomented by the road to revolution. the first major american victory would be achieved on boston. so, with that, i would like to take any questions, comments, concerns, disturbances, suggestion's.

(applause) the idea that the colonies had kind of been left alone for sometime, after the war. and it is this intervention that comes with the taxes that the british want to collect for the protection, and that that kind of triggers this kind of very negative reaction. i mean -- >> a lot of colonies formed, boston dates back to the 16 fifties, 16 thirties. jamestown, 16 oh seven. there are years of the british

not taxing the colonies, taxing the cities themselves of great britain. the average american colonist has less than 1% of tax, where in britain, it's up to 22%. after the french and indian war, well, something has to happen. you can't keep taxing the same people on the island of great britain. a lot of the wars fought in north america. maybe they should pay for it? at the same, time the british are now the world power. it's always when you have another one to compete with, that's one story. now, you have this vast amount of territory. you have native americans, also french nationals living in now these captured provinces. you have to figure out how to assimilate in. and now, you have other disturbances, pontiac's rebellion, it shows what the british now have control of. a lot of this parliament,

mostly the people of great britain, are not as directly represented either in the parliament. so what's the difference? it's a difference of agreement, and not understanding. it's a direct turn and some arbitrary power taken by things failure of the land banks and so forth that lead to this boiling point. >> we heard this morning about the tensions with the loyalists and tidewater, virginia, what was going on in boston and surrounding areas with loyalist versus patriots and how did that play out? >> summit up in one word. you see a fluctuation, obviously, of loyalists coming for the british lives, growing

in boston. you see tarring and feathering. you see instances, i, mean like otis is in the coffeehouse with altercations with british soldiers. you have hudson's house ransacked and he has been writing the history of the colony, and a lot of work is up in flames. it was just as bad as the burning of norfolk or whatnot. there is a lot of great work being done. there is a friend of boston 1775. he puts up a lot of primary sources about life and boston. i don't have the exact number, but there was, a high degree that multiple ships went back to boston will bring them out of city with them, so a lot of

the leading family, sergeants and will lead to go to britain, and other families all receiving not just henry knox is family leaves because they are loyalists. there are families that are split. there are members that leave. i think one historian said that after the revolutionary war, that is the biggest exodus of people due to a cause in the 18th century of people leaving because of conflict or because of a change in government. so to put it in how we have refugees leaving countries that are war torn in the 19, 20th centuries, that is it for the loyalists of the colonies. they are now refugees, a lot of them. they settle in the caribbean, or canada, or somewhere else. that's a lot of workers moving. that's a lot of ways to go for the people who picked the side

that didn't win. (inaudible) >> did it mention something about the state of the british people at this time? perhaps i could fill in some gaps? during this period of the american revolution, britain was in a sort of democratic vacuum. you had the stewards, james the first, charles the first, charles ii, james the second. they believed an absolute right of kings, absolute monarchy. james the second, he also made the mistake of being an avowed catholic. and in the end, the stewards were kicked out. a vacuum. britain looked around and found charles ii's daughter, mary, married to some foreigner over the way. and so we had a very odd monarchy. there are no spaces in it.

it is william and mary. and they were invited to come in to be the monarch's, but not an absolute monarch. they had to sign a contract. the contract was for parliament to be supreme. they had no choice. they had to sign it. now what is that parliament? it is not that place of quiet decision-making that you see today. (laughs) it was a parliament that was filled with people by the 1% elite. people could pay to become members of parliament. there were put in by their sponsors. economics was the big thing. this was the time of the rotten boroughs. so driving force was to make money. it was not until the people

really rebel, the riots of 1821, or doing away with the rotten boroughs of 1846, that parliament transformed itself into a place of democracy. the one check on the power of the rotten boroughs, of course, was the french revolution. the elites were terrified that the people of britain would rise up in the same way as the french. so all these decisions that you have seen made this morning and afternoon, every time you will see it as lord this, earl that. that's the 1% that had the power. the second thing i will add is the peculiar way of the british to be disparaging about everybody else. if you are in london, foreigners start at the watford gap service station, which is 40 miles up pm one. anywhere north of there,

somebody to be treated with suspicion. and of course, you get further north, scotland? they have the audacity to have a rebellion in 1745. the irish are beyond the pale. nobody takes much notice of the wells. i won't even mention the french. anyway. this exists today. the bbc has recently been forced to go to manchester to try and make some more respect out of london into the provinces. it is going on still today. so you have a bunch of people who are always bleaching for help. but they are not paying it. that's 3000 miles away. i don't think the british people really wanted to consider the british people on the other side of the atlantic with that much respect. it's a peculiar trait, but i am sure it was there.

>> great point. thank you. thank you. (applause) >> friday night on american history tv, a look at the american revolution, beginning at eight eastern. military historian gregory irwin talks about the challenges the british army faced in adapting to north american terrain battle tactics during the revolutionary war. these remarks we're at an international conference coasted by the museum of the american revolution, the prince cure military museum and library, and richard stephen heads foundation. you can watch american history tv friday nights and over the weekend on c-span three. >> revolutionary war uniforms are still used in military events today. we take a look now at taylor's an 18th century alexandria,

virginia. you will hear about the writings of a taylor who was active between 1763 and 1782 who kept notes on his clothes made for meaningful moments and citizens lives, and helped prepare the community for revolution. the emerging revolutionary war blog, tavern museum, and the lyceum of alexandria, virginia cohost this event. >> we saved the best for last. (laughs) she hates me for saying that. we conclude the topic close to home here in alexandria. catherine grubber is a special exhibition curator for the jamestown foundation. she deals with classical humanities at the university of washington. she contributes to the development of permanent galleries at the