University:
Bradley University
Course:
HIS 203 | American History and Global Systems to 1877
Academic year:

2022
Views:

465

Pages:

2
Author:

Remington Spence

The American Revolution - Who Had the Better Chance of Winning? The American Revolution had started. The American colonists were fighting to be free from Great Britain. Who had the better chance of winning? Both sides had advantages that would help them. Each side also had many disadvantages that would hurt them in fighting the war. 1 The colonists who wanted to be free were called Patriots. They would have a tough battle ahead of them. Great Britain was very powerful. Some colonists did not want to fight England. The Patriots would have to fight them, too. The colonists did not have a lot of training or experience. They did not have many cannons or weapons. They were short on supplies, such as gunpowder. England had the largest and most powerful navy in the world. The colonists didn’t have many ships to fight. 2 The colonists did have advantages. The Patriots had rifles. They were very good shots because most men knew how to hunt. They had a smart general. George Washington would be in charge of the Continental Army. He had fought in the French and Indian War. He knew how to fight in a war in America. He would become a great leader. 3 The Patriots were fighting on their own land. They knew the terrain. They would be protecting their homes and farms. They would not want to give up their land to the British. Many Patriots would die trying to protect what they owned. 4 The British soldiers were very strong. They had a lot of training. Many of them had fought in other wars. Great Britain also had a strong navy. It was the best in the world in coordinating with the he British troops on land. The ships could move the soldiers quickly from place to place. 5 Many African-Americans fought on Britain’s side. Great Britain promised freedom to slaves who helped them win the war. Native Americans also helped the British. They did not want the colonists to win because the colonists kept taking away more and more of their land. Great Britain also hired soldiers to fight with them. These soldiers came from Germany and were very well-trained. They were called Hessians. 6 Many of the colonists wanted Great Britain to win. These colonists were called Loyalists or Tories. Many colonists were Loyalists. They did not want to be free of England. They thought the other colonists should not fight the war. Many were merchants. Some were also colonial officials of the British government. There were many Loyalists living in the Southern Colonies. More Loyalists lived there than in the north. 7 Many Loyalists had a tough time during the war. The Patriots would tar and feather people who wanted Britain to win. Many Loyalists had to leave their homes. Some went back to England or to Canada. Many lost their homes and their stores. 8 The British faced problems during the war, too. British troops were fighting three thousand miles from home. Soldiers and supplies took months to get to the colonies. It 9 also took months for messages to get back to England. British soldiers were not sure of the terrain or how to fight in the forests. They marched in straight lines. That made it easy for the colonists to hide behind trees and shoot them. Both sides had a chance to win the war. There were things that would help them and things that would hurt them. It would be many years until a winner was clear. 10