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Historical Context: American Revolution

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In 1763, Great Britain emerged from the Seven Years' War with France and Spain as the dominant imperial power in North America. The celebrations in the American colonies that marked the victory soon gave way to howls of protest as the British government introduced measures to pay off its war debt and recover the costs of maintaining a North American empire that now stretched from Hudson's Bay to Florida.

The Royal Proclamation of 1763 restricting settlement and trade in the Native territory west of the Appalachians became an early cause for grievance in the colonies. In short order it was followed by three even more contentious pieces of legislation: the Sugar Act (1764) imposing tariffs on a wide range of luxury goods such as sugar, coffee and wines imported into the American colonies; the Stamp Act (1765) placing an excise tax on printed documents such as newspapers, legal documents, licenses and even playing cards; and the Quartering Act (1765) requiring colonial legislatures to house and feed British troops sent to North America.

Colonial Americans quickly organized resistance against what they claimed was "taxation without representation." In the summer of 1765, a paramilitary group calling themselves the Sons of Liberty began using violence to intimidate colonial officials trying to enforce the odious regulations. Although the Stamp Act was eventually withdrawn, the British government continued to pass legislation imposing taxes on the colonies. Tensions between British soldiers and colonial Americans reached a fever pitch in March 1770 when British troops fired into a Boston mob killing five people.

Three years later, another action in Boston against taxation, this time on imported tea, precipitated the final round of conflict leading to war. On 16 December 1773, Patriots disguised as Mohawks boarded three East India ships laden with tea and dumped its cargo into Boston harbour. The British government responded immediately with a series of measures, collectively known as the Coercive Acts and dubbed the Intolerable Acts by the aggrieved colonists. Early in 1774 legislation was passed closing the port of Boston, suspending the Massachusetts legislature, and placing the colony under military rule. In May General Thomas Gage arrived in Boston to replace civilian governor Thomas Hutchinson.

At the same time, the British Parliament passed the Quebec Act, which established a non-elective legislative system in Quebec and extended the colony's boundaries to include much of the Native territory defined by the Proclamation of 1763. Like the other measures, it was viewed as reflecting the authoritarian goals of King George III, his unpopular ministers and the Parliament that did their bidding.

In September 1774 delegates from 12 American colonies met at Philadelphia to coordinate resistance to what was perceived as British tyranny. Nothing would do but to have the Coercive Acts fully withdrawn. Thereafter colonials were increasingly required to take sides. One was either a Loyalist or a Patriot; there was no middle ground. When Gage dispatched 700 British troops under General Hugh Percy to capture a weapons depot at Concord in April 1775, the Patriot militia confronted them at Lexington. A second military engagement took place at Bunker Hill on 17 June. As Massachusetts erupted in bloody violence, a Second Continental Congress chose George Washington as general and commander-in-chief of a New Continental Army.

Washington hoped to seize a quick victory against the British by conducting a winter campaign in 1775-76 against the land-locked colony of Quebec. Led by Richard Montgomery and Benedict Arnold, it was a dismal failure. There was greater success in Massachusetts where the Patriot forces managed to capture Dorchester Heights near Boston in March 1776, forcing Gage's army to retreat to Halifax. These developments prompted the Congress to issue a Declaration of Independence on 4 July 1776. By that time a massive British force of 32,000 soldiers under the command of General William Howe had arrived in New York harbour escorted by a powerful fleet commanded by his brother Lord Richard Howe. For the duration of the war, the British occupied the city.

The war was viciously fought with over 20,000 colonial Americans joining what were known as "Provincial" or "Loyalist" regiments. Others participated in Loyalist militias in areas occupied by British forces. In the New York area, a vigilante group called the Associated Loyalists became notorious for their destructive forays into rebel territory. New York and Long Island became the home not only to Loyalists eager to fight for the British cause but also of civilian refugees who had been persecuted by Patriot committees. Together the Provincials and the Refugees in the city watched in horror as the British lost a war that so many people believed they would easily win.

While the British initially had the upper hand, they lost a major battle at Saratoga in October 1777, encouraging France and Spain to enter the fray against their long-time foe. The British managed to capture Philadelphia, Savannah and Charleston but were soundly defeated at Yorktown in October 1781. Although the Treaty of Paris ending the war was not signed until early in 1783, the British efforts to suppress the rebellion ended in the fall of 1781.

After Yorktown, Provincial and Refugee Loyalists retreated to New York where they organized themselves into associations to decide what to do when the British evacuated the city. In March 1782 Sir Guy Carleton was appointed commander in chief of British forces in North America. His primary task was to evacuate the British troops and Loyalists from New York.