Defining a "home front" in the Revolutionary War is difficult
because so much of the thirteen states became, at one time or another, an actual theater
of war. Even so, the war profoudly affected the domestic scene, and the domestic scene, in
turn, greatly influenced the conduct and course of the war.
Most Native American tribes east of the Mississippi were uncertain about which side, if
either, to take during the Revolutionary War, and many remained neutral. A number of
tribes, however, feared the Revolution would replace the British--who had worked hard to
protect their lands from colonial encroachments--with the land-hungry colonials. As a
result, these tribes fought with the British or took advantage of the situation and acted
against the colonists on their own. Patriots viewed the Indians as a threat throughout the
war. The patriots' use of the term savages for the Native Americans gives a good
indication of their overall attitude toward most tribes.
For some African Americans, the Revolution meant freedom. Because so much of the
fighting in the last years of the war took place in the South, many slaves escaped to
British lines. The British, hoping to weaken the American war effort, emancipated and
evacuated thousands of ex-slaves. A few African Americans also won their freedom by
fighting in the Continental Army despite the prejudices of patriot leaders. (This attitude
changed somewhat during the course of the war.) For the vast majority of African
Americans, however, the liberties touted by the American Revolution remained more promise
than reality.
Women's lives were also profoundly affected by the Revolutionary War. Women whose
husbands and other male relatives went to war had to assume many of their
responsibilities, whether it be the farm or small business. Since Continental Army
soldiers were typically drawn from the lower ranks of society, many women did not have
farms and businesses to fall back on. Cities throughout the United States witnessed
growing populations of impoverished women. Many women did not stay at home when their
husbands went off to war. These women flocked to the army camps to join male relatives.
There they helped maintain army morale while doing traditional women's chores--cooking,
laundry, nursing, and so forth.
In many respects, the Revolutionary War was a civil war. First, most of the land war
was fought on United States' soil. Second, somewhere between 20 and 30 percent of the
population retained their loyalty to the crown. In some places, the loyalists actively
opposed the patriots--through propaganda, spying, military service with the British, and
sometimes insurrectionary activities. Loyalist propaganda continually planted seeds of
dissention within the wider population. Patriots continuously perceived loyalist threats
on the home front and actively worked to quiet the loyalists, arrest them, and
confiscate their property.
Because the Continental Congress was unable to levy taxes to pay for the war, it relied
on the printing press to issue nearly $250 million in paper money (the so-called
Continental). The paper money was backed only by the good faith of the Congress; because
of dislocations in trade and manufacturing, there was too much money competing for too few
goods. The result was uncontrolled inflation. In early 1780, the Congress confessed that
its money was worthless (something the people had known long before as evidenced in their
popular saying "not worth a Continental").
For additional documents related to these topics, search
American Memory using such key words as
slaves, blacks, Indians (use "savages" and specific tribes
such as Mohawk, Iroquis, or Six Nations), loyalists and
tory, women, and economy (including paper currency, depreciation, and
inflation), and use the terms found in the documents to the right of the page. Note
that using these terms alone will produce thousands of hits each. Therefore, try to use
these keywords in specific collections and with more specific modifiers, such as dates or
places.
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