BGES-American Revolution Lecture Series
“The American Crisis 1763-1787: These are the Times that Try Men’s Souls”
Dr. Laurence (Laurie) Schiller
Next to the American Civil War, the struggle by British Americans to gain their independence from the British Empire and found a Republic is perhaps the most studied, misunderstood, and mythologized event in American history. Historians have struggled with how and what to present in their writings, leaving us with often contradictory tomes. Views of George Washington, for example, have ranged from triumphant Cincinnatus to lucky incompetent. Throughout American history, Americans of different political views have sought to mold the meaning of the Revolution to their own political agenda, reflecting the state of society in their era and ignoring the reality of the 18th century. Moreover, the British, Germans, Native Americans, African-Americans, and Loyalists had their own take on what had happened. What was for some Americans the beginning of a grand republic, was for others defeat and exile. For the 6 unknown British regulars buried by the Concord Bridge, their comrades and families certainly saw them as heroes fighting to preserve Crown and Empire against traitorous rebels, even as tourists today barely give them a thought while watching Patriot re-enactors march across the bridge to fife and drums every summer afternoon at 5 PM.
The huge question before us is how Americans moved from the general exultation of triumph in the 13 colonies, and especially in New England, that followed the ouster of the Catholic French from North America by British regulars and American colonial forces as a result of the French and Indian War (or Seven Years War in Europe), to a wide spread revolt that put an end to British rule in what would become the United States. What happened in the twenty years between the 1763 Treaty of Paris, which gave the British Empire control of Canada and the American west extending to the Mississippi River, and the 1783 Treaty in the same city, which moved the majority of Americans from loyal support of the Crown to fighting a war to throw off their allegiance to the foremost empire in the world? What did British leaders do which helped foment that rebellion? And, further, what drove several key American leaders four years later to make a second revolution, creating a document, the Constitution, which would provide a framework into which the American people could grow as they slowly moved their primary allegiance from their state to the national entity?
As we approach the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in 2026, the disasters of the New York campaign, Washington’s retreat across the Jerseys to the Delaware, and the magnificent victories at Trenton and Princeton that followed, modern scholarship has come to recognize the incredible complexity of the events of the period. While we are taught in school about the Founders, we rarely hear about the actions of the common people, who understood the nature of liberty and rights differently in different sections of the colonies, but who united to drive events in which the elite often found themselves as followers, not leaders. This was not a revolution from the top. That being said, the final documents of the period, the Constitution and Bill of Rights, were created by a small elite and were certainly not supported by the majority of Americans in 1787. At the end of the course, we will examine this second American Revolution which grounded the Republic with enduring documents and paved the way to the future.
Listed below are a complete listing and brief description of the 20 individual video lectures. Beginning in January 2026, Blue & Gray will release one video each week throughout the year on our YouTube channel. Those videos bolded in blue font are currently available for viewing free, click on the link here:
BGES-American Revolution Lecture Series
Topic 1: Introduction and The Context of Revolution
In our opening lectures, we will introduce some of the major themes we will be examining during the course and then discuss how life in both Great Britain and the American colonies was changing during the first half of the 18th century. Although few would have recognized or acknowledged it to begin with, there was already the germ of a feeling of distance from England, a common American nationality distinct from Britain, and a resentment by American elites of British leaders who scorned colonials as subjects rather than citizens.
Video Lecture 1: Introduction to Themes
We begin the course with an examination of the themes that run through this period and point out eight key events that were critical in determining the course of the Revolution.
Video Lecture 2: 18th Century British Society
In this lecture we lay out the context of the Revolution, beginning with the nature of the British state and its politics, economy, and social conditions.
Video Lecture 3: The Nature of the 13 Colonies
Our third lecture now turns to the state of Britain’s American colonies with a discussion their economic, political, and social systems.
Topic 2: The Beginning of Friction: Changing Imperial policy and the American response 1763-73
Victory in 1763 over France made Britain the preeminent power in America, but it now had to pay the expense of that war and deal with the challenges of how to manage the conflicting interests of restless land seeking American colonists and Native Americans in the newly won trans-Appalachian country. Parliament’s solution was to tax the colonists and maintain a standing army between them. But while Americans were willing to recognize Parliamentary supremacy to regulate the affairs of the Empire, they saw it as a violation of their constitutional liberty to be taxed by a legislature in which they were not represented. Although various ministries had backed down when faced with increasing colonial activism against their taxation policies, in 1773, Lord North’s Tea act ignited a colonial popular storm whose most destructive event was the Boston ‘Tea Party’. Parliament’s response to this challenge by Boston radicals would shake the Empire to its foundations and ultimately result in the loss of the American colonies.
Video Lecture 4: The French and Indian War (7 Year’s War) Sets the Scene
Why did the American colonists, who were happy with their relations with Britain at the end of the Seven Years’ war, decide just 13 years later to rebel? This lecture begins to address that issue.
Video Lecture 5: 1765: A Most Remarkable Year
William Pitt turned defeat into victory in 1763, but King George wanted more power over both Britain and the colonies. The attempt to tax the latter led to the first signs of rebellion among the colonists over the Stamp Act.
Video Lecture 6: Parliamentary Supremacy versus American Rights
In the 7 years between 1766 and 1773, Parliament kept trying different taxes to impose its supremacy over the colonies. But the colonists kept rejecting each tax and the basic principle behind them. In 1773 Parliament, having repealed all the other taxes, kept just one, on tea, which led to the Boston Tea Party and a showdown between London and the colonists of Massachusetts.
Topic 3: The Match is Struck: The People Throw the British Out in Massachusetts (Dec. 1773 – Spring 1775)
When Parliament and King George responded to the Boston Tea Party with acts closing the port of Boston and revoking Massachusetts’ charter, the people literally dismantled Crown authority outside a few major cities. While top leaders met in Philadelphia, Committees of Correspondence and Association became de facto governments in all the colonies pushing the Continental Congress to follow suit. General Thomas Gage, commander of British forces in America and now Royal Governor of Massachusetts, was under orders from the North ministry in London to restore order but found himself unable to do so. In the countryside, British authority in the colonies had been dismantled. This topic will focus on the British response to the Tea Party and the acts of the people in response to the Coercive or Intolerable Acts.
Video Lecture 7: Britain Responds to the Boston Tea Party
Britain was outraged when Boston patriots threw a shipload of tea into the harbor. In this lecture we examine what they did about it and why.
Video Lecture 8: The Citizens of Massachusetts Are Aroused
When news of the Coercive Acts reached Boston and the rest of the colonies, most of the people in New England united in opposition. Here we will discuss their first responses to the Crown, with an emphasis on Massachusetts.
Video Lecture 9: August 1774 – April 1775: The Delicate Dance Towards War
In the fall of 1774 and winter of 1775, tensions grew and while General Gage attempted to execute the law under the Coercive Acts, the people of New England grew increasingly angry and prepared for potential conflict. This lecture deals with this volatile time just before actual hostilities broke out.
Topic 4: War in 18th Century America: Professionals, Mercenaries, Amateurs, Militia, and Partisans
In this topic, we will examine the nature of war in the 18th century. We shall consider first the psychological dimension of being a soldier in battle and then look at the forces arrayed against each other in the colonies. On the one side, we have some of the finest professional soldiers in Europe, the battle tested British regulars and the German mercenaries. On the other, we have American militia and partisan forces whose individualistic attitudes forced Washington to evolve a flexible strategy to create a viable Continental army and keep it in the field despite losing most of the battles they fought.
Video Lecture 10: The Psychology of Battle
Using Brent Nosworthy’s work on battle, this lecture examines how soldiers respond to their participation in armed conflict.
Video Lecture 11: Key Developments in 18th Century War Making
To understand why battles were fought the way they were in this period, we must examine the tactics and technology of war making as it existed in 1775.
Video Lecture 12: The Nature of the Contending Forces
How and who were the soldiers that made up the contending forces. This lecture examines the British regulars, their German mercenaries, and the American forces.
Topic 5: Spring 1775- Spring 1776: WAR! Boston Liberated
This topic will begin with an examination of how the people outside of New England reacted to the closure of Boston and the revocation of the 1693 charter and how they became more engaged and embraced the revolutionary cause. An important part of this was the institutional framework for their activism created by Congress through the Committees of Association which spread activism, and suppressed dissent, in the countryside. I will then tell the story of Lexington and Concord before a brief look at how Boston was liberated.
Video Lecture 13: The Colonies React to the Coercive Acts
Returning to our story, we have seen how New England reacted with anger and preparation for conflict, but how did the other colonies react? That would be key to the success or failure of the Revolution. Then we will consider the run up to the outbreak of hostilities in Massachusetts.
Video Lecture 14: The Shot Heard ‘Round the World
There were any number of triggers that could have begun the hostilities, but it was Gage’s attempt to seize rebel arms and equipment in Concord on April 19, 1775, that actually lit the spark. In this lecture we examine the events of that day in detail.
Video Lecture 15: The First Moves
In this lecture we examine the first moves of the war on both sides, including the siege of Boston and the invasion of Canada.
Topic 6: Disaster and Redemption: The War in the North to Saratoga.
This topic will tell the story of the military war in the north from the disastrous campaign in New York and New Jersey in 1776, the loss of Philadelphia, to General Horatio Gates’ victory at Saratoga October 17, 1777. We will focus on the battles of Trenton and Princeton as pivotal to the ultimate success of the Revolution.
Video Lecture 16: The British Declare War; America Struggles to Respond
The story continues. The British in effect declare war and the Americans struggle to create their own army, disastrously failing in their attempt to stop the British in New York.
Video Lecture 17: The American Crisis
By December 1776, it seemed that the British were on the verge of victory. This lecture develops how they set themselves up The Jerseys for the winter and the steps that Washington made to rebuild his army after the retreat over the Delaware.
Video Lecture 18: Washington Strikes Back: Trenton and Princeton
From the lowest point of the Revolution, Washington conceived a strike on the Hessians in Trenton. That victory plus the victorious battles of Second Trenton and Princeton just days later derailed British plans for a quick victory and fueled continued resistance by the Patriots.
Topic 7: 1778-80: Monmouth, the Internationalization of the conflict, and the war moves South.
The campaign of 1778 saw critical changes in the focus of the war. George Washington survived the machinations of those in Congress and the army who saw him as a failed leader needing replacement, while at Valley Forge, he was finally able to begin remaking his army into the professional force he wanted. In addition, the February Franco-American treaties, to which the Spanish eventually acceded, forced the British to focus once again on their old European enemies. As the colonial war in America concomitantly declined in importance to London, Lord North replaced William Howe as his commander in the colonies, and ordered his successor, General Sir Henry Clinton, to evacuate Philadelphia and return to New York. In order to contend with French and Spanish threats to British interests in the Gulf and Caribbean, the British did not have the resources to have much success in the mid-Atlantic or New England, so, they turned their attention to trying to salvage Britain’s fortunes in the southern colonies where they were under the mistaken impression that Tories far outnumbered rebels. Clinton’s overland march through New Jersey resulted in the last major battle in the North, Monmouth Courthouse (June 28), while General Cornwallis was sent south to pry the Carolinas and Georgia away from the Continentals.
Video Lecture 19: Victory and Defeat: Saratoga and Philadelphia
In this lecture we see how the British sought to split New England from the rest of the colonies but ended up losing an entire army at Saratoga on October 17, 1777. At the same time, however, General Howe won several battles against Washington and captured the rebel capital, Philadelphia.
Video Lecture 20: France Steps In
While Washington worked to build a more professional army at Valley Forge, American diplomats in Paris tried to get France to come in on the American side. The British defeat at Saratoga finally convinced them to do so. The internationalization of the war would change the entire equation of the conflict.
Video Lecture 21: The British Change Course
With first the French and then the Spanish and Netherlands coming in on the side of the colonists, Britain had no choice but to change course. They abandoned Philadelphia, leading to the last big battle in the north, Monmouth Courthouse, and diverted troops to defend the Caribbean colonies. Then then focused their attention on trying to save the southern colonies for the Crown.
Topic 8: Forged in the Crucible of Fire: America Transformed.
After 4 years of war, parts of America had undergone real physical destruction, while American society, even in those areas where the armies had not been, saw significant transformation. We will examine social, political, and economic changes in society at large and the war’s impact on civilians generally and specifically on women, Loyalists, African freemen and slaves, and Native Americans.
Video Lecture 22: The Revolution Begins to Change American Society
This lecture examines how the crucible of war began to change the nature of American society.
Video Lecture 23: Slavery: The One Issue for Which the Founders Could Not Find a Solution
Slavery was the indigestible nut of American society. This class looks at how African Americans both impacted and were impacted by the Revolution, as well as how the issue was simply kicked down the road of history for the Civil War generation to sort out. We also begin to look at the role of women in the conflict.
Video Lecture 24: Women, Loyalists, and Native Americans
Here we continue the examination of women’s roles in the Revolutionary War period and then turn our attention to the fate of Loyalists, or Tories, and Native Americans.
Topic 9: The British Try and Salvage the South for the Crown
In 1780, the British decided that they would try to salvage the southern provinces for the Crown. At first things went well with Charlestown (Charleston) falling with an entire American army into their hands. Georgia and South Carolina seemed to be secure, especially after the American disaster at Camden. But then, under the leadership of Nathanael Greene, Daniel Morgan, and various militia leaders, the tide turned against the British and southern Tories setting up the last major campaign of the war where General Lord Charles Cornwallis, failing to control the Carolinas and Georgia, decided to move north into Virginia, only to be trapped between Washington’s army and the French fleet.
Video Lecture 25: 1780: The War Moves to the South
When the British turned their attention to the southern colonies after 1778, the war seemed to again be going against the Americans. This lecture examines southern society and the initial moves by the British to take control of Georgia and the Carolinas.
Video Lecture 26: Whack a Mole: Cornwallis Can’t Win for Winning.
Early successes by the British at Savannah and Charleston masked the basic facts that the south would be a country that they just could not control. This class examines why.
Video Lecture 27: Nathanael Greene Outgenerals Cornwallis
After the terrible defeat of Continental forces under General Gates at Camden, the British figured they had the war in the south won but then came Nathanael Greene and militia leaders who proved them wrong and caused Cornwallis to move to his ultimate fate in Virginia.
Topic 10: Yorktown and the Collapse of the North Ministry; America Wins Independence; 1787: The Second American Revolution.
Cornwallis failed to destroy Greene’s American army and marched up to Virginia to Yorktown, where he was trapped between the French fleet and the infantry of both Washington and French General Rochambeau. The loss of a second British army brings down Lord North’s ministry and leads two years later to a general peace with both the Americans and the European powers who had arrayed against Britain. With the war over, and independence finally won, internal forces collided and threatened to tear the new nation apart as states fought over sovereignty, the army threatened mutiny, farmers rebelled in Massachusetts, and war debt crushed the central government. Amidst what they saw as the collapse of that for which they had fought so hard, a few key men called for a Constitutional Convention to amend or replace the Articles of Confederation. That call in the spring of 1787 resulted in the coming together of brilliant minds which together created, amidst contention and disagreement, the American Constitution, a document that did not have the support of either the majority of the states or the American people. A revolution from the top down, the Constitutional Convention created a house into which the American nationality could grow. We will examine the story of how that was done, what issues were resolved and unresolved for the future.
Video Lecture 28: The Jigsaw Puzzle That is Yorktown, Part 1
The surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown is well known, but the complex factors that worked to create the ‘perfect storm’ for the British are less well known. This lecture will examine the beginning of the story.
Video Lecture 29: The Jigsaw Puzzle That is Yorktown, Part 2
This lecture continues the story of Yorktown to its conclusion.
Video Lecture 30: The Second American Revolution
This last lecture is the story of the second American Revolution which produced the Constitution in 1787.