Contested Loyalties: The British Occupations of Boston, Philadelphia, and Charleston
Date
2024-11-18
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
ORCID
0009-0006-9600-1412
Type
Thesis
Degree Level
Doctoral
Abstract
Abstract
This dissertation examines the British military occupations of Boston, Philadelphia, and Charleston during the American Revolutionary War, revealing the complex interactions between the occupying forces and the local populations. By analyzing the unique sociocultural, economic, and political factors in each city, the study uncovers the diverse nature of loyalties and varying degrees of resistance to British authority, challenging the familiar textbook narrative of the Revolution.
The research reveals the presence of three distinct American colonial identities that emerged from markedly different geohistorical and sociocultural environments in New England, the Middle colonies, and the South. These regional differences significantly influenced the reasons for each British military intervention, the course and nature of the occupations, and their outcomes.
The study argues that the clash between the commercial interests of the Boston merchant elite and the financial interests of the British government led to the first occupation of Boston, while the second occupation resulted from the confronting class interests within the city itself. In contrast, the occupations of Philadelphia and Charleston were direct consequences of British political calculations and wartime strategies.
The dissertation highlights the role of religious affiliation in predicting attitudes toward the occupying forces, with Calvinist denominations treating the British as allies or enemies based on the immediate impact on their economic status, Quakers and German Protestants leaning toward political neutrality, and Anglicans supporting the Crown or the plantocracy, depending on the local context.
The study also examines the evolution of the British administrative model for governing occupied cities, from the initial failure in Boston due to the lack of civilian participation, to the successful military-civilian partnership in Philadelphia under Joseph Galloway, and finally, to the collapse of this model in Charleston due to mutual distrust and the British failure to understand Southern society.
The research reveals that the British military presence served as an indicator of wider socioeconomic and political problems in the occupied societies. While the occupations unleashed a bourgeois revolution in New England and, to a lesser extent, in Philadelphia, the occupation of Charleston exposed the absence of such a revolution in the South, where the plantocracy maintained its feudal-like power.
The dissertation concludes that the American Revolution and the American War of Independence were two distinct sociohistorical processes that overlapped in time but not in place, with the Revolution confined to the North and the War encompassing all thirteen colonies. The study challenges the notion of a unified American identity during and after the Revolution, highlighting the profound differences between the three regions and their respective paths to independence.
Description
Keywords
American Revolution, loyalism, occupation, radicalism, collaboration, military hisory
Citation
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
Department
History
Program
History