African Americans Slaves

Slavery seemed inconsistent with the new ideas of the revolution. In 1776, 1 of every 5 Americans had African ancestors, and majority of African were enslave. The Loyalists and British used this to mock the Patriots. Some African Americans saw the Revolution as a fight for liberty, but their own liberty and freedom from slavery. Also some slaves sue their owner in court. They even enter the Patriots militia and Continental Army or the small navy. In return to that, the slaves would get freedom, but the Southern didn´t like the idea of black people using guns, they fear that they could rebel against them.
In the revolution it occur the idea of emancipation, to free slaves, but some people didn´t had the goodness of letting them free, but that was not all people, there were some that let the slaves free and gave them a paper that said that they were free but they were capture and slaved again.

In the North the slaves were only 5% of the population. There was a law going on of emancipation, this would free the slaves in the North, but this “good people” sold them to the south before the law was even passed. So emancipation failed.
The slaves were so important that they were necessary for plantation economy. There could even be a family of 5 members that owned 200 slaves. But some slaves were luck because their owners would free them but eventually they got caught again. This process was called manumission, but after 1800s the South passed a law to discourage manumission. But in the end, in 1810, more 20000 in the south were free, including 300 slaves from George Washington.

Treaty of Paris

Although Cornwallis' surrender at Yorktown in the Fall of 1781 marked the end of the Revolutionary War, minor battles between the British and the colonists continued for another two years.

The Treaty of Paris officially ended the Revolutionary War on September 3, 1783. Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and John Jay signed it in Paris. Britain recognized the independent nation of the United States of America. Britain agreed to remove all of its troops from the new nation. The treaty also set new borders for the United States, including all land from the Great Lakes on the north to Florida on the south, and from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River. The United States agreed to allow British troops still in America to leave and also agreed to pay all existing debts owed to Great Britain. The United States also agreed not to persecute loyalists still in America and allow those that left America to return. In addition to giving formal recognition to the U.S., the nine articles that embodied the treaty: established U.S. boundaries, specified certain fishing rights, allowed creditors of each country to be paid by citizens of the other, restored the rights and property of Loyalists.
The treaty was named for the city in which it was negotiated and signed. The American War for Independence was actually a world conflict, involving the United States and Great Britain but also France, Spain, and the Netherlands. The peace process brought a vaguely formed, newly born United States into the arena of international diplomacy, playing against the largest, most sophisticated, and most established powers on earth.

Cornwallis Surrenders

In late summer 1781, General George Washington knew that Lieutenant General Lord Charles Cornwallis' army was camping near Yorktown. Washington´s plan was to boldly and rapidly move to south, his plan was to capture Cornwallis in Georgetown. After discussing options with his French ally, Washington decided to quietly move his army away from New York City with the goal of crushing Cornwallis' isolated force. Departing on August 21, the French began marching south. As any success would be upon the French navy's ability to prevent Cornwallis being resupplied, the fleet supported this movement.
For Washington´s plan, he needed that a French fleet arrived on time to block Chesapeake Bay; they had to be there when the British tried to exit by the port.

All this needed timing, and there was, the French arrived on time on August 1781, while the British arrived in early September. Cornwallis was in a trap, the French and Patriots surrounded them with more than 18500 soldiers; he had no exit, nor land, nor sea. He tried everything he could, even sending some infected soldiers that had small pox, he did everything he thought to do but without success. He tried everything, at the end his ideas banished and he had no choice than surrender his army of 8000 soldiers in October 1781.

Patriots drive British back

How can you win most battles and not win the war? Well the British won most of the battles but Patriots never surrender, so the British fail to control the colonies. In the colonies it became a brutal civil war between Patriots and Loyalists. In October 1780 in King Mountain, the Patriots defeated Loyalists and executed many prisoners. That cause that neutral civilians took the Patriots side, they blame British troops for bringing chaos into their lives.

Funny, the British instead ok killing and destroying Patriots, they made some Loyalists to side with Patriots, they continue making mistakes. Incredible the way they were helping their enemy. General Cornwallis became more and more frustrated with what was happening, they couldn’t defeat the Patriots and in an unconscious way they were helping them out.
The Continental Army was small but with huge spirit, they were lead by Nathanael Greene. In early 1781 the Patriots won a couple of battles on the British in Cowpens and Guilford Courthouse. So Cornwallis had this brilliant idea of going to the north into Virginia, but this brilliant mind didn’t thought of the trap he was going into, a trap very well design by the Continental Army.
The victory in the battle of Cowpens convinced many Americans that the war could be won by them.