John Adams Quotes

The American plan was to capture Quebec and add that province to the 13 colonies. See {636940} . However, the American officers botched the invasion and did not attack as soon as they arrived when the British had almost no troops to defend Quebec.

One of the very poorly executed military maneuvers of the American Revolution was the failed patriot attempt to invade Canada and take Quebec. The Generals assigned to lead the invasion made a host of blunders. When things were not going well, they asked for Benedict Arnold to come and reinforce them. However, they asked for help too late as Arnold explained to George Washington. The reason they wanted Arnold was that at the early part of the American Revolution he was one of the two best field commanders the Patriots had. Soon after, he led the successful battle of Saratoga, but his Commander did not give him any informal or official credit. Arnold felt that he was not properly recognized for his many military achievements and that appears to be true. However, with that mental predisposition, he gave in to venal motives and went over to the British side—the only senior officer who committed treason in the Revolution.

Americans General William Hull had crossed the Canadian border with 2500 men announcing his intention to invade. Brock’s appeal to the loyalty of English-Canadians to fight off the Americans was in their self-interest as English. He argued that if Canada weakened or the Americans temporarily conquered Canada, they could not hold it, and Napoleon's France would re-colonize Canada. In short, fight against the Americans and keep the French out.

French Canadian separatists had begun a movement for an independent Quebec. The area that was to be an independent nation, however, included the land of several Indian tribes including the Cree. They insisted on the same right of self-determination within Quebec as the French Canadians claimed within Canada. Their opposition among others led to the failure of the Meech Lake Accord.

Jefferson was not the only one who thought that taking Canada and driving the English out would be relatively easy as Canada was vast and the English troops were spread very thin. However, although the English had great strategic weakness, the American officers who led the Canadian effort were not very competent and made a series of terrible tactical decisions and the Canadian operation failed in a terrible fiasco.

Between a purchase of lands from the Hudson's Bay Corporation and land grants, Canada annexed millions of acres of land without much political activity or any assent from the people who lived on those lands.

While the official battles of the American Revolution did not begin until 1776, parts of the American colonies were in a de facto state of rebellion and the British could not enforce their laws. See {636925} for another of the King’s statements.

Fox was one of the opposition leaders who were opposed to the heavy handed policies that the British King and Government had used.

2nd Earl of Guilford. Britain had a double standard of how they would fight wars and battles. If the contention was a rebellion, more mild military means would be used. But if a foreign war, they would use all means. For example, the use of mercenaries would not be used in most rebellions. With this letter, Lord North was escalating the American Revolution into a “foreign war”. As a result, not only would mercenaries be used, but so would Indian allies whose mode of war was not as restrained as the British troops. It also allowed for emancipating slaves and inviting them to take up arms. With this quotation, the American Revolution was raised to a new and more serious military level. See {634115} for the instructions to implement this policy.

See {641497} for a quote from the Grenville speech. Fox, a conservative on most issues was an absolute radical on the issue of America. To aggravate the hawks in parliament, he used to dress in the colors of George Washington’s uniform to show his support once the war broke out.

David Bushnell, 1740–1824, was a student at Yale University where he developed the first submarine used in warfare. While at Yale, Bushnell proved that gunpowder could be exploded under water. He also made the first time bomb. He combined these ideas by building the Turtle which was designed to attack ships by attaching a time bomb to their hulls, while using a hand powered drill and ship auger bit to penetrate the hulls. He used the Turtle in attempts to attack British ships which were blockading New York Harbor in the summer of 1776. His efforts failed every time because the Turtle's boring device was unable to penetrate the copper sheeting lining in the ships' hulls which was designed to protect against parasites in their previous station, the Caribbean. (From Wikipedia)

Cornwallis, who had the misfortune to be the Commanding General of the British forces which were defeated by the brilliant strategy of George Washington and his French Allies, never approved of the British Strategy in America. As a loyal officer, he was a field commander and did not control the overall strategy which most military historians agree was not very sound. While the British controlled New York City, they were surrounded by Washington’s troops and a hostile population. They Armies were separated and while generally too strong to defeat in the field were never strong enough or numerous enough to pacify large areas of the colonies.

Some of the Patriots of Early America realized that the oppressions of British rule were coming from Parliament and initially took the position that only the King could make laws for the colonies and not Parliament. Therefore, they were as Englishmen challenging illegal English laws. Most American hostility was directed at Parliament and not the King. However, once there was any physical resistance, King George came down with such a heavy hand that American hatred transferred to him. For related quotes on the King/Parliament issue, see {639145}, {639144}, {639143}, {639141}, {639140}, & {639137}

document he wrote. He and Benjamin Franklin were sent to France to try and raise support for the revolution in troops, war material, or loans. Franklin was much more popular in France and Adams included Holland where he tried to show the Dutch how similar the histories and traditions of the two countries were. He succeeded in obtaining loans that were needed badly.

This is the same man who introduced the Stamp Act 12 years before which started the whole problem in America. See {74956}.