Second Battle Of Saratoga Essay

Introduction

During the American Revolution and in the years leading up to the war, thousands of colonists in the royal colonies fought back against the injustice of Great Britain, this eventually led to the fight for independence. From the beginning of the war, the colonists looked at the French for assistance and the French did secretly help the colonists by sending hundreds of thousands of guns, ammos, and clothing for the soldiers. Initially, the French didn’t want to intervene in the war because they believed that the crisis would get resolved and an alliance with the colonists would start a war which the French weren’t ready for yet. Then the second Battle of Saratoga occurred, during which the American soldiers stalled and defeated British

Some examples of the acts and taxes that King George III imposed on the colonists consisted of : Sugar Act, Stamp Act, Quartering Act, Townshend Revenue Act, Tea Act, and Intolerable Act. The Sugar Act went into effect in 1764 and as the name concludes, put a tax on all the sugar the colonists received. Soon after this, an even harsher act was passed in 1765 known as the Stamp Act, which forced the colonists to pay taxes in order to receive stamps on most pieces of paper which included all legal papers, deck of cards, licenses, newspapers, almanacs, and college diplomas. On March 24, 1765 the Quartering Act was created which required the colonists to provide British soldiers with housing and supplies.This act agitated many colonists because it took away their privacy, and the British soldiers had rights to any supplies in the house. All these acts, taxes, and the taking over of the colonists’ jobs by British soldiers left many colonists unemployed, angered, and annoyed at the British which led to revolting. An example of a famous revolt that occurred during 1773 is the Boston Tea Party during which colonists dressed up as Native Americans successfully dumped out £9,000 ($1,507,528.20) worth of tea into the Atlantic Ocean. But not all revolts were successful, for example, the Boston Massacre on March 5, 1770 led to the death of five

The warships that the French used to support the Americans played major roles during many battles in the American War of Independence, and one of these battles was the Battle of the Chesapeake. The Battle of the Chesapeake, also known as the Battle of the Capes, took place on September 5, 1781 at the Chesapeake Bay between the French fleet of 24 battleships and the British fleet of 19 battleships. The French fleet which was led by French Admiral Francois Joseph Paul (Comte de Grasse) was quite successful in stopping and defeating the British fleet which was led by British Admiral Thomas Graves. Soon after this the British fleet left the Bay of Chesapeake because of the heavy casualties they suffered from which included: 90 sailors killed, 246 wounded, and six damaged ships, while the French navy only suffered from: 209 causalities with only 2 ships damaged. This battle left the French in control of the Chesapeake Bay and allowed George Washington to transport soldiers and supplies to Yorktown thus helping the American Revolution war efforts. This battle was quite significant to the victory of the Americans during the American Revolution because it prevented the British Royal Navy from assisting and resupplying British General Cornwallis’ army therefore leading to the surrendering of Cornwallis’ army on October 19,