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Winning an "impossible" war

 

 When Nixon came into office he was faced with the challenge of the Vietnam War. 

 

At first Nixon was unsure of what to do. 

He met in secret with the South Vietnamese and other government officials, telling them that things would get better after he became President.

 

Nixon later made a 2 sided approach to the issue;

The first being the negotiations between the North and South, and military options for South Vietnam.

The second side being the with drawl of troops from Vietnam within a 6 month period.

Unfortunately his plans were rejected. 

 

 Nixon then created an idea of targeting the re-supply routes in Cambodia, Laos, and North Vietnam.

His goal of doing this was to damage the North Vietnamese as much as he could while the troops were preparing to withdraw.  

 

 After these bombings, some failing some being sucessful, Nixon withdrew troops from the Indo-China region.

 

Merry Christmas!

 

Later the North Vietnamese rejected a peace proposal from the United States.

Nixon then issued the Christmas Bombings. A series of bombings that shook the ground of North Vietnam with the largest amount of bombs dropped since 1961.

 The reason for this 11 day bombing was to force the North and South Vietnam to sit down and figure out a way to end the war.

The second, more subtle reason was to start withdrawing troops from Vietnam.

Within 3 months almost all American troops were being pulled out of the war torn country.

 

All in All

Nixon had some very "different" plans to end the war, but his plans worked.

He was able to stop the involvement of the US forces in Vietnam.

Although later he resigned because of the Watergate Scandal, he is still credited with ending the American part of the Vietnam War.

Final Exam Essays

Essay #4
What if George Washington had died at the Battle of Brooklyn Heights? During that battle the British surrounded Washington, who was on a peninsula. The British had surrounded Washington and were waiting for him to come out and "be a gentleman". Washington escaped through the morning fog and got away.

If Washington had died at that battle America's army would have fallen because of lack of leadership, and if the army had fallen then we would have lost the war, which results in the U.S. still being under British control. Also, another minor effect would be that George Washington never would have become the first president. Altogether, if Washington had died at Brooklyn Heights, then America would still be a British country.

This event is important in history because it showed that Washington could keep winning, even if it were small victories, and that the colonies had hope to win the war. If Washington had not made it out of Brooklyn Heights the war would have had a completely different outcome. Such examples as America would be British, and we wouldn't have had a lot of the wars after America's Independence.

Essay #2
War is an unnecessary for our progress. Each day, past and present, we lost our fellow country men each day. All of this could have been avoided by simple negotiations. If each country would get along and work together then we would have a successful, war-free world. War is caused by two major factors, greed and nationalism.

If we had negotiated with the native Americans over land rights and trade, then we wouldn't have had the French and Indian war. We (America) wanted land and gold, so we killed hundreds of Indians and sacrificed thousands of our men to get them. During the Revolution, if we had negotiated with Britain about becoming a country, rather than fighting, we would not be in debt, and we would also not have lost so many of our soldiers. Today we see our greed extending into the middle East with the war in Iraq. We want "liquid gold" (oil) for our country. We should try to negotiate with them and trade with them rather than kill thousands of our troops and theirs.

War is completely avoidable if we take the time to negotiate and talk about what we want. Instead, we decide to take over or bomb countries to get oil or other natural resources. War, even for conquest, is an unecassary thing as we have seen in our history.

Revolution and War

1763-1789

Revolution Notes

1763—Proclamation Act(The proclamation act was a law that said that all land west of the Appalachian Mountains was the Indian's land.)

1764—Grenville Acts (direct tax)

• Sugar (molasses, wine)

• Stamp

• Quartering

• Currency

Virtual/ Direct Representation

No taxation without representation

1765—Stamp Act Congress

• Sons of Liberty, A secret group of American patriots who rebeled against the British.
• Samuel Adams
• Paul Revere
• John Hancock
• Propaganda
• Boycotts
• Lobsters (Lobster-backs, Thomas Lobster)

Formed for action against the Stamp Act

1766—Declaratory Act

Britian passed an act to make laws in the colonies in all matters

1767—Townsend Acts (indirect tax)

• Charles Townsend
• Writs of Assistance (search warrants)
• Revenue used to pay Royal officials in the colonies
• Tea Act (glass, paper, paint) support British East India Company

(Second attempt to get money from the Seven year War.)

1770—Boston Massacre

• March 5, 1770
• Local reaction was really negative.
• 5 dead colonists
• John Adams defends British soldiers/5 exonerated-2 convicted
• Convicted men discharged and thumbs branded
  
  
  
  

1773—Boston Tea Party

• November 30, 1773--Dartmouth sails into Boston Harbor
• December 16, 1773--Tea dumped into harbor
  
• 340 chests of tea dumped (value of 10,000 British pounds)

(Reaction to Townsend acts.)

1774—Intolerable Acts (Coercive Acts in Britain)

• Close the port of Boston
• Shut down Provincial and Town Governments
• All offices appointed
• Named General Thomas Gage as Governor
• Gave all western lands north of the Ohio R. to Quebec, allowed Catholic Church to practice

beginning of Revolution

1774—1^st Continental Congress

• September to October (7 weeks)
• Carpenter’s Hall, Philadelphia
• 
  
• New England—John Adams, Paul Revere, Silas Deane
• Virginia—Washington, Patrick Henry, Peyton Randolph, Richard Henry Lee
• Pennsylvania—John Dickenson, Joseph Galloway (Plan for American council under Parliament, to avoid war)
• New York—John Jay, James Duane
• Maryland—Samuel Chase (future Supreme Court Justice), Charles Carroll (richest man in Maryland, Catholic)
• 
  
• Declaration of Rights—rejects Parliamentary authority over internal colonial affairs, colonies manage own defense, united aid to Boston if Intolerable Acts continue, absolute boycott of British goods to be enforced rigidly

One goes to war, all go to war

1775— January

• William Pitt urges Parliament to withdraw troops from America because the idea of managing the colonies through force was “too ridiculous to take up a moment of your lordships’ time”

1775—April 19 Lexington and Concord

• Gen. Gage sends 700 men to Concord to seize the powder supplies
• Paul Revere and William Dawes raise alarm the night before
• Town of Lexington is on the way to Concord
• Minutemen are assembled on the town common
• “Shot heard round the world”
• 18 colonials killed and the rest run away
• British march on to Concord and find the munitions were moved overnight
• Minutemen ambush the British the whole way back to Boston
• 430 Redcoats make it back to Boston
• 30,000 Colonists surround Boston

First battle between Britain and America

1775—May

• Gen. Howe, Gen. Clinton, Gen. Burgoyne
• 5,000 British troops
• Ethan Allen, “Green Mountain Boys” seize Fort Ticonderoga
• Henry Knox uses canon to lay siege on Boston
• Benedict Arnold (Connecticut) takes Fort Crown Point to impede an invasion from Canada

1775—May 10, 2^nd Continental Congress

• Sam Adams pushes for Independence
• John Dickenson (Penn.) urges restraint
• Agree to form Colonial Army
• Delegates unanimously agree to Washington as Commander of Continental Army (John Adams suggestion)

Adopted the Declaration of Independance and Articles of Confederation

1775—June 17, “Battle of Bunker Hill”

• Actually fought on Breed’s Hill
• Gen. Howe leads assault without canon support (his canon had been matched with wrong-sized cannonballs [Amherst at Ticonderoga])
• Militia waited to within 30 yards (some say 15 yards)
• Militia target British officers
• Militia ran extremely low on ammunition
• On the third assault, led by Gen. Howe, British troops overtake the colonial position
• Britain losses almost 1000 men (about half the attacking force)
• Colonials lose about 500 men

Battle that showed congress that America can hold it's own.

1776—January, Common Sense

• Written by Thomas Paine
• 120,000 copies sold in three months

A essay that was read at pubs and common men worked up engough to riot.

1776—March

• Gen. William Howe evacuates Boston
• July 2, lands in Staten Island, New York (Loyalist base)

1776—Declaration of Independence

• June 7, Richard Henry Lee (Virginia) introduces legislation to declare independence from Britain
• Before voting on Lee’s proposal Congress appoints five-man committee to draft a formal Declaration of Independence (Thomas Jefferson, 33, does most of the writing)
• June 28, Declaration presented to Congress
• July 2, Congress approves Lee’s legislation to declare the United States of America independent of Great Britain
• July 4, Congress officially adopts the Declaration of Independence
• The Declaration intended to:

1. Undermine loyalty to King George III
2. Outline basic principles of representative government
3. Establish the “right” of rebellion

"Break Up" letter to the king.

War

1776—August, Brooklyn Heights, New York

• Largest Naval group Britain will launch until the 20^th century
• British victory, city falls to England
• As winter came “sunshine patriots” left the American Army
• Initial colonial enlistments due to expire

George Washington almost captured, snuck off in the fog

1776—December, Battle of Trenton

• Howe believes war almost won
• 1,400 Hessians stationed at Trenton
• Colonel Rall (Hessian) builds no fortifications
• Washington “Crosses the Delaware” Christmas night
• 2,500 men; 18 artillery guns
• Surprise attack at dawn
• 106 Hessians killed, 918 captured
• No colonial casualties
• Washington retreats in secret to avoid Gen. Cornwallis counter-attack

Rall had a warning but did not read it, died with the warning in his pocket

1777—January, Princeton

• Washington ambushes British troops
• Colonial victory establishes this will not be a quick war for Britain

One of few small victorys for Washington

1777—September-October, Saratoga

• Gen. Burgoyne plans a three-prong attack on colonials at Albany
• Plan does not consider the terrain, forcing British troops to march through swamps, lakes, hills and forests full of rebels
• Two of the three “prongs” never arrive (Howe goes to Philadelphia instead, St. Leger retreats to New York afraid of Benedict Arnold)
• Sept. Burgoyne crosses Hudson River
• Oct. 17, Burgoyne surrenders
• Establishes American Army as real threat

• Helps secure open French Alliance
• Turning Point of the War
  First real victory of the war was won by Horatio Gates

1777-1778—Winter at Valley Forge

• Under-funded troops
• Low morale
• 10,000+ troops
• 4,000 troops listed as “unfit for duty” due to poor supplies (boots, blankets, coats, etc.)
• 2,500 troops die of disease (typhus, typhoid fever, dysentery, pneumonia)
• George Washington mentioned a lack of shoes so severe that the men's "marches might be tracked by the blood from their feet”
• Local farmers would sell produce to Brits who could pay cash

A horrible winter for Washingtons troops

1779—February, Vincennes

1780—August, Camden

1780—October, Kings Mountain

1781—October, Yorktown

• British Gen. Cornwallis
• American Gen. Washington (also “Mad” Anthony Wayne, Baron von Steuben)
• French Gen. Rochambeau (also Marquis de Lafayette)
• Essentially a French Naval victory
• Last significant battle of the war

Big shebang!!

1783—Sept. 3, Treaty of Paris

• Britain recognizes American independence
• America gets all land from Atlantic coast to Miss. River, Great Lakes to Florida
• Fishing rights to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and off the coast of Newfoundland
• America must pay debts to Britain
• American congress would “earnestly recommend” all Loyalist property returned (States ignore this request)

America came out with most of the spoils

Behind the Lines *book portfolio*

Behind the Lines, by Andrew Carroll was published in 2005. This is a book of war letters from around the world from all different wars. The oldest letter is from the Revolutionary war and the some of the newest letters are from over in the Middle East. The theme I found throughout the letters was that war will not solve everything.

The first example was in the letters during the Civil War. Soldiers wrote about how they fought for their country, but they were fighting against their country men. One soldier even wrote that he had killed his cousin during a battle. Some of the soldiers during the Civil War wrote letters about how they thought it was pointless to fight against their own country, which it is. As you can see, fighting against your own country will solve anything.

The next point that was in the book was during the Vietnam War. Soldiers wrote about how they went out day after day and accomplished nothing. The U.S. was in war but was making no progress. Each day soldiers may kill a few Vietnamese but for no cause. Some of the letters even talked about how soldiers were deployed to the field but did nothing for the whole time they were in the service. Overall, nothing was acomplished during the Vietnam War except for a few small things.

The last points that refrence back to the theme are from the letters from the Iraq War. The letters of this war reflect back saying each day we acomplish nothing but maybe kill a few terrorists. Letters also talk about how the war is going no where and it how it does't look like it will.

After reading this book, what is the point of war if we cant solve everything by it. Everyday we hear of people fighting, for what? Nothing. War will not solve everything as seen in Behind the Lines.

Letter From Valley Forge

Dear Dad,
Hows it going up there in Massachusetts? Its very cold here, and we don't have a lot of supplies. We got moved today into another cabin, our old one was starting to fall apart. There is about 5 inches of snow on the ground and most of our shoes do nothing to stop the cold from seeping through. 3 of my buddies have died in this past week, two of typhus and one of starvation. Its too bad, they were good soldiers. The food here is scarce, and all that is left are firecakes. Hopefully when spring comes supplies will be available and we can actually get some food into us.

General Washington is keeping our spirits high, he is always telling us we are going to make it and that if we stay we will get a bonus. Its very nice to have someone to look up to here. Washington also started training us himself, he lets us go back and train the rest of the soldiers, so all can receive hands on training. We also just got a new drillmaster, Ludolf Stueben. He even makes the officers drill with us. He's very funny, when we do something wrong he curses at us in broken English.

I can't wait for spring, we're finally going to get to fight, this running has taken a toll on everybody. General Washington has lost a very large amount of men on the trail to here. It has been very discouraging to walk and see our fallen soldiers lying beside the road. By spring we will be back to the normal fighting. Is brother going to sign up with me this summer? We can both fight back the British and finally come home. Hope all is well with mom and the rest of the family. I must go now, we are about to begin drilling with the bayonets.

Sincerely,
Nicolas R.

Propaganda Essay

People of the colonies, we have been banned all rights as human beings. Being subjected to taxing without representation, unlawful trials, even being forced to accommodate ungrateful British soldiers who come into our homes drunk, breaking our possessions, stealing our things. All by the orders of King George, whom we must rebel against. We must rise up and overthrow the government that denies us fair trade, that taxes us without reason.

It is necessary to establish a new government here, with no British hand in any of our own matters. We, the people of the colonies, have the will and the power to reform the government for the better of the people. Look about you, see the work of the king, imagine how it will be in 20 years, 50 years, 100 years. Taxes growing, land being taken, more perjudiced trials. Our future generations depend upon us to change this, for it cannot be tolerated anymore, nor will it be 100 years from now. King George has pressed upon us the law of his land, this is our land, and we must fight out the tyranny of the king and replace it with a new and just government.

Jonathan Dayton

Jonathan Dayton was born on October 16, 1760 in Elizabethtown, New Jersey. Dayton represented New Jersey in the Constitutional Convention. He was the married to Susan Williamson, and had 2 daughters. He graduated from the college of New Jersey in 1776. Dayton also served in the 3rd New Jersey Regiment, and made the rank of captain by the age of 19. He died on October 9, 1824.

Jonathan was the youngest signer of the United States Constitution, and he was the youngest representative at the convention. He signed the constitution along with Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, James McHenry, James Madison, Caesar Rodney, Rufus King, Thomas Mifflin, Robert Morris, William Few, and Thomas Jefferson. Dayton also worked with Alexander Hamilton, supporting him in the Whiskey Rebellion. Jonathan also supported the Louisiana Purchase. He was arrested in 1807 for treason in connection with Aaron Burr's conspiracy, but was never tried and convicted. When Jonathan fought in the army, he partook in the battle of Yorktown, VA. He also was captured by the British for a short period of time. Jonathan served under his father Elias Dayton and Marquis de Lafayette. When he returned home from the war he practiced law and during the 1780's he divided his time between law, land, and politics. In 1788 Dayton became a legislator in the newly established government. Finally, in 1791 Jonathan entered the U.S. House of Representatives.

Jonathan was involved in the Revolution because he enlisted right after he got done school. He enlisted because of his father, General Elais Dayton. Jonathan Dayton shouldn't recieve alot of regonition for he did not do anything in his life that was very signifigant to the revolution, except for that he was the youngest signer of the constitution.