American Revolution

The **American Revolution** was a political upheaval that took place in the latter half of the eighteenth century between 1765 and 1783. During this time, the Thirteen Colonies of North America desired to obtain more autonomy from Great Britain but the lack of representation in the British Parliament and the laws which increased the taxation in the colonies turned the desire of autonomy in independence. What began as a political and societal revolution culminated between 1775 and 1783 into the American Revolutionary War, between the colonists and the British crown. At the end of the war, the colonies were recognized as a new country, the United States of America.

The American Revolution, as many events in the History, was a part of the Assassin-Templar War, as the Templars organized the independence of the colonies to take control of the new country. The Assassins backed the revolutionaries and tried to stop the Templar influence during the war and imposing their New World Order.

## Context

The colonization of North America by the English began during the end of the 16th century. At the 18th century, the British Crown controlled most part of the east coast of North America. Even if every colonies had its own provincial assembly, the king appointed a governor for each colony and the colonists weren't represented in the British Parliament. In addition to that, the distance with the British islands increased for the colonists the sense of belonging more to America than Britain.

The colonies also had conflicts with the natives of America, as the Iroquois, but also with the French colonists established in the north and west. The British and French crowns fought for the control of the Frontier in America and made alliances with the Indian tribes and constructed forts to gather the land. In 1754, a British militia led by George Washington attacked French troops. This act started the Seven Years' War between the French and the British. As the colonies weren't unified, during the Albany Congress, the inventor and writer Benjamin Franklin militated for the creation of a central government in the colonies to fight the French Army but it was rejected by the British Board.

At the same time, the Colonial Rite of the Templar Order were inspired by Franklin's idea and joined the British crown in the war to unify the colonies under the British influence before took the independence from Great Britain. As the British fought the French, the Templars fought their sworn enemies, the Colonial Brotherhood of Assassins, who sided with the French troops. The same year, the Grand Master Haytham Kenway led an attack on the headquarters of the Assassins, the Davenport Homestead, which resulted in the near extermination of the Colonial Brotherhood and forcing the Mentor Achilles Davenport to abandon the Brotherhood.

After the war, Britain had accumulated massive war debts. One solution to get rid of the debt was to directly tax the Thirteen Colonies. The tax also served to maintain the British Army. The colonists felt neglected by the British as many British colonists enrolled in the Army to defend their own land.

## History

### Contesting against taxation

In 1765, the British Government passed a series of acts to tax the colonists. One of them was the Stamp Act, which obliged all the colonists to purchase a government stamp for all legal papers. Many Bostonians protested against this Act under the Liberty Tree in August 1765. Some of them, like the politician and the Assassins' ally Samuel Adams or the Templar Benjamin Church formed the Sons of Liberty, a group through the colonies that decided to protest against British taxation and to fight for the rights of the colonists. The Sons of Liberty led a mob which ransacked and burned the mansion of the Governor of Massachusetts Thomas Hutchinson. Even if the Stamp Act was repelled, other acts were passed to tax the American colonists. In 1768, the *Liberty,* a sloop owned by the merchant John Hancock was seized by the British for smuggling. A year later, the Patriots burned the *HMS Liberty,* which was one of the first acts of open defiance against the British crown.

The 5th of March 1770, in Boston, a public argument about a wigmaker's bill turned into a mob surrounding eight British soldiers at the steps of Old State House. The Captain Thomas Preston tried to calm the situation. The Templar Charles Lee created the confusion by firing on a rooftop. The soldiers, believing that the mob was armed, shot at the civilians, killing five persons and wounded six others. The Kanien'kehá:ka Ratonhnhaké:ton, an Assassin initiate and Haytham Kenway's son, was accused of firing on the soldiers as he tried to stop another Templar sniper. The Mohawk was helped by Samuel Adams who used his connections in the printing press to erase the implication of Ratonhnhaké:ton. The event was remembered as the Boston Massacre, and the silversmith and Patriot Paul Revere spun the event to showing the cruelty of the British government. The soldiers were judged for murder. John Adams, Samuel's cousin, defended them and acquitted six of them. The two others were convicted of manslaughter. The British troops were removed from Boston. This event increased the division between Patriots and Loyalists.

In 1772, Samuel Adams created one of the first Committees of Correspondence in Boston, informing the Patriots through the colonies. In 1773, the British governor passed the Tea Act, permitting to the East India Company to sell tea directly in the colonies, making it cheaper than the tea sold by the smugglers. The Templar William Johnson smuggled tea in Boston and sold it using the tax on the tea to finance the purchase of the Iroquois lands to protect them from the colonists once the independence had been reached. The Sons of Liberty opposed the Tea Act, as it was a way to pay tax without representation. The Sons of Liberty were helped by Ratonhnhaké:ton, who at this time was a full-pledged Assassin known as Connor. The Assassin, with Stephane Chapheau interfered in Johnson's traffic. As Governor Hutchinson refused to send back the ships, on 16 December 1773, Connor and the Sons of Liberty boarded ships from the British East India Company which were docked at Griffin's Wharf and threw hundreds of tea crates into the sea, ruining Johnson in the process. This event became known as the Boston Tea Party, which is commonly accepted as the start of the Revolution.

After the Boston Tea Party, the British Parliament chose the General Thomas Gage as the Governor of Massachusetts. His troops occupied Boston and the Coercive Acts were passed, closing the Boston Harbor and replacing the elected Massachusetts legislature with an appointed one. The Quebec Act expanded the territory of the province of Quebec by granting lands on the Indian Reserve. Many colonists in this territory were outraged by this act. Connor sent his apprentices to calm the situation. The Assassins also investigated during the Powder Alarm, after the Governor Gage seized the gunpowder from militia's magazines. The colonists tried to hide their reserves from the British Army. In September, delegates of the Thirteen Colonies formed the first Continental Congress in Philadelphia to oppose the Coercive Acts. Among the delegates there were Washington, John and Samuel Adams, John Sullivan and, as president of the Congress, Peyton Randolph. The Congress decided to boycott the British goods until the Coercive Acts were repealed. On 19 October, the Assassins participated in the Annapolis Tea Party, burning tea cargo, and on 22 December, they burned the tea cargaison of the loyalist Dan Bowen at Greenwich in New Jersey.

### War for Independence

In April 1775, the Patriot leaders Samuel Adams and John Hancock left Boston. As intelligence said the colony militia stocked weapons, Gage tried to stop the rebel leaders. The Templar and Major John Pitcairn was sent with a regiment to negotiate with Adams and Hancock, and prevent a war between the Loyalists and the Patriots. Connor, who assassinated William Johnson, found a letter of Pitcairn and believed that the Templars tried to kill Adams and Hancock. On 18 April, the Assassin met in Paul Revere, William Dawes and Robert Newman in the Paul Revere House. The three men wanted to warn the Patriots about the impending attack from the British troops. Connor decided to help them. While Newman and others setting lanterns to indicate the location of the attack, Dawes and Revere rode to Lexington to warn Adams and Hancock. Connor accompanied Revere and arrived in the Hancock-Clarke House before Dawes and the regulars. They told Adams and Hancock to leave the city as their lives were in danger.

On the 19th of April, Pitcairn arrived in Lexington with his troops but John Parker organized the defense of the city with his militia. The battle began between the two armies. Connor and some militia men withdrew to Concord to warn James Barrett of the skirmish. Revere, Dawes and Samuel Prescott also went to Concord but Revere was captured by the British. When the regulars arrived in Concord, the militia, commanded by Connor, defended the Old North Bridge. The militia held the position and the British army suffered major losses. Pitcairn retreated with his men to Boston. The Battles of Lexington and Concord was the first engagement of the Revolutionary War. After their victory, the Patriots began the Siege of Boston.

In May 1775, the Second Continental Congress met in Philadelphia and decided to take charge of the war. Hancock was chosen as the president of the Congress after the death of Peyton Randolph. On 4 June, the Continental Army was created with George Washington as the commander. The Templars tried to use the revolution to place their men in the new government. Charles Lee was chosen as the second in command in the Continental Army. Benjamin Church was elected Chief Physician and Director General of the Continental Army. The Templar Thomas Hickey, a criminal of New York City's underworld, became one of Washington's bodyguards. The Templar Nicholas Biddle, who was a sailor int the Royal Navy, became one of the first captains of the Continental Navy. The Templar and British Governor of Connecticut, Jonathan Trumbull, sided with the Patriots and became one of the first American governors. But in other colonies such as Delaware and Maryland, the Templars tried to shut down the Revolution. The Assassins promoted the Revolution in the population and killed the Templars in these colonies.

The British sent reinforcement troops with the generals William Howe, Henry Clinton, and John Burgoyne in Boston to break the siege. On 17 June, the British Army and the Continental Army, led by Israel Putnam, fought for the control of Bunker Hill. During the battle, Connor killed John Pitcairn and discovered a letter from the Templars who plotted to assassinate Washington to make Charles Lee the Commander-in-Chief of the Army. On 2 July, Washington took the lead of the siege, during which the Loyalists took woods from Patriots' houses, churches and even chopped down the Liberty Tree for firewood. The Colonial Assassins tried to stop the siege rapidly. They gave food supplies for the civilians in Boston but also help the American General Henry Knox to place his cannons on Dorchester Heights. The British troops surrendered and evacuated the city on the 17th of March 1776. Many Loyalists also evacuated the city after the Patriots took control. With Boston, the Continental Army controlled all of Massachusetts.

During the Siege of Boston, the Continental Army discovered that Benjamin Church gave information to Governor Gage. He was under arrest and was expelled from the Templars for sabotaging their plan to make the colonies independent. In July 1775, the Continental troops were led by the generals Benedict Arnold, William Thompson and Richard Montgomery to liberate Canada from the British rule and join the Revolution. The Assassins participated in the campaign, helping the Continental Army but also protecting Quebec from the Patriots as the city never asked to be liberated. Montgomery was assassinated as he led an attack on Quebec. In October 1776, the Continental Army retreated from Canada as the Governor of Quebec and Major Guy Carleton led the counteroffensive.

In January 1776, Thomas Paine published *Common Sense,* a pamphlet where Paine explained why the colonies must take their independence and developed the ideals of republicanism. The book was a sensation among the population as Paine wrote it to be understood by commoners. This increased the support of the Continental Congress by the colonists. The same month, the New Hampshire Province was the first of the Thirteen Colonies to establish an independent government, known as the New Hampshire State. The Assassins watched that the Templars didn't take power in the new state. Later the other colonies established themselves as states. In June, the Continental Congress searched to formalize the independence of the Thirteen States. The delegates Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman and Robert Livingston worked on the draft of the *Declaration of Independence.* The document was mainly the work of Jefferson and was presented to the Congress.

Meanwhile, Major Benjamin Tallmadge, a spy for the Continental Army, investigated the plot to assassinate Washington and discovered that the bodyguard Thomas Hickey was the hitman. As his father was an Assassin, Tallmadge asked Connor to help him stop Hickey in New York City. The Assassin tracked Hickey in the city but they were arrested and sent to Bridewell Prison as Hickey had been counterfeiting money. The Templars liberated Hickey and accused Connor for the murder of the prison's director and for plotting to kill Washington. On 28 June, Connor was to be hung at the stake but his father cut the rope with a throwing knife. The Assassins also intervened to help Connor. As Hickey tried to assassinate Washington, Connor gave chase and killed Hickey. After this, Connor went to Philadelphia to warn Washington about the war between the Assassins and the Templars but his Mentor refused as it would be more dangerous for the Commander-in-Chief. On 4 July, the *Declaration of Independence* was ratified and Connor assisted the first signatories. The other delegates were protected by the Assassins during the road to Philadelphia.

### Game of alliances

Since 1775, the Continental Congress had connection with other factions to help in the war. The French playwright and spy Pierre Beaumarchais founded the shell corporation *Rodrigue Hortalez and Company* to sell arms and gunpowder to the Patriots. In 1776, one of the company's ships, *La Belladonna* was attacked by the Royal Navy in the Caribbean Sea. Connor protected her with his own ship, the *Aquila* and discovered the Continental Captain Nicholas Biddle worked with the British Navy to make American coasts more dangerous and convinced the Congress to develop the Continental Navy with Biddle as the first Admiral.

The Patriots also had the support of the Governor of Louisiana Luis de Unzaga. During the summer of 1776, the Governor charged the smugglers Élise Lafleur and Roussillon to deliver supplies for the Patriots in the Louisiana Bayou. The Templar Diego Vázquez sent his men to attack the convoy. Aveline de Grandpré, a member of the Louisiana Brotherhood of Assassins, protected the smugglers and killed the attackers. Aveline also permitted George, a slave, to join the Patriots. Later, she assassinated Vázquez during a party, believing he was the *Company Man,* the leader of the Louisiana Rite of the Templar Order. Her target revealed that she was wrong. George, who was in fact a Templar, joined Lord Dunmore's Ethiopian Regiment, a Loyalist military unit composed of free slaves, becoming Officer Davidson. During the winter of 1777, Davidson was tracked by Aveline and Connor in a fort in the state of New York. Aveline was surprised to see the former slave she had helped. Davidson fled in a carriage but Aveline shot the gunpowder barrels which mortally wounded Davidson. In his last breath, the Templar revealed to Aveline that the *Company Man* was her own step-mother, Madeline de L'Isle.

During the summer of 1776, the Continental Army led by Washington and helped by the Assassins lost control of New York City. The British Army was reinforced with Hessian regiments, German axulieries troops, which helped to conquer New York. On 21 September, a Great Fire destroyed the southwest part of the city, some theorizing it was an act of the Continental Army to impeach the British to control New York. During the rest of the war, New York became a safe place for the Loyalists and the center of operation for the British Army. With the danger of invasion, the Continental Congress eventually left Philadelphia in December. During the New York campaign, Charles Lee was captured by the British Army. To diminish Washington's prestige, the Templar advised the British Army on how to win the war. During the night of Christmas, the Continental Army crossed the Delaware River to join New Jersey and attack a Hessian Army in Trenton, taking many prisoners during the battle. Connor and the Assassins also participated during the battle, killing the Templar and German colonel Johann Rall. The result of the battle regained hope to the Patriots.

In December 1776, Benjamin Franklin went to France as an ambassador of the United States to treat with Louis XVI of France. In Paris, he was attacked by criminals but was saved by the Templar Shay Cormac, a former Assassin who met Franklin during the Seven Years' War. To thank his savior, Franklin allowed Cormac to accompany him at the Palace of Versailles. When they arrived at the palace, Franklin witnessed the death of the Assassin Charles Dorian. In fact it was Cormac who quietly killed the Assassin to recover the Precursor box, a Piece of Eden that the Colonial Templars lost sixteen years before. During his time in France, Franklin met the philosopher Voltaire and the French Assassin Honoré de Mirabeau. The American ambassador spread the ideals of the American Revolution in the royal court and accept to help informally in the United States.

Many European military officers joined the Continental Army. The Polish-Lithuanian Tadeusz Kościuszko became colonel of engineers, the French Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette was appointed as field secretary of Washington, the Polish Casimir Pulaski commanded the Continental cavalry and the Prussian Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben served as Inspector General, the Templar and French General Johann de Kalb was appointed as Major. These officers professionalized the Continental Army. The Indians were also implicated in the Revolution, some joining the Loyalists and others the Patriots. The Iroquois Confederacy split as the Oneida and the Tuscarora chose the Patriots' side. Connor asked the members of his village, Kanatahséton, to stay neutral during the conflict. In October 1777, after the surrender at Saratoga of the British General Burgoyne, France officially joined the war on the side of the United States, firstly with the French Navy, which helped the young Continental Navy to fight the Royal Navy.

The Patriots also knew hard time. On 11 September 1777, the Continental Army led by Washington was defeated by the British at the Battle of Brandywine. The Congress flee Philadelphia once again, which was then occupied by the British forces until June 1778. The Battle of Germantown was also lost by Washington's men. Some officers doubted the capacities of Washington to lead the Continental Army. One of Washington's Brigadier Generals, Thomas Conway, had a correspondence with the General Horatio Gates, who participated at the Battle of Saratoga. They plotted to replace Washington by Gates as Commander-in-Chief. Washington discovered that and Conway had to resign from the Army. In December 1777, the Continental Congress, which was at York, decided to install Washington's troops in Valley Forge, to protect them from an attack from Philadelphia. With no housing for the troops, the soldiers had to spend the winter in precarious conditions until the construction of log cabins. Diseases developed in the camp, killing thousands of soldiers.

At the same period, Benjamin Church was released and stole supplies for Valley Forge. Washington charged Connor to investigate this. During his investigation, Connor met his father, who also searched for Church to punish him for his treason. Father and son decided to make a truce between their factions to track down Church. They discovered that Church hid in the Smith and Company Brewery in New York City, but it was a trap. In March 1778, on the *Aquila,* Connor and Haytham trailed Church's ship, the *Welcome,* in Martinique. After a naval battle, the Templar and the Assassin boarded the *Welcome*, killing Church and recovered the supplies.

In June, Haytham and Connor worked together to collect information on the British Army. They discovered that the British will attack from Philadelphia. Connor decided to inform Washington even if his father preferred to give this information to Charles Lee, who was no more a prisoner of war at the time. Lee convinced the villagers of Kanatahséton that the Patriots wanted to attack them. The Indians decided to join the British side. Learning of that, Washington ordered the village to be burned. Haytham revealed that to Connor and also that Washington, not Lee, burned his village eighteen years before, killing his mother, Kaniehtí:io, in the process. Connor decided to break ties with Washington and his father, as he hid this information from him. Connor killed the Patriots messengers and knocked out the members of his village to prevent the fight. He also killed, in self-defense, his friend Kanen'tó:kon, as Lee said that Connor betrayed his people for the Patriots. In his last breath, Kanen'tó:kon revealed that Lee will sabotage the Continental Army's strategy at Monmouth. During the Battle of Monmouth, Connor helped the Patriots retreat and informed Washington of Lee's treason. The Commander-in-Chief accepted to judge Lee in martial court but not to kill him. After this, Connor decided to not help Washington anymore.

In August 1778, Washington founded the Culper Ring, a group of spies established in New York and Connecticut led by Benjamin Tallmadge. The ring was an ally of the Assassins. In 1779, General Sullivan led an expedition against the Iroquois allied with the British. Among his men was the Templar George Dorrance who displaced many Iroquois villages. The Assassins killed Dorrance. Spain also entered the war against the British, the Governor of Louisiana Bernardo de Gálvez dealing a heavy blow to the British Army. Gálvez became a target for the Templars. In 1780, French troops arrived in Rhode Island to reinforce the Continental Army. At the end of the year, the British Major John André, posing as the Patriot John Anderson, entered in contact with General Benedict Arnold and proposed twenty thousand pounds against the surrender of West Point. The Culper Ring discovered there was a spy in the fort and Washington sent Connor to investigate. The Assassin discovered the truth and arrested André. Arnold fled on the *Vulture* during the attack of West Point and served as a British General.

### Recognition of the Country

    In March 1781, the Continental Congress became the Congress of Confederation after adopting the *Articles of the Confederation.* In September, the Continental Army led an attack on the troops of Lord Charles Cornwallis in Yorktown, Virginia. The British forces were reinforced with the Royal Navy. The French Navy, led by the Admiral François-Joseph Paul de Grasse attacked the British fleet at Chesapeake Bay. During the Battle of the Chesapeake, the *Aquila* captained by Connor supported the French Navy by destroying many British ships and the Assassin even sank a Man O'War himself. After the victory, Connor received the help of de Grasse's fleet to bombard Fort George, a Templar stronghold in New York City. The Assassin infiltrated the fort during the attack to kill Lee, but Connor was wounded by the impact of a cannonball. He didn't find Lee, but Haytham was waiting for him. He explained to his son that Lee fled before the attack and that he will lead the Templars. Haytham and Connor fought, but Haytham, who didn't want to kill his son, let Connor kill him.

After the Battle of the Chesapeake, the Continental Army besieged Yorktown with the help of the Assassins. On 19 October, Cornwallis surrendered with his troops. With this victory, the negotiation for peace began. After the siege, Washington found an Apple of Eden on a British officer.

In 1782, Lee, as the new Grand Master of the Colonial Rite, plotted to take power in the colony while forming his own army with the prisoners of war. Connor attacked him in New York, but he fled to Boston. The Assassin tracked him in a burning dockyard. During the chase, Connor fell and wounded himself on a piece of wood, but shot Lee. The Grand Master fled to Monmouth and hid in a tavern. Connor followed him and killed the Templar, taking the Grand Temple Key from his body.

In April 1783, the Treaty of Paris was signed, and the United States had officially gained their independence. The war was finished, the prisoners of war liberated and the British forces left New York City on 25 November. The last British ship fired a cannonball shot at the shoreline, though it fell short of the docks. This day was remembered as Evacuation Day, ending the British presence in the colonies.

## Outcome

The American Revolution reinforced the national identity of the American colonists and a new country was created. After the war, the Congress of Confederation adopted in 1788 the United States Constitution organizing the separation of powers in the United States. Many leaders of the Revolution were considered the Founding Fathers and had important roles in the new country. Washington, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were the first three Presidents of the United States, Hancock and Samuel Adams were Governors of Massachusetts and Alexander Hamilton was the first Secretary of the Treasury. The country was based on republican and libertarian ideals, where the government represented the people and the states had their own powers. The first capital was Philadelphia but it was later moved to Washington, D.C., a city named in honor of the first President of the United States.

The American Revolution also developed the ideals of republicanism, nationhood and liberty in the rest of the world. After the American Revolutionary War, France was bankrupt and the taxation increased for the low-class. The population wanted more equality in French society and wanted to have more power in the government. The Templar and Sage François-Thomas Germain orchestrated, in part, the French Revolution to overthrow the king of France and establish a capitalist society where the middle-class have power. By the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars, the ideals of the Revolution spread across Europe during the 19th century. In 1791, the Haitian Revolution was led by the Saint-Domingue Brotherhood of Assassins to liberate the slaves of the island and created the country of Haiti. After the emperor Napoleon Bonaparte conquered Spain, the Spanish colonies declared their independence and fought the Spanish authority.

As the United States was created, the government took control of the island. Indian populations were forced to move West as the American government sold their lands to reduce the war debt. It was the beginning of the extension of the United States. They took control of the Ohio territories, purchased Louisiana and Florida and colonized the West of America. But as they expanded, the States also had issues on the manner to govern. An opposition appeared between the rights of states, represented by Jefferson, and the Federal power, represented by Hamilton. One of the major issues was the application of slavery. The southern states wanted its conservation but the northern states wanted its abolition. This debate culminated in the American Civil War, where the Assassins sided with the Union and the Templars with the Confederate States.

During the Revolution, the power of the Templars decreased as the Colonial Assassins rose again in the colonies, having influence from Quebec to Georgia. The Rite nearly collapsed at the death of Charles Lee, but it was reformed as the American Rite around 1790 and took control of New York City during the 19th century. The Colonial Assassins became the American Assassins, a brotherhood which will extend to the Wild West during the California Gold Rush.

## Appearances

* *Assassin's Creed III*
* *Assassin's Creed III: Liberation*