“An act to discontinue, in such manner, and for such time as are therein mentioned, the landing and discharging, shipping of goods, wares, and merchandise, at the town, and within the harbour, of Boston, in the province of Massachusetts Bay, in North America …”
– Long title of the “Trade Act 1774” (also known as the “Boston Port Act 1774”), as passed by the British Parliament – remembered in the United States as one of the “Intolerable Acts”
How the United States went from a vulnerable backwater to a world superpower …
A few of America’s wars began at sea, as part of greater conflicts between Britain and France. America was just an economic and military backwater, and its navy started out as a pinprick and a laughingstock. But the United States would eventually become the mightiest naval power in the world. How did this happen? The roots of this success involve various political and economic factors, which would be too complex to cover here. But they were expressed in the rise of the American military – and, in particular, of the United States Navy. This was how our economic and political rise was most expressed, and the most direct way that this rise was asserted and defended. Thus, an examination of its effects might be in order here, as I show the role of the United States naval power in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This shows how the rise of the United States as a world power was owing (at least in part) to the United States Navy. The navy was involved in some shameful imperial acts, but it also helped the young nation to survive, and to withstand its most vulnerable periods.
Naval engagement in the Barbary Wars, 1804
A story of revolution, defensive actions, imperialist ventures, and civil war
Most coverage of America’s naval conflicts focuses on the Second World War – and, to a lesser degree, on other wars of the twentieth century. But this post will focus on the now-forgotten role of sea power in some of our earlier naval conflicts. That is, it will go from our navy’s beginning in the 1770s, through its role in the Spanish-American War of 1898 – and, eventually, in the “Great White Fleet” of the early 1900s. This was a critical period for the United States, which (chillingly) involved many frightening dangers on land and on sea. During that time, our navy supported unfortunate imperial ventures against Mexico, Cuba, and the Philippines – although those against Native Americans were primarily on land, so I will have to omit them here. (Although I do cover them elsewhere – here, if you’re interested.) But our navy also defended American sovereignty against serious encroachments from Britain and France, and allowed the United States to survive the most staggering threats of its birth and early childhood.
Battle of Lake Erie – Great Lakes (between the United States and Canada), 1813
American colonies fight for Great Britain in one war, but the British close Boston harbor
As you may know, the American colonies were once part of the British Empire. During the Seven Years’ War, the American colonists had thus fought as British soldiers, fighting against the French and their Native American allies. In the United States, we now know this conflict as the “French and Indian War.” But, today, this term is used to refer to just the North American part of this war. Unknown to many Americans, our own theatre of operations was only one part of a much greater worldwide conflict. This larger conflict is now known to history as the “Seven Years’ War.” The war involved many Americans fighting on land, but relatively few of our forces were then fighting at sea. Those that did fight at sea, of course, were then part of the “Royal Navy” – the navy of the British Empire. But, after the war, there was some trouble brewing in the American colonies, to put it mildly. The British provocations are too numerous to go into here (more on that subject at this link). Suffice it to say here that they included a number of unfortunate taxes on the American colonies, by a Parliament in which these colonies were not represented. These taxes were often evaded by the era’s maritime smugglers, who strenuously objected to these taxes. Some in Boston harbor even dumped British tea overboard, in the “Boston Tea Party” of 1773. The British thus responded by closing the port of Boston, in an act that Americans now know as the “Boston Port Act [of] 1774” (quoted at the beginning of this post). Americans thus rightly remember this as one of the “Intolerable Acts.” This act would soon be enforced by the Royal Navy, with the ships that were then anchored in Boston harbor.
John Paul Jones, sometimes called the “Father of the American Navy”
The American Revolutionary War begins, with the Royal Navy ruling the seas
Partially over the taxes, and the closely-related restrictions on maritime trade, a war began in 1775, at Lexington and Concord – also in Massachusetts. The “Patriot” side, as it is now known, soon began its own “Siege of Boston.” Soon afterward, the American colonies declared their independence from Great Britain on July 4th, 1776. The American Revolutionary War had officially begun. The war is most famous for its fighting on land, but it also involved some fighting at sea. The war even involved some amount of British blockade of the American colonies, at certain parts of the war. The most famous American sailor of this time was John Paul Jones, who harassed the Royal Navy’s operations in the Atlantic, and made efforts to “run the blockade.” It is well that we celebrate him for his efforts, and call him the “Father of the American Navy.” But the colonial navy was a mere joke at this time, compared to that of the British. On its own, the fledgling United States had no chance of defending itself against either the British army or navy. The British military could land troops on our coastline whenever (and wherever) they wanted. And, on this same coastline, they could evacuate their armies by sea whenever they pleased. In particular, the great amphibious invasion at New York City was a frightening display of the British naval (and land) power.
The British Landing at Kip’s Bay – New York Island, 15 September 1776
Role of the American, British, and French navies in the American Revolutionary War
But, fortunately, we would soon be getting help from another naval power. After the American land victory at Saratoga, Benjamin Franklin was able to convince the French nation to enter our War of Independence on the American side. From that point on, the picture on land was very different, but so was the war at sea. Unfortunately, the American navy still wasn’t able to do much damage yet, but the French navy was another matter. Thus, the French navy was hammering the British Empire in many other parts of the world. This involved conflicts all over the world – including conflicts much closer to home for them, in the English Channel. And, most relevantly to the North American war, the French navy made it possible for the Americans to win the famous victory at Yorktown. Prior to the Siege of Yorktown, the French navy had actually come to the American coastline, and beat the British navy off the coast of Virginia. This was the “Battle of the Chesapeake” in 1781. Without support from the Royal Navy, Lord Cornwallis’s army would then be completely unable to withstand the siege, or evacuate by sea. In part because of the comparable role of the French army at Yorktown (which was also considerable), Lord Cornwallis was soon forced to surrender to General George Washington. The Revolutionary War would soon end as a result. In World War II, the United States Navy would later have three famous ships called the “Lexington,” the “Saratoga,” and the “Yorktown.” After looking at our country’s difficult origin story, it is easy to see why these three names were given to these three ships.
The French navy defeats the British navy, in the “Battle of the Chesapeake” (1781)
Threats come from the sea, in the now-forgotten “Quasi-War” with France
The United States Army had been founded back in 1775. So had the “Continental Navy,” but it officially became the “United States Navy” in 1790. The “Revenue-Marine” was also founded in 1790, later to become known as the “Coast Guard.” (More about that later in this post.) And the Continental Marines had been formed back in 1775, but officially became the “United States Marines” (alternatively, the “United States Marine Corps”) in 1798. But naval power would now play a very different role – namely, in starting the next war. That is, the British and the French were now fighting each other again, as part of the “French Revolutionary Wars.” This involved some conflict out on the high seas, which would soon draw in the Americans. The Americans and the French had some confrontations in the Atlantic, in an undeclared (and usually-forgotten) naval war. It was called the “Quasi-War,” and the American president John Adams tried hard to keep us neutral in this larger war between Britain and France. John Adams famously said that he wanted his tombstone only to read: “John Adams: He kept the peace with France.” But that proved somewhat difficult to achieve. The French were harassing our shipping, and doing so somewhat openly. But eventually, there was a change of government in France. That is, Napoleon Bonaparte was then coming to power. (More about that here.) Napoleon had no interest in a naval conflict with America, because he wanted badly to focus on (from his point of view) the more pressing war with Britain. Thus, he quickly made a peace with the Americans, and with the John Adams administration. But the news of the peace came too late to affect the American elections. That is, John Adams was voted out in 1800, and his old friend (now bitter enemy) Thomas Jefferson was elected instead. The French Revolutionary Wars were just ending, but the Napoleonic Wars were about to begin.
Naval engagement in the Quasi-War, 1799
Threats come from the sea again (this time from Britain), leading to the War of 1812
The Napoleonic Wars included the “Barbary Wars,” in which the United States fought against the distant Barbary Coast. That is, the navy fought them in the Mediterranean Sea. And, in other ways, neutrality would prove rather difficult to achieve in the Napoleonic Wars as well. But this time, the threats came from the British, rather than the French. That is, the Royal Navy was “impressing” some American sailors into the Royal Navy – or, in other words, conscripting (or drafting) them into the British military. This was a violation of American sovereignty, and of the earlier British promises in the 1783 Treaty of Paris that ended the Revolution. The Thomas Jefferson administration actually tried hard to ignore these provocations, and helped to pass an “Embargo Act” on America’s trade with Europe. By limiting trade with both Britain and France, he was hoping to keep us out of the ongoing wars in Europe. But the embargo failed to achieve its goal, and hurt the American merchants more than either the British or the French. This affected trade at sea, but it did not really affect the ongoing naval conflict, since the British provocations continued for some time afterwards. In the United States, a new president was now taking office, which was James Madison – who, earlier in his career, had written the first draft of our Constitution. With Madison’s blessing, the United States Congress finally responded, and declared war on Britain in 1812. Thus began the American “War of 1812.”
Chesapeake-Leopard Affair, 1807
Role of the American, British, and French navies in this same War of 1812
Surprisingly, some of the earliest American victories in this war came at sea. But the United States Navy was still greatly outclassed by its British counterpart. Quite simply, the Royal Navy ruled the seas at that time. But, from the beginning of this conflict, the United States was allied with Napoleon’s France – and the French navy was again a strong ally for us. More importantly, the French armies in Europe were likewise a strong ally, and did much to punish the British. But the British also did much to “punish” Napoleon, and cornered him at Waterloo in 1815. Thus, Napoleon Bonaparte abdicated the throne of France for the second and final time four days later. Exiled to St. Helena, he was no longer a serious threat to anyone. But, more importantly for the United States military, the British were no longer interested in “impressing” American sailors into the Royal Navy by that time. The conflict with Napoleon, thankfully, was over. Thus, the added American manpower was no longer seen to be “needed” by the British. Thus, the British Crown then made a peace with the Americans at Ghent in Belgium, and the American “War of 1812” was finally ended – in the year 1815.
Naval battle in the War of 1812 (Constitution vs Guerriere)
A limited role for the United States Navy, in the war with Mexico of 1846-1848
This was America’s last major conflict with the British Empire, or with its colonies in Canada – which had also been involved in the earlier “Seven Years’ War,” and in the “American War of Independence.” But, some decades after the war with Britain and Canada, the United States then turned its eyes southward to its other major neighbor: Mexico. That is, the United States wanted to expand into Mexico – part of its so-called “manifest destiny” designs, which were obviously unfortunate. After a few dubious incidents on our southern border, a war against Mexico was declared in 1846. Thus began the U.S.-Mexican War of that decade. It was fought primarily on land, but it also involved an unfortunate role for our navy. That is, they were primarily involved in a blockade of Mexico’s East Coast, in the nearby Gulf of Mexico. But our navy was also concerned with supporting the army’s efforts on land. Thus, the navy soon landed some troops behind Mexican lines, and was even involved in the upcoming siege of the port of Veracruz in Mexico. This allowed the United States Army to make it all the way to Mexico City, and present a real threat to Santa Anna in the Mexican capital. The whole dubious enterprise thus ended in a peace treaty, with a (now-controversial) transfer of territory to the United States. This became the “American Southwest,” the area in which I now live. This war had been won mostly on land, but it had also been supported by these various operations at sea. Thus ended one of the darker chapters in our military history, and in that of the United States more generally.
The amphibious assault on Veracruz – Mexico, 1840s
Gun boat attack during the Battle of Veracruz – Mexico, 1848
The role of both sides’ navies in the Civil War, and the infamous “Trent affair” at sea
America’s greatest wars with its neighbors, (British) Canada and Mexico, were now over. Now its attention was instead turned to an upcoming civil war. The war had roots in slavery, and in the expansion of that slavery to the west. This was enabled by the creation of new “slave states,” in the then-recent war with Mexico. The Confederacy had a navy, but the Union navy was greatly superior – fortunately for Abraham Lincoln. Most famously, there was an 1862 battle between the Union Monitor and the Confederate Merrimack at Hampton Roads. There was also the Battle of Mobile Bay in 1864. But threats to the Union war effort were again coming from the sea. In the lesser-known “Trent affair” of 1861, the United States Navy stopped a British royal mail steamer (the “Trent”) in the Atlantic at gunpoint, and demanded that they hand over two Confederate diplomats who were on board. The British did so, but then brought the news of the outrage back to Britain with them. Now there was a real danger that the British Empire would actually intervene on the Confederate side, which would have been a serious threat to the Union military efforts. The British even dispatched thousands of troops to nearby Canada. But the Lincoln administration knew that it would be pointless to hold on to these Confederate diplomats. Thus, they quietly handed over these two diplomats, and the “Trent affair” soon passed as a result. The added British troops were thus withdrawn from nearby Canada. Thus ended the most serious danger to the Union’s military efforts during the American Civil War. The Union Navy was now free to continue its ongoing blockade of the rebellious Southern states, and the blockade was now doing some real damage. There were some Confederate efforts to get through the blockade, but none of them were very successful. Even getting their supplies into Galveston (which was in Texas) through the more-western Gulf of Mexico didn’t work all that well for them. Perhaps partially because of this, the Confederates eventually surrendered at Appomattox Courthouse, and the American Civil War finally ended in 1865. It had been fought primarily on land, but it had also involved a crucial role for the navies of both sides at sea – and, to a lesser degree, in rivers like the Mississippi. It even involved the seizure of Confederate New Orleans, where the Mississippi flowed into the Gulf of Mexico. And, as the surrender at Appomattox may show us, the Union Navy had triumphed in this conflict, as in the prior conflicts discussed earlier.
USS San Jacinto stops the British RMS Trent – Trent affair (a major diplomatic incident), 1861
Battle between the Monitor and the Merrimack – Hampton Roads, 1862
Island battles in the Spanish-American War, and Theodore Roosevelt’s “Great White Fleet”
In 1898, the United States returned to its prior imperial ambitions by declaring war on Spain. They wanted to create American colonies in the Caribbean and the Pacific – another unfortunate expression of “manifest destiny,” which has likewise become infamous (and rightfully so). Thus began the “Spanish-American War” of 1898. It was fought entirely on various islands, and thus involved a truly central role for the United States Navy. The American ground troops couldn’t even get to these islands, unless they were first transported there by the United States Navy. Thus, we fought a war in nearby Caribbean Cuba and the more-distant Pacific Philippines. And this war lasted for only six months. By military standards, it was a fairly complete success, although it came at great cost to the local peoples of these places. After the war, Cuba and the Philippines were both transferred to the United States, along with the additional islands of Pacific Guam and Caribbean Puerto Rico. The war’s most famous fighting had been on land, at the “Battle of San Juan Hill” (actually nearby Kettle Hill). But victory in that battle had come from Theodore Roosevelt, who (in 1882) had written a book on the earlier naval warfare in the War of 1812. Soon after the Spanish-American War, Theodore Roosevelt then became the president of the United States in 1901. Thus, he brought his ideas about naval power into the White House with him. Theodore Roosevelt then helped America to build the “Great White Fleet,” and paraded it around the world in a public show of the newfound American dominance. The United States Navy was no longer a mere “pinprick,” but a serious naval power to be reckoned with – and the rest of the world now knew it.
Battle of Manila Bay – Philippines, 1898
Theodore Roosevelt
The United States finally becomes a power to be reckoned with by the First World War
Thus, by the time that the First World War began in the twentieth century, the United States was the most important naval power in the world. Like a few of the previous American wars, our involvement in the First World War began partially over conflicts at sea – a U-boat story that I plan to cover elsewhere, so I won’t go into it here. And, in the Second World War, the attack at Pearl Harbor came from the Japanese in the Pacific, which also came from the sea – this time at our territory in Hawaii. (It was later to become a state in 1959.) And, of course, it also involved conflicts in both the Atlantic and the Pacific, with the Atlantic conflicts beginning long before Pearl Harbor had even happened. Suffice it to say that the United States Navy played a vital (if somewhat brief) role in the First World War, and an even greater role in the Second World War – with an especially prominent role for aircraft carriers by this time. Of course, American submarines were also more frequently employed by the time of the Second World War – something that we hadn’t done much before. It would be beyond the scope of this blog post to attempt to cover these massive naval conflicts of the world wars, since I have covered them elsewhere in other blog posts. Thus, suffice it to say here that American naval power was now a serious force to be reckoned with (as mentioned earlier), and could not now be dismissed. It owed its rise to the American military efforts in these previous conflicts, even if some of them had resulted in unnecessary acquisitions of American territory. And some of these wars, including many Indian wars on land, clearly did expand our territory unnecessarily. In these previous conflicts, the Navy had defended our shores, imposed our imperial designs, and fought on both sides of the American Civil War. Obviously, the other branches of the military were vital in these conflicts – including the Army and the Marines, for whom my grandfather served in World War II. (More about that here.) But these wars all saw a vital role for the Navy as well, and for the somewhat-connected “Coast Guard” branch of our military. Incidentally, the aforementioned “Revenue-Marine” had become the “United States Revenue Cutter Service” back in 1894. It only became the “United States Coast Guard” in 1915, when the First World War was still going on in Europe.
Great White Fleet, 1907 – the brainchild of Theodore Roosevelt
The military will help us to enjoy a lasting peace “among ourselves, and with all nations”
Only in the Second World War would American air power also become a force to be reckoned with. This eventually resulted in the separate “United States Air Force” in 1947. (More about that here.) And, of course, air power would also come from the Navy’s aircraft carriers. But in these earlier conflicts, wars were won almost entirely on the surface of the planet – rather than above it, or in the ocean depths beneath it. Sadly, many threats came from the sea, and some of our earliest wars started out at sea – and were likewise fought on land. But sea power had played a role in all of these victories, and helped the United States to survive its most vulnerable periods – and, eventually, to become a massive world superpower. If the reader will pardon a brief editorial comment, we continue to depend upon our military today, even while the nation is at peace. Its mere presence is a deterrent against most future conflicts, even if a few conflicts will inevitably happen anyway. We still need the power of the American military today, and it is well that we continue to pay it a due reverence and support. This will enable us to maintain our rights and liberties, and enjoy a lasting peace “among ourselves and with all nations” – to paraphrase some words from Abraham Lincoln.
“With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”
*****
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