American Revolution | Tis' Time to Part | 2

23:07John Murray, the Earl of Dunmore, was the royal governor of Virginia, but as tension surged in the summer of 1775, he had fled the capital of Williamsburg and set up a base on a British warship off the coastal city of Norfolk, where he hoped to raise an army. He did manage to assemble a few British regulars and American loyalists, but his numbers fell short of expectations. So in November, Dunmore issued a proclamation designed to fill out his ranks and undermine the American cause. He targeted rebel plantations, promising freedom to any enslaved man who was willing to fight under the British flag.

23:45Imagine it's just before dawn in November 1775 at a tobacco plantation outside Richmond, Virginia, where you've been enslaved all your life. You're trying to slip away before anyone notices, and as you round your cabin and creep across a garden plot, you come face to face with your sister Lucy. She drops the firewood in her arms and eyes the bundle you're carrying over your shoulder. Where are you going? I'm heading down to the creek for a bath. Oh, come out with it. You're not actually trying to run away, are you? Where the hell do you think you're going to? Well, I've got a plan, Lucy. I'm going to join the British Army.

24:20They're promising freedom to any slaves who take up arms for the crown. Lucy takes a step back, her mouth falling open in shock. Are you serious? How can you even consider fighting for the kings? Well, the patriots talk of freedom and liberty. Let's just talk. They don't mean to change things for people like us. The British, they're offering something real, a way out of this life. No, no, you're being reckless. It's bad enough for anyone caught running away from their plantation, but if the master catches you running off to fight for the British, he'll have your head. Well, I've weighed the risks.

24:52Have you? What will happen if the British change their minds and go back on their promise? What if they lose? And besides, what do you know about fighting in a war anyway? In the dim morning light, you can see tears forming in her eyes. But you look away, refusing to let her emotions get you. No, don't bother trying to talk me out of it. My mind's made up. But you take care, Lucy. And when this is all over, I'll save a little money and I'll come back for you. You give your sister a brief, tight hug, then push past her and head toward the woods. As much as you want to take a last look, you keep going, telling yourself that if you take this opportunity now, at least you'll have a chance.

25:31You know that if you stay here and let the war pass you by, you'll never be free.

25:39At the end of November 1775, Lord Dunmore wrote to British Commander-in-Chief William Howe, boasting, Their proclamation has had a wonderful effect. The Negroes are flocking in from all quarters. But Dunmore was no abolitionist. He offered freedom to enslave people purely in the hope of disrupting the Southern economy by stripping it of its labor force. He also hoped it would have a powerful psychological effect. White Southerners lived in fear of slave uprisings, especially in Virginia, where slaves outnumbered free whites in many areas. The idea of putting weapons into the hands of enslaved men was a slave owner's worst nightmare.

26:17And that included George Washington, who called Lord Dunmore a monster, declaring, If the Virginians are wise, that arched traitor to the rights of humanity, Lord Dunmore, should be instantly crushed. In a letter to his plantation manager, Washington expressed fears for Mount Vernon, where he and his wife Martha owned roughly 200 enslaved men and women. And one of those men was Harry Washington, who fled Mount Vernon to join another 800 former slaves in a military unit Dunmore called his Ethiopian Regiment. Hundreds of enslaved women and children also sought freedom behind British lines. But while it proved a beacon of hope for the enslaved, Dunmore's proclamation failed to disrupt the American war effort.

26:59Instead, it hardened the resolve of southern slave owners to defend their profitable plantation economy and push many toward the patriot cause. The hypocrisy of the colonists, demanding liberty while holding half a million black people in slavery, was not lost on observers. In 1775, the famous British writer Samuel Johnson wrote, How is it that we hear the loudest yelps for liberty among the drivers of Negroes? Prominent patriots, including Benjamin Rush, John Jay, and Patrick Henry, acknowledged the contradiction. Nevertheless, most patriots clung to slavery as the very foundation of their own freedom and prosperity.

27:36They were fighting a war to defend their property from British interference, and that property included thousands of enslaved people. They also refused to let debates over slavery interfere with the larger goal, the success of the rebellion. But by December 1775, the future of that rebellion hung in the balance. With militia enlistments due to expire at the end of the year, volunteers were returning home to their farms, and Washington faced the alarming prospect of his army disbanding. He managed to persuade officials in New Hampshire and Massachusetts to send him another 5 ,000 militiamen, But the manpower shortage soon forced him to consider an option he once deemed unthinkable, the enlistment of free black men.

28:17Even though black men had already fought at Lexington and Concord and Bunker Hill, that October, Washington had relented to pressure from Southern slave owners and expelled black soldiers from the Army. But on December 5, 14 Army officers petitioned the Massachusetts Assembly to recognize the bravery of Salem Poor, a free black man who they said fought at Bunker Hill like an experienced officer as well as an excellent soldier. Whether or not Washington was aware of this appeal, shortly thereafter he wrote Congress, declaring that he understood that black army veterans were very much dissatisfied at being discarded.

28:54Mindful of these protests, desperate for manpower, and aware that enslaved men were joining the British, Washington decided to reverse his earlier policy. And on December 30, he allowed free black men to enlist in the Continental Army. Salem Poor was one of the roughly 5 ,000 free black men who would fight with the Patriots over the course of the war. In the meantime, the war continued to unfold on multiple fronts. While Washington was keeping the British at bay in Boston with an army that had shrunk to just 8 ,000 men, Benedict Arnold was about to confront the British in Quebec following a miserable 350-mile trek.

29:31Over the course of 45 days, Arnold and his soldiers had trudged through the rugged Maine wilderness in the face of heavy snow and rations so scarce they were left eating shoe leather and candles. Roughly half of the 1 ,000 men under Arnold's command had died or deserted during this march. But in December, the survivors joined forces with Major General Richard Montgomery's army and began planning an attack on the city of Quebec. They launched their assault on December 31st under the cover of a blinding snowstorm. But the attack ended in a disastrous defeat. Arnold was wounded in his leg at the start of the battle, and Montgomery was killed.

30:07The French Canadians in Quebec saw the Americans as invaders and showed no desire to support the Patriot cause. Back in Boston, Washington was growing desperate for support and manpower as he faced a massive turnover of troops following the expiration of initial enlistments at the end of 1775. But he decided that turnover was an opportunity to reshape the army into a more unified national force. So on New Year's Day, 1776, he announced the reorganization of the Continental Army, establishing 27 infantry regiments of more than 700 men each, alongside rifle and artillery units. From there on out, local part-time militias would be relegated to a supporting role, as opposed to the main backbone of the army.

30:50But much to Washington's frustration, fewer than 10 ,000 men enlisted in the Continental Army for the new year, less than half the number Congress had hoped for. So to lift morale and foster a spirit of unity, Washington unveiled a new Continental Union flag, with 13 alternating white and red stripes representing the colonies. But despite the proud display, there was still a British Union jack in the upper left-hand corner, a symbol of lingering ties to Britain. But British actions were starting to drive Americans closer to the cause of independence. Word soon arrived that Lord Dunmore had set fire to Norfolk, Virginia, reducing it to smoking ruins.

31:29This news destroyed any remaining affection Washington felt toward Britain. He declared that he hoped the destruction of Norfolk would cause the colonies to unite against a nation which seems to be lost to every sense of virtue and feelings that distinguish a civilized people from the most barbarous savages. Then, on January 17, a writer delivered Washington the worst news of the war so far. the brutal defeat at Quebec and the death of General Montgomery. Washington was horrified. Although Congress had approved the invasion of Canada, the assault on Quebec was his own idea, and now many of his army's best leaders and militiamen had been killed, wounded, or captured.

32:07But the very next day brought a flicker of hope. Henry Knox had returned to Boston and announced that he had succeeded in transporting the artillery from Fort Ticonderoga. It was a mammoth endeavor. Over the course of two months, hundreds of men, horses, and oxen had hauled 55 cannons from the Hudson Valley to Boston. In the dead of winter, they had traveled through 300 miles of rugged forests, frozen lakes, and icy mountains. But now, Washington finally had the heavy artillery he needed to break through the British defenses in Boston. And he entrusted Henry Knox to oversee the offensive, placing him in charge of the Continental Artillery even over more experienced men.

32:45So that on the night of March 4, 1776, Knox's men hauled their newly acquired cannons into Dorchester Heights, overlooking Boston, and quickly fortified their position. When the British woke up and saw the Americans commanding the harbor and city, they realized that Boston was no longer defensible. After 11 months under siege, they hastily evacuated for Nova Scotia, Canada, and were joined by more than 1 ,000 local loyalists. Soon, all across the colonies, Americans celebrated their biggest victory so far, one that many thought would bring an end to the war. But George Washington knew better. Certain that the British would strike New York because of its valuable port and central location, he began marching the Continental Army toward Manhattan.

33:28The next major phase of the war was about to begin, and one burning question loomed above all others, whether it was time, at last, to declare independence.

33:44As Americans, we're constantly grappling with the fundamental question. Do we settle for the world as it is, or do we strive to create the world as it should be? Our answers tend to ebb and flow through the decades. But once, just after a war that nearly tore us apart, we came as close as we've come to answering it. And it's a story worth a closer look. I'm Michelle Obama, and I'm proud to announce Higher Ground's new podcast, Reconstruction, The Unfinished Promise. Guided by bestselling author Malcolm Gladwell and featuring my husband, Barack Obama, this limited series uncovers the untold stories of reconstruction, what they mean for us today, and how our past can shape the future we choose to build.

34:34Reconstruction, The Unfinished Promise, is available now on Audible or wherever you get your podcasts.

34:50In April 1776, while George Washington was moving the Continental Army to New York, he began to notice a shift in his soldiers' attitudes about what they were fighting for. Increasingly, Washington's countrymen seemed to favor not just freedom from British taxation and military control, but total independence. And these more radical views often came in response to an explosive pamphlet called Common Sense. The pamphlet's author was a recent English immigrant named Thomas Paine. The son of a corset maker, Paine had arrived in America poor, uneducated, and so sick with typhus that he had to be carried off the ship.

35:27But just one year after his arrival, in January 1776, Payne published Common Sense. In plain and simple prose, he boldly attacked the British monarchy and urged the colonies to establish a republic. He wrote, Everything that is right or natural pleads for separation. The blood of the slain, the weeping voice of nature cries, tis time to part. His pamphlet was an instant bestseller. In three months, 120 ,000 copies have been sold, and newspapers across the colonies printed excerpts so that most literate Americans read all or part of it. No piece of writing did more to harden the colonists' resolve to break from Britain.

36:07This change in public opinion could not come soon enough for the man who led the independence faction in Congress, John Adams. A cousin of Sons of Liberty founder Samuel Adams and representative of Massachusetts, Adams complained that the colonists were fighting half a war, insisting that the conflict would never be won until the patriots aggressively pursued independence. He declared, If we finally fail in this great and glorious contest, it will be by groping after this middle way. And that spring, Congress took an important step away from the middle and toward independence by sending an envoy to Paris to secretly purchase arms, while also exploring the possibility of a French alliance.

36:47American leaders realized that independence would hinge on foreign support, but they also understood that France would only openly offer aid if the colonies formally declared independence. And to that end, support was growing within the broader population. Between April and June 1776, calls for independence poured in for more than 90 colonial communities, many arguing that the king had placed the colonies outside of his protection by waging war against them. And in mid-May, the delegates received a piece of disturbing news. Britain had hired thousands of German troops known as Hessians to help them defeat the Patriots.

37:23Americans were outraged by the idea of their mother country hiring foreign mercenaries to crush the rebellion. And on June 7, Virginia Delegate Richard Henry Lee introduced a resolution in Congress declaring that the colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states. John Adams seconded the motion, but after three days of fierce debate, the delegates agreed to postpone a vote for three weeks to allow time for the resolution to gain unanimous support. Meanwhile, Congress appointed a committee to draft a formal declaration explaining their reasoning to the world. The task of writing the first draft fell to 33-year-old Thomas Jefferson, a tall, red-haired Virginia lawyer, planter, and slave owner.

38:05Despite his young age, though, he had already gained recognition as a brilliant writer. And Jefferson threw himself into the challenge. Writing in a rented room in Philadelphia, he drafted the immortal words, We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. This soaring preamble expressed the radical idea that governments derived their powers from the consent of the governed, and that Americans had not only the right, but the sacred duty to govern themselves.

38:40But beyond the famous opening, the bulk of the Declaration consisted of a long list of the ways King George had abused his power. These grievances were meant to support the argument that separation was justified because the king had forfeited his legitimate authority. Over time, the Declaration would be remembered as the foundational text for American ideals of freedom and equality. but it also had a legacy far beyond Jefferson's intentions. His words would be invoked in the struggle to end slavery, the women's suffrage movement, and the independence movements around the world. But in June 1776, the fate of the Declaration was far from certain.

39:18When Congress reconvened on July 1st, Pennsylvania moderate John Dickinson declared that breaking with Britain would be like braving a storm in a skiff made of paper. Afterwards, John Adams rose to speak, delivering a forceful plea for independence as thunder rumbled outside the meeting hall. Jefferson remembered that while Adams was not graceful nor elegant nor remarkably fluent, he spoke with a power of thought and expression that moved us from our seats. But when a preliminary vote was taken, only nine out of 13 colonies voted in favor of independence. Pennsylvania and South Carolina voted no, New York abstained, and Delaware was split.

39:56With nearly a third of the colonies holding out, the delegates decided to postpone their final vote until the next day in hopes of gaining unanimous support for such a fateful decision.

40:11Imagine it's the night of July 1st, 1776, at Philadelphia's City Tavern. The atmosphere is tense as you and your fellow delegates to Congress gather in advance of tomorrow's final vote on independence. You can feel the room's gaze as you maneuver through the crowded tables. You're a delegate from Pennsylvania, and earlier today you switched your vote in favor of independence. But four out of the seven members of your delegation voted against it, including your mentor, John Dickinson, who you find in a corner nursing a pint of ale. You sit down across from Dickinson, and under the table you twist the signet ring on your pinky finger, an old nervous habit.

40:48Well, sir, congratulations on your speech today. I was moved by the strength of your passion. Dickinson crosses his arms and leans back in his chair. And yet, it wasn't enough to stop you from voting against me. I take no pleasure in standing at odds with you, sir, but I must follow the will of the people of Pennsylvania. It's clear that the majority want us to vote for independence. I am not opposed to independence in theory, but can't you see that it's premature? How can we go down this path with no foreign alliances, and with only the barest skeleton of a national government? Rushing independence will leave us isolated and leave us vulnerable.

41:22Well, I understand your concerns, but the fact is the independence faction has the majority in Congress. It would be a shame to proceed without Pennsylvania's backing. If you're trying to persuade me to change my vote, it won't work. After the speech I gave today, I cannot switch sides. It would mean betraying my own principles. I'm not suggesting anything of the sort, but could you excuse yourself during the vote? Why not slip out and take a walk? If you abstain from voting, the others might follow your lead and abstain too. Dickinson takes another sip of ale while you carefully consider your next words.

41:55Sir, I know how firmly you hold your convictions, but this is our chance to show our strength by speaking to the whole world in a united voice. Well, it is true that unity of purpose will be crucial to the success of the cause. Well, then please don't be the reason that Pennsylvania stands apart. I will consider it. Dickinson drains his glass and tosses some coins on the table. As he walks away, you're left in suspense, uncertain whether tomorrow's vote will unite Congress in common purpose or lay bare your deepest divisions.

42:32On the morning of July 2nd, just as the doors of Congress were about to be shut, a mud-spattered Caesar Rodney of Delaware made a dramatic entrance. The previous night, after learning that his delegation was deadlocked, he jumped out of his sickbed, mounted his horse, and rode 80 miles through a thunderstorm to arrive in Philadelphia in time to break the tie. Not only did Delaware vote in favor of independence, but South Carolina reversed its position, too. And most significantly, Pennsylvania's John Dickinson, the leader of the opposition, as well as his colleague Robert Morris, agreed to take a walk during the vote, allowing the remaining delegates to swing Pennsylvania in favor of independence by a vote of 3-2.

43:14Only New York abstained because they had not yet received approval from their legislature in Albany. When all the votes were cast, 12 out of 13 colonies voted for independence. And two days later, on July 4, 1776, Congress formally adopted the full text of the Declaration of Independence. The delegates there understood the gravity of the moment. The Declaration ended with the words, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor. This was not mere rhetoric. They knew that by declaring independence, they had committed an act of high treason against the British Empire.

43:51At the official signing ceremony, Benjamin Franklin summarized the stakes, declaring, We must indeed all hang together, or most assuredly, we shall all hang separately. News of the vote on independence rapidly swept through the now former colonies. On July 9th, George Washington had the declaration read to the troops in New York City, and a mob toppled a statue of King George III erected after the repeal of the Stamp Act, and had it melted down to use in ammunition. The decision to sever ties from Britain was a watershed moment in world history. The United States had done the unprecedented. The odds were stacked against them, and there would be no turning back, because while Congress was voting for all-out war for independence, the British Royal Navy was amassing the largest armada ever seen in American waters.

44:40From Audible Originals, this is episode two of our six-part series on the American Revolution from American History Tellers. In the next episode, George Washington undertakes a disastrous campaign for control of New York, raising serious doubts about his leadership of the Continental Army. But in the face of near collapse, Washington strikes back with a bold Christmas night crossing of the Delaware River. Follow American History Tellers on the Audible app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to all episodes of American History Tellers ad-free by joining Audible. And to find out more about me and my other projects, including my live stage show coming to a theater near you, go to notthatlindseygram.com.

45:24That's notthatlindseygram.com. American History Tellers is hosted edited, and produced by me, Lindsay Graham, for Airship. This episode is written by Ellie Stanton, edited by Dorian Marina, senior producers Alita Rosansky and Andy Herman, managing producer Desi Blaylock, audio editing by Mohamed Shazib, music by Thrum, sound design by Molly Bach, executive producer for Audible Jenny Lauer-Veckman, head of creative development at Audible Kate Naven, head of Audible Originals North America Marshall Louis, chief content officer Rachel Giazza. Copyright 2026 by Audible Originals, LLC. Sound recording copyright 2026 by Audible Originals, LLC.