" Giving Washington too much credit would be a mistake, but he had a way of keeping his men on task. And yet, when Washington tried to get his troops to swear allegiance to the United States, "they refused...'New Jersey is our country!' they said stubbornly" (Bowen 7). Still, the relationships between the men who were outnumbered by the British was an important part of the success of the revolution. In the New England companies, and others, many men fighting side by side were neighbors in civilian life. "They knew each other," Middlekauff writes on 503. They had something to prove and "honor" to protect. Meanwhile, the closer to home the men fought, the...

The militiamen too, "best exemplified in themselves and in their behavior the ideals and purposes of the Revolution" (Middlekauff 504). They had indeed been independence (personal liberty) well before the Declaration, and though they were not as disciplined as trained soldiers were, and they came and went as they pleased, they were great fighters when they decided to grab guns.
Works Cited

Bowen, Catherine Drinker. (1966). Miracle at Philadelphia: The Story of the Constitutional

Convention May to September 1787. Boston: Little, Brown and Company.

Middlekauff, Robert. (1982). The…