What problems did the Continental Congress face in raising an army to fight during the American Revolution????

Question

I always wondered this.

PLEASE ANSWERR!
&& thank you. =)

Answer 1

Financial problems were the biggest.

Also only about 1/3 of people were for the revolution. 1/3 were against it and wanted to stay with England and 1/3 didnt care. So actually finding troops that were willing to risk everything they had was probably a problem as well. If we would have lost Im sure the revolutionary would had been wiped out.

Answer 2

First of all in the beginning their was no real government, some type of government or leadership had to be formed in order to even begin to raise money so the very formation of the Continental Congress was an achievement, then how was the government to function, what authority did it have all had to be worked out. The congress felt that a continental army was not needed but relied on militias and minute men of te states to rally when needed? After Bunker hill it was felt that this would play work but following the Battle of New York Washington told Congress that a standing Army was needed, that the untrained un disciplined militia could not stand up to the British Regulars.
The problems were enormous for the fledgling continental congress to raise, equip, and feed and supply this army. Their was a conflict and a division of power between the individual state governments and that of the continentals Congress's. This really made matters difficult for there were a few occasions that state militias sat out a battle or did not participate in a battle because they would not leave their state.
The task before the Continental Congress was to define the powers of state verse the federal government, the authority to raise taxes, and enforce laws, throughout the states. Many govenors and states men did not want to trade the overbearing British government for a overbearing American Government. The Continental Congress had manged to slowly form and did begin to provide for an army, but the greatest achivement was there ability to enter in an agreement with the French government. Without the support of the French government it is doubtful if the American Revolution would have survived on it's own.

Answer 3

Continental Army Problems

Answer 4

One problem they faced was the length of enlistments. Soldiers would have the option to re-enlist or go home. So when their enlistment was up if they had had enough of war hey could head to the house.

Another problem was the agricultural society that many people came from. If no one but their wife and kids were at home that made making a crop difficult. Here again many would choose not to re-enlist so they could go home, harvest the crop and so provide for their families.

Training was also a problem. The British were an experienced professional army. The Americans had no such training at the beginning of the war and lacked discipline. It took some amount of training to stand in the battle line and resist a professional bayonet charge without breaking and running for the hills. This was a major problem at first.

As was stated before money was a big problem...the soldiers need food, clothing, and pay. There was really no established government for that money to come from. It wasn't like now where we have an established tax system to fund things. Everything in the government was kind of thrown together at that time.

Answer 5

The simple answer is....The Continental Congress had no authority to raise an army.

Due to the lack of communication, most people understood they were under British rule.

Answer 6

My people were in the hill's of South Carolina and didn't care much ,at first.but when the British got near to their land .they killed as many as they could.then they got with the Cherokee and went out and killed many a Brit.then some of my family went to fight in some of the battles held their in South Carolina.they didn't go up north to fight at all.so to answer you. their was a lot of independent people all around, and it was hard to get them together to fight as one army.The battle ground of the revolution was in South Carolina mostly.the British were very cruel and killed our women and children,burned the homes. and crops,and towns. and this really made some South Carolinians very angry.

Answer 7

Sheesh....there were dozens. The biggest one was money. They didn't have any. The American troops were half starved, not recieving pay, no supplies.....it was disastrous for morale. The dessertion rate was also extremely high.