Transcript File

• Tensions between the colonists
and the British increased after
the French and Indian Wars.
– Treated poorly by British soldiers.
• After the war, Parliament wanted
to deny the colonists to settle in
the western lands.
– Increased resentment of the
British.
• After the French and Indian War,
Britain was in debt.
• Over 10,000 troops were in the
colonies.
• Prime Minister George Grenville
decided the colonists should pay for
the occupation of troops.
– Sugar Act Put tax on sugar and
molasses imported form the
French and Spanish West Indies.
– Colonists, like Samuel Adams,
believed that colonists should be
represented in Parliament to
approve such taxes.
“free Subjects
to the
miserable
state of
tributary
Slaves”
• 1765, the Stamp Act was
passed.
– Taxed stamp on all legal
documents.
– 1st time colonists were taxed
directly.
– Patrick Henry strongly opposed
the tax and believed that taxes
should be voted by their own
assembly.
– Stamp Act Congress: Made in
response to the Stamp Act.
• Made a petition to protest the tax
• Sons of Liberty
– Organized protests
– Made up of unskilled workers, artisans,
and small farmers.
– Later, merchants and lawyers joined.
• Boycotted British goods and wore
homespun clothes.
• Sales dropped and merchants of
Great Britain asked to repeal the
Stamp Act.
• Eventually was repealed, but Britain
still believed they had the right to tax
the colonists without representation
in Parliament.
• The Quartering Act (1765):
Colonists must find quarters, or
living space, for the British soldiers
stationed in America.
– Colonists believed it violated their
rights.
• Townshend Acts (1767): Charles
Townshend proposed tax on ALL
imported goods from Britain.
– Brought back the writs of assistance,
which gave the right for customs
officers to search colonial homes for
smuggled goods without a search
warrant.
• Colonists opposed the
new British laws enforced
by custom officials.
• By March 1770, most of
the Townshed Acts were
appealed.
• The Boston Massacre:
– March 5, 1770
– Colonists threw snowballs
and taunted British soldiers
guarding the customs
house.
– Someone yelled “Fire!” and
British fired into the crowd.
– 5 people died
• Colonial leaders believe it was a
deliberate attack on innocent
civilians.
• The soldiers were put on trial for
murder.
– All were freed except for two
who received a light
punishment.
– Forced to leave Boston to
avoid more violence.
• The Committees of
Correspondence: Founded by
Samuel Adams to spread the
news of British injustices from
colony to colony.
• Tea Act: Proposed by Prime
Minister North to tax on tea.
– Led to the Boston Tea Party
where colonists dumped tea off a
British ship.
– Led to the 1st organized political
effort made by women.
• Angry officials in London
wanted the colonists to pay for
the Boston Tea Party and
passed the Intolerable Acts.
– Closed the port of Boston.
– Gave more power to royal
governors.
– More rules on the quartering of
troops.
• Britain had won French
territory in Canada.
• Expanded the province of
Quebec southward to the
Ohio river and west to the
Mississippi.
• Roman Catholic Church
would be legal.
• French Catholics were
guaranteed their rights.
– Alarmed colonists since it
threatened their chances to
settle the western frontier.
• The Intolerable Acts brought
unity among the colonists.
• September 1774: Delegates met
in Philadelphia
– Patrick Henry, George Washington,
John and Samuel Adams, and John
Jay.
– Agreed each colony would have
one vote
– Wrote their views about the British
in the Declaration of Rights.
– Called for removal of Intolerable
Acts and taxes.
– Agreed not to import or use British
goods and stop exports to Britain.
– Formed the minutemen Soldiers
ready to resist a British attack with
short notice.
Colonial Militia and
Minutemen
Britain had large
numbers of well
trained militia.
Soldiers’ uniforms
included bright red
jackets. The
colonists called the
soldiers
“redcoats”.
• The colonies did not have a
central government, army, or
navy.
• Each colony did have a
small citizen army called the
militia.
• Some members of the militia
were ordinary citizens such
as farmers, craftspeople,
and businessmen.
• They were prepared to drop
everything and become
volunteers at a moment’s
notice.
• Fighting began in April at
Lexington and Concorde.
• General Gage received
secret orders to arrest
Massachusetts’
troublemakers.
• Boston patriots learned
about the orders and fled
the city.
•Gage found out that
Americans had stored arms
and gun powder in the nearby
town of Concorde.
•Joseph Warren, a Boston
patriot, discovered Gage’s plan.
•He sent three carriers Paul
Revere, William Dawes, Samuel
Prescott to ride and warn the
citizens.
Nearly 150 years later, an American
poet, William Wadsworth Longfellow
told the story (even though incorrect
historically) of the famous ride of
referred to as “The Mid-Night of Paul
Revere”. It was Samuel Prescott who
made the famous ride not Paul
Revere.
• When the redcoats reached Lexington, seventy
minutemen were waiting.
• 8 minutemen were killed and ten were wounded.
• Only one British soldier was injured.
• The British continued toward Concorde. Again
minutemen met them.
• Three redcoats and two patriots were killed. When the
British began to march back to Boston, minutemen
fired at the from behind trees and bushes. About 250
British were wounded. American losses numbered
ninety.
In May 1775, patriots Ethan Allen along with his
militia “Green mountain Men” and Benedict
Arnold led the siege of Fort Ticonderoga, a
British post in New York. They also captured
nearby Crown Point. These two victories
supplied Americans with much needed artillery.
The Second Continental Congress – May
1775
• At firs, few delegates wanted to
break ties with Britain.
• King George continued to ignore
the colonists’ petitions.
– He closed all American ports to
overseas trade.
– Support for American
independence continued to grow.
– Even so, it is important to note that
as many as one-third of the
colonists remained loyal to Britain.
The Second Continental Congress – May
1775
• They called themselves loyalist.
The patriots called them Tories.
• More than one-third of the
colonists didn’t care one way or
the other. The war depended upon
the patriots who numbered less
than one-third of the population.
• In Philadelphia, on June 14, 1775,
Congress established the
Continental Army.
• On June 15, Virginia’s George
Washington was made the army’s
Commander in Chief.
The Second Continental Congress – May 1775
• Congress soon appointed 13 additional
generals.
• Fighting continued while Congress faced
the major tasks of recruiting troops and
paying for a war.
• It had no power to tax.
• It soon began to issue currency called
Continental Dollars. They became
nearly worthless.
• Congress received loans and gifts from
wealthy citizens and from other nations,
especially France, the Netherlands, and
Spain.
• Benjamin Franklin represented America
in France. He played an important role
in obtaining French troops and warships.
The Battle of Bunker Hill
1775
• Both the British and the
Americans wanted to occupy
hills overlooking Boston.
Americans fortified Breed’s Hill.
• On July 17, 1775, British troops,
under General Howe, attacked.
• So as not to waste power and
shot, Americans were ordered
not to fire until they saw the
whites of the enemies’ eyes!
• Patriots fought until they ran out
of ammunition and had to flee.
American Expedition to
Canada 1775
• Britain had two colonies in
Canada that remained loyal.
• Fall 1775, Congress ordered
troops to march into Canada
to keep British forces from
invading New York.
• Benedict Arnold led a force
toward Quebec, and Richard
Montgomery led troops
toward Montreal.
• Montgomery was killed and
Arnold wounded. American
forces were forced to retreat
in spring of 1776.
Siege of Boston: British Retreat from
Boston 1776
• General Washington knew
that by fortifying the high
ground around Boston, he
could drive the British from
that city.
• A plan was made to move
the captured Fort
Ticonderoga cannons across
the show-covered Bershire
Mountains to Dorchester
Siege of Boston: British Retreat from
Boston 1776
• Began in January and was
accomplished by March 4, 1776
• With cannons looking down on them,
General Howe and his troops left
Boston.
• Nine thousand British soldiers sailed to
Halifax, Canada. Washington then
sent his troops south of New York.
The Declaration of Independence
1776
• All the events and battles we have read about so
far occurred before the colonies declared their
independence from England.
• By the summer of 1776, it was clear that there
could be no turning back.
• The Second Continental Congress appointed a
committee to draft a document declaring the
colonies to be free and independent states.
Thomas Jefferson wrote the
Declaration of Independence
and it is one of the best political
documents ever written. On July
4, 1776, Congress adopted the
Declaration of Independence.
Howe’s Return from Canada
• Just days before the signing of the
Declaration of Independence, Howe
returned from Halifax and New York City.
With new reinforcements, he quickly drove
patriots out of Brooklyn heights and New
York City.
• Nathan Hale, a patriot and young
Connecticut schoolteacher, was spying
behind enemy lines. He was caught and
hanged. He is last words were, “I regret I
have but one life to lose for my country.”
Trenton and Princeton, New
Jersey 1776
• After losing New York City, in the Siege of Long
Island, Washington’s troops withdrew to New
Jersey. General Cornwallis attacked them.
• They escaped across the Delaware River to
Pennsylvania on December 7, 1776.
• Trenton, New Jersey also located across the
river was occupied by German Hessian soldiers
whom the British had hired.
• Washington quietly crossed the Delaware on
Christmas night. Early on December 26 he
attacked the sleeping Hessians, and took 900
prisoners.
• Cornwallis marched toward Trenton. Washington’s
troops secretly slipped past the British and attacked
on January 3 at Princeton. The American’s were
victorious. Washington then moved his troops to
winter headquarters in Morristown, New York.
Brandywine Creek and
Germantown, Pennsylvania
• The two armies clashed again on
September 11, 1777, at Brandywine Creek
in southern Pennsylvania.
• British forces were victorious and
occupied Philadelphia.
• The Continental Congress fled to New
York. On October 4, 1777, Washington
struck back at Germantown. Again the
Americans had to retreat.
Saratoga, New York 1777
• In July 1777, British General
John Borgoyne led troops
toward New York from
Canada.
• As Burgoyne moved south,
patriots destroyed bridges,
and cut down trees to block
his advance.
• From behind trees and
bushes, riflemen shot the
redcoats. Burgoyne finally
began to retreat, but it was
to late.
• The patriots surrounded him at Saratoga.
• On October 17, he surrended to the
American Army.
• The Battle of Saratoga, New York, was the
turning point of the war.
• The Americans captured the whole army
of General Burgoyne.
• The Americans took supplies, arms, and
nearly 6000 prisoners.
• After the great victory at Saratoga, France
decided to enter the war on the side of the
Americans to fight against the British.
Valley Forge, Pennsylvania
1777-1778
Washington and his army of 10,000 soldiers
camped 1777-78 at Valley Forge. They
had very little food, clothing, or supplies.
Nearly one-fourth had died by spring.
Many deserted. A Prussian soldier, Baron
Von Steuben, arrived in February. He and
The Marquis de Lafayette, a French
nobleman soldier, helped to further train
the American troops.
Monmouth, New Jersey
June 1778
British General Clinton left Philadelphia
on June 18, 1778 to march across New
Jersey to New York. He was met by the
Continental Army near Monmouth Court
house on June 28. The encounter
ended in a draw. Clinton continued to
New York this was the last major
Revolutionary War battle in the north.
Fighting At Sea
Americans had almost no Navy, but in
1778, John Paul Jones on board his
ship, The Bonhomme Richard,
managed to overtake the British ship
Serapis.
Fighting In the West
Colonists who crossed the Appalachian
Mountains to settle new lands found
themselves fighting against the
British, as well as Indians whom the
British encouraged to fight the
colonists. Lt. Col. George Rogers
Clark was sent to strike back. He
seized British forts along the frontier.
Fighting In the South
After France entered the war, Britain
concentrated on conquering southern
colonies. In 1778 the British easily
captured the port of Savannah,
Georgia. Within months Britain
controlled all of Georgia. They
moved on to take Charleston, South
Carolina, in 1780.
Yorktown, Virginia
Sept. – Oct. 1781
The last major battle of the war was fought
at Yorktown. French and American forces
caused Cornwallis a major defeat. Eight
thousand British soldiers surrendered on
October 16, 1781. Fighting dragged on in
some areas for two more years. Britain
suffered great financial losses, and was
afraid of losing other parts of its empire. It
began peace talks in 1782.
The Treaty of Paris 1783
• Peace talks began in Paris in 1782.
Richard Oswald, a wealthy British
merchant, represented Britain. Benjamin
Franklin, John Adams, and John Jay
represented the new United States. A
treaty was agreed upon on November 30,
1783. The Treaty recognized the
independence of the new nation and
established its borders – from the Atlantic
Ocean to the Mississippi River; north to
Canada; and south to Florida
Benjamin Franklin and John Adams
• Americans also gained fishing rights
off the coast of Newfoundland and
Nova Scotia. Britain gave Florida to
Spain in the Treaty of Versailles.
• Nearly 26,000 Americans lost their
lives from battle and disease in the
American Revolution. British looses
totaled about 10,000.