Transcript What was Common Sense?

#5 - What was Common
Sense?
Ethan Allen & the Green Mountain Boys
Battle of Bunker Hill – June 1775
• Breeds Hill outside of Boston
• British General Gage attacks militia
• British win on the third charge
Battle of Bunker Hill – June 1775
• “Don’t fire till you see the whites of their
eyes!”
• British: 1,054 casualties out of 4,000 men
• Colonists: 452 casualties out of 1,500 men
Battle of Bunker Hill – June 1775
• A moral victory for the colonies
• The bloodiest battle of the war
• Parts of Boston are burned
Olive Branch Petition – July 1775
Most colonists felt Parliament & King made bad
decisions – King deserved loyalty (Loyalists)
• A plan to restore
peace with Britain
• It was rejected by
King George III
• The British set up a
naval blockade
Common Sense – January 1776
• Propaganda to support
colonial independence
from Great Britain
• Written by Thomas
Paine
• It convinced many to
join the Patriotic cause
Who was most responsible for
writing the Declaration of
Independence?
Second Continental Congress - 1776
• Independence Hall,
Philadelphia
• Very hot and humid –
90’s
• Richard Henry Lee from
Virginia proposes a
motion for independence.
• John Hancock elected
President of the
Congress
Drafting Committee
The men chosen to write down why the patriots were
declaring independence
• Virginia – Thomas Jefferson
– Used the ideas of John Locke
– Natural Rights
– “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
Drafting Committee
• Massachusetts – John
Adams
• Pennsylvania – Benjamin
Franklin
• Connecticut – Roger
Sherman
• New York – Phillip
Livingston
• July 2, 1776
– A motion for
independence is passed
Have you ever wondered what happened to those men who signed the
Declaration of Independence?
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Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died. Twelve had
their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons in the Revolutionary Army, another had
two sons captured. Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or the hardships of the
Revolutionary War.
What kind of men were they? Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine
were farmers and large plantation owners, men of means, well educated. But they signed the
Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were
captured.
They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.
Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the
British navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags.
Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost
constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His
possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward.
Vandals or soldiers or both, looted the properties of Ellery, Clymer, Hall, Walton, Gwinnett,
Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton.
At the Battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson Jr., noted that the British General Cornwallis, had
taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters. The owner quietly urged General George
Washington to open fire, which was done. The home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt.
Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife, and she died
within a few months.
John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their
lives. His fields and his grist mill were laid waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and
caves, returning home after the war to find his wife dead, his children vanished. A few weeks
later he died from exhaustion and a broken heart.
Norris and Livingston suffered similar fates.
Such were the stories and sacrifices of the American Revolution. These were not wild-eyed,
rabble-rousing ruffians. There were soft-spoken men of means and education. They had security,
but they valued liberty more. Standing tall, straight, and unwavering, they pledged: "For the
support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of the Divine Providence, we
mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor."
Principles of the
Constitution
Based on the ideas of John Locke
• Secure the natural rights of the people
• Right of the people to petition the
government
• Government derives its power from the
people
• When government become destructive,
people have the right to alter or abolish it.
1776 Links
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJmNnEPZHW8 The Signing - 4
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMEL1Uo-4SU&feature=related
The Vote - 3
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yk5NAeIRY4k Slavery - 2
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3TGbKfkwGA&playnext=1&list=
PLC1D5E4A891F333B7&feature=results_video Debating
Independence -1
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrvpZxMfKaU HBO John Adams
Declaration
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctKRPq2cPDQ&feature=related
NFL – Reading Declaration