Declaring Independence

Causes
- Governor Thomas Gage sends troops to arrest John
Hancock and Samuel Adams
- wanted to seize Patriot weapons stockpiled


Militia Formed
- local Patriots rally
together
- consisted of full-time
farmers, part-time
soldiers, etc.
Who warned the
colonists that the
British were coming?
- PAGE 108


May 1775
- Delegates from all colonies meet in Philadelphia
- George Washington given command of the new
Continental Army
July 1775
- Olive Branch Petition
- reaffirmed allegiance to King George III but not
to Parliament
- King rejected and sent more troops

Patriots (Pages 98-105)
- List at least 10 reasons
why Patriots believed
they were right in going
against the King
- Draw symbol

Loyalists (Pages 110-111)
- List at least 10 reasons
why Loyalists believed
they should remain loyal
to the King
-Draw symbol

Thomas Paine’s
Radical Proposal
- Common Sense
*independence from
Britain
*republican state
governments
*union of the new
states

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all
men are created equal, that they are endowed by
their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that
among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of
Happiness”
Declaration of Independence


Second Continental Congress
- voted for independence
- appointed a committee to write the
Declaration of Independence
Committee Members
- Thomas Jefferson
- Ben Franklin
- John Adams

The Colonists Declare Independence
- July 4, 1776
*Declaration of Independence
- drafted by Thomas Jefferson
* declared American independence AND
listed reasons for it
* “all men are created equal”
* “unalienable rights”
“these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free
and Independent States”
Declaration of Independence