Chapter 12, Lesson 1
Not everyone wanted a complete break from Britain.
Shared language, customs, laws, relatives
Common Sense: pamphlet by Thomas Paine written in
plain language, said the colonists owed no loyalty
to Britain.
British Leave Boston
Howe not willing to leave
Knox goes to Fort Ticonderoga to get cannons
British awoke facing cannons and left
Second Continental Congress
Needed to prepare a defense (army)
Nominated George Washington as commander
Started a post office (Ben Franklin, postmaster)
Began to act as central government for new country
Olive Branch Petition
Last attempt at peace
Promised loyalty
Asked for repeal of Intolerable Acts
King refused to read Olive Branch Petition
Jefferson asked to write Declaration of Independence
Well prepared
Wrote draft in 2 days
Many changes made to original draft
Signed July 4, 1776
John Hancock first to sign
Basic Principles of Declaration
Truths everyone should understand
Establish a government to secure rights
Power from consent of governed
Listed issues they had with Great Britain
Said colonies had the right to be independent
Chapter 12, Lesson 2
British brought in German mercenaries to fight for them.
Colonial soldiers were poorly equipped.
British Strengths
Strong navy
Well-trained army
Well-supplied army
Mercenaries
British Weaknesses
foreign land
expensive transport
lacking support
Colonial Strengths
Home territory
Familiar with land
Strong leadership
Colonial Weakness
poorly trained army
poorly supplied army
1/3 = people still loyal to Britain
1/3 = Patriots supported independence
1/3 = neutral (Quakers who oppose war)
George Washington
Good at math, but no college
Surveyor
Wanted military career
Elected to House of Burgesses
Married Martha Custis, lived at Mount Vernon
Victory at Trenton
Crossed the Delaware
Surprise attack after nightfall on Christmas 1776
Army feared Africans would rebel if they were allowed to have guns
in army. Eventually they were allowed to join.
Some states began thinking about abolish slavery
Battle of Saratoga
British General John Burgoyne thought he would take
over the Hudson River Valley to cut off New England
and New York, but the Americans were able to
stop him. He was outnumbered and surrendered.
Winter at Valley Forge
Howe had captured Philadelphia
Continental Congress fled to York, PA
Army set up at Valley Forge
2,500 died of disease
no shoes for some
trained by von Steuben
Chapter 12, Lesson 3
People thought the war would end quickly.
It took 8 years for a peace treaty to be signed.
George Rogers Clark
From Kentucky
Wanted Britain out of Ohio Riv. Val.
Attacked yelling & screaming
Britain surrenders
“Washington of the West”
John Paul Jones
Naval hero
Ship was falling apart from attack
When asked if he would give up…said he had just begun to fight.
Ended up forcing British ship to surrender
Benedict Arnold
Once a patriot commander
Married a loyalist
Put in charge of West Point
Planned to tell British about our defense
Americans found out
Arnold escaped and became a British soldier
Traitor
Mary Ludwig Hays=Molly Pitcher
Loaded cannons
Fought when husband injured
Deborah Sampson
Disguised as man to fight
Dicey Langston
16, brought news of enemy across the river
Haym Salomon
Spied for patriots
Raised $ for army
Died penniless
Francis Marion
“Swamp Fox”
quick attacks, then back to the swamp
Nathaniel Greene
“We fight, we get beat, rise, and fight again.”
British won most battles in the south, but continued to lose men. Retreated to the North.
Yorktown
Last stand for the British troops
James Armistead was spying for the Patriots and deceived Cornwallis
British surrender October 19, 1781
King George wants to continue, but his government said no.
Treaty of Paris of 1783 gave United States independence at last.
Many loyalists left for good
Iroquois Confederacy moved north to Canada