The American Revolution: 1775-1783
Fighting the War and Declaring Independence
Ethan Allen and the GMB’s capture Ft Ticonderoga
Second Continental Congress- began after Lexington and Concord
GW- wealthy Virginian planter
Chosen as Commander of Army
Olive Branch Petition, 1775
Nathan Hale
Captured as a spy
Hanged by the
British
September 22,
1776
“I only regret I have
one life to lose for
my country
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. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted
among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever
any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to
alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such
principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect
their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established
should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath
shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right
themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of
abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them
under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and
to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of
these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former
Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of
repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute
Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
Second Continental Congress- began after Lexington and Concord
December 23, 1776
THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier
and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the
service of their country; but he that stands by it now,
deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny,
like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation
with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the
triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it
is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven
knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would
be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should
not be highly rated. Britain, with an army to enforce her
tyranny, has declared that she has a right (not only to TAX)
but "to BIND us in ALL CASES WHATSOEVER" and if being
bound in that manner, is not slavery, then is there not such a
thing as slavery upon earth. -Thomas Paine The Crisis
Battle of Saratoga, October 1777:
The Turning Point
GW’s letter from Valley Forge, February 16, 1778
A part of the army has been a week, without any kind of flesh, and the
rest for three or four days. Naked and starving as they are, we cannot
enough admire the incomparable patience and fidelity of the
soldiery, that they have not been ere this excited by their sufferings,
to a general mutiny or dispersion. Strong symptoms, however,
discontent have appeared in particular instances; and nothing but the
most acitive efforts every where can long avert so shocking a
catastrophe.
Baron Fredrich von Steuben, trainer of American Troops
At Valley Forge, 1777-78
Yorktown, 1781
“The World Turned Upside Down”
If buttercups buzz'd after the bee,
If boats were on land, churches on sea,
If ponies rode men and if grass ate the cows,
And cats should be chased into holes by the
mouse,
If the mamas sold their babies
To the gypsies for half a crown;
If summer were spring and the other way round,
Then all the world would be upside down
Treaty of Paris, 1783
The United States of America
1783