So What Really Caused the American
Revolution?

Of the following events, which do you think was
most responsible for the outbreak of the
American Revolution?
Tea Act
 Proclamation Line of 1763
 Stamp Act
 Coercive/Intolerable Acts
 Declaratory Act
 Sugar Act
 Quartering Act

Discuss with your neighbor…
What does it mean to be an adult? When does
one become an adult?
Discuss with your neighbor…
1. Is it appropriate to equate the relationship
between England the American colonies to
that of a parent and a child? Why or why not?
2. When considering colonists’ reactions to
British Acts and Paine’s argument in Common
Sense, what kind of government do you think
Americans want?
To Begin…
1. When considering colonists’ reactions to
British Acts and Paine’s argument in
Common Sense, what kind of government
do you think Americans want?
2. What study strategies do you use?
The Revolutionary War
How does the Revolutionary War contribute to the
development of the American identity?
As Revolution Begins
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British Strengths
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More people
More wealth
Greater naval power
Professional army
Could pay for foreign
soldiers
British Weaknesses
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Geographical separation
Had to reconquer large
amount of land
Poor leadership

Colonial Strengths

Good leadership
Foreign aid
Self-sustaining b/c agriculture
Thought justice was on their
side
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Colonial Weaknesses

Jealousy
Lacked money
Lacked supplies
Congress had little power
Lacked unity
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7
8
9
As Revolution Begins
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Loyalists:
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Educated
Wealthy
Anglican
Feared chaos
Patriots:
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Young
New England & VA
Congregationalist
Feared oppression

African Americans

Native Americans
Loyalist Strongholds
11
Phase I: The Northern Campaign
[1775-1776]
Phase II:
NY & PA
[1777-1778]
The Crisis
15

“These are the times that try men’s souls. The
summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in
crisis, shrink from the service of their country;
but he that stands it now, deserves the love
and thanks of man and woman...”
16

“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.”
WASHINGTON CROSSING THE DELAWARE FOR TRENTON
US Delaware
SURRENDER AT TRENTON
Surrender/trenton
Enter the French



Wanted revenge against Britain
Had secretly supplied
Americans from beginning
Battle of Saratoga

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public support for Americans
Americans promised to join
French if ever went to war with
Britain
helped expand the Revolution
Continued to provide supplies,
troops, and naval support
Incredibly important to outcome
of the Battle of Yorktown
Britain’s “Southern Strategy”
Britain thought that there were
more Loyalists in the South.
Southern resources were more
valuable/worth preserving.
The British win a number of
small victories, but cannot
pacify the countryside [similar
to U. S. failures in Vietnam!]
Phase III: The Southern Strategy
[1780-1781]
23
Count de
Rochambeau
Admiral
De Grasse
Treaty of Paris (1783)

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Negotiated by Benjamin
Franklin, John Adams, John Jay
and Henry Laurens
England formally recognized the
US
Mississippi River western
boundary
States to return property to
Loyalists
Will not impede British
collection of debts
US fishing rights off coast of
Canada
Illustrated the complicated
relationships with Britain and
France
Lessons from the Treaty
25

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Succeed in playing one power against the
other
beginnings of American isolationism
Our system, our interests, are distinct from
Europe’s.
We shouldn’t get involved in their problems
…To End: Mourning or
Celebrating
One’s opinion of the outcome of the Revolutionary
War depended on one’s perspective. With this
in mind, please create one of the following:


An obituary that mourns the “passing” of the
British colonies in North America
A birth announcement that celebrates the
“arrival” of an independent American nation
**be creative, really consider “personality” traits**