America Declares Independence
Unit 2, Lesson 3
Essential Idea
• Tension between Britain and the colonies led
to America declaring independence.
Tension Grows
• “Round Three”
• Colonial Action:
• Gaspee Affair- colonists
attacked and burned a British
ship that captured smugglers
• Committees of
correspondence- colonies set
up groups to communicate
about British activities
• The committees unified the
colonies, shaped public
opinion, and coordinated
resisting the British
The Tea Act
• British Action:
• Tea Act- this
lowered the tax on
British tea, making
it cheaper than the
non-British tea
colonists smuggled
Boston Tea Party
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Colonial Response:
Colonists were mad and felt forced to buy British tea
Boston Tea Party- In 1773, colonists, disguised as Indians, dumped 342
chests of tea into the Boston Harbor
Samuel Adams publically defended the action and may have participated
The “Tea Party”
Coercive/
Intolerable Acts
• British Action:
• King George III was
furious and Parliament
decided to punish the
colonies
• Coercive Acts- England
shut down Boston
Harbor, stopped
allowing elections, and
expanded the
Quartering Act
• More British troops
were sent to the
colonies to keep order,
raising tension
Also called the “Intolerable Acts”
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Colonial Response:
Colonists were
furious, calling the
new laws the
“Intolerable Acts”
Committees of
correspondence
called for colonies
to send delegates
to a colonial
congress to
discuss what to do
next
Coercive/Intolerab
le Acts (start at
0:35)
First Continental Congress
• Colonial Action:
• First Continental Congressmet in Philadelphia to discuss
a response to the Intolerable
Acts
• The delegates did NOT want
independence yet, just
restoration of their rights
• Declaration of Right and
Grievances- condemned
Coercive (Intolerable) Acts,
announced boycotts, but
expressed loyalty to the king
• Colonial militias began to
form, some known as the
“minutemen”
The King is Angry
• British Response:
• King George III was
furious and declared the
colonies in rebellion
• Additional British troops
were sent to
Massachusetts to
suppress defiance
• The First Continental
Congress
Lexington and Concord
• British Action:
• British General Thomas
Gage sent troops to
Concord to capture
militia supplies and
“rebel ring leaders”
Samuel Adams and John
Hancock
• Colonial Response:
• Paul Revere and others
made famous “midnight
rides” ahead of the
troops, warning the
“British are coming”
• Minutemen intercepted
British troops at
Lexington and eight
minutemen died
“Shot Heard ‘round the World”
• This “shot heard ‘round
the world” is
considered by many
the start of the
American Revolution
• At Concord, 400
minutemen attacked
and chased the British
back to Boston, killing
99 troops
• Local militias
surrounded the British
in Boston
• The Shot Heard Round
the World
Second Continental Congress
• Colonial Action:
• Second Continental Congress- met
again in Philadelphia, “adopted”
the militias as the Continental
Army, and named George
Washington as commander
• Second Continental Congress
Meets
• The Congress still did not want
independence and tried to
reconcile with England despite the
fighting
• Olive Branch Petition- the
Congress maintained loyalty to the
king and asked to end hostilities
with this last ditch effort
Battle of
Bunker Hill
• Battle of Bunker Hill:
• British troops tried to
capture a hill outside
Boston where the
Continental Army was
• The Army did severe
damage to Britain,
the strongest military
in the world, but
retreated after
running out of
supplies
Peace?
• Consequences:
• This both boosted
American
confidence and
infuriated King
George III
• The king rejected
the Olive Branch
Petition and
declared the
colonies in open
rebellion
• Battle of Bunker
Hill
Thomas Paine and Common Sense
• Even in 1776, most
colonists hesitated on
independence
• Thomas Paine- wrote
“Common Sense,”
pushing for independence
• “Common Sense” was
influenced by the
Enlightenment ideas on
natural rights and
compact theory
Common
Sense
• Paine said Britain violated
colonists’ natural rights
and thus was an
illegitimate government
• Republic- Paine’s idea of
government, where
power comes from the
people through elections,
not a king
• The idea of independence
became more popular
• Common Sense
Declaration of
Independence
• Independence:
• In Congress,
future president
John Adams
vocally pushed for
independence
• July 4, 1776Congress declared
its decision (made
July 2nd) to
become
independent from
Britain
Thomas
Jefferson
• Thomas Jefferson:
• Wrote Declaration of
Independence, claiming that
“all men are created equal”
and had natural rights
• Jefferson, like Paine, said
England had broken its
“compact” with the colonies
• The colonies became the
United States of America
and the American
Revolution officially began
• Declaration of
Independence
All Men Created Equal?
• Many groups after the revolution
were not treated equally
• Blacks:
• Blacks remained slaves in southern
states until the Civil War
• After the Civil War, blacks were
denied rights by the government
until the 1960s
• Women:
• Women were denied many rights
and did not get the right to vote
(suffrage) until 1920
A Tough Task for
Patriots
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Loyalists:
Remained loyal to Britain
How many?
Almost a third of colonists
Location: Mostly New York and lower
South
Patriots:
Favored independence from Britain
How many?
Only about 40% of colonists
Location: Mostly in New England and
Virginia
Civil War:
Part of the American Revolution was
civil war between Loyalists and Patriots
Patriots were NOT in the majority and
victory was NOT likely