The Earliest Americans
The Big Idea
Native American societies developed across
Mesoamerica and North America.
Main Ideas
• Climate changes allowed Paleo-Indians to begin the first
migration to the Americas.
• Early societies existed in Mesoamerica and South America.
Main Idea 1:
Climate changes allowed people to
migrate to the Americas.
• Paleo-Indians crossed the Bering Land Bridge from
Asia to present-day Alaska during the last ice age between
38,000 and 10,000 BC.
• This movement of peoples from one region to another is
called migration.
• Paleo-Indians and their descendants moved into presentday Canada, the United States, Mexico, and South
America.
Climate Affects Early Peoples
• Early peoples in the Americas were hunter-gatherers,
who hunted animals and gathered wild plants.
• The warming climate created new environments:
climates and landscapes that surround living things.
• Different environments influenced the development of
Native American societies: groups that share a common
culture.
• Culture is a group’s common values and traditions.
Native American Cultures
The Big Idea
Many diverse Native American cultures developed
across the different geographic regions of North America.
Main Ideas
• Several early societies developed in North American long
before Europeans explored the continent.
• Geographic areas influenced Native American cultures.
• Native American cultures shared beliefs about religion and
land ownership.
Main Idea 2:
Geographic areas influenced Native
American cultures.
• Researchers use culture areas to help describe ancient
Native American peoples.
• Culture areas are geographic locations that influence
society.
• North America is divided into several culture areas,
including the Far North, Pacific Coast, California, West,
Southwest, Great Plains, and East.
North and Northwest Culture Areas
Arctic
Subarctic
• Long, cold
winters and
short summers
• Long, cold
winters and
short summers
• Inuit peoples in
present-day
Alaska and
Canada
• Dorgrib and
Montagnais
peoples
• Aleut peoples in
Alaska
• Hunters
followed
migrating deer
• Fished and
hunted large
mammals
• People lived in
temporary
shelters made
of animal skins.
Pacific
Northwest
• Carved images
of totems,
ancestor or
animal spirits,
on tall, wooden
poles
• Held feasts
called
potlatches
• Thrived on
abundant game
animals, fish,
and wild plants
West and Southwest Culture Areas
California
• Many food sources, such
as acorns, fish, and deer
• People lived in isolated
family groups of 50 to
300.
• More than 100 different
languages were spoken.
• Groups included the
Hupa, Miwok, and
Yukots.
Southwest
• Dry climate
• Groups included the
Apache, Navajo, and
Pueblo.
• The Pueblo irrigated
land to grow crops.
• The Apache and Navajo
hunted game and raided
the villages of other
groups.
Great Plains and Eastern Culture Areas
Great Plains
• Stretched from Canada to
Texas and from the Mississippi
Valley to the Rocky Mountains
Northeast and Southeast
• Region rich in sources of food
and shelter
• Mainly grasslands, with game
such as buffalo
• Southeastern groups, such as the
Cherokee and Creek, lived in
farming villages.
• Used buffalo skins for shields,
clothing and coverings for
teepees, cone-shaped
shelters
• The Algonquian and Iroquois
were the main groups in the
Northeast.
• Matrilineal societies that
traced ancestry through their
mothers, not their fathers
• Groups included the Mandan,
Pawnee, Arapaho, Blackfoot,
and Comanche.
• The Iroquois formed the
Iroquois League, a
confederation that waged war
against non-Iroquois peoples.
Main Idea 3:
Native American cultures shared beliefs
about religion and land ownership.
• Shared religious beliefs
– Religion linked to nature
– Spiritual forces were everywhere– even plants and animals
• Shared beliefs about property
– Individual ownership applied only to the crops one grew
– Land was for the use of everyone in the village
– Believed they should preserve the land for future generations
• Despite shared beliefs, Native Americans on the North
American continent were independent culture groups and
did not form large empires.
BELLRINGER
What was Jamestown and why was it
significant?
The Southern Colonies
The Big Idea
Despite a difficult beginning,
the southern colonies soon flourished.
Main Ideas
• The settlement in Jamestown was the first permanent
English settlement in America.
• Daily life in Virginia was challenging to the colonists.
• Religious freedom and economic opportunities were
motives for founding other southern colonies, including
Maryland, the Carolinas, and Georgia.
• Farming and slavery were important to the economies of
the southern colonies.
Main Idea 1:
The settlement in Jamestown was the first
permanent English settlement in America.
• King James I allowed the London Company to settle in a
region called Virginia.
• The first colonists arrived in America on April 26, 1607.
• They settled in Jamestown, the first permanent English
settlement in America.
• The colonists were not prepared to build and farm. Twothirds died by their first winter.
Relations with Native Americans
• John Smith became the leader of Jamestown in 1608.
• Colonists were helped by the powerful Powhatan
Confederacy of Indians.
• More settlers arrived, but many died from famine and
disease.
• Settler John Rolfe married Pocahontas, which helped
form peaceful relations with the Powhatan.
• Conflict started between colonists and the Powhatan in
1622 and lasted for 20 years.
Main Idea 2:
Daily life in Virginia was challenging
to the colonists.
Headright
System
• Large farms,
called
plantations,
were established
by tobacco
farmers.
• Colonists who
paid their way
received 50
acres of land
and 50 acres for
each person
they brought.
Labor
• Most workers were
indentured servants:
people who came to
America for free by
agreeing to work
without pay for a set
amount of time.
• The first Africans were
brought as slaves and
servants in 1619.
Increased work and
the falling cost of
slaves led colonists to
use more slave labor.
Bacon’s
Rebellion
• Colonial
officials
began to tax
colonists.
• Nathaniel
Bacon led a
rebellion
against the
governor’s
policies in
1676.
BELLRINGER
• You live in a town near London in the early 1700s. Some of
your neighbors are starting new lives in the American
colonies. You would like to go with them, but you cannot
afford the cost of the trip. There is one way you can go,
though. You can sign a paper promising to work as a
servant for five years. Then you would be free and in a
new country! Would you sign the paper and go to America?
Main Idea 3:
Religious freedom and economic
opportunities were motives for founding
other southern colonies, including Maryland,
the Carolinas, and Georgia.
• English Catholics came to America to escape religious
persecution.
• Maryland was founded as a refuge for Catholics by Lord
Baltimore in 1634.
• The Maryland assembly passed the Toleration Act of
1649 to support religious tolerance.
• The Carolinas and Georgia expanded economic
opportunities.
The Carolinas and Georgia
The Carolinas
• Carolina was founded
south of Virginia in 1663.
• It was divided into North
and South Carolina in
1712.
• Most colonists in North
Carolina were farmers.
• South Carolina had large
plantations with many
slaves.
Georgia
• Georgia was founded by
James Oglethorpe as a
refuge for debtors in
1733.
• He wanted small farms,
so he outlawed slavery
and limited land grants.
• Settlers grew unhappy,
and Georgia became a
royal colony. Large rice
plantations, worked by
many slaves, were
created.
Main Idea 4:
Farming and slavery were important to the
economies of the southern colonies.
• Economies of the South depended on agriculture. Cash
crops were tobacco, rice, and indigo.
• The climate allowed for a long growing season; thus, more
labor was needed
• Enslaved Africans became the main source of labor.
• The conditions of slavery were brutal.
• Slave codes, or laws to control slaves, were passed.
The New England Colonies
The Big Idea
English colonists traveled to New England
to gain religious freedom.
Main Ideas
• The Pilgrims and Puritans came to America to avoid
religious persecution.
• Religion and government were closely linked in the New
England colonies.
• The New England economy was based on trade and
farming.
• Education was important in the New England colonies.
Main Idea 1:
The Pilgrims and Puritans came to America to
avoid religious persecution.
• Puritans wanted to purify, or reform, the Anglican
Church.
• Pilgrims wanted to separate from Anglican Church.
• Some pilgrims left England to escape persecution. They
became immigrants, people who leave the country of
their birth to live in another country.
The Pilgrims
Mayflower
Compact
• Left Netherlands in 1620 on Mayflower.
• Signed Mayflower Compact: legal
contract agreeing to have fair laws.
• Arrived at Plymouth Rock in present-day
Massachusetts in late 1620.
Native
Americans
• Squanto taught Pilgrims to fertilize soil.
• Pilgrims celebrate first Thanksgiving with
the Wampanoag Indians.
Pilgrim
Community
• Most were farmers.
• Family members worked together.
Women
• Cooked, sewed clothing, wove wool.
• Had more legal rights than in England.
The Puritans
• Puritans were dissenters who disagreed with official
opinions and church actions in England.
• Many thousands left England in Great Migration from 1629
to 1640.
• Puritan colonists led by John Winthrop went to
Massachusetts to seek religious freedom.
• Established Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Main Idea 2:
Religion and government were closely linked
in the New England colonies.
• Established a General Court that turned into a type of selfgovernment.
• Government leaders were also church members.
• Dissenters were forced out of the colony.
Religious Conflicts
• Thomas Hooker and followers founded Connecticut to make
government more democratic.
• Roger Williams founded Providence and supported the
separation of church and state.
• Anne Hutchinson questioned teachings of religious
leaders and was forced out of Colony.
• In the 1690s, Salem held the largest number of witchcraft
trials. Nineteen people were put to death.
Main Idea 2:
The New England economy was based on
trade and farming.
Farming
• Harsh climate and rocky soil meant few cash crops.
• Most farming families grew crops and raised animals for their
own use.
• Little need for slaves
Trade
• Merchants traded goods locally, with other colonies, and
overseas.
• Fishing was one of region’s leading industries.
• Shipbuilding was also an important industry.
Main Idea 4:
Education was important in the New England
colonies.
Public Education
• Communities established
town schools.
• Students used New
England Primer, which
had stories from the
Bible.
• Availability of schooling
varied in the colonies.
• Most children stopped
education after
elementary grades.
Higher Education
• Important to colonists
• John Harvard and the
General Court founded
Harvard College in 1636.
• College of William and
Mary founded in Virginia
in 1693.
The Middle Colonies
The Big Idea
People from many nations settled in the middle colonies.
Main Ideas
• The English created New York and New Jersey from former
Dutch territory.
• William Penn established the colony of Pennsylvania.
• The economy of the middle colonies was supported by
trade and staple crops.
Main Idea 1:
The English created New York and New
Jersey from former Dutch territory.
New York
• Dutch founded New
Netherland in 1613 as
fur trading post.
• New Amsterdam was
center of fur trade.
• Peter Stuyvesant led
the colony from 16471664.
• English captured colony
in 1664 and renamed it
New York.
New Jersey
• English took control in
1664.
• The colony occupied
land between the
Hudson and Delaware
rivers.
• Had diverse population,
including Dutch,
Swedes, Finns, and
Scots.
Main Idea 2:
William Penn established
the colony of Pennsylvania.
• Society of Friends, or Quakers, was one of largest
religious groups in New Jersey.
• Quakers, who supported nonviolence and religious
tolerance, were persecuted.
• William Penn founded Pennsylvania, a larger colony for
Quakers that provided a safe home.
• Penn limited his power, established an elected assembly,
and promised religious freedom to all Christians.
Main Idea 3:
The economy of the middle colonies was
supported by trade and staple crops.
• Middle colonies had good climate and rich soil to grow
staple crops, crops that are always needed.
• Crops included wheat, barley, and oats.
• There were slaves, but indentured servants were a larger
source of labor.
• Trade to Britain and the West Indies was important to the
economy of middle colonies.
Women’s Contributions
• Ran farms and businesses, such as clothing stores,
drugstores, and bakeries.
• Some were nurses and midwives.
• Most worked primarily in the home.
• Married women managed households and raised children.
Life in the English Colonies
The Big Idea
The English colonies continued to grow
despite many challenges.
Main Ideas
• Colonial governments were influenced by political changes
in England.
• English trade laws limited free trade in the colonies.
• The Great Awakening and the Enlightenment led to ideas
of political equality among many colonists.
• The French and Indian War gave England control of more
land in North America.
Main Idea 1:
Colonial governments were influenced by
political changes in England.
• King James II wanted more control over English
government, including the colonies.
• United northern colonies under one government were
called the Dominion of New England in 1686.
• Parliament replaced the unpopular King James II and
passed the English Bill of Rights in 1689.
• The colonies in the Dominion formed new assemblies and
charters and could elect their own representatives.
Colonial Governments
Governments
• Each English colony had its own government.
• Each government was given power by a charter.
• The English monarch had ultimate authority over the colonies.
Governors and Legislatures
• The Governor served as head of the government.
• Most were assisted by an advisory council.
• Some colonies had elected representatives.
• Virginia established the first colonial legislature in 1619.
• The town meeting was the center of New England political
life.
• Colonial courts that reflected the beliefs of their communities
were used to control local affairs.
Main Idea 2:
English trade laws limited
free trade in the colonies.
• Earning money from trade was one of England’s reasons
for founding and controlling the colonies.
• England practiced mercantilism: a system of creating and
maintaining wealth through controlled trade.
• Parliament passed the Navigation Acts to limit colonial
trade.
• The colonies complained about trade restrictions.
Colonial Trade
• Trade between the American colonies and Great Britain
was not direct.
• Triangular trade was a system in which goods and
slaves were traded among the Americas, Great Britain,
and Africa.
• Slave trade brought millions of Africans to the Americas on
a voyage called the Middle Passage.
• Terrible conditions on the Middle Passage caused
thousands of captives to die on slave ships.
Main Idea 4:
The French and Indian War gave England
control of more land in North America.
Native
American Allies
• Some Native Americans allied with the colonists
in King Philip’s War.
• The French traded and allied with the
Algonquian and Huron.
• The English allied with the Iroquois League.
War Erupts
• France and Britain struggled for control of North
America in the late 1600s.
• The French and Indian War started in 1754.
• The turning point came when the British
captured Quebec in 1759.
Treaty of Paris,
1763
• It gave Canada to Britain. France received lands
east of the Mississippi River.
The Western Frontier
• Most colonial settlements had been made along the
Atlantic coast.
• Colonial settlers, or pioneers, began to move west after
the war.
• Indians led by Chief Pontiac rebelled against new British
settlements in 1763.
• To avoid conflict, King George III issued the Proclamation
of 1763, which banned settlement west of the Appalachian
Mountains.
Conflict in the Colonies
The Big Idea
Tensions developed as the British government
placed tax after tax on the colonies.
Main Ideas
• British efforts to raise taxes on colonists sparked protest.
• The Boston Massacre caused colonial resentment toward
Great Britain.
• Colonists protested the British tax on tea with the Boston
Tea Party.
• Great Britain responded to colonial actions by passing the
Intolerable Acts.
Main Idea 1:
British efforts to raise taxes on colonists
sparked protest.
• Great Britain had to pay for the French and Indian War
and for keeping troops in North America to protect the
colonists.
• Parliament passed the Sugar Act in 1764 to tax colonists
to make them help pay costs.
• Parliament’s actions upset many colonists.
• Colonists believed there should be no taxes without
representation in Parliament.
• Samuel Adams, a colonial leader, set up the Committees
of Correspondence to protest.
Taxing the Colonies
Stamp Act of 1765
• Colonists had to pay for
official stamp, or seal, on
purchase of paper items.
Townshend Acts of 1767
• Duties on glass, lead,
paints, paper, and tea
• Immediate protests
• Writs of assistance used to
enforce.
• Sons of Liberty sometimes
used violence.
• Colonists boycotted British
goods.
• Stamp Act Congress of
1765 declared the tax a
violation of colonial rights.
• Sons of Liberty attacked
customshouses.
• Repealed in 1766
• British troops sent in 1768.
Main Idea 2:
The Boston Massacre caused colonial
resentment toward Great Britain.
• A crowd gathered in Boston after a British soldier struck a
colonist on March 5, 1770.
• Soldiers fired into the crowd, killing three, including
Crispus Attucks.
• The shootings were called the Boston Massacre by
colonists.
• This caused more resentment against the British.
Main Idea 3:
Colonists protested the British tax on tea
with the Boston Tea Party.
• Colonial merchants smuggled tea to avoid paying the
British tea tax.
• Parliament passed the Tea Act in 1773 to allow the British
East India Company to sell cheap tea to the colonists.
• Colonial merchants and smugglers were opposed to this.
• On December 16, 1773, colonists disguised as Indians
attacked British tea ships and threw the tea overboard.
• The incident was called the Boston Tea Party.
Main Idea 4:
Great Britain responded to colonial actions by
passing the Intolerable Acts.
The acts had several effects:
1.
Boston Harbor was closed.
2.
Massachusetts's charter was canceled.
3.
Royal officials accused of crimes would be sent to
Great Britain for trial.
4.
General Thomas Gage was made the new governor
of Massachusetts.
The Revolution Begins
The Big Idea
The tensions between the colonies and Great Britain
led to armed conflict in 1775.
Main Ideas
• The First Continental Congress demanded certain rights from
Great Britain.
• Armed conflict between British soldiers and colonists broke out
with the “shot heard ’round the world.”
• The Second Continental Congress created the Continental Army
to fight the British.
• In two early battles, the army lost control of Boston but then
regained it.
Main Idea 1:
The First Continental Congress demanded
certain rights from Great Britain.
• First Continental Congress: a meeting in Philadelphia of
delegates from all colonies except Georgia.
• Delegates halted trade with Britain and alerted the colonial
militia to prepare for war.
• Drafted Declaration of Rights that included the right to
“life, liberty, and property.”
• Colonists who chose to fight for independence from Britain
became known as Patriots.
Main Idea 2:
Armed conflict between British soldiers and
colonists broke out with the “shot
heard ’round the world.”
The Ride of Paul Revere
• Massachusetts governor, Thomas Gage, sent British troops to seize
weapons at Concord.
• Paul Revere and two others rode to warn colonists.
• Local militia, minutemen, readied for battle.
Battles at Lexington and Concord
• April 19, 1775– British troops arrived in Lexington and colonists fire
the “shot heard ‘round the world.”
• British Redcoats continue on to Concord but are forced to retreat
back to Boston. Their red uniforms made an easy target for Patriot
marksmen.
Main Idea 3:
The Second Continental Congress created the
Continental Army to fight the British.
Second Continental Congress
• Delegates from 12 colonies met in Philadelphia in May 1775.
• Some called for peace, others for war.
• Compromised—created army but also sent Olive Branch
Petition to King George
Continental Army
• Congress created the Continental Army.
• Named a Virginian, George Washington, to command army
and prepare for the war
Main Idea 4:
In two early battles, the army lost control of
Boston but then regained it.
Battle of Bunker Hill
• Patriots attacked British at
Fort Ticonderoga on May 10,
1775, to seize large supply of
weapons.
• Colonial forces fortified
Breed’s Hill to prevent British
escape from Boston.
• Army of 2,400 Redcoats
fought 1,600 Americans at the
Battle of Bunker Hill.
• Americans forced to retreat,
but only after causing more
than 1,000 British casualties.
Dorchester Heights
• General Washington arrived in
Boston and took command.
• Cannons were brought in from
Fort Ticonderoga.
• On March 4, 1776,
Washington moved his army
to Dorchester Heights and
placed the cannons on Nook’s
Hill.
• American troops fired down
upon the British.
• The British were forced to
retreat from Boston.
Declaring Independence
The Big Idea
The colonies formally declared their independence from Great
Britain.
Main Ideas
• Thomas Paine’s Common Sense led many colonists to
support independence.
• Colonists had to choose sides when independence was
declared.
• The Declaration of Independence did not address the
rights of all colonists.
Main Idea 1:
Thomas Paine’s Common Sense led many
colonists to support independence.
• Common Sense: 47-page pamphlet written by Thomas
Paine, published in January 1776.
– Urged separation from Great Britain.
– Argued that citizens, not monarchs, should make laws.
– Argued for economic freedom and the right to military selfdefense.
– Cried out against tyranny, the abuse of government power.
– Reached a wide audience, selling some 500,000 copies.
Main Idea 2:
Colonists had to choose sides when
independence was declared.
• Many colonial leaders agreed with Thomas Paine’s ideas.
• Second Continental Congress created a committee in June
1776 to write a document declaring independence.
• Thomas Jefferson was main author.
• Declaration of Independence formally announced
break with Great Britain.
• Approved on July 7, 1776.
Choosing Sides
Patriots
• Patriots chose to fight for independence.
• About 40 to 45 percent of Americans were Patriots
Loyalists
• Loyalists, sometimes called Tories, remained loyal to Britain.
• About 20 to 30 percent of Americans were Loyalists.
Neutral
• About 25 percent of Americans remained neutral.
Main Idea 3:
The Declaration of Independence did not
address the rights of all colonists.
• Declaration ignored many colonists.
– Did not address the rights of women.
– Did not recognize the rights of enslaved African
Americans.
– Did not address the rights of Native Americans to life,
liberty, or property.
The Struggle for Liberty
The Big Idea
Patriot forces faced many obstacles
in the war against Britain.
Main Ideas
• Many Americans supported the war effort.
• The Patriots both won and lost battles during the years
1775-1777.
• France and Spain helped the Patriots fight the British.
• The winter at Valley Forge tested the strength of Patriot
troops.
• The war continued at sea and in the West.
Main Idea 1:
Many Americans supported
the war effort.
Soldiers
AfricanAmericans
Women
• More than 230,000 soldiers served in the
Continental Army.
• 145,000 enlisted in local militias.
• First banned from serving, but when the
British promised freedom to any slave who
fought on their side, the Continental began
to allow free African Americans to serve.
• Ran farms and businesses
• Helped by raising money for supplies or by
making clothing
• Served as messengers, nurses, and spies
• Some dressed as men and fought.
Main Idea 2:
The Patriots both won and lost battles during
the years 1775-1777.
Canada
New York
• November 1775
• June 1776
• Some patriots
thought Britishcontrolled Canada
should be the “14th
colony”
• Washington’s
23,000 militiamen
opposed by 32,000
better-equipped
British soldiers.
• American forces
attacked Quebec.
• Series of battles
• Attack failed, and
hopes of taking
Canada faded.
• Washington’s
forces pushed into
New Jersey.
New Jersey
• Battle of Trenton
won by Americans
on December 26,
1776.
–Washington
crossed the
Delaware on
Christmas night.
–Attacked the
mercenaries as
they slept.
• Defeated the
British at the Battle
of Princeton
January 2, 1777.
Battle of Saratoga
• British upset by two quick defeats in New Jersey.
• British General John Burgoyne planned to seize
Hudson River Valley to cut off New England.
• British army crushed by Patriot forces under General
Horatio Gates on October 17, 1777.
• Battle of Saratoga in New York was the turning
point of the Revolutionary War.
Main Idea 3:
France and Spain helped the Patriots fight
the British.
• French and Spanish had lost large expanses of land
in North America to the British.
• Both countries happy to see trouble for Britain in the
American colonies.
• After the Battle of Saratoga, France, Spain and
Holland joined the fight on the side of the Patriots.
Help from Europe
Independent
Soldiers
• Marquis de
Lafayette,
supplied money
and military
skills.
• Baron Freidrich
von Steuben
came from
Prussia to help
train the
Continental
Army.
France
• Officially joined
forces in May
1778
• Signed treaty of
support
• Increased level
of supplies and
agreed to
provide soldiers
and ships.
Spain
• Joined war in
1779
• Bernardo de
Gálvez,
governor of
Spanish
Louisiana, seized
British posts.
Main Idea 4:
The winter at Valley Forge tested
the strength of Patriot troops.
• Continental Army was low on supplies.
• Washington and 12,000 men wintered at Valley Forge,
Pennsylvania, during 1777–78.
• Suffered through the brutal winter and shortages of food,
clothing, and shelter.
• Continental Army survived, but 2,000 died of disease and
malnutrition.
Main Idea 5:
The war continued at sea
and in the West.
War at Sea
• Tiny Continental Navy could not fight large
battles.
• Sunk hundreds of individual British ships.
• John Paul Jones was commander of
victorious Bonhomme Richard. This former
British outlaw became an American naval
hero.
War in the
West
• George Rogers Clark captured British
trading village of Kaskaskia, Illinois, in
1778.
• Clark’s forces won Battle of Vincennes in
1779.
Independence!
The Big Idea
The war spread to the southern colonies,
where the British were finally defeated.
Main Ideas
• Patriot forces faced many problems in the war in the
South.
• The American Patriots finally defeated the British at the
Battle of Yorktown.
• The British and the Americans officially ended the war by
signing the Treaty of Paris of 1783.
Main Idea 1:
Patriot forces faced many problems in the
war in the South.
• War was not going well for British in North, so they set
their sights on South.
• Hoped to find support from a large Loyalist population in
Georgia, the Carolinas, and Virginia
• Planned to free slaves and give them arms
Brutal Fighting
• Patriots fought the Loyalists in direct combat in South.
• Georgia fell to British in 1778; Charleston, South Carolina,
in 1780.
• Americans attacked British in August 1780, but failed to
drive them out of South Carolina and suffered many
casualties.
• Francis Marion was more successful using guerrilla
warfare against British.
– Surprise attacks to disrupt communication and supply
lines.
Main Idea 2:
The American Patriots finally defeated the
British at the Battle of Yorktown.
• General Charles Cornwallis moved British forces to
Yorktown, Virginia, in 1781.
• Washington’s Continental Army and French troops under
Comte de Rochambeau surrounded the British.
• Cornwallis surrendered on October 19, 1781, after weeks
of fighting. Patriots took 8,000 prisoners–the largest
British army in America.
• The Battle of Yorktown was the last major battle of the
American Revolution.
Main Idea 3:
The British and the Americans
officially ended the war by signing the
Treaty of Paris of 1783.
After
After
Yorktown,
Yorktown,
there
there
were
were
only
only
a few
a few
small
small
battles.
battles.
TheThe
British
British
lacked
lacked
money
money
to pay
to pay
forfor
a new
a new
army,
army,
so so
they
they
entered
into
entered
peace talks
into peace
with the
talks
Patriots.
with the Patriots.
Treaty of Paris of 1783
• It took two years to come to a peace agreement.
• Britain recognized American independence.
• Set America’s borders
• British accepted America’s right to settle west of the
original 13 colonies.