What further weakened the ties
between the colonies and
Britain?
Chapter 6 Notes
6.2 The War Begins
• Vocabulary words?
• The Battle of Bunker Hill:
– *Another battle between the British and
Colonials; again showed the strength of the
colonial army to the British  getting more and
more violent leading to war!
– Colonial militia broke the British lines, killing some
1,000 British troops
– “Don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes!”
•
http://www.history.army.mil/downloads/SOAR/SOAR.htm
6.2 The War Begins
• Second Continental Congress (May, 1775):
– Agree to form a unified Continental Army, not
colonial militias
– Appoint George Washington Commander-in-Chief
of Continental Army
• *Further unified the colonies’ armies against
Britain.
• How does this event weaken the ties??
– At war with full armies!
6.3 The Siege of Boston
• Vocabulary:
– Siege: take-over, military blockade
– Other words?
• Siege of Boston:
– *This event convinced the British that the
Continental army was ready for war
– Washington starts rumors & one morning cannons
aimed on Boston!
– British troops and Loyalists fled rather than fight.
6.4 Toward Independence
• Vocabulary:
– Traitors: person guilty of treason (disloyalty to
government)
• The Olive Branch Petition (July, 1775):
– *Showed that peaceful means would not convince
the king to listen to the colonists’ demands
– The king saw colonists as traitors
• How does this weaken the ties?
6.4 Toward Independence
• Common Sense (1776):
– *Thomas Paine’s Common Sense pamphlet
convinced many still doubting colonists that they
needed freedom from Britain.
– Paine explained reasons for separation:
• Suffering under British rule
• Independence made sense and moreover meant a
better future for the colonies
6.5 Declaration of Independence
• The Declaration of Independence (1776):
– *It was a clear statement of the reason the colonists
should be independent from Britain.
– Formal document demands separation from Britain
– Key Ideas in the Declaration:
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•
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•
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All equal under the eyes of God (Great Awakening?)
Equal rights for all (“unalienable rights”)
Government exists for citizens, not vice versa
Citizens have power to change the government
King has abused the colonists in many ways
Events Leading to the Declaration of
Independence
Battle of Lexington and Concord 1775 (April)
Second Continental Congress 1775 (May)
Battle of Bunker Hill 1775 (June)
Olive Branch Petition 1775 (July)
Common Sense 1776 (Early Months)
Declaration of Independence 1776 (July)
6.6 The Final Break
• Signing the Declaration of Independence:
– July 4, 1776
– *Officially announced to Britain and the world:
• colonies would no longer be ruled by the king
• colonists would give up lives for freedom
– Debate over Slave Trade delayed signing… this debate
will return later.
– Signers of the Declaration committed their lives to
independence, since they would all be traitors (and
killed!) if the colonies lost.
– Who had the largest signature on the document??
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http://www.founding.com/the_declaration_of_i/
http://compuball.com/Inquisition/declaration_of_independence.htm