Ch 4.2 Ideas Help Start a
Revolution
MAIN IDEA
Tensions increase throughout the
colonies until the Continental
Congress declares independence
on July 4, 1776.
WHY IT MATTERS NOW
The United States was founded at
this time.
Second Continental Congress
• May-June 1775 in Philadelphia debated
• Loyalists
-Loyalties to the king
-Reconciliation with British crown
-Can’t win
• Patriots
-Independence
• Colonial militia= Continental Army
-George Washington appointed
commander of the army
Battle of Bunker Hill
• June 17, 1775.
• Actually at Breed’s
Hill, north of Boston.
• Bloodiest battle of
the war.
• Over 1000 redcoats
killed, patriot loss.
Olive Branch Petition
• Second Continental Congress,
July 1775
• formal harmony between Britain
and colonies.
• King George rejects it.
-stated colonies were rebels and
urged Parliament to order naval
blockade of American coast.
Declaring Independence (influences)
• English Magna Carta, 1215
-Can’t seize property, no
taxation without
representation, jury trial.
• English Bill of Rights, 1686
-constitutional monarchy
-representation through a
parliament (Lower House)
John Locke
• Enlightenment thinkers.
• Two Treatises of Government, 1690
-Natural rights to life, liberty, and
property
-Social contract, agreement people
consent to choose and obey a
government that protected natural rights.
-If that government didn’t, that the
people had a right to resist and
overthrown that government.
Thomas Paine’s Common Sense,
1776
• Create a better society one free of
tyranny, with equal social and
economic opportunities for all.
• Importance of republican
government.
-power is given to leaders, but
power can be taken away.
Declaring Independence
• Congress
-Each colony is to
form own gov.
-Committee to
prepare a formal
statement of
separation.
-Thomas Jefferson
chosen to write it.
Declaration of Independence, 1776
• “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all
men are created equal, that they are endowed
by their Creator with unalienable rights, that
among them these are Life, Liberty, and the
pursuit of Happiness;…”
- “self-evident”, to be understood without
proof
- “all men are created equal”, free citizens are
political equals
-did not include women, Native Americans,
slaves
-cruel and injustice of slave trade
-S. Carolina and Georgia, take it out or we
will not vote for it
- “unalienable rights", could not be taken away
Loyalists and Patriots
• Groups divided: Quakers and
African American on both sides.
• Native Americans support British.
-Colonists threaten their lands.