to 20,000 after committees of correspondence
enlisted more volunteers.
2. The Battle of Bunker Hill took place on June
16, 1775. Although the British won the battle,
they suffered heavy losses and learned that
defeating the Americans would not be easy.
3. Americans chose sides. Those who wanted to
fight the British until they won their
independence were called Patriots. Loyalists
wanted to remain with Britain.
The American Revolution Notes
A. The First Continental Congress
1. The Continental Congress was a group of
prominent colonial leaders who met in
September 1774 to address the Intolerable Acts
and the deteriorating relationship between Great
Britain and the colonies.
2. The delegates worked together to draft a
statement of grievances.
3. They also passed a resolution to form militias
for defensive purposes in the event of war.
D. The Second Continental Congress
1. The Second Continental Congress met for the
first time on May 10, 1775. In addition
to the delegates from the first Continental
Congress, Benjamin Franklin, John Hancock,
and Thomas Jefferson were new delegates.
2. The Congress governed the colonies. It
authorized the printing of money, set up a post
office, established a Continental Army with
George Washington as the commander, and sent
a formal request to King George III asking for
peace and for the king to protect the colonists’
rights. King George III refused this Olive
Branch Petition and prepared for war.
3. Washington trained the army, and on March
17, 1776, led his troops into Boston after
surrounding the city and forcing the redcoats to
withdraw. The British sailed to Halifax, Nova
Scotia.
4. After an attack on New York by the British in
Canada, the American troops at Fort
Ticonderoga struck and captured Montreal in
November. American troops failed to capture
Quebec but stayed outside the city through the
winter and returned to Fort Ticonderoga in
1776.
B. Lexington and Concord
1. The British also prepared themselves for
battle. British General Sir Thomas Gage had
3,000 soldiers in and around Boston. In April
1775, his orders were to take away weapons and
arrest the militia leaders.
2. Paul Revere and William Daws rode to
Lexington, a town near Concord, to warn
Samuel Adams and John Hancock that the
British were coming.
3. About 700 redcoats approached Lexington at
dawn on April 19 and encountered a group of
about 70 minutemen prepared to fight. During
this encounter, a shot was fired and then both
sides began firing. This shot is known as the
“shot heard round the world” because it began
the revolution. After the minutemen withdrew,
the British continued to Concord. They found
that the gunpowder was removed, but they
destroyed the remaining supplies.
4. The minutemen, along with reinforcements,
were waiting all along the British return route
from Concord to Boston. They ambushed the
British. More than 200 British were wounded,
and 73 of them were dead. The battles of
Lexington and Concord began the struggle for
independence from Britain.
E. The Colonies Declare Independence
1. The Second Continental Congress formed a
committee to draft a Declaration of
Independence. Members included Jefferson,
Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman of
Connecticut, and Robert Livingston of New
York. Thomas Jefferson was the primary author.
C. More Military Action
1. Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain boys
captured Fort Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain
on May 10, 1775 and the colonial militia grew
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2. On July 2, 1776, twelve colonies voted for the
resolution for independence. On July 4, they
approved the Declaration with some changes.
John Hancock was the first to sign it. His
signature was large so that the king would have
no trouble reading it.
3. The Declaration has four main sections: the
preamble, or introduction, a list of the rights of
the colonists (life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness), a list of the grievances against
Britain, and a proclamation claiming the
emergence of a new nation.
4. The Declaration of Independence was the
most significant accomplishment of the Second
Continental Congress.
5. Many more Americans began to support
independence after the publication of the
booklet Common Sense, by Thomas Paine. He
argued that the colonists must make a complete
break with Great Britain, because it was not
right for an island to rule a continent.
6. Some African Americans were promised their
freedom if they fought on the British
side, so they became Loyalists.
7. The Patriots had some advantages over the
British troops.
- They fought on their own ground, not 3,000
miles from home.
- They had a personal stake in fighting to
protect the freedom of their own land as
opposed to the Hessian mercenaries, or hired
soldiers, who fought for the British
for money.
- George Washington was a leader with
courage, honesty, and determination.
8. Raising an army was difficult. Congress had
trouble enlisting soldiers and raising money to
fight the war. The Americans had militias, not a
regular army. Soldiers usually signed up for one
year of service. The Congress offered a threeyear term, or length of service, but the one-year
enlistment was most common. Some women
also fought in the war as Patriots.
F. The Opposing Sides
1. In order for the colonies to actually gain their
independence from Britain, they had to
fight a war. No one expected it to last so long,
however.
2. The Patriots, or Americans who supported
independence, faced several obstacles:
- Britain had a larger population––9 million
against 2.5 million.
- Britain had the strongest navy in the world
and a well-trained army as well.
- The Americans did not have a regular army or
navy. Many colonists belonged to militias who
were basically volunteers and served for short
periods of time.
3. Not all Americans supported the war effort.
Some were neutral, some were opposed to
fighting, and some were loyal to Britain.
4. The Loyalists, or Tories, supported Britain for
several reasons:
- Some were members of the Anglican Church
and thus loyal to Britain.
- Some depended on the British for jobs.
- Some feared the changes a new government
might bring and feared challenging an existing
government.
- Some just did not understand the war.
Loyalist strength varied from region to region
but was strongest in the Carolinas and Georgia.
G. Fighting in New York
1. The British troops outnumbered the
Americans. During the summer of 1777, Britain
sent 32,000 troops to fight in America. The
British hoped to win an early victory.
2. The British defeated the Continental Army at
the Battle of Long Island in August. Nathan
Hale became a hero for America. He was
discovered as a spy and hanged. After the
defeat, Washington retreated to Manhattan and
then across New Jersey into Pennsylvania,
pursued by the British.
3. The Continental Army faced many obstacles.
They ran short of supplies. The size of the army
shrank. Soldiers became discouraged. Some
soldiers finished their term of service and went
home. Others ran away.
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announced its support. In February 1778, the
French and the Americans worked out a trade
agreement and an alliance. France declared war
on Britain and gave the Americans money,
equipment, and troops to fight the British. Spain
and the Netherlands soon followed with their
support.
3. Washington’s troops spent a hard winter at
Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. The army
lacked enough food, clothing, and shelter. Some
men deserted; others resigned. Yet the
Continental Army survived. In April news of
France’s alliance cheered them.
4. A French nobleman, Marquis de Lafayette,
spent the winter at Valley Forge. He offered his
services and became one of Washington’s
trusted aides. Other Europeans also volunteered
to help, such as Friedrich von Steuben from
Germany, who taught military discipline to
Washington’s troops.
5. Getting money to finance the war was
difficult. To pay for the war, Congress and the
states printed hundreds of millions of dollars of
paper money. Soldiers had to be paid and
supplies bought. The paper quickly lost its value
and in turn led to inflation. Congress stopped
issuing paper money because no one would use
it.
H. Patriot Gains
1. More soldiers were needed, so some states
enlisted African Americans. By the end of the
war, every state except South Carolina had
enlisted African Americans. In fact Rhode
Island had an all African American regiment in
1778.
2. American troops scored victories at Trenton
and Princeton, New Jersey. Washington caught
the British troops off guard when he surprised
them at Trenton in late December 1776. These
victories boosted the morale of Washington’s
soldiers.
I. A British Plan for Victory
1. The British planned to gain control of Albany
and the Hudson River to separate New England
from the Middle Colonies. First, John Burgoyne
would lead troops south from Canada. Second,
Lieutenant Colonel Barry St. Leger would move
east from Lake Ontario. Third, General Howe
would move north from New York City, and
they would all meet in Albany.
2. The Americans, however, were able to slow
down the British. American forces led by
Benedict Arnold forced the British to retreat at
Fort Stanwix, New York. General Burgoyne’s
army captured Fort Ticonderoga but had trouble
after that. Short of supplies and men, Burgoyne
retreated to Saratoga, New York, in October.
3. The British lost the Battle of Saratoga.
Burgoyne’s troops were completely surrounded
by the Patriot Army. On October 17, 1777, they
handed over their weapons to the Americans
and surrendered. This battle becomes the
turning point of the war because it persuaded
France to join the fight.
K. Glory at Sea
1. The British had a powerful navy and thus
were able to wage battles at sea. The American
Navy was too weak to fight the British, so they
used privateers. Privateers were privately owned
merchant ships with weapons. The privateers
attacked the British ships. Congress authorized
more than 100 ships to sail as privateers.
2. John Paul Jones became a naval hero, and is
often considered the founder of the U.S. Navy,
as a result of his battle near the coast of Great
Britain in September 1779. The battle involved
his ship, the Bonhomme Richard, and the British
warship Serapis. After more than three hours of
battle, the Serapis surrendered. The Bonhomme
Richard sank because it was so badly damaged.
J. Gaining Allies
1. European nations helped the American cause.
After the American victory at Saratoga, France
and Spain realized that the Americans had a
chance to win their war, so they offered
assistance.
2. France at first secretly gave money to help the
American war effort and then publicly
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L. Struggles in the South
1. By 1778 the British saw that it would be
difficult to unite the American colonies back
into their empire. They concentrated their
efforts in the South, which had many Loyalists.
2. The British scored victories at Charles town
and Camden, South Carolina, but the Patriots
used guerrilla warfare to catch the British off
guard. Frances Marion was one of the successful
guerrilla leaders of eastern South Carolina.
3. The Patriots were victorious at Kings
Mountain in central North Carolina and at
Cowpens, South Carolina.
4. In April 1781, the British general Charles
Cornwallis retreated north to Virginia, carrying
out raids and nearly capturing Governor Thomas
Jefferson and the Virginia legislature in June.
Cornwallis set up camp at Yorktown, Virginia.
N. Independence
1. Fighting continued after the Battle of
Yorktown, but the British realized that the war
was too costly to continue. Delegates from both
sides met in Paris. After a preliminary treaty
was ratified in April 1783, the final Treaty of
Paris was signed on September 3, 1783. It said
that
1) Britain recognized the United States as an
independent nation
2) the United States territory extended from the
Atlantic Ocean west to the Mississippi River
and from Canada in the north to Spanish Florida
in the south.
3) the British promised to withdraw all troops
and agreed to give Americans the
right to fish off the coast of Canada
4) the United States agreed that British
merchants could collect on debts owed by
Americans
5) property taken from Loyalists would be
returned to them
2. America won the war against the world’s
strongest power due to several reasons:
1) Americans fought on their own land.
2) Americans controlled the countryside, where
they knew the local terrain, even
though Britain captured the cities.
3) Help from other nations contributed to the
victory.
4) Mostly, the people fought the battles with
determination and belief in their ideals.
M. Victory at Yorktown
1. Washington planned a complex and secretive
takeover at Yorktown, Virginia, in hopes of
surprising Cornwallis. Washington was
originally going to attack New York City
because he was expecting a French fleet to
arrive there to help. The French fleet never
reached New York City because the British fleet
trapped them in Newport. Washington planned
an attack on Yorktown instead. He knew the
British expected him at New York City, so this
change would surprise and confuse them. He
learned that a second French fleet was to arrive
near Chesapeake Bay, and he hoped that they
would meet at Yorktown.
2. By the end of September, 14,000 American
and French troops trapped Cornwallis’s 7,500
troops. The British troops could not escape by
sea because Admiral de Grasse’s troops blocked
them. The rest of the British Army was in New
York under General Clinton, unable to help
Cornwallis in the South.
3. On October 11, American and French troops
bombarded the British. On October 19,
Cornwallis surrendered. The Patriots had won
the Battle of Yorktown.
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