8th Grade The American Revolutionary War
The American Revolution
1. The colonists gathered support for Independence.
 In 1776, two Patriots took actions that made people more interested in
independence.
 Thomas Paine published Common Sense.
 Richard Henry Lee proposed the Virginia Resolution to Congress.
2. The colonists declared their freedom.
 In 1776, the Continental Congress decided to write a formal statement of
separation from Britain.
 The delegates chose Thomas Jefferson for this job.
 The result was the Declaration of Independence.
3. The Declaration of Independence (D.O.I.) included the following sections with
the following purposes:
 Preamble – gave the reason for writing the Declaration.
 Protection of Natural Rights – stated colonists’ beliefs about why
government can be rejected.
 List of Grievances - detailed wrongs committed by the British monarch
King George III.
 Resolution of Independence – stated that the colonists declared
independence from Britain.
4. The colonists fought and won the war for freedom.
 Major battles were fought from 1776 to 1781. Early battles were centered
in the Middle States.
 A turning point for the Americans occurred in October 1777 at Saratoga,
New York.
 Following this victory, Americans received help from France, Spain, and
the Netherlands.
 Foreigners such as Frenchman Marquis de Lafayette and German Baron
Von Steuben were vital to the war effort.
 When the British focused on the South, Americans fought back with
guerilla tactics and frontier fighters such as Francis Marion, known as the
Swamp Fox, and Nathanael Greene the commander of the Continental
army in the South.
 The final American victory came in October 1781 at Yorktown, Virginia.
5. The British agreed that the colonists were free and independent.
 Peace talks began in 1782 in Paris.
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According to the Treaty Paris: 1) Britain declared the independence of the
United States. 2) The Borders of the United States were established. 3)
The United States agreed to return Loyalist’ land and property.
Congress approved the treaty on April 15, 1783.