Second Continental Congress
• Met in Philadelphia one month after Lexington and Concord.
• 12-13 colonies were represented.
• Goal = Draft new appeals to King and Parliament.
• Parliament spurned the new appeals.
• Raise money
• Create an Continental Army and Navy
• There was still NO intention for complete independence.
Second Continental Congress
• Congress selects George
Washington to head the
Continental Army.
• He was an effective leader
because:
• Integrity
• Courage
• Morality
• Patience
• Self-discipline
• Trust-worthy
• The choice was political too
since colonists in some middle
and southern colonies were
distrusting of New Englanders.
• He was from Virginia and
wealthy, married with two step
kids.
Battle at Bunker Hill
• Colonial Contradictions: Wanting to patch things up and affirming
their loyalties to the British vs. raising armies and shooting redcoats.
• Bunker Hill is misnamed. Actually called Breed’s Hill.
– On top of the hill = Colonists (~1,500)
– Fighting uphill = British (~3,000)
• Result- colonists abandon hill since they ran out of gunpowder and
supplies.
Attempt at Peace
• Adopted by the CC.
• Professed loyalty to the monarchy and
begged King George III to read their
arguments to prevent further deaths.
•King George III refused to read it and
claimed the colonies to be treasonous.
•He hired German mercenaries (Hessians)
to help defeat the colonists.
•Family quarrel, should not involve
Germans.
Olive Branch Petition
King George's Reaction to the OBP
•Some Hessians deserted and lived in the
colonies (states).
Mercenary = A professional soldier who serves
in a foreign war for pay.
Thomas Paine: Common Sense
• He was a former corset maker who had been in the
colonies for a little over a year.
• Referred to the King as “the Royal Brute of Great
Britain.”
• He question tiny little Great Britain controlling the vast
new continent of America.
• He convinced readers that their true cause is
independence rather than reconciliation.
Sold over 150,000 copies!
Thomas Paine: Common Sense
• Paine’s approach was radical and equally eloquent. He called for a republic
or a political society in which power flowed from the people themselves; not
a corrupt despotic monarchy.
• He argued that ALL government officials (Governors, Senators, Judges,
etc.), not just those in the HOC should get their power from popular
consent.
• Some colonists favored “natural aristocracy.”
• An end to hereditary aristocracy but not an end to social hierarchy.
WYNTK… T. Paine’s appeal for a new republican form
of government attracted many Americans because their
own experience with local and colonial self-governing
had prepared them for the idea that they did not need a
monarchy.
Jefferson’s Explanation
• Congress drafted a committee to prepare a formal
statement of separation.
• Thomas Jefferson
• Tall, ginger with freckles, Virginia lawyer, 33, brilliant
writer.
• Declaration of Independence was formally approved on
July 4, 1776.
• Focused on natural rights.
• Listed the misdeeds (27) of the tyrant, King George III.
•
•
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Imposing taxes without consent.
Eliminating trial by jury.
Establishing a military dictatorship.
Maintaining a standing army during peacetime.
Cutting off trade.
Burning towns.
Hiring mercenaries.
• Hypocrisy? T. Jeff and other founding fathers owned
slaves?
Jefferson’s Explanation
WYNTK… The DOI made the colonists seditious rebels against the king
and enabled them to seek foreign assistance for their cause.
WYNTK… The DOI justified American independence not on the basis
of the historical rights of Englishmen, but on the basis of the universal
natural rights of all humankind.
WYNTK… The DOI:
• Invoked the natural rights of humankind to justify revolt.
• Cataloged the tyrannical actions of King George III.
• Argued that royal tyranny justified revolt.
• Accused the British of violating the natural rights of
Americans.
It's Too Late to Apologize
Independence Hall
•
The DOI directly inspired the French to throw off their own corrupt
monarchy, resulting in the French Revolution.
Loyalists
• Loyalists = loyal to the king, mother country, Parliament, etc.
• Often referred to as Tories after the dominant political party in
London.
• ~16% of the American people.
• Conservative
• Financially well-off.
• Recent immigrants from Scotland and Ireland.
• African-Americans
• Members of the Anglican and Quaker churches.
• Least numerous in New England.
• Older generations.
• Well educated.
Loyalists
• Many remained loyalists throughout the war because:
• They believed a Patriot victory would lead to anarchy.
• Some were promised freedom.
• They believed the British would preserve religious toleration.
• They believed in British military superiority.
• To help the British, loyalists did the following:
• Fight for them.
• Served as spies.
• Keep Patriot soldiers at home to protect their families.
• Incite the Indians.
• All of the following could be fates for loyalists:
• Flee to England.
• Re-establish themselves in America.
• Have their property confiscated.
• Exiled.
Patriots
• Patriots = American rebels; rebelling against king, country,
Parliament, etc.
• Often referred to as Whigs, after the opposing faction in London.
• Younger generation.
• Flourished in New England.
• Members of Presbyterian and Congregational churches.
• Patriot militia will play a crucial role in the following ways:
• Taking up the task of political education for the public.
• Convincing people that British army was unreliable.
• Mercilessly harassing small British detachments.
• Effective agents of Revolutionary ideas.
Tea Act (1773)
•
British East India Company:
• Monopoly on British tea
imports
• Many members of
Parliament held shares
• Permitted the BEIC to
sell tea directly to
colonists without
middlemen
(cheaper tea!)
•
Lord Frederick North: British
Prime Minister
•
He expected the
colonists to eagerly choose
the cheaper tea
•
Colonists protested
The Intolerable Acts (1774)
British Response
1. Shut down Boston Harbor because
colonists refused to pay for damages
2. Quartering Act: became even more
strict authorizing British commanders
to house soldiers in vacant private
homes
3. General Thomas Gage: commander
in chief of British forces in North
America was appointed governor of
Massachusetts
Lord North
4. General Gage placed Boston under
Martial Law or when the British
military takes over the town
The Shot Heard ’Round the World!
Lexington & Concord – April 18,1775
•
The British soldiers reached Lexington and saw 70 minutemen in lines
•
Gage told them to leave
•
They began walking away but still had their muskets aimed at the
soldiers
•
Then someone fired
•
British soldiers fired too
•
8 minutemen died and 10 wounded
•
Only 1 British soldier was injured
•
The battle lasted 15 minutes
•British marched to Concord but did not find any weapons
•They began marching back to Boston
•They met the opposition of 3,000- 4,000 militia
•The remaining British soldiers marched back to Boston, humiliated
• https://docs.google.com/document/d/17kk6FR8PGku4XhCy2TFBSbEeIWUlm082
qgaqXAP81Y/edit?pli=1