America Secedes from America Secedes from the Empirethe EmpireMr. LoveMr. Love1775 - 1783

April 1775 Lexington & Concord (Mass.)

– War began here, 1st shots were fired

May 10, 1775 Second Continental Congress

– Met in Philadelphia– All 13 colonies represented– Still no real sentiment for independence

• Wanted King & parliament to consent to a redress of grievances

– Delegates began to raise money & create an army & navy

– Selected Washington to head the army– Why select Washington as head of army?

George Washington Actually lost more battles than won “moral force rather than a great military

mind”

War Fought 14 months before Declaration of

Independence was issued May 1775

– Ethan Allen & Benedict Arnold• Surprised & captured British garrison

at Ticonderoga & Crown Point (NY)

• Gunpowder & artillery for seize of Boston secured

June 1775 Battle of Bunker Hill (Breed’s Hill)

– British launched a frontal attack – “Do not fire until you see the whites of their eyes!”– colonists mowed down the Redcoats – Colonials’ store of gunpowder gave out & they were

forced to abandon the hill

Olive Branch Petition July 1775

Adopted by the Continental Congress Professed American loyalty to the crown &

begged king to prevent further hostilities King George III formally proclaimed the

colonies in rebellion ( Aug 1775) “Open and Avowed Enemies”

NO HOPE OF RECONCILIATION

What happens now? Sept. 1775 – King hired Hessians to help

fight What/Who are Hessians?

– German princes needed money– Colonists felt betrayed

War Heats Up Oct. 1775 – British burned Falmouth (Portland),

Maine. Colonists decided to invade Canada

– Hoped to add 14th colony– Deprive Britain of a valuable base for striking at the

colonies – Was this necessary? Was it counterproductive?

General Richard Montgomery– Pushed up Lake Champlain &

captured Montreal

Dec. 1775 - Quebec Montgomery joined at Quebec with

General Benedict Arnold– Montgomery – killed // Arnold – shot

Remnants retreated up the St. Lawrence River

French had no real desire to help colonists

Jan 1776– British set fire to Norfolk, Virginia

Feb 1776– Colonial victory against Loyalists at Moore’s

Creek Bridge, NC

March 1776– Evacuation Day – colonists forced

British to evacuate Boston

June 1776 -- Charleston Harbor– Colonial victory against an invading British

fleet

Thomas Paine 1776 – Common Sense

– One of the most influential pamphlets ever written

– Why write it?– Called for not simply independence but for a

democratic republic• Power should come from the people

– Reject monarchy, embrace an independent republic

Cry for Independence June 7, 1776 – Richard Henry Lee

– Colonies ought to be free & independent states– Motion passes a month later.

July 2, 1776– Motion was adopted for independence

July 4, 1776– Declaration of Independence

Declaration of Independence

Thomas Jefferson – author Formally approved by Congress Focused on natural rights

– Colonists were justified– List of tyrannous misdeeds of George III

p. 148

Foreign aid could now be solicited Is foreign aid important?

Taking SidesPatriots

Whigs Younger New England Presbyterians &

Congregationalists

Loyalists Tories Older Anglican 20% of population

Loyalist Exodus

Regarded as traitors by Patriots– Estates were confiscated & sold (helped

finance the war)

Many joined the British army

General Washington at Bay July 1776 – British fleet arrives in NY with

500 ships & 35,000 men– Washington – 18,000 ill trained troops– Outgeneraled & outmaneuvered

Battle of Long Island Washington escaped to Manhattan Island &

eventually to the Delaware River General William Howe (British)

– Decided not to pursue Washington

Washington recrossed the ice-clogged Delaware

Battles Trenton Dec. 26, 1776

– Washington surprised & captured 1000 Hessians

Princeton ( 1 week later)– Surprise attack, victory for America

Burgoyne’s Blundering Invasion Goal – to capture Hudson River Valley

(1777) General Burgoyne was to push down from

Canada & he would be joined by General Howe– Howe didn’t show up

Washington Moves his army to Philadelphia Defeated at Brandywine Creek & Germantown Moves his troops to Valley Forge for the winter

– Baron von Steuben whipped men into shape

Battle of Saratoga Oct. 17, 1777

– General Burgoyne forced to surrender at Saratoga to General Horatio Gates

Importance of Saratoga1. Revived the colonial cause

2. Made possible foreign aid from France

French Aid

Secretly provided Americans with lifesaving amounts of gun powder & other munitions – 90% of gunpowder used

Declaration of Independence & Battle of Saratoga showed France that colonists were serious

Britain offered colonists American home rule within the empire

1778 – France offered America a treaty of alliance (Good idea?)

Colonial War = World War

1779 – Spain & Holland enter war against Britain 1780 – Catherine the Great of Russia

– Armed Neutrality – lined up almost all the remaining European neutrals against England

June 1778 – Britain evacuates Philadelphia to concentrate in NY City– Washington remained in NY

Summer 1780 – Comte de Rochambeau (French) arrived in Rhode Island– Americans still a little suspicious

Traitor 1780 – Benedict Arnold turned traitor

– Plotted to sell out West Point for $ & officer’s commission

– Plot detected

In the South

British decided to start in the South & move up– Took Georgia (’78-79) & Charleston (’80)

Americans Victorious – Cowpen’s –1/17/1780– King’s Mountain – 10-7-1780

Nathanael Greene (A) & Charles Cornwallis (B)– Greene “Fighting Quaker” cleared British out of

Georgia & SC

Elsewhere Land Frontier

Indians– Paid by King George

III to scalp colonists– George Rogers Clark

successful in attacks against Britain

Sea Frontier John Paul Jones

– Commanded American navy

– Destroyed British merchant shipping

Privateers – very successful

Yorktown Cornwallis waited at Yorktown for supplies

– Washington & Rochambeau arrived by land

– Admiral de Grasse arrived by sea Oct. 19, 1781 - Cornwallis is forced to surrender Technically, the war is over

– George III continues for more than 1 year– British citizens are ready for war to end

Peace leaders – Benjamin Franklin,

John Adams, John Jay

Instructed: make no peace & consult with France

France wanted a weak America (easier to manage)

John Jay becomes suspicious of France & makes a deal with Britain

Treaty of Paris of 1783

Britain recognized independence of US

Increased landholdings:– West- Mississippi– North – Great Lakes– South – Spanish Florida

Share fisheries in Newfoundland

Loyalists were not to be persecuted & land restored– Not followed

Debts owed to British creditors be paid– Not followed