Chapter 8 Notes :: America Secedes from the Empire :: Mr. Davis’ IB History of the Americas After...

Chapter 8 Notes :: America Secedes from the Empire :: Mr. Davis’ IB History of the Americas

After the humiliation served Britain at Concord, 20,000 militia men converged on Boston to surround the British forces.

May 10, 1775 – one month after Lexington and Concord – delegates to the Second Continental Congress gathered to do several things:

They drafted a DECLARATION OF CAUSES AND NECESSITIES FOR TAKING UP ARMS, a call for the colonies to provide troops.

George Washington was named Commander in Chief of the Continental Army (because he was a Southerner; VA was the largest colony; GW was an aristocrat; he was NOT a NE Radical).

America Secedes from the Empire 1775 - 1783


June 17, 1775 – colonials had fortified Breed’s Hill on the Charlestown peninsula, across the river from Boston. It overlooked a smaller hill, Bunker Hill.

Under General Howe, the British charged the hill twice, losing scores of men. On the third frontal assault, the British succeeded in taking the fort after the colonials ran out of ammo and were forced to retreat.

The British suffered 228 dead and 800 wounded in a battle that mistakenly went down in history as Bunker Hill.

Even after this bloodshed, the colonists hoped for reconciliation, not revolution.

July 1775 – Congress sends to KG THE OLIVE BRANCH PETITION that professed loyalty to the Crown and the hope for an end to the fighting.

The Battle of Breeds Hill / Bunker Hill


August 1775 - KG says “wouldn’t be prudent” and declared the colonies to be in rebellion, a crime punishable by death.

Parliament shuts down all shipping between England and America, and KG hired thousands of HESSIANS, German soldiers with an ancestry of warfare and military training.

This shocked many colonists that thought of growing tensions as a dispute between family.

Fall/winter 1775 - British burn Falmouth, MN; Colonials attack Montreal and Quebec; British burn Norfolk, VA;

January 1776 – Thomas Paine wrote Common Sense.

The King’s Response


The Philadelphia journalist’s pamphlet changed people’s way of thinking and clarified how colonials felt about the war. Pamphlet sold 120,000 copies in 3 months and was repeatedly reprinted.

Paine accused KG of enslaving the American people.

Paine said that it was against common sense that the huge continent of NA should be dominated by the small British isles – a whole ocean away.

England (Corrupt Old Power) vs. America (New Power / “Asylum of Liberty”) that should be an independent republic. Must declare intentions.

Thomas Paine’s Common Sense


June 7, 1776 – Richard Henry Lee of VA proposed that the colonies should become free and independent states.

Lee’s motion was adopted on July 2, 1776

The declaration of the motion was approved on July 4, 1776. It was the work of TJ, and equated to an explanation to the world of the radical actions being undertaken. TJ borrowed liberally from John Locke and Rousseau.

Jefferson’s phrase “All men are created equal” would haunt our nation for generations. Why?

The Declaration ends with a list of grievances against KG and outlines the things that he did to provoke the separation.

Inching closer to Independance


Patriots (Whigs) – stand behind the declaration of war. They tended to be younger, Presbyterian, professionals (lawyers).

Loyalists (Tories) – still showed strong support for the king. They make up 20% of colonial population and tended to be older, more conservative, wealthy, educated, and Anglican.

Throughout the revolution, many Tories were persecuted and forced to flee to Canada and abroad. In many cases, they lost their land and businesses. Their lands were then divided up and sold to pay for the cause.

In 1776, the British leave Boston to set up a base of ops in NYC. (Good harbor to hold 500 ships).

Mid 1776 – 35,000 British Regulars and Hessians, compared to GW’s 18,000 relatively untrained troops.

Patriots, Loyalists, and Neutrals


Summer / Fall 1776 – American troops retreated to Manhattan Island and then crossed the Hudson to NJ, and then barely escaped across the Delaware River to PA.

General Howe failed to pursue the rebels across the DE River, setting the stage for Washington’s most brilliant maneuver in the winter of 1776.

In the dead of the night on December 26, 1776, Washington’s troops cross the DE River and attack a camp of Hessians at Trenton; captured 1K.

GW captured Princeton a week later.

Washington’s Victories at Trenton / Princeton


Divide and Conquer1777 – The British devise a plan to isolate New

England from the rest of the (states).

General John Burgoyne (Gentleman Johnny) would come down from Canada and General Howe would advance up the Hudson from NY to meet Burgoyne at Albany.

A third force would advance from the west under Colonel St. Leger.

Benedict Arnold tied up Burgoyne’s forces at Lake Champlain. Rather than sticking to the plan, Howe attacked Philadelphia, defeating Washington on the way at Brandywine Creek and Germantown.

St. Leger was halted at Oriskany.


Divide and ConquerOctober 1777 – Burgoyne had to surrender his entire

force to General Horatio Gates after a defeat at Saratoga, New York.

Saratoga bolstered the rebel soldier’s morale. (very important heading into the winter at Valley Forge.)

Ben Franklin had been desperately trying to recruit French assistance, and this battle proved to the French that the Americans could defeat the British. The French could now openly support the upstarts.

France had lost face after F&I War; she wanted to regain a foothold in the Americas; and she wanted to see the British lose power.


A World War?!?Some Americans were leery of becoming allies with the

French, particularly after France’s loss of its landholdings in North America. But America needed Frances help.

1778 – England declares war on France.

1779 – Spain joins France in war against Britain, making the American Revolution a world war.

For the remainder of the war, France supplies money and manpower, ½ of the regular troops, and a strong fleet that could challenge the British naval blockade.


Valley Forge Demonstrates Harsh Realities of War Winter 1777 – 78 was a brutal experience for the

Continental Army at Valley Forge.

11,000 rebel soldiers were isolated, freezing for lack of clothing, starving for lack of food, holed up in miserable huts.

Demonstrated problems that plagued Washington’s army throughout the war; a Congress that had neither the money to pain and maintain the troops nor an efficient system of dispensing provisions to the troops.

The rebels were losing the war for the “hearts and minds” of the people because most farmers and merchants preferred to supply the British who could pay in gold.


Help is On the Way . . . One bright spot was the arrival of Baron Von Steuben,

a Prussian soldier of fortune. Von Steuben instilled discipline in the troops by drilling in formations.

Von Steuben’s tactics increased morale and camaraderie, enabling the weary soldiers to make it through the winter.

1778 – The British chose to leave Philadelphia for New York. Washington engages them at Monmouth, NJ; he spends much of the remainder of the war keeping the British hemmed in NY.


The Southern Campaign1778 – 79 – After their loss at Saratoga, the British

begin a new strategy to conquer the colonies from the south.

Battles in Georgia and South Carolina, particularly in Charleston in 1780, are characterized by severe fighting between loyalists and patriots in the countryside (the back country).

Most of these battles were under the command of British Commander Clinton. He leaves his command to Charles, Lord Cornwallis

Two notable rebel victories were Kings Mountain and Cowpens in 1781, both under the rebel command of Nathaniel Greene.


Fighting on the FrontierThroughout the war, the frontier was the scene of

bloody battles involving innocent civilians. The British enlisted the help of their Native American allies, including the tribes of the Iroquois Confederacy.

George Rogers Clark played an important role in many of these battles, particularly in the Illinois territory, where he captured Kaskaskia, Cahokia, and Vincennes.

Why did the Native Americans side with the British?

They remembered the Proclamation of 1763 and assumed that they had better chance with the British than with the land-grabbing Americans.


Caught Between a Rock and A Hard PlaceCornwallis continued his southern trek up the coast and

ended up at Yorktown awaiting supplies.

Cornwallis was confident that the superior British naval fleet would protect him.

Unfortunately for him, the British ships were busy in their own seas, defending Gibralter.

By the end of September 7,800 Frenchmen, 5700 Continentals, and 3200 militia men had Cornwallis cornered at Yorktown.

After a victory in the Caribbean, the French navy sailed up from the West Indies to blockade the Chesapeake Bay.


The World Turned Upside DownOctober 19, 1781 – as the band played “The World

Turned Upside Down” Cornwallis’ second in command surrendered his sword.

He initially tried to surrender to Rochambeau, the French commander,** but the Frenchman refused, pointing to Washington, who then pointed to his second in command.

Fighting continued for a year after Yorktown, but that battle sounded the death knell for the British forces.

The Treaty of Paris (1783) was negotiated by Ben Franklin, John Adams, and John Jay.

They made a “separate peace” with the new Whig govt.


The Treaty of Paris (1783)Great Britain recognized American Independence.

United States territory would run west to the Mississippi, North to the Great Lakes, and South to Florida.

The United States promised to stop persecution of Loyalists and Congress agreed to recommend the restoration of Loyalists’ property.

Congress also agreed that the states would put no lawful obstacles in the way of British creditors collection of debts owed by the Americans.

The end result was a tremendous loss of power and money on a world wide basis for Britain. France also lost a great deal in the negotiations with the Americans.

Chapter 8 Notes :: America Secedes from the Empire :: Mr. Davis’ IB History of the Americas After...

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