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The Road to Revolution Declaring Independence

Second Continental Congress • May 10, 1775 in Philadelphia (3 weeks after Lexington

& Concord

• Declaring independence was a long way off

• Notable attendees:

– John & Samuel Adams

– Patrick Henry & George Washington

– Benjamin Franklin • During the Stamp Act crisis, he

represented the colonies in London

– Helped repeal the Stamp Act

– John Hancock • President of the Congress

– Thomas Jefferson • Member of Virginia House of Burgesses

Actions of the Congress • Begin to govern the

colonies

• Set up a post office – Franklin in charge

• Established committees as ambassadors

• Create Continental Army to fight British – Washington chosen to

command

• Print money to pay army

Battle of

Bunker Hill

• Boston 1775

• Militia seized Bunker Hill and

Breed’s Hill and fortified

Breed’s Hill

• Actually fought on Breed’s

Hill

• William Prescott, “Don’t Fire

until you see the whites of

their eyes”

• Dr. James Warren, member

of the Sons of Liberty, was

killed (painting to the left)

• English win battle at huge

cost (1,000 killed or

wounded)

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Olive Branch Petition • Offered one last chance

to avoid all-out war

– Sent the Olive Branch Petition

• Formal request for peace

• Requested king to protect

colonists’ rights

• King rejected the petition

for peace & sought to

punish the colonies

– Hired 30,000 German

mercenary soldiers & sent to

fight with British called

Hessians

Siege of Boston • Continental Army

surrounded the British in

Boston

• Washington had artillery

captured at Fort

Ticonderoga moved to

Dorchester Heights

overlooking Boston

• The Continental Army

controlled the high ground

and threatened to bombard

the City

• British General Howe

withdrew his troops

“Common Sense” • Militias form into continental

regiments

• Common Sense is published

– Written by Thomas Paine

– Pamphlet argues it’s common

sense to embrace

independence from Britain

• April 1776

– More colonists supported

independence

• June 1776

– Richard Henry Lee introduced idea of “free and independent states”

• Resolution debated in Congress

– Committee formed to write the Declaration

• Committee of 5 – Thomas Jefferson was

main author

Declaring Independence

Committee that

drafted the Declaration

Benjamin

Franklin

Thomas Jefferson

John Adams

Robert Livingston Roger Sherman

The Writing of the Declaration of Independence

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• July 4, 1776

– Congress approved and adopted a revised

Declaration of Independence

• 5 parts

– Preamble = Introduction

– Rights of the People

– List of Grievances (Complaints)

– Efforts to avoid separation

– Independence Declared

Declaring Independence